Hello, My Name is Alice

My Creative Writing teacher is having us each write an 8-10 page double-spaced short story due within the next few weeks.  We are going to be critiquing them in class, two each class, so everybody’s has a different due date.  The due dates range from the beginning of March to the end of April.

The other day in class, he asked where Emily and Alice were.  He said that the two of them had their stories due on March 5th.  They were going first.  There is nobody in my class named Alice.  After we got started on our writing assignment of the day, he went to get the list of due dates so he could figure out who he was calling Alice.  He got back, handed the sheets out, and I saw that I was Alice.  How he mixed up Sarah with Alice is beyond me.

The funny part is that earlier in that class period he shared that most of the time he thinks his students don’t have the right names.  He doesn’t think their parents gave them the right names, so he renames everyone to try and keep track of everyone.  I guess my made up name is Alice.

Alice also happens to be my French name from 8th grade (pronounced Aleese) and one of my sisters usernames from a fan fiction forum.  Strange coincidence.

On a side note, my story is due in two weeks and I do not have a story idea.  I am not worried about the length, but the lack of an idea is a little disconcerting.  8-10 pages double-spaced is nothing after NaNoWriMo.  It’s probably not even 5,000 words.  Although, without an idea, I won’t be able to get ten words…

Cupid Shuffle

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc.)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don’t lie about the songs (they can be funny if you just leave them)

1. What’s my mood like right now?
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life- Spamalot Soundtrack (given the amount of homework I have, this is not an appropriate song)

2. How’s tomorrow going to be for me?
Teenage Werewolf – The Remus Lupins (I certainly hope this one doesn’t turn out to be accurate)

3. What kind of person am I?
How Strong Are You Now? – Rascal Flatts (Answer a question with a question, right?)

4. Am I loved?
Long Trip Alone – Dierks Bentley (Well, that’s depressing)

5. How can I achieve my highest potential?
A Woman’s Love – Alan Jackson (Wow, that’s odd)

6. What should I do with my life?
Canadian Idiot – Weird Al (If McCain had won, this would’ve come true, except the idiot part)

7. Is everything really going to be alright in the end?
Change – Taylor Swift (Change is good, right?)

8. What is my best quality?

Summer Sundown- Craig Morgan (That just doesn’t make sense)

9. How does my social life look?
Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go) – Dierks Bentley (That could be interpreted in a few different ways…)

10. What’s the meaning of life?
Meet Me On Diagon Alley- Ministry of Magic (Oh, how I wish this were true)

11. What do people think of me?
The River – Garth Brooks (I must say that I’ve never been called a river before)

12. How crazy am I?
Every Red Light – Craig Morgan (This song talks about driving through red lights, which is pretty crazy. But I don’t do that)

13. Where will I be a year from now?
Papa Loved Mama - Garth Brooks (I certainly hope not)

14. What is my fondest wish?
Everybody’s Fool - Evanescence (Definitely not)

15. How did my parents meet?
Little Man – Alan Jackson (That’s actually hysterical, because my parents met on St. Patrick’s Day. Hehe, leprechauns are little men…)

16. What will I dream about tonight?
I Did it For You – David Cook (Another one that just doesn’t make sense)

17. What should I be working on right now?
For All the Hufflepuffs – The Remus Lupins (Well, Hufflepuffs are known for their hard work. I’m a Gryffindor, though, and I procrastinate)

18. What’s my roommate up to currently?
Stay – Sugarland

19. What did I do last weekend?

Don’t Download This Song- Weird Al (Nope, didn’t download any music last weekend)

20. Describe me.
Rocks Instead of Rice – Kellie Pickler (I don’t think I’m that violent)

21. What does my music player think of me?
The Outside – Taylor Swift (And another nonsense one)

Plane Crashes Near Buffalo

A plane crashed into a house in Clarence, NY (near Buffalo) late last night.  All 49 people on board, plus 1 person in the house died.  One of the victims was the widow of a man who died in 9/11.  It’s so incredibly sad.

As of right now, they’re thinking it was due to the weather.  Apparently the wings of the plane got covered in ice.  The weather was really nasty yesterday.  Very windy plus a combination of ice/sleet/rain/snow.  The power went out in a bunch of places near Buffalo and schools were closing.

Here’s a link to the article.  Thoughts and prayers going out to the friends and family of the victims.

Shame On You, Stephen King

I have never read Stephen King’s novels, mainly because horror books have never interested me. I have no doubt that he is a great writer, though. He has been recognized as one of the most brilliant writers of our time.

He recently gave an interview in which he said of Stephenie Meyer (author of the Twilight series), “Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good.”

I was disgusted that he came out with such a horrible comment. I understand that a lot of people do not like the way Stephenie Meyer writes, but for such a popular author to just insult her like that is awful. He didn’t elaborate on what he doesn’t like about her writing. Telling someone their writing is horrible is not constructive criticism. I think he should have just mentioned exactly what he doesn’t like about it and maybe something she could do to improve.

Criticism like that feels awful, no matter how many books you’ve sold and how much money you’ve made from them. Stephenie Meyer is a popular author; book sales prove that. But to have someone as famous as Stephen King insult your writing like that has got to feel awful. There are so many more tactful things Stephen King could have said instead.

Just imagine if Stephenie Meyer had said that Stephen King’s writing was horrible. I doubt people would have the same reaction. More people would be outraged. I am sure she would be receiving flaming all over the Internet. But when Stephen King says that Stephenie Meyer can’t write? People all over the Internet are laughing about it and saying they agree with him.

Stephen King may be a better writer than Stephenie Meyer, but I have a lot more respect for Stephenie Meyer. She isn’t giving interviews where she insults fellow authors. Stephen King But the fact that he insulted Stephenie Meyer like that makes me even less likely to read his books. I’ve lost some respect for him.

Heat Wave

It’s fifty degrees right now.  In the middle of February.  Time to break out the shorts.  Well, there are a few people who walk around campus with shorts on even when it’s ten degrees out.  The weather is crazy.  Tomorrow it’s supposed to snow.  Gotta love it.

Clementines

A few weeks ago at work, I was ringing up a box of clementines, but the box was missing its bar code.  I knew that they were $4.99 a box, so I just rung them up under the general produce code.  I typed in the price and then for some reason, the register asked for the price again.  I typed in 499 (we don’t use the period, the register does that automatically), thinking the register had asked for the price again.

As it turns out, the register was asking for the quantity, not the price.  So then I had 499 boxes of clementines at $4.99 each on the register.  That’s over a thousand dollars worth of clementines.  I voided it out, but had to get a manager to put their key in before I could put the credit card through since I voided out thousands of dollars worth of clementines.  The customer didn’t mind, so it was pretty funny.

Thirteen Really Random Things (TT#6)

I haven’t done a Thursday Thirteen in a while, mainly because I can’t think of anything.  So, today I’m just going to post thirteen random things.

1.  I watched a movie in Creative Writing today that was about a Nursing Home Beauty Pageant.   It was possibly the strangest thing I have ever seen in my life.  I could have done without the scene where the old lady put on her stockings.

2.  I am very addicted to MyLeaky, The Leaky Cauldron’s newest form of online communication.

3.  Benny ate half of a homemade bread the other day, because my mom didn’t put it in the microwave when she left.  The only reason he didn’t eat the whole thing is because there was only half of it left.  I’m just happy he didn’t eat the tin foil it was wrapped in.

4.  It is very cold today, yet sunny.  It is going to be 40 degrees on Saturday, which is pretty much a heatwave for Upstate NY in the beginning of February.

5.  They keep the dorm rooms way too warm at night.  The heat is on too high if you have to kick off your blankets when you’re trying to get to sleep in February.  Why don’t they turn it down and save money?

6.  I am not very good at the drums on Rock Band 2.  I am decent at the guitar and not very good at the singing.

7.  I have to write a 3 page paper about research methods for psychology, but not in my Research Methods class.  It is for my Honors class.  That means I have done research methods in every single class this semester except Creative Writing.  Maybe I can write a story about how much I detest research methods and then I will have done something involving it in every one of my classes.

8.  Dr. Foreman did something incredibly stupid on House on Monday.  Something that could have cost him his medical license and probably would have if it had been done in real life.  But since it was House, he was able to keep his license.  Also, 13 (another doctor) got cancer due to Foreman’s stupidity, but was cured the same day she was diagnosed.

9.  My iBook’s battery is dying and I will soon have to purchase another one.  However, my bro informed me that 2.5 hours is a perfectly acceptable amount of time for a battery to last.  He would think this since he does not have a Mac.

10.  I have a bunch of pictures to post of Benny, but have not done so because uploading pictures to WordPress takes forever due to the fact that you can only upload one at once.  Also, WordPress no longer lets me post pictures from Photobucket, which drives me insane.

11.  LeakyCon is less than four months away!  I cannot wait to meet other people who are obsessed with Harry Potter as I am.

12.  I have way too many classes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

13.  Nobody has shown up to my tutoring sessions for Statistics yet.  This might be due to the insanely early hour I hold them.  Nobody wants to do Statistics at eight in the morning.  Thus, the three sessions I have had so far were in essence study halls for me.

Hufflepuff

I am far from a football fan.  In fact, the only football I watch is the Super Bowl, because I like the commercials.  Yesterday, I went to my first Super Bowl party, which was hosted by my residence hall.  They had free food and one of my friends is a  big time Steelers fan, so I went.

The funniest thing was was that there were more people wearing Buffalo Bills jerseys than Steelers or Cardinals jerseys put together.  People were also randomly shouting out, “Go Bills!”

As we were sitting down to watch the game, I told my friend,  “I’m rooting for the Steelers because their colors are the same as Hufflepuff.”  She burst out laughing.  I consider myself a Gryffindor, but the Cardinals are red and white, not red and gold.

Today at lunch, the dining hall had chocolate cookies with yellow and black sprinkles to celebrate the Steelers’ win.  I said they were Hufflepuff cookies.  My friend said that she had never met anyone so obsessed with Harry Potter as I am.