100 Happy Things

Drumroll....

It's the 100th post on Full Circle Crazy!!!!! In honor of this, I present a list of 100 things that make me smile, in no particular order.

1. Puppies.

2. Babies

This is my cousin H. He is the most adorable baby ever. This is not up for debate. If you feel differently, you are wrong.
Unless you are my mother arguing that I was the most adorable baby ever. That is an acceptable position.

3. Comic-Con/panel interviews with the casts of science fiction shows

4. When the Doctor speaks baby

5. Seeing this when I peer up from my computer.

It's my Pillow Pet unicorn, Agnes.

6. XKCD comics

7. Smartfood Popcorn

8. Movie Theater Popcorn

9. PopSecret Homestyle Popcorn

10. The feeling when the popcorn kernel that was stuck between my tooth and gum finally dislodges.

11. Getting actual, physical mail.

Of course I'm covering up my address. This is the internet.

12. Stephanie Perkins' books

13. Hot Showers

14. Being done with all my midterms/finals/etc.

15. The yarn aisle in craft stores.

I didn't take this picture, but this looks like a Michaels craft store.

16. Wrock

17. Libraries

18. Bookstores

19. Snow!

One of many unused shots from "Doodling and Snow"

20. Driving

21. Seeing friends I haven't seen in a long time

22. Taking shortcuts

23. The Harry Potter series

24. The Harry Potter fandom

25. That Harry Potter inspired a wonderful charity.

Learn more at thehpalliance.org

26. Nerdfighteria

27. Trock

28. Doctor Who

29. Doctor Who fandom

30. Using things that I've made

My red backpack of wonder. Those are Wrock buttons adorning it, with a few others thrown in for fun.

31. Seeing other people use things that I've made.

32. The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio (movie)

33. John Green's "The Miracle of Swindon Town" videos

34. The fact that the above has been written about in an actual Swindon newspaper.

35. "No homework this week."

36. "No class today/tomorrow"

37. Sarah Dessen's books

38. Growing things

You may remember these from "A Simpler Pet". They still haven't bloomed but they've definitely been growing.

39. Getting discounts on items I need to buy anyway

40. When I think of an item for this list

41. Alice in Wonderland

42. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy references

43. Pixie Stix

Full of sugary goodness

44. Calvin and Hobbes

45. Pomegranate seeds

46. When my phone makes the noise that means I either have a text or an e-mail.

47. Unicorns

48. Despicable Me

49. The fact that the nerdfighter sign appears in Despicable Me.

All you have to do is make Spock symbols and cross your arms!

50. My friends suggesting I lower my expectations and only write 50 things.

42. Juice boxes

52. When books get meta.

53. Jasper Fforde's books

54. Cookies

55. Inanimate objects that look like they have faces

This building is in Italy. I picture it greeting every day by singing to the sun.

56. Coming home after being away for a while.

57. Sleeping in my bed at home after being away for a while.

58. Getting to come home 3 days earlier than planned.

59. Finding items I've been looking for

60. Joss Whedon interviews

61. Finishing an exam and feeling confident in how I did.

62. Finding out that the terrible exam grade I got was still higher than the average.

63. Band-aids with cartoon characters or silly images on them.

I had these band-aids until they got used up.

64. Bulletin boards that only have relevant fliers on them.

65. Using Green Cup as an excuse for why I haven't done laundry.

66. ThinkGeek.com

67. Ravelry.com

68. Curling up in bed with a good book and a snack

69. Coming up with incredibly unrealistic and unlikely explanations for things.

70. Hot Cookie Bar

They have this every Sunday in my dining hall. It looks so gross but it tastes so good.

71. Having someone to sit with in the dining hall.

72. Putting on "shuffle" mode and having a song I like come up.

73. Actually knowing the words to a song.

74. Thinking I know the words to a song and realizing I'm wrong.

75. Knowing where my keys are without having to search around first.

76. This sign

NBN stands for North by Northwestern, a student website/magazine.

77. Actually knowing what to bid in bridge.

78. Friends

79. Playing with little kids

80. Getting a good night's sleep.

81. Wa-Wa

Don't even try to tell me that you don't have some childhood toy or blanket that makes you smile.

82. My family.

83. Care packages

84. Actually doing something that I want to do "someday."

85. Class ending early

86. Airline travel.

I know I'm in a minority here, but I enjoy flying.

87. Using my drivers licence as ID to fly instead of my passport.

88. Sherlock

89. Joss Whedon shows (When he's not killing off my favorite characters)

90. Meeting people with similar interests

91. Smarties!

More sugary goodness! And just in time for finals.

92. Writing

93. Remembering dreams

94. Sudoku

95. Remembering people's birthdays without Facebook.

96. Unicorns

97. The moments when I feel psychic

98. Winning.

99. My dorm room wall.

There are pictures in the picture.

100. FINISHING THIS LIST!!!!!!

Dance Marathon!

It's Dance Marathon time! For those of you that don't know, this is a Northwestern tradition, in which students dance for 30 hours straight raising money for child cancer research. While I'm not a dancer this year, I did help out earlier today at the kid's fair.

When I first heard about DM I got a little bit of the wrong impression about it. I thought that people pledged to donate for every hour that you danced (ie, $5 for every hour danced). That's the way most marathon fundraisers I know work.

This is why I was confused when I heard about the deadline to get half the donation money in, then later the deadline to get the donated money in. I knew people were having bake sales and parties where the money went to DM, but I'd thought that meant it was being raised in addition to the money they raised through dancing.

It turns out that when you sign up for DM, you have to collect $400 minimum (that's per group/entrant not per person) and then you dance at the end. While this is clearly a system that's been working here for a long time, I still think that if you're going to make a group of people do something for a long stretch of time they should be rewarded for each increment of time. That sentence is weird.

Anyway, good luck to all the DMers. By the time you read this DM will be over since I doubt you'll be reading this while dancing. Only 6 more hours!

Project For Awesome 2011

Today at noon the Project for Awesome begins. Technically speaking you're supposed to make a YouTube video about your favorite charity, but I have no knowledge of how to do that so I'm writing a blog instead because it still raises awareness. Please go to YouTube and like and comment on videos with the tag P4A because this is a day to decrease World Suck and make the world a better place.  More information can be found at the project for awesome website or at fightworldsuck.org.

Okay, now that I'm done introducing the Project for Awesome I can talk about my charity of choice.

I want to raise awareness for the Harry Potter Alliance. This charity was created in 2005 by Andrew Slack, who serves as Executive director, and Paul DeGeorge from Harry and the Potters. They have since grown adding more members. There are currently 60 chapters of HPA around the world. Essentially this is a real life Dumbledore's Army. Yearly events include the Accio Books campaign, where they collect books and money to buy books for underfunded or underprovided libraries around the world to help increase literacy for children and young adults. Last year my temple youth group held a book drive and donated hundreds of books towards this cause.

Other campaigns have included "Wrock the Vote" where the HPA along with Wizard Rockers have helped people register to vote, as well as "Wrock for Equality" which has taken an active role in getting and keeping same sex marriage legal. In anticipation of the final Harry Potter movie a Deathly Hallows campaign was started wit ha new issue every month, dealing with topics of bullying, self esteem and the climate.

An ongoing campaign from this is the "Not in Harry's Name" campaign, which asked Warner Brothers to use fair trade chocolate in their Harry Potter chocolate items. This campaign started November 1 2010 and Warner Brothers still has not made the switch, insisting that their chocolate complies with the ethical guidelines they have, but has produced no proof of these claims.

The HPA is giving Warner Brothers until New Years Day to provide proof or make the switch. If you wish to get involved you can send a cease and desist letter, create a Muggle Howler and even buy fair trade chocolate frogs being made by the HPA.

This charity is a great reminder of the power of books and reading and what can be accomplished when a group of people really work together towards something great. You can donate on their website. Even if you don't wish to donate, you should still go and look around to learn more about this great organization.

The Weapon We Have is Love. Happy Project for Awesome and DFTBA!

The Next Few Days are Really Big

Just a reminder to everyone about the big events coming up in the next two days.

Tomorrow, December 15, the House Judiciary Committee will be voting on the Stop Online Piracy Act. This is not something that should pass. This bill will stifle creativity and hurt independent creators online. Please call or email your representatives and tell them not to support this bill. I'll put more information about how to help down below.

Friday is also a big day. December 16 is "Wear Star Wars, Share Star Wars Day". This day was created in honor of Katie Goldman, who last year was bullied for having a Star Wars water bottle, because she's a girl. The original story can be found here. The idea behind this day is to celebrate geek pride, but also to encourage the breaking down of gender stereotyping. This is a cause I hold dear to my heart. While I have been fortunate in that those who bullied me never focused on my interest in things that are considered to be "boy things" (like Science, Karate, Math ect.) bullying of any kind is hurtful, but this type of gender stereotyping can be especially hurtful.

When I was coming home from school this weekend I stopped by the airport bookstore and overheard a mother talking to her daughter about the types of coloring books they had. The mom pointed out a Dora the Explorer book as well as a few other things, but what stopped me cold was when she said "They have Spiderman, but you're a girl, so you don't want that." It's one thing if another kid makes a comment like this but for a mother to say this to he daughter infuriates me. While I may prefer Batman to Spiderman, I get the feeling that to this woman both fall under the category of "boy things". Maybe this mother knew her daughter didn't like superheroes, but if that was the case, why not say "but you don't like that". Saying that her daughter shouldn't like something simply because she's a girl is only reinforcing an outdated cultural idea.

Please help celebrate "Wear Star Wars, Share Star Wars Day" and put an end to gender stereotyping. For more information click here.

The final big event is the Project for Awesome, which begins Saturday at noon and last through Sunday as well. This is an event on YouTube where people are encouraged to make videos promoting their favorite charitable organizations, as well as viewing the videos made by others and liking, favoriting and commenting on them so that they are more likely to be put in the front page of YouTube. This is an annual event, and does a lot of good. Even if you can only look for a little bit, this is such a worthy cause. You may even find a new favorite charity. While I'm not making a video, I will be writing about some of my favorite charities on Saturday, as well as spending as much of the day as possible on YouTube liking, favoriting and commenting to help promote this great event. More information can be found on the project for awesome website, which will be getting updated more as we get closer to Saturday.

Here is more information about SOPA: