The Post that will Change the World.

Click here for wibbly wobbly timey wimey.... stuff.

Good morning Beth it's Tuesday! 

Actually it's the evening, but an accurate Vlogbrothers reference demanded a little lying.

Speaking of the Vlogbrothers, writing this blog has given me a new appreciation for how hard it must be for Hank and John to come up with interesting ideas every week. It must have been especially hard during Brotherhood 2.0. The reason I'm talking about this, of course, is because I can't think of anything to write about again! Yay!

Also, I think my last post must not have actually posted properly, because you said I didn't post, but I did write something, so I went back to check and I think everything's uploaded properly now. Or maybe I'm confused and I actually did forget to post? I don't know.

I don't have much time to write today, but I'll tell you something that I've been telling lots of people about recently, and annoying my family with. So you know the show 19 Kids and Counting? You know how all their kids have names that start with the letter J? I have the perfect name for their next kid.
Jupiter! I know, I know, it's brilliant. Seriously, I think it would be hilarious and awesome. I mean, they already have kid named Jinger, so how much weirder is Jupiter?

Anyway, this is really not what I imagined I would be writing about when we started this whole blogging thing, but I've got enough for a post so I guess I'll just leave it at that!


DFTBA!


Beth's blog: http://beth.120crayons.com

Creativity

Hello Imaginary Audience! There is no link for you all today, not because Beth has acted like me and forgot to post, but because on the computer I have to use tonight I can't access Beth's blog for some reason. I haven't read her post yet, so I'm just going to have to hope she hasn't written anything terribly important and world changing, If she has, I might never know what it is. Just kidding. I'll probably know by tomorrow. 

Anyway.

So a few weeks ago I was thinking of maybe doing NaNoWriMo, or national novel writing month. For those who don't know, NaNoWriMo is when a bunch of people try to write a I-can't-remember-how-many-words draft of a novel during the month of November. I was thinking about doing this, but there are a couple of reasons why I'm not going to. 

1. I don't really have time to write like a 1000 words a day of a novel for 30 days. 
2. I'm not that great at remembering to do stuff. 
3. I'm not very good at following through with things.
4. and I can't think of any ideas!

That last one is kind of a problem if you want to write something. You have to know what you want to write first. And I can never think of anything interesting enough! How do brilliant authors and other creative people come up with ideas that are not only interesting to read, but are also original? I'd really like to know. Cause I'm not good at that.

I'm not actually horrible at thinking of ideas, I think the main problem is that I prefer to let them sit in my head instead of taking the idea and making it into a real thing. Most of the few times I've tried to make my ideas a reality I just was disappointed by the outcome. Whatever I had just done didn't match up to the idea of it I had in my head.

I'm also just kind of lazy. I don't want to put in the work to make my idea awesome and the best it could possibly be. My problem is that I don't want to write an amazing book about my idea, I want someone else to do it for me, because they will do it much better than I possibly could. 

So my questions for you are these: Where do you get your ideas from? Are you the type of person to follow through or just keep the ideas in your head? I think you are the type to follow through, but I don't know, maybe I'm wrong. You started that Noah's Ark play in house church, and you made those wizard robes, and you started that bottle band that was awesome and we should try again sometime. Teach me your creative ways!


DFTBA!

Harry Potter Never Ends!

Click here for a free okapi. (picture at the bottom)

Thanks for the post Anna! It was very enjoyable. I especially loved the oxford comma usage and promotion. 

I agree that Harry can be incredibly dumb sometimes. I guess he got his common sense from his dad. Good thing he's got Hermione! 

Speaking of Harry Potter, here's a list of 7 (see what I did there) books that JK Rowling needs to write. WARNING. SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THOSE WHO NEED TO HURRY UP AND READ.

1. The Story of the Mauraders. Obviously. How amazing would it be to read about Sirius and James and Remus and Peter together and think of how hilarious that book would be! It could also be pretty sad too, like Remus being scared to tell his friends about his "furry little problem" and Sirius leaving his family and living with James. I want this so badly!

2. The Creation of Hogwarts. Seeing what the wizarding world was like back then, learning more about the founders of Hogwarts, I bet there could be an amazing Room of Requirement backstory, and just general wizarding awesomeness? Yes, please!

3. Dumbledore and Grindlewald. Of course. This would be so cool because any story with a lot of Dumbledore is always amazing. Learning more about Dumbledore's childhood, friendship with Grindlewald, the Hallows. 

4. I think a book from Draco's point of view would be absolutely AMAZING. So so so interesting, plus we get to learn about the Death Eaters and Voldemort's whole operation. I think Draco has a great story.

5. Doctor Who and Harry Potter crossover. Doesn't even have to be during the time Harry's at Hogwarts. Maybe the Doctor comes to Hogwarts and discovers some weird alien thing going on. There are so many possibilities. 

6. What would have happened if James and Lily had never died? If Wormtail had never betrayed them? If Sirius never had to go to Azkaban? If Harry would have grown up in the wizarding world? Would Snape still be on Dumbledore's side? What would stay the same? What would be completely different? What would that mean for the prophecy? I would love to know!

7. Epilogue story. Adventures with Harry and Ron as Aurors, George dealing with Fred's death, more of Hermione being amazing, sending their kids to Hogwarts, Neville being the best professor ever, Teddy becoming a part of their family, and just general tying up loose ends and extending the story. 

As promised, here is a picture of the Okapi. 

DFTBA!

Beth's blog: http://beth.120crayons.com

Twice in a row? Could this really be happening?

Click here for a free jellyfish hat!

Long time no see Beth!

I just realized what a weird expression that is. It's completely grammatically incorrect. Although it is shorter than saying, "It's been a long time since I've seen you, Beth."

Anyways.

No, you're not seeing things, Hannah actually is keeping her promise and posting again. What a shock, hey?

Someday I'm going to forget that I ever saved all those pictures from my last post to this computer. When that day comes, I'm going to be really confused.  I saved some of those pictures with really weird names, like "brace apocolypse", "gangster hank", "cha cha cat", "i can't find my haibrush" and "turtle on fire". 

That will be exciting. 

***RANDOM BOOK REVIEW!***

Over the summer I read a book called The Perks of Being a Wallflower which I am sure you have heard of, because it is very popular and also they sort of recently made a movie about it in which Emma Watson played one of the main characters. (I haven't seen the movie yet. But I really want to.)

The book is very, very good. Probably one of my favourite books. It's hard to describe how awesome it is, actually. I don't know if you've read it or not, but I'm going to describe it to you anyway. 

It's about this boy named Charlie, who is in his first year of high school. The entire book is made up of letters Charlie writes "to a friend". They don't really feel like letters though. Charlie's a little weird to most people his age, he seems too serious and shy and naive. He hardly has any friends at the beginning of the book, but then he meets these two people, Sam and Patrick. (Sam's a girl by the way.) Sam and Patrick become his best friends, and they introduce him to a bunch of other people he gets to know. Charlie also has this English teacher who gives all these books to him privately and gets him to write essays about them. He becomes kind of a friend to Charlie too. The book follows Charlie and his friends during the entire year. 

That's basically what it's about. But more than that, it's about being an outsider, about friendship, about whether you should be being passive or passionate in life, about being in high school, about running from your life, about not knowing what you're feeling, and about growing up.  

It's really good. You should read it, if you haven't already. 

I want to see the movie so bad. At first I was like, "who would ruin this book with a movie?" but then I learned that the author, Steven Chbosky, wrote and directed the movie. So. I bet it's pretty good. 

I'm sure you've seen some quotes from the book on Pinterest. It's a very quotable book. Some of my favourites are:

“So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.” 

“It's strange because sometimes, I read a book, and I think I am the people in the book.” 

“She wasn't bitter. She was sad, though. But it was a hopeful kind of sad. The kind of sad that just takes time. ” 

“I don’t know if you’ve ever felt like that. That you wanted to sleep for a thousand years. Or just not exist. Or just not be aware that you do exist. Or something like that. I think wanting that is very morbid, but I want it when I get like this. That’s why I’m trying not to think. I just want it all to stop spinning.” 

“Sometimes, I look outside, and I think that a lot of other people have seen this snow before. Just like I think that a lot of other people have read those books before. And listened to those songs.
I wonder how they feel tonight.” 

So there you go. Hope you liked the review. 



DFTBA!



Beth's blog: http://beth.120crayons.com

Exploring Pinterest

Click here for a singing broccoli! (You don't actually have to click on the link today. You might just want to read my last post.)

Hi Beth! So I realize that I am short one post to complete my punishment for missing a Tuesday. However, I think that because this punishment is unique, and not technically in our rules, I should be able to write another post tomorrow that will finish off this torture (kidding. kidding). Does that sound alright? I hope so. 

Remember that one day a few years ago when you were at my house and all we did was go on pinterest together and show each other the cool things we saw? And remember how that was so much fun? Well, I kinda wanted to do that again, but this time through our blogging adventure (we never did pick a name). Finding pictures to post isn't any less work than writing some random thoughts after all! So without further ado...

This is my favourite. It is me, completely, totally, everyday, my entire life.

This one always makes me laugh, and always makes me feel nostalgic for Veggie Tales

This is me in group projects.

I KNOW you've already seen this, because you showed it to me just last weekend, but it makes me laugh so hard everytime I just had to choose it. 

THIS. THIS MAKES ME SO HAPPY.  LOVE.  LOVE. 

I was so happy when I found this gif. It makes me smile every time.

I really don't like when people say this. Whoever wrote this tumblr post is my hero.

I will never, ever, ever get tired of this picture. Ever. I will love this picture until I die.

I always laugh at this. Every time. I don't know why, it's kinda stupid, but I just love it.

First of all YES. Second of all, where do people come up with these ideas? I would like all that creativity and imagination for myself, please.

I want this so bad! I think it's amazing! There is no shortage of cute Harry Potter things in the world.

I can't stand how much this is amazing. I can't help but burst out laughing each time I see it. Is it not the best thing ever?

And finally, I will leave you with my favourite gif, probably of all time.

I know, right?

DFTBA!

Beth's blog: http://beth120crayons.com

I don't know.

Click here for a free llama bush! 

HELLLLLLOOOOOO!

I just really felt like doing that. 

I don't like wearing sweats/yoga pants/leggings either. Jeans are my most comfortable pants. 

Wow Beth. Thanks for giving me the hardest question ever. I have no idea where to begin. 

I did watch Idea Channel's video, and I really liked it. I like that channel, but sometimes there's too much information in each video for me to understand.

(yes, I know. That last sentence.)

I like knowing things. A lot. Way more than not knowing things. That's why I watched all John's Crash Course World History videos for fun. And guess what? I wouldn't have been able to learn and then know all that world history in such an interesting, engaging, simple, and fast way without the internet. 
I don't think I've lost the romance of knowing. I still love when I learn something cool on the internet, and I still think it's amazing when I finish reading a tumblr post and all the information and ideas in it are amazing. But that doesn't mean everyone hasn't lost that. And I think a lot of people never had it in the first place. 

I love the library analogy so much. 
It really depends on the person though, because some people will find a few books with things they're interested in and spead time reading each one from start to finish. And some people will sit in the library and not even look around and complain about there being too many books. And some people will be overwhelmed by how many options they have and pick more books then they're allowed to take home, and then never have time to read each one carefully. 
I'm often overwhelmed by just how many things there are to read, to watch, to learn on the internet. Especially on Youtube, I'm constantly thinking, "do you really need to subscribe to another person? Really?" and then I'll find another interesting Youtuber and spend hours watching all of their videos. And then another. And another. But sometimes I'll find an interesting article and read it and feel more fulfilled and more knowledgeble than I did before. And I didn't have to go all the way to a library to feel that way. 

I like being able to look up any fact about anything that I'm wondering about. But like in the idea channel video, are knowing facts about something the same thing as knowledge? I think in most cases, yes. Often when I look up something, it makes me want to know more things, or it puts together a lot of other things I know. 

Anyway, I think people nowadays definitely know more stuff.

 Actually, I'm not sure. We know more about some things, that's for sure. Are we smarter, or more intelligent, or better, more well-rounded people? Well. Hmmm. 

I asked my dad about this, and at first he said, no, we don't know more stuff, because people look things up and then forget it right away. He said we definitely have more access to knowing things now. Then I asked him if he really thought, that overall people know less stuff than they used to, and then he said he wasn't sure. People share information more now, and there is more information to know and access. So he was stumped too. 

I can't really answer this. Thanks for putting me through that. Now it's your turn! 


DFTBA!


Beth's Blog: http://beth.120crayons.com

People are weird. Some things I do make me even weirder.

LINK!!!!

Hi Beth! This post will be quite short as I don't have much time today, but don't you fret, my next post will be twice as long as normal. And next post I will adress your question, I promise. Also, for my punishment I'm assuming Saturday and Sunday count as a part of this week.

I loved your post about homeschooling. I find it very interesting. Are you using John's Crash Course videos for your world history education? I like those ones a lot. 

Something I've just been told that no one else does but I do: When I have a song in my head, I use my hands and my arms to show the rhythm of the song. It's not just tapping along to the song. I will wave my arms or punch the air to the beat or kind of "conduct" the song in the air while singing the song in my head. I've have just been told by a friend that this isn't normal, and that I look quite strange while doing it. I couldn't understand this, but then I pictured someone moving their hands around in the air in a seemingly random pattern while completely silent and staring off into space, and yeah, I can see how that might look a little weird. 

So, do you do anything like that? Have you heard of anyone doing what I do before? What's something you do that seems like no one else does?

DFTBA!

Beth's Blog: http://beth.120crayons.com

The Weirdness of People and the Way our Minds Work

Link it up people! You know what to do!

Hello Beth. As you said,  I am extremely good at sticking to schedules. You may punish me in the way you suggested, but I  think I'll start that next week for two reasons. 1. It's already almost the middle of the week and 2. I have quite a bit of homework this week. Granted, I'll probably have a lot of homework next week too, but whatever. It's what I'm doing. 

You are quite right Beth, people are weird. 

 I don't know, there may actually be a scientific explanation for this, but isn't it weird how we think that certain colour combinations are good and others bad? I have no idea why I think that teal and orange looks super cool together but pink and red looks horrible. I just do. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, it all has to do with the colour wheel and complimentary colours and all that, but still. I think that's weird. 

Also, reading is strange. Why do some people like to do it and others don't? How come I can look at these symbols on a paper and form a story in my head that can make me laugh and cry and how come I can change what the story sounds like in my head by writing the SYMBOLS LIKE THIS or writing like this. And then I can tell that some symbols on a page are better than others. WEIRD!

Isn't eating weird? Especially the part where you think that certain flavours taste better than others. And the part where some things are okay to eat but some things aren't. And people just have these specific times in the day where we stop everything and get out some stuff called food and put it into these little holes on our faces where we mush up the food and then force it to go down our throat into our stomach where we get energy and nutrients and stuff. But then we prefer to mush up some food and force it down our throats more than other foods. That's just weird. 

Question! What are the pros and cons of homeschooling in your opinion? And also is there a specific length that each post has to be for my punishment?

DFTBA!

Beth's blog: http://beth.120crayons.com

A Look in my Brain: Waterproof Books and Murder

LINK!Click it! Now! Or else! (Just kidding. Please click it if you want to.)

Hi Beth! Notice I didn't forget to post today! Before I start, I have several things to address.

1. Squirrel's tails are indeed magical

2. Gazump. Yes. I like it.

3. Your musical education sounds very fun. I would be very interested to know what else you are doing in school these days.

4. The ninth thing on your list of random things was very funny. I quite enjoy those little glimpses into your brain, you should post more of them. And on that note, I hope you enjoy this little glimpse into my brain. Be afraid. Be very afraid.


- LCS should invest in some more picnic tables. Seriously. They have all that empty space in-between the old building and the new one, they should do something with it instead of leaving it useless. I would love to have somewhere to sit outside at lunch instead of on the grass or on the sidewalk.

- You know what I think is the worst? Show-offy people at school. I have several in my class right now and OH MY GOODNESS SO ANNOYING WE GET THAT YOU CAN DRAW AND DANCE AND PLAY SAXOPHONE AND ARE GOOD AT MATH ALREADY!

- The team that was just eliminated from the Amazing Race Canada today are two people that I genuinely want to murder.

- There's a new wooden bed frame sitting beside me in my room and it's woody smell is distracting me.

- Mirrors are so strange. I'm looking at my eye....with my eye! Woah.

- Why aren't all books waterproof already? Can I please read my book in the shower?

- I will die soon if I don't watch the next Doctor Who episodes. Can you give them to Anna and I'll find her at school?

Hope you liked it, at least a little bit.

DFTBA!


Beth'sBlog: beth.120crayons.com

Can one person really be so forgetful as to forget to post on their day right after they just completed a punishment for forgetting to post?

The answer? Apparently so.

(Also, here's a link. You know what to do.)

It's true, imaginary audience, I forgot to post on my day once again. I PROMISE I'll be better. I promise. I might even do an extra post this week to make up for it. 

My punishment, for those imaginary people who don't know: 500 words on the importance of embarrassing children in public, as well as examples of the best ways to do so. 

Here we go. 

I have been blessed with an extremely embarrassing mother and father. And really, my whole family seems to have it in their heads that embarrassing me is the absolute best thing to do in public. One reason this may be important is that it gives your child lots of entertaining stories to tell. For example, I have often told the tale of how my mom was subbing as an E.A. in my gr. 7 math class, when she fainted right on top of a classmate. She fainted. In my class. On top of a boy. My Mom. If you would like to embarrass your child, that is a surefire way to do so. On the plus side of this, it was one of the most memorable and funny moments of grade seven people talked about at the end of the year. Another important reason to embarrass your child is because it provides them with the necessary skills of hiding and camouflaging themselves into their surroundings. You never know when you might need to find a fast hiding spot, and embarrassing your child often we help them learn to do this at a moments notice. 

A very good way to teach this to your child is to sing a cheesy love song as loud as possible in a public area. For example, on a family road trip we had just finished watching a movie, and our family walked into a gas station store together. My mom took it upon herself to sing the song "I've Been Dreaming of a True Love's Kiss" (a song from the movie we had just watched) extremely loud inside the store. Of course, years of practise had prepared me, and I quickly hid inside the aisles so nobody knew I was related to that crazy person. 

The last important reason to embarrass your child is because a childhood is not complete without a few traumatic memories. Seriously. It makes people stronger. And maybe very distrustful of their parents in public. But it makes them stronger. I have many memories of my mom threatening to say something embarrassing out loud in public, and me terrified she would actually do so. I never know when to trust her. I guess that's made me better at performing under pressure, and bargaining with people to stop doing something. Maybe something good has come out of all this embarrassment after all.

I need about a hundred more words, so now I'm going to talk about how my mom is not very good at whispering. Seriously. We'll be sitting in a crowded public place, and she'll start talking. Maybe she'll start talking about the people sitting in front of us. Except, she won't be talking in a super quiet, barely audible whisper, no, she'll be speaking loud enough not just for the people in front of us to hear, but for people across the room to hear! (well, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit). There have been countless times I have been so worried that the people my mom is talking about can hear every word she is saying. So embarrassing!
Hopefully that will be my last punishment for awhile! 

DFTBA!

Beth's blog: http://beth.120crayons.com/

Blobby Blobby and Slimy Slimy

Imaginary Audience! I have a gift for you! It's an amazing, incredible, and very informative link!

As some of you imaginary people may know, today is my punishment post. It involves research and disgusting creatures, and I'll try to make it as interesting as I can to read, although no promises. So we might as well jump right in!

True Facts about the Blobfish:

-The blobfish is a deep sea fish and lives around Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand.
-The blobfish lives in waters between 2000 and 3900 ft deep.
-It eats any edible matter that floats in front of it while swimming along the sea floor. Talk about lazy!
-In September 2013 the blobfish was voted the "Worlds Ugliest Animal"
- It's extremely rare for anyone to see blobfish in the wild
- Blobfish aren't extremely large, most are around 12 to 30 cm
- Also know as the blobby blobby potato of the sea. (at least that's what I call it)

Also, according to the BBC, blobfish aren't edible. No kidding.

True Facts about the Hagfish:

- Average length is about 19.7 inches
- They are the only known living animals that have a skull but no backbone
- Hagfish are jawless
- The longest known hagfish was 4 ft 2 in
- They can produce large amounts of milky slime from the 100 glands on its sides
- If they are captured by the tail, they produce slime, tie themselves in a knot, and then wriggle through the knot, releasing themselves
- Hagfish can detect light but not images
- Hagfish eat marine worms on the sea floor and can also eat much larger, dying, sea creatures by devouring them from the inside
- Hagfish skin makes a very good leather, particularly good for wallets and belts.
- Hagfish is also a punk rock band originating from Dallas, Texas

So, now that we've all educated ourselves on the Hagfish and the Blobfish, now comes the part of my punishment where I am supposed to explain which one is superior.

It's actually a very hard decision. Both creatures are disgusting and special and unique. However.....
I'm gonna go with the Blobfish. Not for the way it looks however, although it is amazing and gross, but actually because of how it has been misrepresented, and I feel kinda bad for it. Seriously.

Down where the blobfish lives, pressure is up to 120 times higher than at the surface. Now, most fish

A blobfish deep in the depths of the ocean.

have swim bladders, sacs of gas that help them move around and stay buoyant. But if the blobfish had a swim bladder, it would collapse at the extreme pressure. In order for the blobfish to survive where it needs to, it has hardly any skeleton and and almost no muscle. In the deep deep depths where it lives, it actually looks like a regular fish. When the blobfish is brought
above water, its jelly like body and lack of bones makes it look a lot uglier that in actually is. But I think he's doing ok despite his undeserved "World's Ugliest Animal" title. And that is why I think the Blobfish is superior. He's not letting his "ugliness" get him down.

You told me to be sincere, and I actually am! That's seriously my opinion.

And also this entire punishment was like one giant Ze Frank's true facts reference. At least, it was to me.

Was this enough words for you Beth? I'm not sure. I hope so. There's not a lot of information on these creatures.


DFTBA!

Beth's Blog: http://beth.120crayons.com

Alert! Alert! The Robots are Coming! (as well as a punishment)

Click this link if you want.        I'm not going to force you.        But you can.      If you want. 

Hello. This is a big moment in history, as this is the first time a punishment has been issued. To me, as some of you may know. So. Look forward to reading my punishment post next Tuesday. 

I haven't posted in a while, because of vacation and forgetfulness, so that leaves me a lot to respond to. I hope to someday get to some of it.  

I really enjoyed your lumps of mush post and your amazing pictures of light stuff, by the way. I think about brains and all their complexity and wonderment a lot. It boggles my mind, which is weird because the very fact that my mind can be boggled boggles me. 

SO. This post is going to be about a video. It's by a Youtuber known as CGPGrey*, whom I know you have seen before. You may subscribe to him and have already seen this video, in which case, bear with me until the questions. 

This video was called Humans Need Not Apply and it was about robots. Which may sound weird, but it was actually a very interesting and worrying and slightly terrifying video. I think you should watch it, and when I say you, I mean Beth and also the imaginary audience. It's one of those things that you just want to show everyone you can, including the president of every country. I have a lot of questions about it, but one is this - are robots, in time, actually capable of replacing humans entirely? I'm not asking if they're actually going to, I'm asking if they're capable. I immediately want to reject this, and one of the most logical reasons I have is: don't we need humans to repair robots and create new ones? However, couldn't robots eventually learn how to fix themselves and other robots, just as humans have learned to do the same? And couldn't robots become advanced enough to create more robots? But how would they get that material? Are they able to just create it? I don't know. I'm not a robot expert. What do you think, Beth?

I'll see you and the imaginary audience with my punishment on Tuesdaaaayyyy! 

DFTBA!

Beth's Blog: http://beth.120crayons.com/

I'd like to pretend to be British

You know what to do, click this link before you continue!

Hello again Beth! As you already know, I will be posting while I'm on vacation, but don't expect anything long or particularly complex. This post is late, I know, but I've been busy and tired and on a holiday, so I don't really think I should be punished, though maybe you disagree. 

Thanks for answering my Harry Potter questions! I'm expecting we'll have many more HP conversations as our blogging adventure continues. Prisoner of Azkaban used to be my least favourite HP book, but after rereading it a few times it has become my second favourite! I love Lupin so much, and I really enjoy the plot twists and surprises in it too. 

So for my main topic today, I will be writing about something that Ellie and I have been discussing and arguing about recently. This topic can have many names, but I like to call it "Lame Superpowers". Lame Superpowers are those abilities or talents that seem pretty stupid and not very useful but once you really think about it, they would actually be quite cool to have. Lame Superpowers can actually happen in real life, but they can also be things that are impossible to happen. As an example, I've decided to provide you with a list of some of my favourite Lame Superpowers. 

• The ability to pause and unpause a youtube video with your mind.
• The ability to remember completely and exactly one dream you had last night, but only for 12 hours.
• The ability to open your locker on the first try.
• The ability to cut your fingernails and toenails with your mind, as well as cutting them to the exact length you want. 
• The ability to skip forward or backward in a video to the exact time you want. 
• The ability to know immediately if a book is a part of a series and what number it is just from picking it up. 

And my personal most favourite of my favourites, the Lame Superpower I would pick over any superpower, lame or not, except for flying of course, is....

• The ability to speak in an absolutely perfect British accent whenever you wanted to. 

Now, you must have read my mind when you asked me your second question, because I had decided put a quote of the week at the end of each of my new posts. This week's quote is from a song by Dan Mangan called You Silly Git. There's on line in it that really reminds me of the kind of exsitential crisis I have most often, and the one I wrote about on this blog. 

It's not my favourite quote, but whenever I hear it, it makes me go....Wow, that's true. So here it is. 

Just cities full of people

People making people making people

For the masses

People we won't ever know

Beth's Blog: http://beth.120crayons.com/

The Great HP (not the printer)

Clickity clickity clickity! Click this link and read it first, imaginary audience!

Hello there Beth! I only have about 2 and a half hours left to write this post or I will be punished. That shouldn't be too hard, the only problem is that I can't think of any ideas. Well, that's not exactly true. I have plenty of ideas of things to write about, some good and some ridiculous (thanks mom!), but I just don't feel like writing about any of them today. So I've decided to put those ideas on hold until a day I want to use them, okay? Okay. 

So what am I going to write about today, you may be wondering. Well, I think I'll just write about the first thing that comes to mind, which is also the thing that is always on my mind. Which is, of course, Harry Potter. 

Ah yes. The great Harry Potter. But what exactly about Harry Potter should I write? You know what, I think I'm going to write about my favourite Harry Potter book. By the way, I'm going to try to write this post without spoilers as my dad may read this and I don't want him to be spoiled. 

So, my favourite HP book:

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince! Yup, number 6 is the HP book I enjoy the most. It's an unsual choice; no one else I've met has had it as their favourite. Now why is it my favourite? There are many, many amazing parts of this book and there are some 

not quite as amazing parts too, but this is the main reason I love it. Most of the book is just Harry and his friends hanging out, going to classes, having their own little mundane teenagery problems, playing quidditch and just being regular little underage wizards at a wizarding boarding school. Sure, there are some battles and Voldemort-y things which I love too, but I really love just reading about regular (or as regular as it gets aroung Harry) life at Hogwarts. 

That's part of the problem I had with the Percy Jackson series and the Heroes of Olympus Series. The action never seemed to stop! I would have enjoyed the books a lot more if we had seen more of life at Camp Half-Blood or on the Argo 2. Just all the characters interacting and having fun and getting into fights and stuff. I know there is a little bit of it, but I really think there should have been more. Anyway, back to Harry Potter. 

One thing I don't like about #6 is Harry's obsession with Draco Malfoy. It gets annoying. I can relate to Hermione and Ron about that. However, all of book 5's whiny-ness and wizard angst is mostly over with, which is good, and book 6, in my opinion, is the funniest book. Plus there's all the *spoiler*, *spoiler*, and *spoiler* drama, which I really enjoy reading about for some reason. I also love book 6 because you learn a lot more about Voldemort and his backstory which I love and find very interesting. It answers many questions while giving you new ones. 

 A reason some people tell me I shouldn't have book 6 as my favourite is because *spoiler* dies. Well, you know what people? That was a very well written, dramatic, and surprising part of the story, as well as a VERY VERY IMPORTANT PLOT POINT THAT WILL PROVE TO BE CRUCIAL AND ALSO VERY SAD!!!!!!!!!!! Of course I don't like that there was that particular death, but just because a beloved character dies does't mean the book can't be good or a favourite! 

Anyways, I am now going to begrudingly move on from Harry Potter. 

I really liked all the pictures you put at the end of your last post a lot. I really want that guys hobby too, old interesting pictures are the best.

I don't know if we've decided on a name yet. I need a bit more time to think about it. 

Question for you! If you had to pick one, what is your favourite Harry Potter book and why do you like it so much? What are its good qualities and its bad qualities? 

DFTBA!!!!!!!

Beth's blog: http://beth.120crayons.com/

*Edit* Something I just noticed after I published this post: I really love using brackets in my post titles. 

Short and Sweet

Read/look at this post before you read mine!

Hello imaginary audience, and no Beth does not get to punish me! I was at camp and forgot to let her know. No punishment for me! 

Anyways, I loved all the pictures that you took. They're amazing! My favourite one is of the sunset. You are a very good photographer!

Warning - this post is going to be very short. Like. Really short.

The most interesting thing I learned/discovered this week. Hmmmmmm...... 

I couldn't think of something for a very long time! This is what I finally came up with:

I just finished reading a book called Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, which I have been wanting to read for FOREVER and I discovered that it is made of amazing incredible awesomeness and that you should read it too. It's seriously really great. It's about this guy named Jacob and his grandfather and all these weird pictures, which are actually real old pictures included in the book. There's a second one that recently came out which I am looking forward to reading. I'm sure you probably have a lot of books on your list to read, but you should definitely add this one!

So, my question for you is this. What is the last book you read and what did you think of it? Also, if you want extra credit, what are some books you would like to read soon? 

DFTBA! 

Beth's blog: http://beth.120crayons.com/

Books vs. Movies (spoilers: books undoubtably win)

Imaginary Audience: If you don't want to be horribly confused while reading this post I would suggest clicking here first. 

Hello once again Beth! 

And THANK YOU for existing! You are made of pure genius, awesomeness, and hilarity. All of that definitely showed in your last post for sure. It was brilliant!

You also gave me quite a lot of thoughts that were very confusing, but I loved having them there. You are very good at explaining these types of thoughts. It's becoming hard for me to decide what from your post to focus on. I don't know if I can match your greatness!

I think I will start with your brilliant musings on forgetting, the difficulty of doing so, and why maybe we shouldn't try to forget. 

SO. Something you said that really stuck with me, and made me think a lot, was this: 

"It is, after all, much easier to deal with things if you don’t know they exist. But would we really want to? This led me to thinking about the Doctor, and how he forgot how many children were on Gallifrey when he burned it, and watching him admit it, you know it’s a terrible thing. But why is it a terrible thing?"

I really want to try to answer that question, however my thoughts are not working together properly. I've been thinking about it a lot, so eventually I will give it a go. I tried already, but gave up halfway through. I just wanted to acknowledge you being all fantastic and thought-provoking and stuff. 

Also. Thanks for RUINING MY LIFE with the David Tennant crisis. Seriously. Unbelievable. 

I loved all your other examples too. Ships sink when other ships have a cannon, huh? Who would've thought. (That is really so amazing though)

Thank you for comparing me to John Green! I am thrilled you think that much of me, however John is unarguably much much better with words than I am. Not even comparable, really. I mean, have you seen his Thoughts From Places videos? 

Title idea: 
The Thing: Adventures in Being Imaginary 

Now I'm going to try to answer your real question. This post has been a little weird and all over the place. I'm not really in a good head space to write right now, so sorry if this next bit sucks. 

Why do I like books better than movies? I do think that the personal quality of a book is definitely something that contributes. The narrative of a book, whether it is in first, second, or third person, to me always seems more personal. There's something about reading a book that is making you cry and laugh and get angry and feel joy while you're lying on your bed clutching the pages in your hands that makes you feel more connected to the characters and the story. When you watch a movie, to me it feels like it's their story, but when I read a book It feels like I am a part of the story. As well, there are some amazing things you can do with imagery, but you can do some incredible things with words that you can't do with pictures. 
Take this quote from The Book Thief that explains some of my thoughts much more eloquently than I: 

“I like that every page in every book can have a gem on it. It's probably what I love most about writing--that words can be used in a way that's like a child playing in a sandpit, rearranging things, swapping them around. They're the best moments in a day of writing -- when an image appears that you didn't know would be there when you started work in the morning.” 

The Book Thief has many examples of this. Here are 2 examples that makes me shiver with awesomeness: 

“I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn't already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.....I am haunted by humans.”

“A SMALL PIECE OF TRUTH
I do not carry a sickle or scythe.
I only wear a hooded black robe when it's cold.And I don't have those skull-like facial features you seem to enjoy pinning on me from a distance. You want to know what I truly look like? I'll help you out. Find yourself a mirror while I continue.”  


There are many more examples, of course, in The Book Thief and other amazing books. Words on a page, for some reason, make me see more than words or images in a movie. 

Now that I've hopefully answered your question for me, it's time for me to ask you something. 
I recently discovered this realy cool youtube channel and this guy named Tommy Edison. Tommy has been blind since birth, and he does these videos where he answers questions people often have for blind people and explains stuff. He's really interesting and funny, and I strongly suggest you check out some of his stuff. It made me have a whole new batch of existential crises becauses of all the things I had never thought of before. He has these really great videos about colour and intangible concepts for him, so my question is, how would you explain colours to a blind person, and what about stuff like the sky or space or the sun? 

DFTBA!

Beth's Blog: http://beth.120crayons.com/