This might be a long one...

Yeah, sorry for not blogging here for almost another week, guys. I know I keep putting up book reports, so that must make you happy, but I still feel a bit guilty for not writing here. A lot of cool stuff has been taking place in my life. Maybe some bad stuff too, but lots of good stuff, don't worry. Maybe I better tell you the bad news, just to get it over with...

On my writing day of the 6th, I didn't work very hard on my book. Only put in less than 2 hours, and I don't think I did good. I couldn't even give myself the excuse that at least I'd done some writing at all. And on the 7th, somehow I never even wrote at all! Can you believe it? It was the 7th, and I didn't make myself sit at the computer and produce any helpful words for my story. Right now I forget what else I was doing.

Hmmm, but I think in the morning, instead of doing my work, I was having a reading marathon, trying to finish The Hunger Games, which, granted, was a very good book and I was almost finished. See my review of it. It's the last book that I use that rigid form on.

Anyway, I didn't do much else. I don't know why, but I couldn't make myself write! That evening my siblings and I tried hanging out at our outdoor town center, because there was supposed to be this free weekend thing where lots of teenagers come to hang out or whatever. Since we're home schooled, all those teenagers probably know their friends from school, while we know no one. Sometimes I feel funny around people my own age. I feel a lot easier around grown-ups or babies, or even animals, but it's hard for me to get teens, even if my sister and I are 17.

We had pizza (which was too thin and cheesy and will never compare to our pizzas) and I tried flirting at a guy I saw, but I guess it didn't work. My version of flirting is trying my best to make eye contact and smile. But I'm too shy to keep it up. I need more practice. At the same time, I thought the night was a lame, yet maybe hopeful one. I can try better next time. It was certainly better than last Friday, when there was absolutely no one to be found. It was pretty cold then.

So I felt pretty frustrated with myself when I got home. I was really down in the dumps then, thinking I couldn't write and I couldn't make any friends and I would be lonely all my life except for Annette. But in hindsight, everyone needs those kind of times. You need to get very low in order to feel the high, happy stuff. Sure, the SNL episode that night was lame, but I was thrilled when they said the Jonas Brothers would be the musical guests next week, and that Alec Baldwin would be hosting. Can't wait for that. Hey, what can I say? I'm a girl. I love Jo Bros.

If you've read this far, then thanks for being such a good friend. Oh yeah, I guess I forgot how easy I am around virtual people. It's physical strangers my age I'm not sure about. Anyway, I bet you guys need a break. Here's an intermission of cute, silly animal pictures I found on Google Images. Just wait a bit while I go look for them...

Now, I'm not going to bother with the entire week I missed, because only yesterday was a really good one. Oh, but maybe I should tell you that a bit early on in the week, I and the blogger known as J. N. Future Author decided to become Team Members of each other's secondary blogs. So now I can put up funny pictures and, eventually, Jacoby will give his own book reviews. When he's not trying to reach his 100th post, that is. Yeah.

So yesterday I was very productive. I may not have written, but Annette and I studied for the SAT for a while, and then we started putting together a new Leslie and Kyle webisode on Windows Movie-Maker. It's a Valentines Day special, which will air on Feb. 14, of course. And no, don't go thinking that the puppets are going to go all mushy on each other. You'll see, it'll be funny and clean. Then I took pictures of the ginormous zucchini, which I saved as a post on Picture Perfect. Hopefully Jacoby will give it the okay soon and publish it.

I've been reading a book called The Last Invisible Boy, which, despite my suspicions, is a pretty nice book. I'll write a review on it sometime soon, since I'm almost done with it. Besides getting stuff from the market, my mom and brother also swung by the library and picked up 4 heavy books I'd had on reserve, one of which is the Twilight sequel, New Moon! I'm definitely going to dive into that book next. I can't wait.

Last night was probably the most fun though. It was movie night again, and there were a load of options this time. We could have seen Bedtime Stories, or Marley and Me, but we all went to see the hilarious Yes Man.

Jim Carrey is absolutely the best. This is now my all-time favorite Jim Carrey movie. So many funny stuff. I don't want to reveal too much, because it's so much funnier when it's a surprise, but it was really awesome. Jim does so much cool stuff when he says Yes to things. I'm sorry to blab this, but he goes to a friend's Harry Potter costume party and it is so funny! For that part alone, HP fans have got to see this movie. Also, in the very end, when the credits are rolling, he does this cool thing where he skates with his body downhill. It looks like a totally awesome extreme sport.

When we got home, I also saw 3 fantastic YouTube videos that I really want to share with you, but instead of embedding them here and taking up a load of space, I'll just give you their links. This is for a song that was in Yes Man that I really liked, Jumper. The next is for a very good trailer of Coraline. If you're going to avoid trailers like James Dashner, than don't watch it, but I really liked it, and I think it's worth watching anyway. I'm subscribed to the YouTube channel ImprovEverywhere, and they came up with this awesome clip. It really makes you feel good.

And now I am very nearly done with this ultra long post. Thanks for sticking it out. Those who've reached this point are my closest friends. I'll try to work extra hard on this Writing Day, but I'm starting to question the importance I put on writing on a stupid schedule. Also stay tuned for probably another long post, although that one has to be long because it's so personal. Don't worry, you'll see. Or maybe you won't see, because you're so tired of reading this giant post. But I hope you'll stick with me, being my closest friends and all. Please? Stay tuned.

George Carlin is Hilarious!

Tonight I saw a seriously super funny DVD! Do you guys have any idea who George Carlin is? When I was very young, George Carlin meant the funny, raspy voice that sometimes narrated Thomas the Tank Engine episodes instead of Ringo Starr, who I liked better (he's a Beatle, for one thing). Before seeing this stand-up routine of his, the best thing I knew him for was doing the voice of the VW bus Filmore in the Pixar film Cars. Not anymore!

This was a routine of his called Jammin' in New York. Trust me, you've got to check this out if you have any appreciation for humor and stand-up comedians. George is hil-ar-i-ous! Of course, you've got to watch out for the language he throws out there, like f... and s... and body parts, but if you tune all that stuff out and just focus on the jokes he tells, he is the funniest guy ever! I'm 17, so I don't mind language like that so much. I don't use it myself, but I tolerate it. It's just words, after all. Words, like anything else. You can percieve those words any way you want to.

But really, after finishing watching this movie, I just felt so good! So energised! You know why? Because I laughed so hard! I honestly can not remember a time that I've laughed so much! At one point I was lying on the floor, tears straming from my eyes, and I was, like, laughing that silent laugh where you're laughing so hard that it no longer comes out! It's a hysterical thing! And it makes other people laugh equally hard to see you laughing your heart out, because that kind of laughter is contagious! Honestly, it was as if I was being tickled inside, except it felt better, oh so much better! I didn't want to stop laughing because it felt so much fun, but finally I felt I had to stop because we'd paused for long enough and I had to see what else the guy did.

George Carlin is soooo funny. I don't think anyone has gotten such a big rise out of me in such a long time. Not SNL's recent episodes, not the comedies I've seen lately. With those I make a little titter, by comparison, or a little smile, signifying "Oh, yeah, I get that joke, ha ha." This guy's stand-up was hilarious. I could have died laughing and been the happiest person in the world. (Wait a minute, what am I saying? That isn't totally true. I still haven't been published!)

He talks on a large range of subjects, like the little things we have in common with each other, (you know how you're walking down stairs and you think there's an extra step? How about when you fall asleep in the afternoon and you wake up when it's dark and you think it's yesterday?) or what's wrong with the airline system, (I don't want to get on the airplane! I'd rather be in one, wouldn't you? And thanks very much for teaching me to use a seatbelt!) and even about the environment. Near the end he sounded almost philosophical, but he's so funny. He was definitly a fun guy to be around.

The only thing that makes me sad is remembering that George Carlin is dead. Hard to believe it was only last summer (or Yellow Season, as I like to call it). I love this guy's sense of humor, and it's incredible how quickly and effectively I took to his jokes. It's all the more unfortunate that he'll never come up with something fresh again. But it also makes me more grateful that we have this kind of material on DVD. To be borrowed from the library at any time. I wish I owned a copy. It would be the best medicine against sickness or blueness.

Everyone who reads this should seriously look into getting this movie and seeing it with a close friend or your family and have a great, fun laugh. If you're anything like me, you will not regret it, I promise. Phew! I've written a long post. I didn't mean to ramble for so long. But if my words somehow cause you to go out and seek this George Carlin routine, then I suppose I've done my job! See ya tomorrow!

My various thoughts

Right now I'm at the library computer, writing this post like I'm hitting typewriter keys. The keyboard is so annoyingly bulky. Anyway, I got 3 new books just now. You'll hear about them in my book blog, I'm sure. I just wanted to catch you guys up on my thoughts.

For example, yesterday we made great pizzas, this time with cheese, and yellow tomatoes. Since I'm at the library I can't put up the picture I took of one of my slices, but I'll do it later when I get home. They were really good. I appreciate them more since we decided we'd make them only once a month on the first tuesday. Also for our movie night, we'd originally wanted to see 7 pounds, with Will Smith, but it was sold out. Bolt and The Day the Earth Stood Still (TDtESS) were also playing, but it was hard for the 5 of us to decide which to see. Finally, our mom went to see Bolt with Adam while Annette and I saw TDtESS with our dad.

That was a really good movie, in my opinion. It stars Keanue Reeves, from the Matrix and also has Jaden Smith (at least we got to see a Smith) and John Cleese plays a cameo. I don't want to reveal too much of the movie (I want to be like Dashner Dude and not give much away) but it's a remake from 1951 and it was so good that I want to see the original. I've already reserved it.

Today was a Writing Day, but I don't think I did so good. I only worked for a couple hours. Then again, I shouldn't beat myself up. At least I actually did work. Though I didn't put in as much time as I would have liked, I think I did good work on rewriting an action scene. I made it so there's an extra character in it. I'd like to talk about my book more, but I'm just not in the mood right now. I've got two other Writing Days on the 6th and 7th. Maybe then.

My dad has expressed that I should do my writing on another computer, besides the one I usually use. This Dell laptop is really good, and very quick. But we also use the laptop for working on the language program and such. Our Sony, on the other hand, is rarely used anymore. We moved all the pictures on it to the Dell, to save space. It's got a slow connection and it sometimes has a problem with the screen. Like, this jagged line starts dancing in the middle of it if you accidentally shake it or something. You know what I'm talking about? Anyway, despite all it's quirks, I've decided to put my book document on the Sony and work on it there. I emailed it to myself before we had to go to the library.

Besides my 3 pieces of fiction, Annette and I are checking out a huge SAT practice book. The one we reserved was taking muuuuch to long to come in, and the closest test is in March. We'll have to get down to some hard studying. I took the test before in November, but didn't do so good as I would have liked. Annette neither. So we're gonna take it again and see how we do. I'm not sure whether I'll decide to go off to college or not. I don't know where I'd go, except I once dreamt of going to Harvard. You need to be veeeery smart though, and I don't know about that kind of life for me anyway. There're other routes I can take, if only I can decide how I want to spend my future. Besides publishing a novel, I'm not sure what I want to do with my life. I know I'd like to travel a lot...

But I'll leave the future where it belongs. I want to be back in the present. Yikes, I'm down to 15 minutes in my session. So, I had a couple ideas for alternate titles for my blog. I have Bettina's Books, so maybe Bettina's Blog? Bettina's blah blah blog? The Pink Place? Pinky's Corner? My mom suggested Tina the Page Turner. Get it? Tina Turner? Bettina? Forget it. Hmm, maybe something to do with my book? Like Magenta Majik or something? Give me your opinions.

Personally, I'm pretty attached to My first blog...ever. So Ezra, maybe you can change yours?

Jacoby, I just want to say, in the nicest and friendliest way possible, that you're not excused from showing me your prologue. I would still like very much to see it. I think that's everything. So I'll post the pizza picture later when I'm home. See ya!

Edit~~~ I'm home now, so here it is! Don't start drooling on your computer now!

New Picture

Today I decided to update my Profile picture. It's nearly been two months anyway, and besides, my old photo was from months ago, when my family took a trip to Boston. This new pic makes me look a lot more mature. What do you think? (Old one on left, New one on right.)

I'm also debating whether or not I should change my blog title. My first blog...ever? It's been my first blog for a while now. And I suppose it's not even true, because I wrote a tiny blog while working on the Obama campaign. I just didn't think much of it, and I didn't make any friends with it, so it got erased from my short term memory.

Anyway, I see that Brian's brother, Ezra, decided to call himself First Blog Ever, or something really close to that. (Did he get that from me, or is it a coinky-dink?)

So what do you guys think? Keep my first blog...ever? or something else?

Superbowl XVIII and other news

Last night, history was made. Football history. I may not be a huge football fan, but I always look forward once a year to watching the Super Bowl.

It was really good, and I had a lot of fun at the party I attended to see it. Good food (4 slices of pizza. Not as good as ours though, which we'll have tomorrow) and sweet cats. There was a gray cat named Mouse (funny), an orange one without a tail named Spaz, and an adorable orange kitten that didn't really have a name, but we called him Mo. Mo was fun to hold.

Anyway, back to the historical Super Bowl. For those who didn't get to stay up long enough to see it (I know most of you have school today, unlike me, because I'm home-schooled. Ha! Did you see it, Lonnie?), or just plain weren't intrested, it was the Arizona Cardinals VS. the Pittsburg Steelers. Annette and I rooted for the Cardinals, because we used to live for a time in Pheonix, before Adam, our brother, was born. Adam was for the Steelers, because President Obama apparently wanted them to win. Looks like Barack picked the good team. The Steelers ended up winning 27-23. Good thing I didn't put any money on the Cardinals. ^,^

Watching the game was really fun though, even if Arizona didn't win. Both teams played so well, and the whole thing was suspenseful. The commercials were good too. My favorite one was with Mr. and Mrs. Potato-Head driving and Mrs.'s mouth comes off. It was cool when we got to wear 3-D glasses after half-time. A preview for the film Monsters VS. Aliens (Hmm, looks sorta okay) and a commercial for something else, where everyone is dancing, like lizards and monsters from the above movie. There was also a preview for the Pixar movie Up. I don't know so much about that. I loved Wall*E a whole lot, but I think this looks like it'll be so-so. I really loved the musical performances. Jennifer Hudson singing the national anthem? Wowee-wow-wow! What a rendition! The music behind her really made it. And Bruce Springsteen? So awesome. Especially all the perfectly timed fireworks and his trick with the guitar at the end.

Alright, I'm done with raving. It was a great night, let's keep it at that. In other news, Feb. 4 will be my first Writing Day, so watch out. The movie Coraline will come out very soon, and for everyone who hasn't already seen Dashner Dude's latest post, Dark Infinity has been moved up a week! So exciting. I commented the Dude immediatly, and very soon after he commented me back, which was really cool and nice. I notice that there will be a Friday the 13th this month. Ooooh! Watch out for bad luck! Just kidding. I don't believe in that old superstition myself.

Side note: How's the grounded status, Jacoby? Owh aubot em rinadeg yuor pgourole, ro yuor oehtr wnigtris? Pesale? Seomimte tihs mntoh, mybae?

Another side note: Recently we uploaded a new version of our language program, which allows the user to mix up the order of the letters. A good feature for checking if you really know your ABCs. We still don't have letter sounds for Greek or Arabic, and we didn't animate Cyrillic yet, so sorry ahead of time. There's nothing wrong with your speakers. BTW, don't try mixing up the numbers. There's a bit of a bug there, so it gets really messy. (Hmm, now that I told you not to, are you going try it anyway? Because you really shouldn't. The effect is not pretty. Really, don't try it! Don't let reverse psychology work on you! Darn it.)

Okay, I'm signing off now. I'll write again soon. See ya!