The End of BEDA

Last day of BEDA!!!!! It could not have come at a better time. This week brings 3 midterms and a performance, so I am ready to get through it. It has mostly been fun doing this though. Once again I learned some new skills. I finally learned how to take a screenshot. I got better at cropping pictures. I learned that I can usually think of something to write.

I'm glad I stuck through BEDA this April. It was a great experience, especially since I (hopefully) will be unable to do BEDA in August. Not because of anything bad. I applied to a trip that takes place in August, so if I get to go (crossing fingers) I will be traveling internationally, and won't always have reliable internet, and thus would be unable to do BEDA for all of August. So, let's hope that this is my last BEDA for a year.

I'm going back to my old schedule of blogging Tuesdays and Saturdays. See you... oh come on tomorrow? Really? Can I please wait until Saturday to restart my schedule? Please? Especially since April started on a Sunday, so I posted March 31, then April 1 already. Yeah, I'm skipping tomorrow. See you Saturday.

Crafts and Chemistry

Today there was an event at my school where various clubs had arts and crafts activities for kids. I was there volunteering with the chemistry club. Unfortunately, not that many kids showed up. My guess as for why? It was an outdoor event on a very windy day. We had to weight almost everything down, and were just generally cold throughout.

Then again, it's possible that the goal was to attract few children. I honestly can't think of another reason for the person in charge of creating the playlist for the event to put "I'm Sexy and I Know it" on the playlist, much less for who ever was in charge to let it play in full.

Anyway, here are some pictures.

Coffee Filter Chromatography:

Draw on a coffee filter with marker, and then brush with water.
Black marker is especially cool.

Stained Glass Glue:

Mix glue with a little water. Add a drop or two of food coloring. Touch  a toothpick into some dish detergent, then touch that toothpick to the food coloring in the glue.

Tomorrow is the last day of BEDA! Whoo!

3 Wishes

If a genie popped into my room this instant and offered me three wishes, here's what I'd wish for.

1. A complete understanding of C++

2. To not be sick.

3. More hours in the day.

Ah to be done with midterms.

Ravenclaw Scarf-DONE!

So a little while ago I posted about a knitting project I was working on. I was working on a Ravenclaw scarf. Then I stopped after a while, partially because I was yet to get into Pottermore and didn't want to waste more time on a scarf for what might be the wrong house. Then I got sorted into Ravenclaw, so I finished the scarf.

Picture time!

I was going to retake this picture so you could see my face, but then I decided to make my mom happy and leave my face out.

I still have a skein of each color left. I'm trying to think of a project for them. Socks maybe. I'll see what I can find.

A Busy TV Year

So I was just about to take a study break to watch an episode of Alias, when I realized something. Alias is one of many shows that a year ago I had never seen an episode of. And, at the rate I'm going it will soon be one of many shows that a year ago I'd never seen an episode of, but that I've now seen in it's entirety.

What other shows are on this list you ask?
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Angel
Dollhouse
Wonderfalls
Sherlock

By the way, on a related note, I have never seen an episode of Law and Order (or any of it's incarnations). The closest I've come is catching the last minute or so while waiting for a different show to come on, which I don't think counts as watching it. I think it's especially impressive/weird given how frequently it's on TV. I'm probably not going to get tonight's episode of Community.

A Notsome Start

So today it was raining when I left for class. I assumed that the reason the back of my legs were wet was because of the rain. It turns out that my water bottle lid wasn't fully screwed on. As I walked, it was spilling on me. I then got to sit on what quickly turned into a wet chair for two hours.

The rest of the day was better, but it wasn't a great start.

This post has a title

So I keep trying to do work. But then I remember that I could be watching this:



or this(NSFW):



Both are songs from Holy Musical B@man! the new Starkid musical, available in it's entirety on youtube. All their musicals are great.

Also, for people who like Pride and Prejudice there's another video project you should check out:


Happy viewing!

Enjoying it While I Can

Next week I have 2-3 midterms and have to perform a short story. This week however, I have no midterms. So I'm trying to enjoy this week, while also trying to get ahead for next week...which isn't enjoyable. Sigh.

11 O'Clock

11 O'Clock (A Poem)
It's eleven o'clock.
I almost forgot
to do BEDA.

But now I'm here.
So you see my dear
I'll do a real post later.

Based on or Inspired by?

I don't always react well to movie adaptations (coughharrypottercough). However, I love what I'll call "alternate stories", things like modern day retellings, stories from minor characters points of view, things like that. Obviously, there are going to be differences, sometimes dramatic ones but I don't mind them as much in these cases.

I think the main difference is whether I go in expecting it to be dramatically different, or if I go in expecting it to be faithful.

For example, when I watch Once Upon a Time on TV, I expect the fairy tales to be different from what I know. In fact, I'd be disappointed if they didn't change the story. As long as there are familiar elements though, I'm happy. This is because (as I define it) Once Upon a Time is inspired by fairy tales. The Harry Potter movies on the other hand are based on the Harry Potter books and therefore should have a greater level of fidelity.

To be clear, I understand that when some thing is based on another work, changes will occur between mediums. These things I don't mind. As long as the information is given to the audience, the exact method may change.

 For example, if The Hunger Games had been completely faithful to the book (and on the most part it was actually), most of the movie would be voice over, as the book is narrated by Katniss. While voice overs can be done effectively, the movie would be less interesting if most of it was Katniss walking and explaining something. However, there was still vital information that needed to be told to the audience. As an example, in the book Katniss explains what tracker jackers are when she encounters them. In the movie, Ceasar Flickman and Claudius Templesmith who are acting as commentators for the viewers at home, explain them as part of the commentary. This is a change that makes sense within the context of the medium, but still keeps the story the same.

I also don't really have a problem with movies condensing events, or removing characters that don't have much to do with the story. Examples of this would be Bill and Fleur's wedding happening on Harry's birthday in the movie, even though it's not the same day in the book. In Hunger Games, the character of Madge is removed and the story is only slightly affected.

What annoys me in adapations that at based on, rather than inspired by, is when important subplots are removed, especially when the filmmakers add in sequences that make no difference to the story in their stead (I'm looking at you Harry/Hermione dance scene but no mention of Tonks being pregnant except for a mention of son in the next movie!).

By the way, I've been focusing on book/movie adaptations, but I know there are other adaptions. I remember seeing Little Shop of Horrors get turned into a musical. That was weird. Also, movies get video game adaptations, though I views those as inspired by, rather than based on.

I just wanted to touch on this, mainly to work through my own hypocrisy of complaining about changes in some adaptations, but loving things like Grimm, Once Upon a Time, Sherlock and others. Also, I hope this makes up for yesterday's lame post.

Like Seinfeld

This is a post about nothing and that was a show about nothing.
I don't have anything to say right now, but I won't fail BEDA. Tomorrow will be better I promise.

Plant Update

So remember how I had some flowers that I was growing last quarter?

Yeah, turns out if you leave potted plants alone for a week and a half with no one to water them and check on them they die. It just occurred to me that I never mentioned that so I thought I would. I came back from spring break and found my plant dead. I was very sad.

Pottermore!

So I finally got to join Pottermore the other day. Yay!

I've been having a lot of fun so far. Mostly just geeking out about the extra information from J.K. Rowling.

I was going through it a little slowly, until today. Today I went through chapters 5-7. Which means I now have a wand:

I've also been officially sorted into Ravenclaw!

Now I can finish my blue and bronze Ravenclaw scarf that I started last quarter and haven't touched in weeks. Yay!

Anyway, my username there is HazelSnidget6253, if you want to friend me there, or duel me or something. I still have to navigate my way around a little.

Let me know if you're on Pottermore, and if so, what your house is.

Wake Me Up Later

So today I managed to sleep through my alarm twice.

The first time was in the morning. I didn't wake-up until my first class was already underway.

Then I took a nap later and slept through my alarm as well, though the only real consequence was less time to eat dinner.

I'm so going to bed early tonight.

Geographic Diversity

A little while ago I was in line behind someone and I heard her talking very excitedly about an upcoming trip to New York City. My reaction, behind her in line was essentially trying to figure out why she was so excited. Then I remembered, not everyone grew up within a one hour radius of New York. Not everyone went there regularly to visit family. Thank you college for once again reminding me that we are all different. And for once again making me feel like an idiot.

Favorite Quotes

Some of my favorite quotes and why.

"Imaging the future is a kind of nostalgia...You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you'll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present." -Alaska Young Looking for Alaska pg. 54

This quote always resonated with me because I do spend a lot of time thinking about the future and imagining the life I'll have and who I'll be and who I'll be with, but I don't always spend that much time working towards it. I always assume I'll have time for it later. That's why events are always sneaking up on me. I spend so much time looking forward to events and counting down to them that it always takes me by surprise a little bit when said event actually arrives/occurs. And then it's done and I can look back on it. Nostalgia and looking ahead fill so much of my daily life that I do sometimes have to just focus on what is happening.

"The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice versa the bad things don't always spoil the good things and make them unimportant." -The Doctor Vincent and the Doctor


I love this quote so much. It's even under my face in my high school year book. I know that I can sometimes act like one bad thing has ruined my entire day, or like one good thing has made up for lots of unpleasant things and in that moment both can be true. But overall each adds to my life. Being sick one day won't suddenly mean that my whole life is terrible, and having everything go my way another day won't change the fact that I've experienced disappointments. But the sorrows give the good times perspective and the good times help to push through the bad. No one's life is just one thing.

Even More Baby Chicks and Science!

I went back to the Museum of Science and Industry today with some friends.

Foucault's Pendulum. 

We started in the storm science section.

Avalanche Simulation

Launching a hot air balloon.

Then we moved to the genetics area of the museum.

That black thing is a mouse.

Then it was time to see what we (somewhat) came for.

BABY CHICKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Without the weird color distortion from the glass.

Look how cute they are!!!!

With the weird color distortion from the glass.

Still really adorable!!!!!!!!

The back two were fighting. It was so cute.

The eggs in the other section, with some very newborn chicks in the back. Apparently there was a hatching chick, but I couldn't tell which egg it was.

There was an exhibit about people. There was a place where you could here what your voice would sound like as you aged. There was a section where you could play with sonar. And there was a section where you could select goals for your future.

I was amazed by both the number of things I wanted to do, and also by the number of things on the list I had done.

After that we came back to school and celebrated a successful navigation of the public transit system.

Totally Not Failing BEDA

Pretty much what it says up top. I don't have anything to share today. Tomorrow should be different. I should have things to talk about tomorrow. But not today. But I also didn't want to fail to complete BEDA. So yeah. This is the post for today.

Seriously, the only interesting thing I can think of is that I wore a dress today. I don't do that very often. So there's that.

I'll see you tomorrow.

It Will Never Stop

So I'm taking 5 classes this quarter. Most of you, who go/went to semester schools are probably thinking that this is not a big deal. However, on a quarter system normally only 4 classes are taken each quarter. Because we have three short quarters, instead of two long semesters. So anyway, 5 classes. What this basically means is that every time I think I have free time, and don't have work to do I'm wrong. There's always more problems sets to do, more textbooks to read, more tests to study for.

And, because I am smart, I have added to my workload my choosing to do BEDA. Plus another project I'm in the middle of and literally haven't touched for a month. And a scarf I'm knitting and could probably bind off but I want it to be longer. And I just volunteered for another non-school project. 

But you know what? As much work as there is, as intense and stressful as it is, I like it. I like always having something to work on. Having multiple things due means I can't convince myself that I have plenty of time before it needs doing. I actually have to get everything done.

So I'm going to go study for a midterm. Then I'll outline an essay (or two) and do my reading for another class tomorrow.

Evil Academy

Today it occurred to me that my classes are much more interesting if I pretend I'm learning how to be a supervillain and take over the world.

Macro Economics: One of the best ways to prevent rebellion of the peons is to maintain a stable economy that keeps them happy. 

Engineering Design and Communication: My group is doing a project that involves lasers. I could always use a laser death ray to smite those who try to incite rebellion. Additionally we have to do lots of teamwork activities. I can't get to the top alone, I'll have to work well with others to achieve my goal of ruling over anything.

Engineering Analysis 3-System Dynamics: The world runs on systems. Knowing how they work will enable me to best know what systems to destroy and how, as well as how to build new systems for my new world order.

Analysis and Performance of Literature: I'll need to make speeches to pacify the public and to encourage them to remember not to rebel. Also, being able to read into the written works of the citizenry will allow me to notice if someone is subtly trying to incite rebellion.

C++ Programming: Today we used a pretend ATM model to learn about programs calling functions. Knowing about programming will help me to hack into bank computers and ATMs to ensure funds for my world domination scheme. 

Disclaimer: I'm totally kidding. I have no plans to take over the world. I promise. Really. I would never lie about something like this.

Two Bad, One Good

I do not like today. Firstly, because I had an 8 AM class, which is a thing that now happens every Tuesday and Thursday, but you know, I'm still unhappy about. Just perpetually unhappy. Well not perpetually. But from 7:30 or so until class is over I'm pretty unhappy. Just to sink in how early this is, I usually get back to my room from this class the same time my roommate leaves for her first class. So that's the first bad. The second bad also has to do with my class schedule.

See, my campus is divided into north campus and south campus. Every single class I've taken this year up until this quarter has been on north campus. This quarter I have a class on south campus. Like, south, south campus. On Thursdays, I have plenty of time to get to this class, as I have class at 8, and then not again until the afternoon. On Tuesdays however, I have class up north, and then I have ten minutes of not class, and then I have class down south. On Thursdays, I walk over leisurely and it takes about 15 minutes to get there. The past two Tuesdays I've been able to make it on time by walking a little more quickly. Today however, my north class let out 5 minutes late. I was late to class. Luckily the teacher was having technological issues so class hadn't started ye, but still.

The good news however, is that I went to CVS and got Easter chocolate on sale, 50% off. I find it entertaining just how strict they are about defining something as "Easter" chocolate. I mean, I understand why the bunnies are half off, but there was a bag of Hershey's kisses that I wouldn't have thought counted had it not been stacked with the other items. The front of the bag had some flower pictures on it and the back of the bag had a small panel about a website with ideas to make Easter great. This qualified for the half off price. So, the good news is, I now have chocolate. So much chocolate. Which will come in handy when I need sugar to help me study for the two midterms I have this week. The two midterms I should get back to studying for.

Campus Ridiculousness

The food at my school is generally pretty good. There are plentiful vegan and vegetarian options. One of the dining halls has a kosher section. Something I only recently learned is that not every school offers kosher options in the dining hall. Many students have to rely on Hillel for all their meals. As this week is Passover, this week my school's Hillel is offering food to students at meals. This is good because I looked at the kosher dining hall's menu for the week and saw this:

That's right, the kosher section is serving bread. I don't understand why the kosher section wouldn't go kosher for Passover. It literally makes no sense to me. Especially since the dining hall I normally eat in, the same dining hall that served ham on Rosh Hashanah, has a special section of kosher for Passover food, just for this week.

Now, I admit, I haven't gone to eat in this other dining hall. It's entirely possible that the menu is inaccurate. But, even if this isn't what they're serving they should have someone go and edit the online menu to be accurate. Why do they want to send the message that this is what they serve during Passover?

Then again, today is one of the special admitted student days, when the campus is swarming with prospective students and their parents. Parents and students who are likely to pick up a copy of the school newspaper. A school newspaper that today, when there are lots of parents visiting, had this on the front page:

The bottom of the front page, below the fold. But still, the front page. On accepted student day. I love my school, I really do, but sometimes things like this happen and I just want to go like this:

I'm Very Very Sleepy

So having early morning classes is taking more out of me than I thought. If you know the feeling of being very giggilly when tired, that's been me for the past three hours. It's been causing concern in my friends. Good night.

First Seder Away From Home

Last night was the first night of Passover. It was also my first time at a Passover Seder not held by my family. Last year, I was traveling during Passover, so while I missed the family Seder, I didn't go to one either.

The Seder I attended was hosted by Hillel. One of my friends was attending it as well but otherwise, I didn't really know anyone there. Pretty much immediately I started noticing differences. There were circular tables set up separately, rather than rectangular circles set up together. Each table was plague themed, something I assumed would come into play later, but turned out to simply be decoration. The Haggadah was different than the one my family used, though I heard one girl say that it was the same one her family used.

Once the Seder started though, it didn't matter how different things were. Everyone sang along with the same melody for the four questions and everyone went around and took turns reading from the Haggadah. And everyone, and I mean everyone, looked forward to the matzo ball soup. Surprisingly, they ran out of soup, but still had matzo balls left. I was expecting it to got the other way.

After eating, everyone sort of agreed that we were ready to go, so we didn't technically finish the Seder, but as I walked home with my friend, looking at the full moon I sang Chad Gadya (sort of a Jewish "There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly") and thought of home. Happily, next year I should be home for Passover.

Book Suggestions 2

More great books! Also I just finished rereading the second book on this list.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I love this author and I love this book. The story is about a girl named Hazel who is living with cancer. She meets a boy named Augustus, who is a survivor of osteosarcoma, having lost a leg below the knee, at a support group for teens with cancer. I'm not going to lie. This book will make you cry. But it will also make you laugh. It will make you feel all the feels. Also, I want to be clear this is not a "cancer book". The book is well aware of the reputation of "cancer books" and takes a look at the realities and fictions held within. When you finish I recommend reading Looking for Alaska also by John Green. LFA was his first book, and it deals with many of the same themes as this book. It's something that, having read LFA, I didn't notice in this book (to be fair I hadn't read it in a while), but after reading TFiOS and then rereading LFA I noticed certain things that were similar, and also different takes on similar themes. Both books are beautifully written and deserve to be read.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

This title makes this book seem like silly fluff, but seriously, there's way more to it than just romance. While this book is a little more "fun" than the above (let's face it any book not about kids with cancer does that) it's still just as meaningful. The premise is that the main character, Anna, is spending her senior year at a French boarding school because her parents think it'll be a good experience. While she's resistant at first, she makes friends, enemies and, yes, falls in love...with a boy who has a girlfriend. And who her best friend has a crush on as well. This book is so funny, and takes so many great twists and turns. There are great friendships, great loves and great Parisian times for all. Seriously just ignore the title, though. When you're done there's also a sequel/companion called (again ignore the title) Lola and the Boy Next Door.

Clickers and Econ

Do you know what a clicker is? Basically it's a little remote control, and when the teacher posts asks a multiple choice, or true/false question you type in your answer and it gets submitted. Until this quarter I didn't need to have a clicker for class. But then I signed up for Econ. Where I was told that if I didn't have a clicker I would need to buy one. Specifically, this one:

So, I went and I bought one. It was bundled with some access code I needed to buy so I was able to get it on sale. And by that I mean it was $30, instead of $50. Anyway, I ordered it and it was sent to me. And then my teacher announced that it turns out these clickers aren't compatible with the clickers sold by our school, aka the type of clickers than a third of the class already shelled out $50 for.

Luckily she struck a deal with the other company. They would do a free trade, clicker for clicker. Being the Econ teacher that she is, my teacher spent part of today explaining why this company would give away this normally expensive product. Basically it boils down to the fact that by making it easier for our teacher to use their product this year, she'll be more likely to use the product in future years with more students.

The upshot is, I now have a clicker that looks like this:

I think this one is cuter.

Blink Watch-Along

So as I've mentioned once in a while, I'm a fan of Doctor Who. I thought it might be fun to rewatch one of my favorite episodes "Blink" with commentary. It's like live tweeting but not. *Warning: Mild Spoilers* I also think everyone should watch this and imagine that I'm there saying these things. Let's start!

0:13 Sneaking in, climbing over gates. To be fair it's a very climbable gate.
0:25 The sign says Danger, Keep Out and she's going in. She'll get along perfectly with the Doctor.
0:50 It's okay to break into someone's house if you're just taking pictures.
1:08 Don't worry, there isn't a single horror film where creepy things are written on the wall. You should keep exploring.
1:47 Okay usually murder house messages aren't personalized. Or so well timed.
2:18 Theme song time! OOOOEEEEOOOO dun-dun-dun-dun, dun-dun-dun-dun
3:05 There's the Doctor.
3:16 First mention of not blinking. I'm going to keep count.
3:45 Does she just make a habit of walking into other people's homes?
4:10 Hi Larry. Learning that pants mean underwear in England makes this scene better.
4:45 And we're back at the creepy house. At least it's day and she's not alone.
5:11 "It's happy for deep people." Kind of a emo hipster thing to say.
5:36 Don't be silly. Statues can't move.
6:12 I agree it's not a burglar but it's still creepy
6:55 He just shows up with a letter for you.
7:17 IT MOVED! IT MOVED! Creepy music.
7:40 Go Sally! Be direct.
8:22 Time travel.
8:48 And physical travel.
9:30 Not practically.
10:05 Well that's kind of a happy ending.
11:00 It's looking at you.
11:14 And now we can add thievery to the list. Lucky door slam.
11:51 They're watching you. In all the windows.
12:20 It seems like Kathy's taking the time travel much more in stride than a normal person would.
12:44 That's no way to speak of the dead, why is there another angel?
13:42 More Doctor!
14:13 She's already seen it, you don't need to cover up.
14:38 A work trip into the past.
14:51 I think you would know that for yourself.
15:54 "He just shows up where he's not supposed to." That pretty much sums up a lot of this show.
16:10 Don't dis the internet
16:30 Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey stuff
16:54 That's normally not going to help you with girls.
17:10 More coincidences. But seriously, some good advice.
18:00 She blinked! They're gone. They moved.
18:33 And that's when I start to love Billy Shipton.
18:57 Coolest mode of transport ever!
19:15 I can't hear you. There's nothing wrong with it.
19:30 I like the big question.
19:48 This is how you win over a woman.
20:13 Oh and you were being so coy too.
20:33 Something weird just happened. I'll explore. Another good potential companion.
21:21 Aaaaand blink.
22:04 Yep, he's gone.
22:10 He's actually here! Not just on a monitor.
22:41 "They kill you nicely." I'd rather not be killed at all to be honest.
22:58 "What in God's name are you talking about?" Pretty much everyone's reaction to me talking about this show.
23:00 "Nod when he stops for breath." I'm pretty sure this is the other reaction when I talk about Doctor Who.
23:10 I love this bit about the timey-wimey detector.
23:30 He's always sorry.
23:42 Good boy. He called quickly. Well sort of.
24:07 Sad face.
24:26 "It's the same rain."
25:00 There's about a 50% chance that's true and 50% chance that the Doctor's just being annoying.
25:41 Billy's kind of awesome.
26:18 NOOOOOOO! BILLY! WHY WOULD YOU TELL SOMEONE THAT DOCTOR?!?!
26:44 Dear Billy, I love you. That is all.
27:11 He was really THAT precise about when you would die? Really?
27:40 Sally's back in awesome mode.
27:53 A bit self-centered Sally. True, but self-centered.
28:29 Hi Doctor!
28:43 They're having a nice little conversation.
29:16 Go Martha!
29:56 Sally's just shutting him down.
30:34 It's less political and more literal.
31:06 Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey. The explanation for everything
31:25 I want that on a t-shirt.
32:14 That's kind of sad.
33:05 Three Don't Blinks, and one Blink and you're dead
33:24 It's back!
33:49 Two more!
34:12 The angels are smart locking it and everything.
34:27 He would not be a good companion. "Give them the key."
34:58 Personal space is so invaded right now.
35:20 That's right go into the cellar. You'll be safe there.
35:47 There's three more of them. Trap. Except they can't touch you
36:11 And now all four.
36:19 That's just cheating.
36:47 Yes, it's bigger on the inside.
37:06 So can I just go on the Tardis with a DVD and get a free trip?
37:41 Since when can the Tardis do that?
37:55 Because covering your face and cowering will help.
38:29 Yes the Doctor is brilliant. I still wouldn't get so close to them.
39:12 "Can you just forget about this weird mysterious thing that makes no sense and almost got us killed?" "No."
39:39 He's getting better at this.
40:09 DOCTOR!
40:25 I really want to know what he and Martha are up to.
40:55 "You're going to get stuck in 1969" His face: Seems Legit.
41:15 Sally Sparrow, I like that name.
41:26 The Doctor is a matchmaker without even trying.
41:44 And it get's creepy again. 2 more Don't blinks.

So we have a total of 8 Don't Blinks, and 2 Blink and You're Dead's.

Funny College Stories 4

Sometimes I feel the urge to make my own fun, even when it means being ridiculous.

For example, today I was sitting in class, and class was almost over, and I heard a girl who lives on my floor say "After this I have time to either shower or eat, but not both." Being the helpful person that I am I turned around and suggested that she eat in the shower. She did not agree with me that this was a realistic thing to do. So I suggested that she use and avocado face mask and then eat it with chips. The person to whom she'd been speaking originally then informed me that (apparently) there's more stuff in avocado face masks than avocado and some of that stuff is not edible (which I find strange). I thought on it a while and then realized the problem. She didn't want her food to get wet. So I suggested that she eat soup in the shower. Problem solved I thought. Not so much, it turns out. After she left someone else suggested an apple. That actually sounds doable.

So anyway, later after my last class I went to the bank and once again decided to make my own fun. I needed to break some large bills down and get quarters for laundry. Normal people just ask the teller for this. I asked the teller if she could do a magic trick for me. She seemed confused until I pulled out the money and explained that I wanted to know if she could turn amount of money A into amount of money B and a roll of quarters. I'd like to think I brightened her day.

Failed Pranks

So yesterday was April Fool's Day. I have gotten better at not falling for pranks, but I haven't really gotten better at pulling them. If anything I'm getting worse.

Last year my friends and I decided that, for a senior prank we would take all the chairs out of the freshmen section of the cafeteria. The freshmen at our school almost never sat in their section, choosing instead to stand in the middle of the cafeteria blocking everyone's way. So, since they never used their chairs anyway we decided to take them and give them to other sections of the cafeteria where there were chair deficits.

We went and started stacking chairs into stacks of three, and moving them out to the other sections. I'd say we got somewhere to a quarter of the chairs out before campus security came over. They asked us what we were doing and we very honestly replied "Taking the chairs out of the freshmen section." They asked us to stop and we obliged. We made to leave and they stopped us once more, insisting that we put the chairs back. Again, we obliged.

So while that may not have gone so well, at least we tried. This year however, a prank didn't even get off the ground. One of my classes meets early. On the first day the teacher told us that we should do whatever we needed to stay awake. Immediately I imagined the whole class pretending to shoot up with drugs. I didn't think it would happen but then in my next class the teacher gave out materials for some individual projects. One of the items was a syringe (no needle). And I'm not the only one in both classes. The plan then wrote itself. And promptly had no opportunity to happen. Sigh.

BEDA Rules (April 2012)

Okay it looks like I am in fact doing BEDA. This means that I need to set some rules so it's clear what this entails.

1. I must post a blog entry every day for the month of April. As long as I post before midnight my time (central time zone) it counts.

2. If I am going to be missing a post for some reason I must announce it ahead of time. As long as I announce missed posts in advance I may make it up, either before or after the day with no post.

3. If I miss a post without announcing it ahead of time, I still have to make it up and people may suggest penalties in comments. I have final say over what penalty will be enacted if that occurs.

4. The exception to rule 3 is if injury or illness prevents me from posting, in which case I need only to make it up on a later date.

5. A post must be a minimum of one sentence long. However, if I do too many "This is a post" posts, a penalty may be suggested. I will decide how many brief posts is too many.

6. If my school work starts to suffer I'm allowed (or as my mom would say, required) to stop.

That should cover everything, though I may update the rules if I think of anything I neglected to think of. Also, this counts as my post for today. Ha.

1 down. 29 to go.