Fairyland 1

Fairyland 1, a photo by KennediAmber on Flickr.

This trippy little flower is dead now. Nature is hilariously cruel.

Can We Save Writing and Reading?

If not, then we should at least form our own little underground book bootlegging club once the written word has been banned for good.

You would be surprised by how many people out there think that books should no longer exist--educated people, I might add. I'm not talking about just printed books either, but e-books too. I once had an acquaintance of mine say that books were the lowest form of entertainment next to television. His choices for the top two?

1. Video games
2. The Internet

I must agree with him, because we all know how smart and stimulating people on the Internet are. If there was a sarcasm font I would be using it in bold right now.

It absolutely baffles me to see people all around me claiming to be intellectuals and stating that books are beneath intelligent people.

I hate to break it to you geniuses, but you have the same opinion as Kanye West. That's right. In my mind, you are a clone of the epitome of ignorance and intolerance that is Mr. West, regardless of how many degrees you have.

Any avid reader knows that real life (if there is such a thing) would be nothing without the stories that shape it. Think about it.

How differently would you perceive things--how many events in your life would have been affected---had you never read Harry Potter? Or Animal Farm? What about Fahrenheit 451 or Brave New World?

I don't think that Bradbury's world of book censorship will come to pass like we expect it to. Maybe people will just stop reading books because there aren't any pictures that move, and start watching movies that are mostly pretty lights and fireworks with no plots because there is nothing more dangerous than the opportunity to think. If human  beings think, they come to two terrible and frightening realizations: they have the ability to create things and they can't always control what they create. Whether it be a paranoia turned reality or an entire world springing to life in the wake of a moving cursor, we fear what we create because it come from us and yet is not of us. It's bigger and greater.

Writers do not conquer this fear. We merely learn to embrace it and thrive on it.

Image via Wikipedia

I would let Kanye finish, but for the sake of future generations I have decided to drown him out with  Florence and the Machine.

Behind Grandfather's House

Behind Grandfather's House, a photo by KennediAmber on Flickr.

Just as the title suggests, I took this picture behind my grandfather's old house.

I've been dabbling in random picture taking lately, and I've decided to share the results on my blog from time to time.

I would also like to report that my Christmas break is only days away. If I can only get through finals, I just may have enough sweet, delicious free time to finish my novel's first draft in the three weeks I'll have.

Children? Ba-HUMBUG. Regretsy v. Paypal

I'm going to let you guys in on a little secret. I hate PayPal just as much as PayPal loves money.

Believe me, ladies and gentlemen, that is a lot. They are nothing but a privately owned scam, and the majority of the Internet knows this. I would probably hand my money to a hobo with a needle currently in his arm and tell him to take it across the country to a vendor than send it through PayPal. To be completely honest with you, there isn't much of a difference between the two scenarios. Both of them involve you never seeing your money again.

A lot of you may not know that I follow Regretsy, because the website is freaking hilarious and they're always doing some sort of charity work that makes my heart as fuzzy as two week old refrigerator fungi. This year, for example, the site owner was to donate thousands of dollars to poor children who weren't going to get a Christmas this year. The money was quickly raised before PayPal froze the account and claimed that charities weren't worthy causes. They ordered the money refunded and kept their "fixed fees". I truly feel for the parents who have already told their children that they will be getting a Christmas after all and now have to break their hearts in telling them otherwise.

Apparently, donating money to a sick cat is a worthy cause, but helping poor people is not. As all of you know I am a poor people myself, and I am therefore how you say.... "outraged."

Within minutes both the Internet and Paypal's Facebook page exploded. Twitter showed them no mercy, as Twitter does not know the meaning of the word. The Consumerist, The Daily Dot, The Wall Street Journal have already at least linked to the story, and this only happened a matter of hours ago. The Internet is a hydra with many heads that only multiply as you sever them.

Even Barbara Streisand had to learn that, you know.

                                                         Image by mau3ry via Flickr

We're very sorry, little Timmy, but you just aren't a cat. 

Orange Juice and eBooks

You are a beautiful little glass of sweet, convenient lies.

In case any other people out there are so sick that they can't leave the house, just let me say that orange juice with some salt and water can really help to replenish all of those electrolytes you lost puking your guts out when you can't get out to buy some sports drink or some other crap.

Even though, you know, there's really no such thing as real orange juice unless you squeeze your own. Some of us are lazy, however, and will do just fine with what we have in the carton. I wish I had enough time and money to live like everyone who goes on natural food rants on the internet about how one teaspoon of Splenda will kill you within five seconds of consumption, but seriously, it takes like eight oranges to squeeze out an entire glass of juice. At that point I'd give up and just eat the orange instead.

In a few moments I'm going to have to muster up the courage to type up an e-mail to my Biology teacher explaining why I had to miss the test today when I've already been absent for nearly five nonconsecutive days of his class and hope that he has mercy on my soul. In the mean time, however, I would like to say with pride that I actually got to try a Kindle Fire.

At Target.

While listening to my family groan because they wanted to move on and I was mesmerized.

It. Is. Awesome. I asked for one for Christmas, but I really doubt that my mom will be able to get hold of one in time, and I desperately need other things instead. Like, you know, a printer and other things that my college should have warned me I would need from the first freaking day of class. Sure, they have one for you to use there, but with all the printing I have to do it costs me out the ass and I never have time to get to the library.

While I should have probably asked everyone for printers and scanners, I could not help but mention the Kindle fire to everyone who asked the dreaded, "What do you want for Christmas?" question that normally causes my  mind to go blank.

 Since I'm used to the black and white screen of the regular old Kindle that I've fallen in love with, I spent nearly ten minutes scrolling through all of the book covers on the display device and marveling at the colors. I know that other eReaders have color, but I would never have considered them before due to the fact that they cost a whole lot and I'm an Amazon fangirl. And, you know, it has a bunch of Apps and stuff, too.

Can't forget about the Apps.

I may or may not be mentally stable, you know.

Eleven bog post prompts I wish people would actually write

I am going to be completely honest with you here. For once, something didn't get in the way of my blogging for two straight days. There was no spotty internet connection, and especially no horrible family emergency.

I had no freaking idea what to write.

Sure, I could ramble on and on about my  novel like most writers do in their blogs, but honestly, I've said enough about it already. Anything else I say would just be mindlessly repeating myself, and I don't want to look like I think I'm awesome. Bloggers who write as if they are humans instead of professors are much more fun to read, anyway.

So I Googled, "blog post prompts."

Lazy? Yes. Uninspired? Most likely. What I learned was that the Internet is seriously lacking some interesting blog post prompts. I know you guys aren't mindless sheeple: you aren't going to read through eight gigantic block-style paragraphs about what I think is wrong with other bloggers or society at large. Leave stuff like that underwater, and just let the tip of the iceberg show. The readers will get it. Human's analyze things by nature.

Anyway, this whole ordeal has prompted me to compile a list of prompts that I would rather read instead of some guy doing the often suggested, "interview with himself":

1. If kindergarders became murderous and took over the world, would you find any moral roadblocks interfering with your ability to kick them in the face and fight for your survival?
2. How many zombies do you seriously think it would take to screw in a lightbulb?
3. You are stranded on a deserted island with Newt Gingrich.
4. Everyone named Bill is joining a secret cult called, "The Society of the Bills." What are they secretly up to? If your name is Bill, do you join? If your name isn't Bill, pretend that you're infiltrated their facility somehow and found out their agenda for the first time.
5. What do you really...and I mean REALLY...think about those loud children in restaurants?
6. Why do you think Carrot Top's face looks that way?
7. A series of hydrogen bombs have detonated and rendered the surface of the Earth uninhabitable. You are in an underground facility with the cast of the Jersey Shore. You are the only ones left alive.
8. You're hiding from a vicious monster that has made its way into your house. You are locked in your room and typing up a blog post asking for help.
9. Do number eight, but pretend that your spacebar won't work.
10. You have just received word that Carl Rove has stolen Christmas.
11. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood...in the vacuum of outer space?

I think I'll run with some of these. I'm getting way too tired of thinking inside the box when it comes to blogging.