Bethany

BIRTHDAY POST!!!!!

I may have finally reached that age where birthdays are to be dreaded rather than celebrated; but thankfully the internet is an ageless wonder, an anomaly of time and space, and a perfect venue for a "Things That Make Me Happy!" post! AND YOU CAN PLAY ALONG! (Seriously, please do.)

( I'll stick with you baby for a thousand years, nothing's gonna touch you in these golden yeeeeeeeaaaaaars!! )

I'd like to keep this open until I leave on Wednesday, so please! Spam away! Picspams, gifs, fanvids, basically anything in the history of ever that you feel like linking to or flailing over... all expressions of joy and happiness are welcome.

It's official. I'm the biggest dork ever. I actually really really like Emmy Rossum's new music.

My giant girl!crush on her has lain dormant in the years since Phantom of the Opera, but it is back full force. I'll admit that her album wasn't exactly what I was expecting, and I was a little weirded out when I first listened to the clips on her Myspace. But then the full preview tracks came out on iTunes, and I absolutely fell in love with this song (ignore the corny YouTube montage; much as I love Emmy, I'm too cheap to pay to download a couple of songs that I'm going to pay for again when I buy the CD in October). Again, not what I had anticipated, but in a good way! I think it's great that she waited a while to actually work on the album and put some distance between herself and Phantom -- not that that has stopped me from indulging in some extreme Phantom nostalgia, haha. Yyyyeah... biggest. dork. ever.

( Did you think this post would come without pictures? )

I hope everybody had a great Christmas! Aside from our weird weather (alternating between sweltering heat and torrential downpour), we have been having a very nice holiday. The main highlight has been a surprise visit from my sister and brother-in-law, who haven't been down in Florida since May. Well, actually, I was the only one who was in on the surprise, but it was still a lot of fun to see everybody else's reactions!

Since I'm mentally still about four years old when it comes to omg presents yaaay!!!, I'll go ahead and gush about ( all the cool stuff I got. )

I got up rather earlier this morning than I usually do, but it was absolutely, positively, one hundred percent worth it because at about six o'clock this morning I became the proud owner of my very own copy of "The Phantom of the Opera." Trash Wal-mart all you like, but there aren't many places that are open early enough for me to slip by before school. I suppose I could have just waited and gone after class, but there is something wonderfully exciting about toting around the movie in your backpack all day long and knowing that you will soon be going home to enjoy it. It did make the day go by faster with something to look forward to. Unfortunately, I don't have time to watch the whole movie today, so instead of watching bits and pieces of it I decided to watch the extras today and have an unbroken screening of the film either tomorrow or Thursday. The new song was what I was most excited about, anyway, and I was not disappointed. At first I was upset that it was only going to be two and half minutes long, but I severely underestimated the film's ability to make me turn into a mushy pile of fangirly goo. About thirty seconds into it I had already started crying; I watched it once more after going through the other special features and I cried again. The other extras weren't too spectacular, save the incredible mockability of the original music videos (and of Sarah Brightman in general). Also, the cast sing-a-long... Although as a whole rather unremarkable, it does feature a hilarious bit of Gerry doing his best orgasmic!Christine. All in all, I am extremely pleased. Add on some new House this evening, and this will have been an entirely enjoyable day.

"The Phantom of the Opera Companion" that I ordered about a month ago is finally, finally ready to ship. I am terribly excited. I am also excited about the fact that it is almost the end of the week. That means there will be new movies at the theatre. Perhaps I will be inclined to finally go see something again (or perhaps PotO will be playing at the dollar theatre; wouldn't that be lovely?).

Even more things that are exciting: I am going with Lisa to pick up a copy of the latest Princess Diaries (finally out in paperback for poor people!) and then we are watching "Labyrinth." We have remarkably similar taste in pretty much everything, so maybe now I won't be the only dork running around with "As the World Falls Down" stuck in my head all day.

Some things that are not so exciting: ( Cut if you are not up to date with Lost )

It seems that I have gotten even lazier since my last post, if that is at all possible. I thought I was going to have to beg and plead with my mother to let me stay home again today, but much to my surprise she was perfectly okay with it. Last night instead of getting ready for school, I watched "Tomb Raider" one last time before the free preview weekend ended (Gerry = yum, rest of film = total crap, beggars ≠ choosers). I woke up rather early this morning, remembered that I didn't have to, tried to go back to sleep, couldn't, listened to the first few tracks of PotO, got up, had some breakfast (strawberry shortcake with tons of whipped cream), went back to bed, listened to "Music of the Night" (my song of the moment; I cannot stop listening to it), got up again, went on the computer, and finally changed out of my pajamas.

Somehow my day doesn't seem to really start until I get dressed. Once I get changed, I feel strangely obligated to do something. The only thing my mother left for me to do was make dinner, though, which I still don't have to start for about two hours. I decided to watch the next part of "Brideshead Revisited," which I have neglected to do for the past two weeks. After that I watched a few episodes of "Boy Meets World" (my sister got me the first season for my birthday) and now I am savoring my last few moments alone with the computer before my brother comes home.

I will of course have to go back to school tomorrow. It will be a terrible bore, but I am missing at least half of my classes for testing so I don't anticipate a lot of classwork. In fact, I don't anticipate a lot of classwork for the rest of the week. It's extraordinary how little learning actually takes place at school...

I went to the library this afternoon to check out the next part of "Brideshead Revisited." While I was nosing around I decided to go ahead and look at some books.

Now, I know this sounds weird, but I really don't like checking books out from the library. I used to do it all the time, but within the past few years I have taken to simply buying books that I am interested in reading. I don't know when my aversion to books that have already been read started, but it is now nearly impossible for me to read books from the library. They just... I don't know.. smell wrong? I can't really explain it. At any rate, the last time I checked out a book was over a year ago because I wanted to reread "The Lord of the Rings" before RotK came out and irelandforever still had my copy of "The Two Towers."

The reason I decided to look at books today was because we have standardized testing at school next week. Although I will not be testing, about half of the school will, so I still have to go to school, but not to class, because that might disturb test takers, so instead I will be sitting in the gym for five hours with nothing to do but read. I thought that my birthday would give me plenty of new material, but I am getting through "Flying Colours" quicker than I expected (how could I have forgotten how much I love my Hornblower?) and after that I have "Men At Arms," which should also be a quick read. I was counting on my orders from Barnes and Noble, but my package shouldn't be here for another three weeks. I figured it wouldn't hurt to have a look around and see if there was anything worth checking out to keep me amused next week.

In case any of you hadn't noticed, I have been rather preoccupied with PotO lately. It is impossible to go into any discussion about it without having numerous people rave about how fantastic Susan Kay's "Phantom" is, and how it is their favourite book on the planet, and how it was worth the $100 they paid for it. Naturally, my curiosity was peaked, especially about the ending that everybody was discussing. I'm not usually one for spoilers, but I figured that I would never be able to get my hands on a copy so I went ahead and read about how the book ended. Shock! Horror! Disgust! No, no, and no again! was my general reaction. Curiosity ENDED! No longer interested. I didn't feel like wasting my time or money on it, so I put it out of my mind.

However, while perusing the shelves this afternoon, I decided that I would check and see if they had it. I was extremely surprised to see that they had it (and extremely annoyed to see that they didn't have a copy of the original novel; not that I need one, but whatever, I'll stop rambling). I decided, what the hey? I need something to amuse myself with for twenty hours in the coming week. I guess that means I will give it a go after I finish "Flying Colours." I also checked out "Villette" because Charlotte Bronte is love and although I am nervous about stepping beyond my normal boundaries of "Jane Eyre" I have been meaning to read it for a long while.

Oh, and about "Brideshead Revisited"... They had a used VHS set on sale for $6, so my dad bought it for me. I'll probably watch some this weekend.

I just finished reading "The Phantom of the Opera." Jeezums. If I thought the movie made me cry a lot... I am currently a big sobby mess. I did like it, though I wish that I had read it before seeing the film. ::pokes friends list:: If any of you guys feel like discussing the book or the movie, please do so! I am having a hard time without anybody at school or home to talk to about it. I have tried (and for the most part failed) to spark the interest of those around me.

I finally have some money (three cheers for my birthday!) so I am planning on buying books on Amazon. Right now my list consists of the PotO companion book and "Brideshead Revisited." Any other suggestions?

EDIT: Actually, I think I am now going to order of B&N.com because Amazon says it will take 4-7 weeks to ship and I am willing to pay the extra few dollars to get it here earlier.

I saw "The Phantom of the Opera" last night, for probably the last time ever on the big screen. Sadness. Well, I imagine it will be at the dollar theatre eventually, but I don't even really consider that an actual movie theatre because it is tiny and filled with screaming children and not at all a satisfactory theatre-going experience. I will be so sad when it ends its run here. I won't be able to see a movie on Screen 7 again without wishing it was PotO. Sigh!

Heh... Sorry. I just made the terrible mistake of heading over to the PotO boards at IMDb and reading The Pants Game. And I thought nothing got better than LotR!pants game! I was sadly mistaken. "You must be always on your guard, or he will catch you with his magical pants!" ::dies:: I love the pants game.

I have been so incredibly tired lately. I would go to bed early tonight if it wasn't for new episodes of both "Battlestar Galactica" and "Best Week Ever" (curse you, television!). Anyway, it's the weekend so I guess I can sleep in as late as I want to tomorrow morning. Yesterday after I got home I was so exhausted that I went to bed at about 7:30. I think I need to start investing in caffeine.

Yesterday was our final A-Team competition. Yeah. It pretty much sucked. Actually, in retrospect, this entire year of A-Team has pretty much sucked. I really enjoyed A-Team a lot last year, but a combination of losing all of the seniors and our sponsor has led to a not-so-great experience this time around. I don't even know if I want to do it again next year. If we get a new sponsor, I will be very, very happy.

I went to the library today for the first time in a long while. I checked out the first part of "Brideshead Revisited," which I will probably watch tomorrow. Actually, I really don't have anything planned this weekend, so I guess I can watch it whenever. The only thing I am doing tomorrow is going to Miss LRHS because my friend Ashley is competing in it. I want to go watch "The Phantom of the Opera" again, but the only show time is 10:10 p.m. and I would get home really, really late if I went then and my mom would probably say no if I asked. It is worth a shot, though... I might ask later.