"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? ^_^

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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? ^_^