The Cold War, or the War Against Cold

I would just like to start off this blog by saying, "Holy cacao, it's frakking freezing outside! Why is it so cold in Texas?!" Why does Cold Weather feel like it can go through Texas whenever it feels like it? Make up your mind, Cold Weather. I will not play into your dirty tricks anymore!

Cold and I have never gotten along. Everyone else seems to like Cold Weather. They're all like, "I love the winter! I love Cold Weather! I came from a place where it used to snow all the time and it was awesome! It's much better than Hot Weather--at least with Cold Weather you can put on more layers!"

For the record, I would like to mention that no matter how many layers of clothing I put on, I am still cold.

Here's a little story for you about the effect Cold Weather has had on me. Early last year, Cold Weather decided to make an appearance on the day that Older Sister decided to have her marathon bridal gown search. I wore the appropriate clothing for Cold Weather and even added a coat on top of that. The only crux in my wardrobe was that my mother asked for all of us to wear dresses so that her photo opportunities would look pretty. So, through out the day, my legs were cold.

We spent most of the day inside the bridal store, and then afterward we all went to a Mainstream Coffee Shop and sat outside, because my mother enjoys sitting outside. I'm noticing that I'm becoming more and more cold, but think nothing of it.

It's only as we go clothing store hopping that I'm beginning to realize that despite being inside these stores, I'm still cold. And by the time Older Sister and I get home, my body is shivering and my teeth are chattering. Turns out that Cold Weather had been invading my personal space for so long, I came home with a fever of 103. I was rendered completely useless to the point where I was visibly shaking under mountains of blankets on the couch while Older Sister watched "I'm a Pregnant Teenager and I'm Sad" on TV.

So, no. I do not like Cold Weather. I recognize that it's not going anywhere, but I don't have to like it.

As I conclude this post, I would like to say that I notice that some of you complain about Cold Weather when it's actually here. So don't go about talking how you love Cold Weather while you're drunk off of the heat that Hot Weather is serving.

And for those few of you who are wearing shorts during this bout of freeze... I'm convinced you're all members of the undead and I'm watching you.

'Tis the Season for Bowties and Fezzes...

The following is a transcript of a chat I had with my Maid of Honor on Facebook. We were chatting about the holidays and what not.

Me: All I asked for [this Christmas] was Doctor Who Season 5. I don't think anybody got it for me. >.>

Maid of Honor: oh no seriously?

Me: Yeah. I'm kind of sad.

Maid of Honor: oooooooo...

Me: That's the easiest thing to get me!... Plus a Tardis and a Sonic Screwdriver.

Maid of Honor: hahahaha... is it on sale in stores?

Me: I saw it at a Best Buy and it's on Amazon.

Maid of Honor: ooooooo... party foul

Party foul indeed, Maid of Honor. Party foul indeed.


And then, when the magic day rolled around, and lo and behold...


Thank you, Santa. And to Fiance and Maid of Honor for reminding him.

Attn: 2011

Of all the holidays that are out there, I have to say that the combo of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day might be my favorites. You're saying a fond farewell to the previous year, whether it was good, bad or amazingly uneventful, and you're welcoming this brand new set of twelve months. It's a time where you are at you're most optimistic and as soon as the clock hit's midnight, you begin thinking about how you're going to improve yourself and planning out what you're going to do.

This means the valued tradition of resolutions.

You have to be careful when making New Year's resolutions, though. Especially if you're a hardcore planner. When it comes to life, things are not going to go according to the plan that you want to set for yourself. You might get a new house, new job, or you might become the victim of a conspiracy and lose your memories involving experiments that took up a good portion of your year. It happens. Other stuff is important. That's why I have a basic rule of thumb that I try to just make resolutions that I don't have to plan out thoroughly, but at the same time I don't want to make anything too vague. My list of resolutions will feature two or three from last year. I never got around to learning how to sew and I didn't get to read Lord of the Rings, although I read The Hobbit. I did achieve my goal of losing ten pounds, but then when I started my full-time job I gained it back, so it needs to go back on there. And so, my list of resolutions this year.

Oldies but Necessities
~Lose 10-15 lbs and maintain weight through wedding things.
~Read The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
~Learn how to sew.

Newbies
~Write more often, especially for the blog.
~Work more often with my Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch and use Corel Painter for drawings.
~Try to deal with fear of zombies.
~Develop at least one idea for a project.

2010, you were quite a rollercoaster ride. You brought me a college degree, a full-time job that exhausted every fiber of my being, a wonderful new part-time job to replace the job mentioned before, uncontrollable sobbing as my Doctor moved on to other projects, a brand new Doctor with some of the best sci-fi writing ever, and, best of all, an engagement to one of the most amazing guys on the planet. But now that 2011 is here, I look forward to the journey ahead.

Happy New Year, everyone. Cheers.

Peer Pressure and Elongated Syllables

So there seems to be a trend where everyone is encouraging to get back into art. My aunt brought it up at my older sister's wedding back in June. "Why aren't you using your aaaaaaart?" she asked. That isn't an exaggeration. That's how everyone sounds when they say it. As if I'm falling into some Hitchcockian vortex with James Stewart and Tippi Hedren heads saying "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaart."

Then a few weeks later my dad says, "Why don't you become a teacher? Or why don't you go back to school for aaaaaaaaaaart?"

My mother will follow that week up with, "I remember when you used to be so focused on your aaaaaaaaaaaaart. You used to draw so much and you were such a cute little aaaaaaaaaaaartist."

And now my fiance has jumped on the aaaaaaaaaaaart train. He has taken me to the Macaroni Grill one or two times for both a fancy meal and to watch my skills with a crayon.

So you know what I say? Screw it. I've avoided it long enough. Peer pressure, you've won out. This is now a blog filled with drawings.



Happy, everyone?

Plus, Kevin bought me an awesome Bamboo Pen and Touch that I need to make use of. Damn you, cool things!

August 10th, 2010

NOTE: The following story features censored language and some silly violence.

On Tuesday, August 10th, my boyfriend Kevin thought it would be a good idea to go to an art museum/nature preserve in our city. Of course, the big art nerd that I am, I think this is a great idea and any day with Kevin is a good day. So we drive out there, and I'm enjoying myself. I'm looking at the sculptures and the greenery and the peacock that's sleeping and kind of has a diva attitude.

"Hey," says Kevin, "let's go over here." So I follow him down this path and we come to this beautiful spot that looks like a tropical paradise in Texas. We have a gorgeous view of the river and the spot were in was probably used before as an outdoor stage for musicians.

"It's so pretty! Let's get married here!" I joke. He laughed and hugged me, and I returned the embrace.

"I love you, Kasey," he said. "You're the song of my heart. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Kevin is quite the romantic as well as the wordsmith, so I basically get poetry everyday which is wonderful. So I'm hugging him while he's saying this, thinking that this is yet another sweet moment during our date. And then I feel him pull away, and I blissfully think, "What's he doing?"

And then he bends down...

And pulls out a little red box...

He may have asked me to marry him, but I think I might have screamed some profanities that drowned it out. Something along the lines of, "What the ****?! Are you ******* kidding me?!" And then I may have pushed Kevin down to the ground. (Whoops...)

Then I collapsed on top of him, cried/laughed and kissed him. Then proceeded to snatch the ring from the little red box and put it on my finger.

Then Kevin asked, "Is that a yes?"

And that concludes my marriage proposal story. <3

May In Review

So, I didn't get to post anything during May because I was extremely busy. So here's the rundown of what you missed in the life of me:

I was my boyfriend for half the day for my Characterization class. That was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life. Although, in terms of look, I pretty much got that down.

My play for my Directing II class performed and it went swimmingly. Wonderful cast, wonderful classmates, wonderful times...

Spanish final. Esta blech!

My boyfriend graduated. Yay!

I graduated. Yay!

I had a small get together following said graduation. Yay!

I got a pretty new Sony laptop. YAY! (It's so pretty...)

Lots of reading. Finished Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell which is a fantastic book and I highly recommend it, and went on to read The Witches, Changeless (Parasol Protectorate #2), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Tuck Everlasting, Astonishing X-Men's Torn and Unstoppable, Leviathan, American Gods, and the fantastic Good Omens.

And since graduation, I've been working, applying for full-time jobs, making my resume pretty and looking for new apartments that me and my little dog can go to. And that, in a nutshell, has been keeping me busy. So hopefully I shall keep on top of the blogging now that yo no hace estudiar por mi clase de español. Ole! Esta clase iba muy dificil...

By the way, if you want to read some more of my stuff, you can go to the Anomaly Podcast blog for which I'm a staff writer, or visit Associated Content and read an article here or there. Also, if you are a big reader like I'm slowly becoming, friend me on Good Reads and let me know 1) what you're reading and 2) what you think I should read. And with that, I shall end shameless plugging and bid thee adieu.

PS--Finally watched Hamlet with David Tennant and Sir Patrick Stewart. Awesome!

Book Review: Changeless

I bought Changeless a couple of weeks after it was released in stores, and it took me a few more weeks to actually pick it up and read it. (Darn you, university!)

Alexia Tarabotti is now Lady Maccoon, wife of the gorgeous Lord Conall Maccoon. Sure, he's Scottish and he's got that whole werewolf debacle, but he couldn't possibly be faulted for that. When ghosts become exorcised and werewolves and vampires lose their supernatural tendencies, Lord Maccoon is off without any warning to his new wife. Of course, Alexia follows her husband's trail and brings along her friends, her half-sister, and her brand new parasol along for a brand new adventure.

How's that for an original summary? ;)

In terms of plot, I think Changeless is better than Soulless. I definitely enjoyed the ride that Soulless gave me, but I think that Changeless was a little more focused than its predecessor in terms of plot and character development. Actually, I predicted some of the events that occurred between the main characters in this book... I just didn't expect them to happen so soon. I think that's definitely a good thing though. I can only compare it to the TV series Glee, bringing the big events closer to the beginning rather than using it as a last ditch plot device in that would be considered cliche three seasons in. On a side note, I did not expect to compare a steampunk urban fantasy with a high school musical TV series. But it works for me.

The characters were in top form again, and there are also a few new characters that the readers get to enjoy. My old favorite Ivy Hisselpenny was definitely the scene stealer of the book, with Alexia's sister Felicity trailing a close second behind her. However, I know I'm probably speaking on my behalf alone but I don't think that there was enough of Professor Lyall in Changeless. I can't explain why, but when I read Soulless and Changeless, I just felt myself being drawn to Lyall's character. Hopefully there will be more Lyall in Blameless, but we shall see. It's a shame, but the only character I don't have any true feelings for is Lord Maccoon. I know I should, but it's like me and Brad Pitt. I recognize that they're both sexy and charming and it's a social convention to drool upon their appearance, but they don't really do anything for me. Truth be told, I like my men skinny and nerdy, so if Maccoon looked like that I'd be swooning. Thus the reason why I like Lyall and Tunstall.

If you recall my review of Soulless, my only qualm was that there was way too much sex and romance for my inner tomboy to handle. I'm a romantic, but I never go out in search of a love story. However, in Changeless the romance is there but it is muted and a little more easy for me to handle. That being said, I'm becoming more accustomed to the more romantic aspects of female sci-fi/fantasy lit. Apparently, Gail Carriger's writing is enough to turn me to the romance Dark Side. (As a side note, I'm now imagining GC as Darth Vader sipping on a cup of tea. I'm going to carry that image with me for the rest of the night.)

This may be a bit of a spoiler, but I'm not ruining anything having to do with the action within the plot itself. I just simply want to say that those who read this should know that it ends in a cliffhanger. But I don't think it was a bad cliffhanger at all. For me, a bad cliffhanger for a book would be trying to pull off the first half of a Doctor Who two-parter in literary form. I feel that the ending was written well. And there is a sneak peek for the next book Blameless which made me giggly.

So for all who are wishing for a good, fun read with well-written and comical characters, check out the Parasol Protectorate. I can definitely call myself a fan now after reading this book.