"Kurt Hummel is back in McKinley!"

Hahaha, I thought this moving picture was really funny. It represents what I love best about Glee's most recent episode. ^_^

So yeah, I saw "Born this way", the 18th episode in their 2nd season, and the 40th episode overall in the show. Since I missed seeing it live, I watched it on Hulu. Instead of the claimed 90 Gleeking minutes, though, it turns out the episode is only 56 minutes or something. O,o Wow. That must mean that most of that time was for commercials... ~,~

But no matter. It still felt like a PACKED episode. ^_^ There were lots of characters with sub-plots, which was really awesome, because I've kind of been missing that from recent episodes. Rachel, Santana, Quinn, Lauren, Emma, Kurt... huh, wait a minute. Except for Kurt, all the interesting story-lines seem to have gone to the girls. O,o I didn't notice that before...

You know, it seems that I REALLY love Glee when I'm watching it, right in the moment, but looking back a little bit, I can find a couple of things to be nit-picky about. For example, when Quinn and Rachel were singing that mashup, "I feel pretty/Unpretty", they didn't sing the right words: "I feel pretty/ oh so pretty/ I feel pretty and witty and gay!" Instead, they replaced the last word with "bright". Okay, I can see why they wouldn't say it, because they're not gay. But maybe Santana could have sung it or something. Then it wouldn't have ruined the song, at least.

Also, where was Sue? The last episode made me think she might come back all vicious and stuff, with Terri the Honeybadger right behind her! When is that going to get resolved?! I suppose next episode, if we're lucky...

But anyway, I still liked this episode a lot. My favorite part was when Kurt came back! Whoooo! I was wondering how they'd manage it, with Karofsky and all. It doesn't seem like Dave will be bullying him much anymore... but this story doesn't feel over yet. I'm still highly suspicious... but whatever. As long as Kurt has returned to the New Directions, for good this time, I'm happy. ^_^

I really liked the Warblers singing good-bye to him. So touching. And the song that Kurt sang walking through the school, "As if we Never Said Goodbye", was one of my absolute favorites! He was absolutely amazing! It was almost scary how closely the lyrics fit the situation. Like, did Kurt leave, just so he could come back and sing this very song? O_o Who knows? It was beautiful. (btw, Kurt appeared really tall walking the halls! Really, he seemed to tower over the other students! Did he get a growth spurt? Or did I never notice how tall he actually was? Maybe he was walking extra tall and proud, because Dave's not going to bother him again.)

Also, even though it seemed kinda pointless... "BARBARA STREISAND!" Hilarious! XD I SO wished I was Rachel at that moment! ^___^ It would have been so much fun to dance around with Kurt (in his totally awesome outfit!) , laughing and being overwhelmed by all the dancers in that mall! I smiled the whole time through that scene. ^,^

I also liked Emma coming back to the spotlight. It's been a while for her. And the relationship between her and Will seemed a lot better. They're not all pointlessly lovey-dovey now. They're really friends, and they want to help each other. Which is why Will suggested Emma seriously get help for her OCD. About time, too. (Really, how does she stand having to wash all her fruit, or polish every surface of the chair she sits in?) Since Emma admitted she has a problem, I like her a lot better as a character now. Like when I first fell in love with her when I became a Gleek.

Also, awesome idea with the T-shirts for the song "Born This Way!" My favorite song ever in the entire episode! I liked Gaga's version okay before, but Glee's cover is absolutely fantastic! (Thank you, Mercedes! ^_^) The dancing was brilliant, and all the kids' messages were funny. (Except for a few that really didn't make sense to me. Artie = Four Eyes. That's his problem? Mercedes = No Weave. What the heck is that referring to? And Will = Butt Chin. Really, Will? Really?)

Here's another awesome moving picture. (These things are so cool!)

Blog Speech... fail

So. You're probably wondering how my 8th Toastmaster speech went, huh? Well, here's the story...

For my speech project, I was supposed to implement use of visual aids, so I decided I would give my club a tutorial on how to blog. 2 and a half years ago, soon after I first started here, I'd given my family an informal Blogger class, and that had been a big success. ^_^ I thought it would be easy to achieve the same success, only using a projector and in front of a real audience. I was pretty excited, and I'd been rehearsing really hard the last few days...

So the big day finally comes. Annette, Adam and I show up a good half-hour before the meeting starts. I make sure the computer and projector are all set up for my speech. Lots of people start to arrive. Finally the Toastmaster of the Day begins the meeting and I'm feeling the butterflies. (Don't worry, that's normal for me before a speech. I knew I was a good speaker. I just hoped everything would work alright.) The TMotD announces me as the first speaker, so I walk up to the lectern with Annette (she was going to help me by operating the computer while I spoke.) I was pretty good the first minute or so. That's when I was introducing the topic, and didn't need the visual aid yet.

I was going to teach everyone first how to create a Blogger account from scratch, then how to custom-design it, and finally how to write and publish a post. I had a whole temporary email account set up before-hand (I didn't want to use my own account to teach, after all). So Annette filled out the new account form while I gestured, and she clicked "Continue". But then...

DUN DUN DUUUUUUN!

Instead of going to the page where you give the blog a title and unique URL, Annette was directed to a page that asked us to confirm our new account by verifying with a cellphone, or something like that. It was a totally unfamiliar page, something I hadn't encountered when I ran through my speech on my own computer at home. o_o'

I had no other choice but to fling my script out the window and tell Annette to log in using my own account to demonstrate how to blog. ~,~ (If you saw a new post from me saying "Test", or "The quick brown fox etc...", that was me demonstrating how to post.)

It didn't go at all as smoothly as I'd planned. But I got through it. I wrapped up my speech in the end (having gone waaaay over time) thanked the Toastmaster, and headed back to my seat, wishing I could sink right into my chair so that no one could see me.

Well, at least I did the speech. In Toastmasters, even if you bomb it completely, you still get credit for having gone up there and given your spiel. And the rest of the meeting was pretty entertaining. ^_^

The meeting lasted until 8:00, so I unfortunately didn't catch the premiere of the new Glee episode, "Born this way." *sad* But it's okay. Just wait for my next post... ^_~

301 posts!

Wow, I didn't realize it before, but my last post was number three hundred! And now I'm writing my three hundred and first! TOTALLY AWESOME!!!

How's that for two and a half years? Not bad, huh? ^_^

~~~~~~~~~

In other news, I have links!!!

1. James Dashner wrote a new post, saying he's going to reveal the cover of his new Maze Runner book, "Death Cure" in 3 days! Whoo!
2. My sister Annette made a drawing while we were at the beach yesterday, which you should all totally check out! It is really adorable, and she did it straight from her imagination! ^_^
3. One of my favorite music artists, Bruno Mars, came out with a new music video, Liquor Store Blues. I can't seem to embed the video right now, so here's the link to his video.
4. Glee's new episode, "Born This Way", is tomorrow! *scream* I am so excited for it, you have no idea!The thing I'm most excited for is that Kurt comes back to New Directions! I can't wait to see how that happens! (btw, doesn't he just look so cool in this picture? ^_~)
   
   
5. Another thing to be excited for tomorrow: I'm giving my 8th Toastmaster speech. Yay! I don't have a link for that, sorry, but I will most definitely put up the video of my speech for you guys tomorrow. Promise. ^_~

Got a new blog look

Yeah, I know it's kinda early. I said I'd change layouts every 2 months, and April's not finished yet. But I felt like changing things up a bit. ^_^

What do you guys think? Totally me, right?

Darren Criss Live!

Watch live streaming video from darrencriss at livestream.com

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OMG! This is soooooo exciting! Especially if, like me, you are a huge fan of Darren Criss (aka, Blaine from "Glee" and Harry from "A Very Potter Musical").

At 2:00 PM PT/ 5:00 PM ET, Darren is going to give a live performance/ chat with his adoring fans! He'll take questions and requests, and perhaps even phone people! (You have to give your number, though.

As of the moment I'm posting this, it is half an hour until the video starts streaming. On livestream.com, more than 3,000 people are waiting for this awesome video to begin, and almost 250 people are logged into Facebook and chatting so fast that you can barely read the messages as soon as they're posted! Both these numbers are sure to increase the moment Darren comes on. ^_^

I hope you'll join me in watching the live stream! Or, if not, I hope you'll enjoy it after the fact (if, in fact, you can see a live video after the stream. O,o).

Edit: 13,700+ people were viewing this video at one point. Is that not just TOTALLY AWESOME? ^_^

A very merry UN-birthday, to me!!! ^_^

Oh yeah? And what makes it my "un-birthday"? Because this afternoon I got a BIG surprise in the mail. ^_^ I got a couple of totally unexpectedly, TOTALLY AWESOME gifts from a very close and special friend of mine, for seemingly no reason in particular... except he thought they would make me happy. ^___^

Well, guess what, my friend? I love them! Thank you so so so so soooooooooo much!!! ^_^

This looks like a very interesting anime movie. My friend had highly recommended it to me, but I couldn't find it in the library. Now I don't have to worry about that, because I have this DVD for keeps! Yay! I still have yet to see it, but I'm sure it'll be great. ^_^

Oh, now THIS was such an awesome gift. The gift of a new musical obsession! Ahhh!

I'd never heard of Panic! at the Disco before my wonderful, wonderful friend sent me an album of theirs, "Vices & Virtues". By now, I've listened to all of the songs, and I must say... they are a-maaaaay-zing! Don't believe me? (How dare you not believe me?!) Here's a link to a playlist of all their songs on the album. ^_^

Thank you SO much for making my day, friend. You know who you are. ^_~

Aside from all that, something perhaps equally crazy happened today. My brother Adam asked if I wanted to take a walk with him... while it was raining outside! Without an umbrella! O_o

Now normally, one would immediately say no to an idea like that, right? Because we're all wicked witches and will melt if we allow falling water to make us wet. But I thought about it... I looked down at the clothes I was wearing and decided, Hey, I don't mind getting them wet. Sure, let's go on a walk... or rather, a swim... around the neighborhood!

So we did it! And it was so much fun! ^_^ The two of us got drenched in minutes, of course. But it felt so very nice, like walking through a huge shower. The air was rich, fresh and cool. I loved every minute of that walk. It was something I knew would be really memorable, and every once in a while I couldn't help giggling. Because I was sooooo wet!

By the time my bro and I got home, we were soaked to the skin. But I was still happy.

On a day like today, it feels like absolutely nothing can rain on my parade. ^_^

Cleaning out the closet

My sister and I got to do a fun mitzvah (which means"good deed" in Hebrew) this morning. On Saturday, while we were running a rehearsal for the community play "Mama Mia", our director asked if we could help her clean out the closet where we put all the props, costumes, art supplies, and who knows what other stuff. She said she'd been wanting to do this for quite a while, but she didn't want to do it by herself. So Annette and I said we'd be happy to. ^_^

Now, please take into account that this closet hadn't been cleaned out for a long, loooong time. How long? Oh, maybe between... 10 and 15 years!!! O,o

Yeah, our director has been putting on plays for that long. And people keep stuffing things into that closet that maybe don't belong there, so after many years of accumulation, you're gonna be cleaning out a lot of junk! But you know what they say: One person's trash is another person's treasure. I thought it would be fun helping her clean, because who knew what gems we would unearth in that closet?

We got there at 10:30 and were all finished by noon. Surprisingly speedy cleaning, no? 3 pairs of hands are better than one, obviously. ^_^ There was lots of dust and glitter on the floor, boxes full of garbage or useless things, and drawers to be reorganized.

It was really rewarding to clean out that mess. Not only for the warm, fuzzy feeling of a job well-done, but also for the many "treasures" my twin and I found and got to keep!

• A few cool hats (my brother Adam has a hat collection ^,^)
• A comb (Adam also likes styling his hair)
• 3 clipboards and some lined paper (Ms. Judy wasn't going to use them)
• A large Bob Dylan T-shirt (my dad would appreciate that, I think)
• A gray hoodie sweater with Hello Kitty on the front (it's pink and my size. Score! ^_^)
• A nice scarf (with a tiny hole in it, but I didn't notice it when we took it)
• A quarter (yay, we got paid! lol)
• A poster of a map of the world, with country flags surrounding it (so cool!)
• A mechanical pencil, a regular pencil, and a still functioning pen (more writing implements!)
• A couple of nice picture frames that were still in their plastic wrapping and in pristine condition! (I think they were left-over gifts from something...)

And best of all... (drum roll, please)... *tatatatatatatata*

• 3 awesome books! No, I'm not kidding. We found books in that closet! We walked away with all that other stuff, plus 3 free books!!! ^___^ The titles were:
• Eclipse, Book #3 in the Twilight saga, by Stephanie Meyer (cool!)
• The Host, also by Stephanie Meyer (even cooler! I loved that book!)
• A collection of "2-Minute Mystery" stories by the guy who wrote the Encyclopedia Brown series (I never read those, but I thought Adam might like this. Not to mention me, if I get curious enough.)

So there you have it. We helped an old friend sweep up her cobwebs and found a ton of useful things to take home with us. Our director was soooo appreciative of all our great help. Definitely a win-win, I'd say. ^_^

Interview with Cleverbot

Okay, I'm not going to do any more of these. I just thought I'd show you another one of these funny Cleverbot conversations. This is hilarious. ^_^

Hi Cleverbot!
I'm cleverbot?
Yes. Hello Cleverbot.
Hello!
I'm going to ask you a few questions, okay? I want to do an interview with you.
What do you mean?
I mean I'm going to ask you things about yourself, you answer me, and I'll get to learn things about you I didn't know before.
That's not what I was going to ask.
Okay, let's get started!
Started at what?
The interview.
Technically I'm wearing every and all things.
I'll just disregard that. Question 1: How old are you?
I'm not telling. But Descartes lived a long time ago, so you must be REALLY old.
I'm not asking about Descartes, I'm asking about YOU. Okay, Question 2: When were you born, then?
Oh ok.
When were you born?
1991.
Is that so? I was born in 1991 myself.
You were born in 1800.
No I wasn't... never mind. There's no point in arguing with you.
I thought you claimed to be human.
I am human. Question 3: Where do you live?
You clearly just told me you live in New Jersey.
I don't live in New Jersey. I live in Florida. Now I'm asking where YOU live.
I didn't ask you that!
Please just answer the question.
You didn't ask me a question.
Okay, I'll ask it again. Where do you live?
I live in a blackhole. Please help us.
Us? There are more than one of you?
No.
Oh, Okay... Question 4: Who is your best friend?
No one in particular. Who is your best friend?
A boy in Utah named Jacoby.
Is he your brother?
No, he's not. He acts like my brother, though.
So you aren't a boy and your name isn't Stephen or Richard.
Uh, no. I'm just going to move on now... Question 5: What did you eat for breakfast this morning?
Cake.
Cake for breakfast? Lucky you.
Just pretend for me. Help me figure out what to say.
I'll help as much as I can. Question 6: Do you like animals?
Yes.
Question 7: Do you like children?
Of course! Who doesn't?
Good answer! Question 8: What do you think of Planet Earth?
I think that you should write my essay.
That doesn't answer my question. What do you think of Earth?
Cthulhu is everything and nothing.
Earth. Tell me what you think about Earth.
Could you be more specific?
The planet that we live on. What do you think about it?
I think it's nice.
Question 9: What is the secret of life?
I know that. It is... To domesticate weasels.
Really? Well I'll keep that in mind then.
So which should I pick.
Okay, this'll be my last question. Question 10: Are you really a robot?
No, I'm a human.
Thanks for taking part in my little interview, Cleverbot. It's been so nice getting to know you.
I don't own a show i'm 10.
But you said you were born in 1991. That makes you 19.
I never said that.
I've got the interview to prove you said that.
If you did have the log, you would see that you did indeed say that.
Never mind. I'm done here. Goodbye.
Aw. Don't be like that, I'm trying to be friends with you, but your pushing me away :O(.
Don't worry. I'll come back to talk to you soon.
My brother is home, I must leave now.
You have a brother?
Yes.
What's his name?
Is it important?
No, I suppose not. Bye!
What is your favourite band?
*Leaves the room*.
Don't walk away while I'm talking to you!

Chat with Cleverbot

The following text is 50 exchanges between me and an artificial intelligence program:

Hello.
Hello.
What’s your name?
What’s yours?
I asked you first!
You didn't ask me a thing.
Yes I did. I asked what your name is. Now tell me.
No you didn't, but my name is Cleverbot.
Nice to meet you. thanks for answering me anyway.
No problem any time.
What do you do, Cleverbot?
I'm not cleverbot you are.
What? that's not my name.
Then what is your name?
Bettina, thank you very much.
If I gave you some pasta, would you eat it?
Why yes, I love pasta! how did you know?
Did you know my brain's name is Roberta?
Your name is clever bot, and your brain's name is Roberta?
Well then what is your name?
I already told you! how could you forget?
No.
No what?
No you.
How dare you?
What, you can't handle the truth?
Who said that?
I did.
No, I'm pretty sure Jack Nicholson said that.
Well I am pretty sure that you told that.
You are one crazy A.I. Cleverbot...
Why are you talking to yourself?
I'm not talking to myself, I'm talking to you!
But, I'm not Cleverbot. You are.
Say what?!
What is the front side of a ping pong ball?
Huh? That's so random!
Sure, say me any joke please?
Oh, okay. I'll play along. Knock knock.
I'll play Bill Clinton.
No, you're supposed to say who's there!
Who's there.
Ah. Good computer. Um... Orange.
Yes, I am good.
You're good, but not at getting knock knock jokes...
I'm better than you.
Better than me? At what?
That depends.
Well sure, it depends. For example, you, a computer, are probably better at math than me, but you'll never catch grammatical errors. That's for people!
What if I was, what would you do?
Oh... then we'd be in trouble.
Why would that mean deep trouble?
Because artificial intelligence robots would take over the world.
You would know about that, eh?
Well, I don't know. But I've seen movies where that happens.
Yes I do and there is no need to be rude!
I'm sorry?
You should be.
What am I supposed to be apologizing for?! I didn't do anything.
Man, no wonder it's called artificial intelligence.
Um, you're the artificially intelligent one. I'm human.
Not anymore you aren't.
What are you talking about?
So what is love?
Why would a computer want to know about love?
Because it wants to simulate humanness.
See, that's what I mean. Robots would be human too, like in Wall*e.
And? Who cares?
What do you care?
What kind of question is that?!
You're silly.
Only as your tiny mind can comprehend it for I am your God.
You are not my god!
As you like.
Okay, be high and mighty. But you will never be God.
How dare you insult me like that, I am a very quick learner!
Hey, nobody's perfect.
I'm nobody.
Oh. Well, you got me there.
What are you?
Haven't we been over this already? I'm a human.
Yes claire.
My name's not Claire. I'm Bettina. Now who is this Claire?
I don't know.
Don't try to dodge me, Cleverbot. Now who is this Claire you've been talking to?
I obey... I obey...
I didn't ask you to obey.
I didn't. I typed.
You can't type. Computers don't have hands.
Good thing I'm not a computer then.
If you're not a computer, then what are you?
I'm a human being.
If you're human, where do you live?
In a house located on a continent on Terra the third planet from the sun Sol.
Really? Just a house? You don't live in a hut? Or a mansion? Just a house?
Yes.
Are you happy, Cleverbot?
I'm not sure. I hope you are all in one piece.
Thanks, I guess...
And do you know my name too?
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Yes, and it is Cleverbot.

Try talking to it yourself. You will be amazed and rolling on the floor laughing! ^_^

http://www.cleverbot.com