ASDFKLJHASJDHFLKJASHDFLKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!
FREAKING CENSUS!!!!!!!!!
*takes deep breath* *barely controls her anger*
I. Got. ANOTHER. Survey. In. The. Mail. ANOTHER ONE!!! That brings my grand total to FIVE. Two normal Censuses, one "Single Person" Census (incidentally, the only one that counts), and now TWO American Community Surveys.
*growls like Edward Cullen at anybody who threatens Bella*
And LOST isn't on tonight. And I have homework.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE FREAKING WORLD???
Oh! And it's now legal to pull people over if they LOOK like they might be immigrants who are here illegally. So, you know, ANYBODY WITH BROWN SKIN.
(EDIT: Okay, they can't pull them over just because they suspect that they are an illegal immigrant. They have to have pulled them over for something else first, and then request to see their proof of legal status if they have reasonable suspicion that they are an illegal immigrant. STILL RACIST, but hopefully they won't be just pulling people over who look brown.)
*GROWLS*
I ate like five packages of Dora Fruit Snacks in protest today.
And now I'm just waiting for GLEE to come on and make everything better.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
How the Census Ticked Me Off
You guys, Nerdfighters* are so cool. Case in point: during the liveshow tonight, the screen froze and we lost the feed. Everyone was very sad. So we tweeted Hank and Alan and some people CALLED THE BOOKSTORE where John and David Levithan were speaking. How COOL is that? Nerdfighters can do anything. (Unfortunately, John couldn't fix the problem because he was on stage. But still, it was awesome to see Nerdfighters in action.)
ANYWAY, after that my computer went all wonky and Safari froze and I had to shut the whole thing down. I blame livestream... I've heard it does that sometimes.
So, what I really want to talk about tonight is the CENSUS. I was so stoked to take part in the Census; I know it's super important for cities to get funding for schools and states to get their due number of representative and all that jazz, and I felt super grown-up to be filling it out on my own! I was just a kid last time, so I don't even remember it happening. It was pretty exciting to be a part of something so big for the first time.
And at first it was okay. They sent it in the mail, I brought it up to my room, and my roommate and I filled it out. It took maybe fifteen minutes. We sealed it up, stuck it back in the outgoing mail and voilà! Done!
A couple weeks later, a little note came in the mail. "You will be receiving your Census form on April 6. Your response is required by law." Okay, I thought. That's weird. Must be a mistake. Maybe we got ours early because our building gets its mail from the city Post Office, not the campus one. I shrugged to myself and threw the little note into the recycling.
Then... we got ANOTHER Census form in the mail. I stared at it in confusion. But I already sent ours back! I thought. Oh, well. I didn't throw this one away, because I didn't know if that was allowed. So I set it on our table.
THEN. We got a HUGE envelope from the Census Bureau with ANOTHER survey in it. It was something that only a selection of the population got, and it was, of course, required by law that we fill it out. So we did. It asked all about the building we lived in, our electricity and water and coal use (which we don't have), and then it asked about our jobs and our income and yadda yadda yadda. It took a while to fill that one out. But, being the good citizen that I am, I filled it out and sealed it up and set it on my table to mail back.
AND NOW! TONIGHT! I am sitting innocently in my room, browsing the internet, when I hear some girls giggling in the hallway. I don't think much of it. I hear them knocking on some doors and telling the residents about something. I shrug and go back to my browsing; if it's important, they'll knock on my door. Then I hear them coming closer, I look over and notice that my door is open, but not all the way. I can't see them, but I assume they'll knock if it's some kind of message they're giving to all the residents. Then I hear something plop on the ground in my kitchen, and more giggling as they scurry away. I roll my eyes. Obviously it wasn't that important.
A few minutes later I get up to get some water and to check out what they left for us. As I get up to my refrigerator, I see a large envelope with my roommate's name on it and "Census 2010" written at the top. WHAT THE CRAP? I think to myself. ANOTHER ONE? I mean, come ON. That's the third one they've sent. It must be a mistake. I look inside the envelope with my name on it and find a single sheet of paper with "Individual Census Report" written at the top. I look at the questions. There are seven. Only seven questions. I frown and turn the page over, but the back only has instructions. Well, I think, This looks more like something a college student should have to fill out. I sigh and set it down on my bed. As I'm heading downstairs to go to our "Girl's Night In" program, I see one of the RAs.
"Hey, you're coming, right?" she asks me.
"Of course I am. Hey, why the heck did I get ANOTHER Census form today?"
"Yeah, that's the one you're supposed to fill out."
I stare. I blink. "What."
"I know. Apparently the other one was sent to us by mistake. Everyone on campus is supposed to fill out this one."
"But... but I already sent it back. Are they going to count me TWICE?"
"No, they're not going to count the other ones at all."
"But they sent me TWO COPIES!"
"I know. It's ridiculous."
"No kidding." I sigh. I walk downstairs and watch the movie with my friends. I complain about the Census to a chorus of agreement.
After the movie I walk back to my room, and lookie there. The Census. Sitting on my bed. Taunting me.
I roll my eyes, fill it out, seal the envelope (which didn't even seal all the way, stupid Census) and turn on my computer.
I am so over the Census.
*I realize that if you aren't familiar with Nerdfighters, this whole paragraph will be quite meaningless. To rectify that, you should watch the Vlogbrothers's videos. They are hilarious and made of awesome. You won't regret it. If you don't have time to watch every one of the videos, I would start with this Nerdfighter FAQ that John and Hank Green have so graciously made for your viewing pleasure.
ANYWAY, after that my computer went all wonky and Safari froze and I had to shut the whole thing down. I blame livestream... I've heard it does that sometimes.
So, what I really want to talk about tonight is the CENSUS. I was so stoked to take part in the Census; I know it's super important for cities to get funding for schools and states to get their due number of representative and all that jazz, and I felt super grown-up to be filling it out on my own! I was just a kid last time, so I don't even remember it happening. It was pretty exciting to be a part of something so big for the first time.
And at first it was okay. They sent it in the mail, I brought it up to my room, and my roommate and I filled it out. It took maybe fifteen minutes. We sealed it up, stuck it back in the outgoing mail and voilà! Done!
A couple weeks later, a little note came in the mail. "You will be receiving your Census form on April 6. Your response is required by law." Okay, I thought. That's weird. Must be a mistake. Maybe we got ours early because our building gets its mail from the city Post Office, not the campus one. I shrugged to myself and threw the little note into the recycling.
Then... we got ANOTHER Census form in the mail. I stared at it in confusion. But I already sent ours back! I thought. Oh, well. I didn't throw this one away, because I didn't know if that was allowed. So I set it on our table.
THEN. We got a HUGE envelope from the Census Bureau with ANOTHER survey in it. It was something that only a selection of the population got, and it was, of course, required by law that we fill it out. So we did. It asked all about the building we lived in, our electricity and water and coal use (which we don't have), and then it asked about our jobs and our income and yadda yadda yadda. It took a while to fill that one out. But, being the good citizen that I am, I filled it out and sealed it up and set it on my table to mail back.
AND NOW! TONIGHT! I am sitting innocently in my room, browsing the internet, when I hear some girls giggling in the hallway. I don't think much of it. I hear them knocking on some doors and telling the residents about something. I shrug and go back to my browsing; if it's important, they'll knock on my door. Then I hear them coming closer, I look over and notice that my door is open, but not all the way. I can't see them, but I assume they'll knock if it's some kind of message they're giving to all the residents. Then I hear something plop on the ground in my kitchen, and more giggling as they scurry away. I roll my eyes. Obviously it wasn't that important.
A few minutes later I get up to get some water and to check out what they left for us. As I get up to my refrigerator, I see a large envelope with my roommate's name on it and "Census 2010" written at the top. WHAT THE CRAP? I think to myself. ANOTHER ONE? I mean, come ON. That's the third one they've sent. It must be a mistake. I look inside the envelope with my name on it and find a single sheet of paper with "Individual Census Report" written at the top. I look at the questions. There are seven. Only seven questions. I frown and turn the page over, but the back only has instructions. Well, I think, This looks more like something a college student should have to fill out. I sigh and set it down on my bed. As I'm heading downstairs to go to our "Girl's Night In" program, I see one of the RAs.
"Hey, you're coming, right?" she asks me.
"Of course I am. Hey, why the heck did I get ANOTHER Census form today?"
"Yeah, that's the one you're supposed to fill out."
I stare. I blink. "What."
"I know. Apparently the other one was sent to us by mistake. Everyone on campus is supposed to fill out this one."
"But... but I already sent it back. Are they going to count me TWICE?"
"No, they're not going to count the other ones at all."
"But they sent me TWO COPIES!"
"I know. It's ridiculous."
"No kidding." I sigh. I walk downstairs and watch the movie with my friends. I complain about the Census to a chorus of agreement.
After the movie I walk back to my room, and lookie there. The Census. Sitting on my bed. Taunting me.
I roll my eyes, fill it out, seal the envelope (which didn't even seal all the way, stupid Census) and turn on my computer.
I am so over the Census.
*I realize that if you aren't familiar with Nerdfighters, this whole paragraph will be quite meaningless. To rectify that, you should watch the Vlogbrothers's videos. They are hilarious and made of awesome. You won't regret it. If you don't have time to watch every one of the videos, I would start with this Nerdfighter FAQ that John and Hank Green have so graciously made for your viewing pleasure.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Blog? What blog?
Every time I decide to post on this blog I check the list that shows every post I've made so far. And every time I do that, I come upon the beginnings of a post that I had started weeks before and never got around to finishing. I always end up deleting that old post (because I'm not really interested in blogging about a topic I had picked out weeks before) and starting a new one. And half the time that new one becomes the new old-post-from-weeks-before-that-I-never-finished.
BUT NOT THIS TIME!
Oh no, I am DETERMINED to finish this post. Even if it means skipping all my afternoon appointments!
Okay, that's a lie. I'm not going to skip my appointments. But I AM going to finish this post, even if I have to finish it at 11:00 tonight when LOST and Parenthood are over.
So, what is this post about? WELL. I think it's going to be about writing. I just read a great blog on kt literary about teen writing. I looked back on some of my stuff and CRINGED. It was horrible. I had this fanfic that I wrote when I was like twelve, and it's all about how my friends and I go on an exchange to Hogwarts. Oh, and Harry and Ginny get married. And I date Draco Malfoy. Yeah. Good stuff.
Anyway, that made me think about my writing journey. *cue clichés* No, really. It has been quite a journey, and I'm not even half way! I mean, I guess there's no end to the journey and blah blah blah, but seriously. I still have a long way to go. I would love to be published some day, but for that to happen I need to write something that is worthy of publishing. I wrote a novel in 2008 for NaNoWriMo, but it's still in it's roughest rough-draft form. I'm thinking about re-writing it completely, actually, because as much as I adore the story, there are some weak plot points that need fixing and I skipped about six or seven chapters in the middle because I didn't know what I wanted to put there. So I suppose I'll work on that this summer.
But anyway, the JOURNEY! I've been into reading and writing for as long as I can remember. I actually remember being four years old and writing a story that consisted of two-word sentences like, "Nona runs." I typed it out on our Macintosh (back before it was called a Mac) and it was in HUGE font that made the whole sentence take up a page. (I may have had help typing. I don't remember the process, only the finished product.) It was SO COOL.
I remember reading my first REAL chapter book in third grade. It was called Number the Stars, and it had something to do with a girl named Annemarie who was Jewish and the Nazis came and things... happened... I don't really remember the plot, but I remember that was the first time I ever heard of Jewish people having to wear stars on their clothes. And I also remember that I thought Annemarie was the COOLEST NAME EVER and I was TOTALLY going to give that name to my daughter some day. Except... somehow I misread it and thought it was pronounced "an-nuh-mare." Like Anna Mare. Like a horse or something. It was a while before I realized that I was pronouncing it wrong, but even then I still thought Annamare was a cool name. I was kind of a weirdo.
Anyway, I said I was going to get this blog posted, and it is now Wednesday morning. I'll just say this one last thing: Doesn't matter what your goal is (for me, it's publishing my work), the best thing you can do is PRACTICE. I know I have no authority or experience in this area, because I haven't reached my goal yet, but I know that practice is the key. So, maybe this summer I'll post some excerpts from the story I'm working on so I can get some feedback and continue to practice and improve my writing :)
And with that, I think I'll hit "post." Because if I wait any longer, I'll just come back in several weeks and discover this unposted blog. And I really don't want that to happen AGAIN.
BUT NOT THIS TIME!
Oh no, I am DETERMINED to finish this post. Even if it means skipping all my afternoon appointments!
Okay, that's a lie. I'm not going to skip my appointments. But I AM going to finish this post, even if I have to finish it at 11:00 tonight when LOST and Parenthood are over.
So, what is this post about? WELL. I think it's going to be about writing. I just read a great blog on kt literary about teen writing. I looked back on some of my stuff and CRINGED. It was horrible. I had this fanfic that I wrote when I was like twelve, and it's all about how my friends and I go on an exchange to Hogwarts. Oh, and Harry and Ginny get married. And I date Draco Malfoy. Yeah. Good stuff.
Anyway, that made me think about my writing journey. *cue clichés* No, really. It has been quite a journey, and I'm not even half way! I mean, I guess there's no end to the journey and blah blah blah, but seriously. I still have a long way to go. I would love to be published some day, but for that to happen I need to write something that is worthy of publishing. I wrote a novel in 2008 for NaNoWriMo, but it's still in it's roughest rough-draft form. I'm thinking about re-writing it completely, actually, because as much as I adore the story, there are some weak plot points that need fixing and I skipped about six or seven chapters in the middle because I didn't know what I wanted to put there. So I suppose I'll work on that this summer.
But anyway, the JOURNEY! I've been into reading and writing for as long as I can remember. I actually remember being four years old and writing a story that consisted of two-word sentences like, "Nona runs." I typed it out on our Macintosh (back before it was called a Mac) and it was in HUGE font that made the whole sentence take up a page. (I may have had help typing. I don't remember the process, only the finished product.) It was SO COOL.
I remember reading my first REAL chapter book in third grade. It was called Number the Stars, and it had something to do with a girl named Annemarie who was Jewish and the Nazis came and things... happened... I don't really remember the plot, but I remember that was the first time I ever heard of Jewish people having to wear stars on their clothes. And I also remember that I thought Annemarie was the COOLEST NAME EVER and I was TOTALLY going to give that name to my daughter some day. Except... somehow I misread it and thought it was pronounced "an-nuh-mare." Like Anna Mare. Like a horse or something. It was a while before I realized that I was pronouncing it wrong, but even then I still thought Annamare was a cool name. I was kind of a weirdo.
Anyway, I said I was going to get this blog posted, and it is now Wednesday morning. I'll just say this one last thing: Doesn't matter what your goal is (for me, it's publishing my work), the best thing you can do is PRACTICE. I know I have no authority or experience in this area, because I haven't reached my goal yet, but I know that practice is the key. So, maybe this summer I'll post some excerpts from the story I'm working on so I can get some feedback and continue to practice and improve my writing :)
And with that, I think I'll hit "post." Because if I wait any longer, I'll just come back in several weeks and discover this unposted blog. And I really don't want that to happen AGAIN.
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