Vampires Are Sucking The Life Out Of ME!!! No, really...

I've already admitted that I've been swept up in the Twilight Saga phenom. But I've also, thanks to Tia's recommendation, spent a whole weekend watching the entire first season of BBC's Being Human on MegaVideo because I don't get BBC America from my cable provider. Jerks. Following that, I read ALL FOUR Vampire Diaries Books in two days. And I have become addicted to the show on CW.

For the record, I'm pro-Stefan. But Damon can stick around.

Anyways, I wanted to take a moment to talk about the books. So far they are not much like the show. In the show, Elena Gilbert is popular but not entitled, stands by her principles, and is confident. She is a brunette, she has a brother, and just the one best friend (Bonnie). In the books she is blonde, arrogant (at more than one point even referring to herself as the "Queen of the School"), and, frankly, kind of annoying. She has two best friends (Meredith and Bonnie), and a baby sister. In both the books and the show, Bonnie has psychic powers. The similarities sort of end there.

Once you get past the annoying personality of Elena in the books, however, they are pretty good. At first they seem to be copying Twilight (even though they preceded Twilight by 14 years). However, the further you get into them the more different they are.

There are four books in the first series from the early 90's: The Awakening, The Struggle, The Fury, and Dark Reunion. However, there is a new series in progress called The Return which has one book, Nightfall, which was released in February of this year, and two more that are still being written.

I've just started reading Nightfall, and so far it is very bizarre. I'm tempted to just stop reading, but I know I wont. However, I would recommend stopping after the first series, at least until the rest of this series is released.

Also, if you have NOT watched the show, my favorite episode so far is last week's "162 Candles." I'll bet that if you start with that one it will draw you in. If you are a girl. If you are a guy, well, that's another story.

Lesson Burned, Lesson Learned?

Have I told you about the large intrusive guy that sits in front of me in one of my classes? No?

Remember the guy in Mean Girls that sits in front of LaLohan? The smelly kid who farts? Well, this guy looks nothing like him. He's not what you would typically assume to be the smelly kid. But due to what I can only assume is some recent digestive issues, he has released gas in class nearly every day for the past month.

Not only is it stinky, but for the first week or so, everyone sitting behind me thought it was me.
That has been cleared up, I assure you.

Now, not only is he smelly, but he's also very large. He's not fat, by any means, but he is tall and broad. And though he is not my type at all, most would label him as attractive. However, with his massive size comes some discomfort on my part.

He stretches and leans backward and invades my personal space. He also often sits sideways in his seat and rests his arm on my desk, taking up about half my desk space. I strongly considered placing adhesive to the top half of my desk (and possibly some thumb tacks facing upwards).

Then, about two weeks ago, I brought a hot tea to class. I set it on my desk, and for a split second I even thought to myself, 'you know, if he leans back it will mean disaster.' I intended to move my tea to the floor where it would be safe, but the prof began speaking and I soon forgot. Not ten minutes later, it happened.

I remember in slow motion seeing him leaning backwards. Then I think I went into shock. The next thing I remember is sitting there staring at my notebook which is slowly soaking up the steamed milk.

(My friend told me I tried to reach for it and had impressively quick reflexes, but I remember none of it.)

Everyone around me started jumping up and grabbing towels and moving the rest of my things out of the way while I sat there staring at the mess. It wasn't until I realized my legs and stomach were scalding that I actually stood up.

The hallway carpets had been cleaned that morning and there were high powered dryers still set out, so someone put my tea stained back pack in front of one of them.

My friend ushered me into the bathroom, where I took off my pants and tried to get them as dry as possible. My legs and my stomach were bright red.

An older lady walked in and saw me in my underwear. She laughed and said, "Oh, you girls!" I wasn't really sure what that meant.

I returned back to my class (with my pants on) and the guy gave me a dollar for another tea.

Anyways, I figured (hoped) that this occurrence would possibly teach him to keep his appendages and the likes in his own personal space.

I was wrong. Luckily, I only have two weeks left of sitting behind him.

Update

So, I know it has been a while since I have posted on the happenings in my life. Partly because my life is mostly uneventful, and partly because I don't think people actually CARE what my day to day is. However, since the last time I really put a lot of effort into this blog was back in July, I have decided to tell you a little bit about myself.

I went to college in California (1 year in San Diego and 3 years in LA). I graduated last May with a degree in Film (Screenwriting), but, in fact, have no desire to go into Hollywood or, as it is, write screenplays. I haven't completely tossed aside the idea of screenwriting, I just don't feel I'm very good at it and it is not something I want to focus my energy on at the moment. This does not mean, however, that my education was a waste because everything I learned helped me reach this decision and, of course, broadened my experience and knowledge.

I want to be a novelist. I know that is a general statement and that a lot of people "say" they want to be novelists but don't ever do anything about it. Well, hopefully, I am not one of them. I am working on a novel right now and am also prepping for this year's NaNoWriMo, YAY!

After graduation, I moved back home with my parents. Yes, I returned to the good 'ole nest. Illinois. Close to Chicago but not in it. But also not in a cornfield, I thank you.

I have a total of TWO friends in town with whom I am actually still in contact with from high school. They are both guys. Neither of them really get me. So you could say I am a bit lonely.

My four best gal pals are all far away from me: one in grad school four hours away, one finishing up her Bachelors three hours away, and two back in California. Luckily, the one finishing her Bachelors will graduate in about a month and a half and will move back here (She'd better, anyway, or I will be a very sad little Jo). But I guess that's what I get for deciding to go halfway across the country for college.

I'll be going back to school for an MA in English in January. I never thought I would be able to afford grad school but the school I'm going to is quite inexpensive compared to my undergrad. I'm excited, and also kind of nervous. I take the GRE this Thursday. Wish me luck.

When I am not preparing for going back to school, I substitute teach. And when I am not substitute teaching, I am at home catching up on ALL the shows I didn't watch when I was too busy studying in college. And I make lots of crafty things (like awesome movie poster collaged shelves I built for my multitude of books).

Speaking of books. I have too many. My current, but incomplete, count is 205. I went a little crazy at the used book store. I have yet to read all the books I own. In fact, its almost a bad omen for a book when it's not purchased by itself.

Anyways, there's a little bit of an update. Don't want to give too much away right off the bat.

Vampire's Assistant

So, on Friday night I went to see Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant with my one of my favorite persons EVER, whom I dont get to see much anymore as I have moved half a country away.

The movie was....well....I don't really know what I can say about it. I wasn't sure what to expect going into it. Was it a drama? A comedy? A spoof? It seemed like it was supposed to be a dramedy, but given John C. Reilly's resume, I was afraid it wasn't supposed to be taken seriously.

Throwing all confusion aside, however, I found it quite enjoyable. Now, I am far from calling myself a qualified critic, because despite my degree in film, I tend to find it very difficult not to like a movie. It has to be awful. Or boring. I can have issues with certain aspects of some movies, but if I leave the theater mostly happy then I'm good to go.

Anyway, The Vampire's Assistant is a tale of two boys who disobey their parents and go to a freak show where they meet a vampire. They are then enticed by opposite sides of a war going on between the Vampires (mostly good guys) and the Vampanese (the baddies). There's some love, there's some funnies, and there's Salma Hayek with a beard.

It's a great Halloween movie, lots of fun. And I have to note that the opening credit sequence is the best one I've seen since Casino Royale. (You know what I'm talking about.)

My Niece is a Nose Biter

Except that she's cute, and does NOT in fact remind me of the Penguin from Batman Returns.

Talking When Nobody's Listening

For those of you who don't live in places with seasons (California, I'm talking to you), the months of May through August are heavy with construction. This means that basically every road has little orange cones up and slower speed limits.

In residential areas, when those little orange cones take up a third of the street, its just not wide enough for two cars to fit through. So you have to take turns.

Today I was let through first by a gentleman, and as I passed him I waved and said, "thank you." My window was up and so was his. He couldn't hear me.

Why do we do that? (Talk when no one can hear us?) I know I'm not the only one. Some people get frustrated and yell at other drivers. Some people, confused by what another driver is doing might say, "come on buddy." I, personally, catch myself saying, "go ahead" when at a four way stop, without actually waving the person on. And then there's the hesitant inching forward, then stopping to let someone go, only to have them doing to same thing, so you don't really know WHO is going to go but you're both waving each other on.

I think it's really funny that we talk alone in our cars. I used to think it would be smart to install CV radios in all cars and you could just automatically tune in to whoever is around you. That way you could say things like, "hey you go ahead, you look like you're in a hurry," or, "excuse me, but could you please let me through, I'm in a hurry," or, "could you please leave some room on the right so that I can pull into the turn lane? Thanks," or "GET OUT OF THE WAY, MY BRAKES ARE OUT!"

But then I realized what a bad idea that would be after all, because it would probably increase road rage and ultimately cause more problems. Like the two cars that stopped in front of me on my way to lunch the other day. Both drivers got out of their cars and got into a full on contest to see who could yell the F-bomb louder. It was amusing, but I was late for lunch.

So anyway, that was just a random thought of the day. I've been doing more research for my novel and reading up on preparation. Someone had posted a link to this blog, Bibliophile Stalker, which has a bunch of excellent links for writers and readers alike. Check it out.

Sometimes its not about what's on the bookshelf...

It's about the bookself itself.

The past couple of weeks have been my DIY crafty weeks. I rearranged my room and realized, well, I just didn't have enough space for the massive amount of books and DVDs I've collected throughout college.

(I shipped 12 boxes from California, if that tells you anything.)

So, I bought some wood boards, sanded them down, and pasted some movie posters around them. Then I mounted them to my wall. They look pretty freakin sweet if I do say so myself. I will post some pictures eventually, you know, when I take some.

In the meantime, I thought I'd show some of these awesome shelves I discovered while searching for ideas.

 I still want to get this one and put it on my dresser.

And I love this. It would go really well with the colors in my room, but I don't really know where I would put it.

Same with this one, it's cool too, but no place to put it.

This one is just...pretty.

This, I will totally do. Someday.

And this. Which just makes my heart sing.

I'll try and get some pics up of my shelves.