In Which I Am Clumsy

Wondering why I haven't been around recently?

Last Monday, I ran into a wall, and sprained my pinky finger on my left hand.  Luckily, I'm right handed, but I was wearing the above splint up until yesterday, making it rather difficult to type.  Also, it was a kind of crazy two weeks, school-wise.

Now I just have tape on my fingers, but... yeah.  Sorry for not being around recently!  It's easier to type now, but my finger is still sprained, so it's not making it too easy to type.

I really need to stop running into things.  I've broken a toe by running into a door, I once chipped a tooth on a wall, and now I've sprained my finger.  This seems to be an ongoing problem...

But yes, hopefully I'll be back and blogging again soon!

The Dandy Lioness

One Year

Yesterday I posted "366 Days" as a tribute to the one-year anniversary of my grandfather's death.

The day after he died, I created this blog.  It was on an impulse-- I'd been following the blogworld for years, but I'd never had one of my own.  So I created this little blog.

I'm sorry I haven't posted recently-- school is crazy, Tumblr has kind of taken over my life, dance and gymnastics started up again... basically, life just happened.

Anyways, I've been meaning to post for days-- I can't believe it's been three whole weeks!  I'm terribly sorry that I haven't posted, loves!  Yesterday gave me an excuse, and I knew that today I couldn't just not post.

Anyways, can you believe that it's been a whole year that I've been running this blog?

And now... for some stats!

11,296 pageviews.
103 posts.
39 followers.
The most popular post ever is a post entitled "Happy Girls are the Prettiest."  It has 374 pageviews.  The funny thing is, is that it has no comments, but it has over 100 more pageviews than any other post.
The next most popular is "Why I Look Up to Ginny Weasley" with 232 pageviews.  Following that is "Wibbely-Wobbely-Timey-Wimey Knitting" with 117 pageviews.
The entry into Google that has gained me the most pageviews is "Who from Whoville", which probably led people to my blog because of my Who Halloween costume last year.  If anyone is curious, my costume this year is the TARDIS.  I've got almost everything ready, and it's only the second of the month.

Entry	Pageviews
United States	7692
Russia	637
France	493
United Kingdom	290
Canada	276
Australia	227
Germany	171
Netherlands	108
Ukraine	69
India	62

I've had people visit my blog from all the way across the world!  That's the thing about the internet-- you never know who will find your blog, where they could be from.

So.  One year of blogging.  That's a pretty major milestone, I'd say.

And, as sporadic as my posts have been, I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.

The Dandy Lioness

366 Days

Since you left us.

R.I.P. Grandpa.

I love you.

Bookish Memories

You probably have noted the title of this post, by now.  I was sitting here, trying to figure out what to call it, when I remembered my post Bookish Nostalgia.  This post being sort of similar, I decided to title this one Bookish Memories, and make it into a sort-of-kind-of-maybe series.


Something interesting about books, is the stories that they tell.  I know what you’re thinking.  “Duh, they’re books.  Of course they tell stories.”

But the stories I’m talking about aren’t those stories.  No.  The stories I’m talking about are the ones that come across your mind when you pick the book up, and look at it.  The stories that you have added to the book.  Take my copy of The Fault in Our Stars, for example.  I remember the day I drove half an hour to go get that book.  We were having dinner at our friend’s house that night, and I remember reading it in the car while my mom went and got tapenade from the store, or something.  And I remember getting sushi on the way home, and eating it in the car and reading the book.  With the book Will Grayson, Will Grayson, I know that I’ll probably associate it with ferry rides, because I was reading it for the first time the other day, when we had to wait in line for a ferry for an hour.

I associate my copy of Airborn by Kenneth Oppel with sitting outside in the sun on a lazy spring evening, picking up the book I had started, and was only four chapters into, and then suddenly realizing just how good it was, and tearing through it in one evening.  The book Looking for Alaska reminds me of plane rides, and the excited feeling you get when you’re going somewhere.   My copy of Goliath by Scott Westerfeld reminds me of sadder things, however.  It makes me think of why I got it.  Yes, I got it at a signing by Scott Westerfeld, when he came to my city, which was amazing and hilarious, but it also makes me sad, because it reminds me of my grandfather’s death.  The reason my mom got it for me was because the day that my grandfather died, I was her buddy, and we ended up going to sign paperwork and stuff.  A week later, she got me Goliath at the signing, as a sort of thank-you.

Something that John Green often says is “Books belong to their readers.”  I didn’t really know what he meant by that, until recently.  I was looking at my bookshelf, and having all these memories come back to me. 

A more unique memory that comes to me, while scanning my bookshelf, is from the book, The King in the Window, by Adam Gopnik.  I read this book (well, my mother read it to me,) shortly before I went to Paris, because it’s set in Paris.  And so, when we went to Paris, we were at the Louvre, and there’s this one scene in The King in the Window, where the main character goes to this one room in the Louvre, which is filled with swords.  And I still have no idea if this room actually exists, but when we were in the Louvre, we went on a sort of quest, looking for this room.  We didn’t find it, but it was fun—though my sister didn’t like it, as it meant she didn’t get to stand and read every single thing about each piece of art.  Though had she done that, she would have been in the Louvre for days and days.  But still.  We ran around the museum, looking for this one room.  I think my mom was just happy that I wasn't complaining bitterly about being in a museum.  (Yes, I realize it was the Louvre, but in my defense, it was in fourth grade, and I had absolutely no interest in museums.  I'm still not a big fan of them, either...)


I remember reading Magyk by Angie Sage on a balcony overlooking the sea while in Italy, and The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall in my bedroom, in a nest made out of stuffed animals and bedding.  I remember sprawling in my backyard reading Only the Good Spy Young, by Ally Carter, and reading Wild Magic, by Tamora Pierce for the first time while I was sailing.  

So yes.  After a long time of not really understanding what John Green meant, I finally do.  Books do belong to their readers.  Readers interpret the stories the way that they see fit, and attach their own memories to books.  At first, it’s just a book.  But then you read it, and become involved in the story.  You take it places, meet people with it in your hand, get it signed by authors you love.  No one will have the exact same story attached to a specific book as you do.  Your story is unique.  And whenever you see the title of that book, you'll remember where you first read it, or your favorite place that you've taken it, or just some memory of reading it.  Books are special.

The Dandy Lioness

{P.S.  Is the spacing weird, or is that just my computer?  It's been acting up recently, so I have no idea.}

Always

Today makes the one year anniversary of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part two premier in the U.S.

I’ve said in passing on my blog that Harry Potter is a huge, huge part of my life, and always has been.  I’ve been listening and reading and watching the stories since I was about age three.

I’m fourteen.  I missed a lot of premiers, a lot of waiting, and plotting what could come next.  But for me, Harry Potter was my childhood.  I spent hours and hours and hours playing Harry Potter with my friends, creating stories around our favorite characters, running through the backyard in my homemade cloak, using pencils as wands.

One year ago last night, I was in line, anxiously waiting to enter into my favorite theater.  I was with friends, playing Harry Potter Uno, wearing the cloak my sister made for me when I was in third grade, made ready just before the release of the final book. 

Harry Potter means a lot to me.  It shaped my childhood, and who I became.  I grew up with the idea that love is the greatest power against evil nestled securely in my heart.  I grew up running through the halls of Hogwarts, creating my own special version in my head.  I grew up creating these stories about my favorite characters and telling them to myself.  Harry Potter shaped who I am now, as a person and a writer.

I have a small section of my bedroom wall that is dedicated to Harry Potter quotes.  These are quotes I do my best to follow and to live by, quotes that I have known for years and years, and that have helped shape me into the person I am now.  This particular quote by Sirius Black is one of my favorites:  “Besides, the world isn’t split into good people and death eaters.  We’ve all got both light and dark inside us.  What matters is the part we choose to act on.  That’s who we really are.”

I know I can be mean sometimes, or annoying, or a pain to be around.  I know that.  But I do my best, for the most part, to not.  I try my best to be a good person, who is kind.  I try and act on the light side of me.  It can be hard sometimes, and I know where there are days where that just doesn’t happen.  I’m acting on the dark side of me.  But then I do try and act on the light side.  I try.  Sure, it doesn’t always work, but I try.  I try and be the light side of me.

I’ve tried to write about Harry Potter, and what it means to me, before.  It generally doesn’t work.  But today, I am.  Today, the one year anniversary of the “end of an era”.  But the thing is, how is it the end of an era?  People are still discovering Harry Potter.  Children are still loving the stories, finding their own Hogwarts, just like I did. 

To me, this quote by Nathan Fillion, about the show Firefly, rings very true with the Harry Potter community.  "When Firefly died I thought it was the worst thing that could possibly happen. What I realize now, ten years later, looking out onto this room, is that the worst thing that could have happened is if it’d stayed dead."  Replace Firefly with Harry Potter, and you’ve got the Harry Potter fandom.  Harry Potter may be officially finished.  But the fans are still creating stories, still creating fan art, still watching the movies and reading the books.  There are still people discovering Harry Potter.  So yes, technically Harry Potter is over, and I feel very blessed to have been able to be a part of the fandom as everything was still going, and new books and movies were coming out.  But Harry Potter has not died.  So yes.  Harry Potter is over officially.  But to the fans?  It’s never over.  It’s still there.  It’ll always be there.

{Via}

The Dandy Lioness

Miscellaneous Facts

Hey guys!  Look, I’m posting again!

Today is a random post.  Random, because I’m going to tell you ten random facts about me.  Let’s get started.

1.   During the 2011-2012 school year, I wrote 56 reviews of books I read that year in my reading notebook.  I read more than that, I just didn’t bother to review every single book.

2.  I have blonde hair, and brown eyes.  This is a combination you don’t see very often—a lot of blondes have blue eyes.  When I was a baby, my hair was really, really light blonde, and my eyes were really, really dark brown.  According to my parents I was “striking”.

3.  It takes a lot to make me cry during books, movies and TV shows, but when it does happen, it means that I really enjoyed/felt strongly about it.  One example of this is “The Fault in our Stars” by John Green.  A TV show that made me cry was Doctor Who, and a movie that made me cry was "Marley and Me".

4.  The only J.R.R. Tolkien book I’ve ever finished was “The Hobbit or There and Back Again” which I actually just finished yesterday!  Though I am attempting to read as much of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy this summer as I can.  I’m about 240 pages into “The Fellowship of the Ring”, but I can only read it in short little bursts, so I don’t know how far I’ll actually get.

5.  I own approximately 400 books.  (This number is approximate because I counted my Nancy Drew books last time I counted, but they’ve mysteriously disappeared, and were possibly given to the Blind.)  The funny thing is, is that I don’t buy books very often.  I’m much more likely to get books from the library than to buy them.  In fact, I quite rarely buy books.  Though I get a lot of books as hand-me-downs and from the library book sales, so there's that.  (And I'm horrible about giving away books, so I have a ton of books from my childhood I couldn't bear to give away...)

6.  When asked to pick between which words I’d rather hear:  “Yer a wizard,” or “I’m the Doctor,” I was unable to choose.  Harry Potter and Doctor Who are both just such big parts of my life, that I don’t know if I’d be able to choose one world over the other.

7.  My room and shelves are full of random knickknacks, such as a plastic banana that has Doctor Who quotes written on it, a fan from Japan given to my family by a Japanese exchange student, a tiny mask from Venice, a stuffed French the Llama, and Luella the Latin cow, that my sister got me at a Latin convention a few years ago.

8.  My walls are covered in pictures, posters, maps and quotes.  I currently have two Doctor Who posters, three travel posters, five maps, seven photos (though I plan to get more soon), and at least twenty-one quotes.  Also a poster from the Tour de Nerdfighting 2012.

9.  I have a lot of stuffed bears in my room and in my closet.  Currently on my bed I have five bears.  One is from the YMCA, one is from Finland, my sister knit me one, I got one for Christmas, and the other is a red panda bear that I got at the zoo a few years back.  I have at least one more smallish bear that I got at the hospital when I was five or six.  I also have three gigantic stuffed bears—a panda bear that I won at a carnival, a polar bear that my friend gave me for Christmas, and a polar bear that my parents gave me for Christmas.  There’s actually a funny story about the gigantic panda bear.  I went to this big carnival in my state with my friend about two years ago.  We were playing one of those horse racing games, where you try and make your horse get to the finish line first.  I thought I was a completely different horse near the back of the pack, but it turned out that I won, and because there were about ten people playing, I got a gigantic panda bear.  It’s currently sitting on my lap.

10.  This is a weird one but… I hate wearing skirts.  I don’t mind them on other people, in fact I think they’re really pretty.  But personally, I hate wearing skirts and dresses.  I also hate wearing sweat pants, though yoga pants are acceptable as pajama pants.  On that note, I also hate wearing the majority of pajamas, especially pajama tops.  I’ll tolerate pajama bottoms, though I’m happier in yoga pants, or shorts in the summer.  As for pajama tops, I mostly wear t-shirts instead of actual pajama tops.  As for the sweat pants, it’s not for any reason other than this: they make me uncomfortable.  I don’t find them particularly comfy, and personally, I’m much happier in jeans.

{This picture has no relevance to anything, really, and I've already posted it on my blog.  I just really like it.}

The Dandy Lioness

On Birthdays, Doctor Who, and Delicious Food

Yesterday was my Golden Birthday.  Fourteen on the Fourteenth.  And in true me fashion, I spent the entire day reading Divergent by Veronica Roth.  Yes, it's a 500 page book, and yes, I finished it yesterday.  It was really quite good.  And guess what?  Those of you who know how much I dislike dystopian novels, will be interested to know, that I found one I liked, and that didn't follow my formula.  Actually, I really liked this book.  It was fabulous.  I can't wait to read the second one.

And on Friday, my dear friend Luna baked me brownies, which were delicious, even if we all felt rather sick afterward, from eating too many brownies.  It was fun, though.  And we managed to stop from getting mobbed at lunch, because we hid the brownies until the people who would mob us had left the lunch room.

I also got two other books, (Cinder, by Marissa Meyer, and Dragonswood by Janet Lee Carey), a t-shirt, and a pair of Doctor Who wind-up toys.  They're the TARDIS and a Dalek.  I had a really fun time yesterday, even if I did just lounge around the house most of the day, doing basically nothing.  It was gorgeous outside, though, so I did spend some time outside as well.

But then my parents took me down to this quirky neighborhood in my city, and we walked along the canal, and got Thai food at one of our favorite restaurants.  It was fun.  :)  And then we came home and watched Midnight in Paris (which to be honest, I've seen before, and didn't love,) and ate a TARDIS cake that my dad made me.  I had no idea he could bake.  Cook, yes, bake, no.

Also, I'm on spring break, so hopefully that means I'll post more.  ;)  Though in the last few days, I have been posting more than usual.

Oh, and for those of you who've seen Doctor Who, I watched one of the first surviving episodes of it today.  It was from the "Aztecs" disc.  And... it was hilarious.  The grainy, out of focus, shaky camera work, the paper hats, the miniature TARDIS at the beginning, the super slow, terribly entertaining fight scene...  I had fun watching it.  It came out in the sixties, and my parents, who were watching it with me, were laughing, and talking about sixties television.  My mom said the Doctor Who episode was camp.

Anyways.  This has probably just been a bit of a boring, update-y post, and really rather random, but I had fun writing it, and you know, sometimes just update-y posts are needed.

The Dandy Lioness

Changes

Hello again!

Sorry I've been missing lately-- I just haven't gotten around to blogging.

I'm sure you've noticed by now, that there's a new background and header.  I decided to spruce up my blog in honor of spring.  Being averse to change, it took a whole lot of convincing myself that this was a good idea, and that no, I shouldn't just change the header, etc.  I'm still thinking of going back to that sort of gray, tiled background I had before.  Thoughts?  Anyways.  I'm quite happy with how it turned out, even if I am a bit iffy on the background.  The header took me ages (I had to redo it three times today.  I also made two other ones, and now I have five different ones to choose from, once summer rolls around.)

Am I the only one who's rather averse to change?  I kept finding myself wavering, as I would stare at my background and header.  Spring is coming up, and I have a snowy tree as my header.  I should change it, one little voice would say.  But then another would pipe up, saying, No, no, this one is good.  I like it.  You shouldn't change it.  Ever.  And they would get into a bit of a war with each other.

I find myself not wanting to change many things in my life.  But what if I don't like the new one?  I wonder.  What if I like the old one better?  It's part of why I haven't changed my room up recently, even as I longingly flip through PB Teen, thinking, Oh, that's nice.  It would look good in my room.


I'm averse to change.  But I know that I need to get over that.  In my life, many things will come and go.  Rooms will be rearranged, or redecorated, I'll switch schools, I'll grow older, and my responsibilities will change.  But I find myself clinging to the old things, the old me, as I grow, and get older.  Change is something I will experience many times in my life.  I need to learn to accept it.  Even if I don't want to.

The Dandy Lioness

Glimpses of Goodness, Fairy Lights and Nostalgia

Hello, all!  I'm joining in with Mirriam for the first post of 'Glimpses of Goodness'.  I don't know how often I'll do it, but I'll try and link up every couple weeks, if not every week.

Rainbow fairy lights glittering next to me.

The words fairy lights.  They're just so whimsical and... special sounding.  So much more interesting than Christmas lights, which you feel like you have to take down, as soon as the season is over.

The sound of birds chirping outside.

Frost glittering on the top of a fence post.

Laughter with my friend, while we watched my TV production movies from this semester.

My class, TV production, which I love dearly, and always have the best laughs in, which sadly is coming to a close.  (Which, sadly, I do not believe that the high school I'm going to will have...)

The book "Oh, The Places You'll Go" which has helped fuel my constant traveling nostalgia.

Waltzing around an open area in my school at lunch with my friends.

The pile of stuffed animals that seems to wave to me from my chair.

The maps posted all around my room, speaking of far-away places and adventure.

My dog, following me around, begging for a piece of my orange.

Hot, caffeine filled tea, before a school day where I had two tests.

{Via}

The fact that, as I know that I failed one of my tests, having gotten exponent rules mixed up, and done a poor job of checking my work, I am able to retake it.

Books, whose author's I have been very blessed to meet.

Books, books and more books, pulling me into their stories.

Gilmore Girls, when I need cheering up.

Doctor Who recorded late at night, to be watched the next morning.

Childhood books, long thought to be lost, found.

Go head over to Mirriam's blog and check out Glimpses of Goodness!*  I had lots of fun with it, though I did expand a bit more on it than Mirriam did, by adding a few photos here and there.

*If you didn't notice before, both links are at the top of this post.
**Also, all photos in the post belong to me except for the one of the tea.  Please no stealing, m'kay?

The Dandy Lioness

Passionately Quirky

*pokes head in*
*looks around*

I'm sorry!  It's been two weeks!  I hadn't realized it was so long-- I've been busy with school and friends and my sister (it's been her last couple weeks until she goes back to college) and... I've been ignoring you.  Hugs?

*hugs*

Okay.  Now that that is out of the way, I'm going to try a post similar to what the lovely Mirriam did with this post.


I AM... a girl.  Just a girl.  I have lots of quirks and faults, and sometimes people want me to be perfect, and I'm not.  I'm just a girl.


I'VE CRIED... in Harry Potter, Marley and Me, and Up, and in books.

I AM... nerdy.  I love Doctor Who and knitting and books, and I'm a Nerdfighter, and a two-time winner of NaNoWriMo.  And I'm not insecure about it-- I make a hundred Doctor Who and Nerdfighteria references a day, I talk about the Purple Elephants, my writing community on NaNoWriMo, books I'm reading, to anyone nearby.  So yes, I'm nerdy.  It's not an insult.  I'm proud to be a nerd.  

I LOVE... books.  I love reading them, holding them, smelling them, buying them, checking them out from the library.  They make me smile.

I SING... in the shower.  'Tis the truth.

I AM... clumsy.  Dreadfully clumsy.  I bump into things, fall over, wobble when I'm on a balance beam...

{Via}

I PICK UP... random details.  Favorite movies, songs, plays, letters, numbers, colors, punctuation marks.  

I LOVE... to write.  I love crafting stories, coming up with characters, learning life lessons along with them.

I SOMETIMES... get discouraged.  But that's okay.  Everyone does.  You just have to know to pick yourself up again, to keep on trying.

I AM... a word person.  Not a number person.

I ADORE... quotes.  I put them all over my walls in my room.

I ARGUE... too much.  I argue with friends and parents and my sister, and I need to stop doing it so often.  I need to learn to let go, and just go with the flow, but sometimes it's hard.  

I HAVE TROUBLE... with math.  I don't always get it.  Sometimes the numbers just don't do what I want them to.

I DAY DREAM... about my stories.  My characters, their friends, their enemies, just simple days in their lives, even.

I ASPIRE... to be an author.  To craft stories that people love, and inspire them.

I LOVE... flying kites with my dad.  And not little kites, either.  Our biggest has a tail of 150 feet, and is (I'm guessing here) 25 X 25 feet.  We have a sand anchor for at the beach, and we have to nail it to the ground using stakes if we're not on a beach.  But it's so much fun.

I DANCE... lots.  I love it.  I take Irish dance, and I recently got my hard shoes.  

{Via}

I AM... a girl.  Just a girl.  I have lots of quirks and faults, and sometimes people want me to be perfect, and I'm not.  I'm just a girl.  And you know what?  I'm happy.  As my mother put it one day, I am passionately quirky.  

I AM... a happy, passionately quirky person, and I'm not perfect.  And I'm okay with it.

The Dandy Lioness

A New Year, A Good Year

Hello.

It's a new year.

A better year, I hope.

Sure, last year had its ups and downs, but I want this year to be many more ups than downs.  

This year started with creme brulee,

{Via}

And fireworks,

{Via}

And laughter between friends,

{Via}

And a few Bananagrams letters left on the table, spelling out three words,

{Via}

And silly hats,

{Via}

And I think,

that that,

is a wonderful way,

to begin,

a new year.

With friends,

 and fireworks,

 and hats,

 and games,

 and creme brulee.

Because,

though they are simple pleasures,

they are important,

they show you are loved,

you have friends and family,

that you want this new year to be even better than the last,

and if you want that,

and if you try,

you can achieve that.

Happy New Year

Happy 2012

The Dandy Lioness

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

I've always loved these posts about other people's lives, and how they've grown and changed over a year.  So, here goes.

I tried, and completed my second NaNoWriMo.

I lost my grandfather.

I finished seventh grade, and started eighth.

I found new friends in Veronica Mars, the Doctor, Sherlock, and Robin hood.

I became a Nerdfighter.

I met one of my dear friends, and now my neighbor and locker partner.  Love ya, girlie.  :)

I started blogging.

I went to France without parents-- just me and my sister, for two weeks, staying at our friend's house.

I got a Nook-- her name is Isabelle-- and learned that e-readers aren't all that bad.

I learned that my dog Milo has a liver shunt, that probably cannot be corrected, so now he's vegan which has mostly corrected the problem.

I sat in a dark theater, on the night of July 14th, and held hands with one of my lovely friends, J, while we waited for the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, and cried shamelessly at the end.

I grew in my writing, by going to a two week long writing camp.

I left, and then reconnected with The Purple Elephants on the NaNoWriMo forums.

I met Tamora Pierce and Terry Pratchett.

I turned thirteen.

I became a proud Whovian.

I became friends with several lovely people through blogging-- Mirriam, and the Golden Eagle, to name two.  

That was my 2011.  I grew in my nerdiness, I grieved, and I learned to live life to the fullest and not care what other people think.  I'm proud of who I am now, and I think I'm a much better person than I was in 2010-- I'm happier, I'm more open in the person I am, and I know more of who I am.  I hope you guys all had a good 2011.  Mine had it's ups and downs, that's for sure, but you know what?  All in all, it was pretty darn good.

I hope you all had a great 2011, and will have a wonderful 2012.  

The Dandy Lioness