Hello World

If you discover this, you should be excited.
Or not.
I would be excited.
Some interesting things are happening of late, such as
a) College (soon, very soon)
b) Well, that was all I had thought of when I said "some interesting things."


This is how I'm feeling today. Which may mean "very possibly entirely insane" but it could also mean "alien" but then again it could likely mean "smothered by my sweatshirt hood". Take your pick.
Also, see that thing behind me? That's a headboard. Of a bed. I've had to sleep on a STONE FLOOR for the past two nights. Evil, evil floor. Beautiful, beautiful mattress. Insane, insane in the membrane.

Happy Birthday, Mum!

I love you.


Gratefully, Happily, Wonderfully Yours...

The Nearest Book

B. has memed me.
I'm excited about this one.
Let me see...the closest book is *drumroll*....The Vampire Lestat, by Anne Rice

As always, there are rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Skip to the 5th sentence.
4. Post the next 3 sentences.
5. Tag 5 other people.

Well, here goes...
"I scanned the crowd around for the source of this strange distraction, what was it, not Nicolas in the door of the deserted theater, watching me with a broken soul.
No, something else both familiar and unfamiliar, having to do with the dark.
'Hire the finest mummers'--I was half babbling--'the best musicians, the great scene painters.'"

I really like this Meme. May I do another? Please? Yes, I think I shall. Rules are meant to be broken.

The next closest is...Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Unfortunately, this particular edition lacks a one-hundred-and-twenty-third page. So I'll have to go on to the next closest, which happens to be The Mammoth Book of Pirates, edited by Jon E. Lewis and containing retellings by historians as well as firsthand accounts of piracy. On page 123 is "Journal of A Buccaneer", by William Dampier. Interestingly, if page 123 had fallen just three pages further into the book, the passage excerpted would have come from "Avery's Prize"(about Henry Avery's capture of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's ship, the Gang-I-Sawai), by pirate historian Charles Ellms. Ah, well. Such is life.

"There were a great many fat Bulls and Cows feeding in the Savannahs. Some of us would have killed three or four to carry on board, but others opposed it, and said it was better to stay all Night, and in the Morning drive the Cattle into the Pen, and then kill 20 or 30, or as many as we pleased. I was minded to return aboard, and endevoured to persuade them all to go with me, but some would not."

Huh. How...gruesome. (She said, as though pirates did not habitually engage in killing.)

Suddenly referring to herself in the third person...



PS: Avery cannot think of anybody to tag. And for that she is sorry.

The Great Meme Duel!!!

I would like to point out that this challenge deadline is unfair to those of us

*cough*myself*cough* who do not have regular internet access.

1. I am one of the few people that can read B.'s handwriting.


2. I am currently eating a tofu scramble. And it's delicious.


3. Aislinn created my desktop background. It is purple. With yellow squiggles. Beautiful.


4. My watch is awesome. It's so very relativity-ful. Desafortunadamente, it broke while I was dancing.


5. I love manga. Particularly Deathnote. And anything by Yuu Watase.


6. I'm in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I'm playing Helena.

B., you repeated a fact. The fundamental particles one. Does that mean you lose? Or does it mean that that set doesn't count?

Challenge-doingly...

What Aislinn Said.

CLICK

Rule Breaking Galore

Hokay, so. Medeia/Plenty of Paper memed me. Hoorah!

Six Random Facts:

1. The thing that has been said most to me by strangers is either "I love your hair!" or "What's that on your arm?".
   
2. I got letters from a faerie when I was young(er).
   
3. If I had been born a boy, my mother would have named me Nathan. Or perhaps Edgar Allen.
4. In preschool, for Hallowe'en, I was Jeannie from the television show "I Dream of Jeannie".
5. I adore cemeteries and swingsets.
6. I was Mary, Queen of Scots in my former life. And whatever they may say about me, I didn't do it.

Everybody has been taken!!!! *Cries tears of despair* I suppose I'll tag B. as well. Just to pile on the pressure.

I have not been tagged for The Mutating Meme. But I'm going to pretend that I have, because I really want to answer the questions. I mean, because I'm just way too cool for rules. So there. Let's say that...Aislinn tagged me. Check out the original here. (You can find the rules there, too. This computer seems to be on something. It won't let me copy-paste into blogger.)

1. If you could change your name, what would you change it to?

Hildegarde. Or maybe Gertrudis. But then again, it might have to be Bob.
2. What is your least favourite food?

The flesh of animals.
3. Are there any songs that get stuck in your head really easily? How do you get them out?

Quite a few. Sometimes it's something really annoying, like Fergalicious. Other times it's a really great song, like Anna Begins, by the Counting Crows. The worst thing that happens is when I have multiple songs stuck in my head, all dueling each other for the position of "Most Prevalent". I am never able to get them out and end up half-singing, half-muttering them to myself all day. Or for a couple of days. Eventually, they get absorbed into my mental shelving units while I'm sleeping. Only to be replaced by another song.

4. If you could be (or are) a mythical creature, what would it be (or what are you)?

A faerie, o'course. That does not, however, mean that I'm a little, sparkle-sprinkling creature with butterfly wings. Jeez, people. "Faerie" is a very broad category.
5. What do colours taste like?

Honey and sunshine and freshly-cut-grass.
6. Name three (or more if you like) fawesome words.

Mellifluous, incandescent, enigma, irrevocable, serendipity, intoxicating, viola, inamorata, dust, quixotic (originally, I was going to not put this one in, because Aislinn already had. But I simply love it too much to leave it out), phantasmagorical....(I like words.)
7. Zombies or unicorns?

Unicorns. Fo shiz.

8. Ball gown?

Yes, please.

I tag The Incandescent Corner and B. and...er...uh...I don't know!!!! Sigh. Failure.

Rule-breakingly...

Something to Look Forward To.

Hey! Look over there! It's a poll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How excitng.
Goodness. I'm looking forward to all of these (except for, you know, the one's I've already read. Which are very look-forward-to-able).
Anyway...Vote. Explicate. The Dark Lord commands thee.

Excitedly...

Peace, man. Peace.

In response to the recent turmoil thats seems to have cast a shadow in the realm of book bloggery:
I would like to apologise to Invictus Verbum and The Maelstrom for the tension that seems to have sprung forth from some deep, dark, and mysterious abyss.

None of us here holds any animosity toward either blog. We all love books. We're all pretty awesome. It's all good.

And so I--being the hippie-type creature that I am--hold up my fingers in the sign for peace (and end up looking rather like one of those awkward anime/manga heroines. [You know? Think Sailor Moon when she's being a ditzy schoolgirl.] Because I'm just that cool). *Begins strumming guitar pulled out of hammerspace. Starts singing Kumbaya. The general populace groans/headdesks/facepalms/thwacks Avery for being annoying and tangential*

Singing, apologising, and eating animal crackers (Dude. So. Delicious.)...

Memed, I have been!

Medeia Senka memed me. Hooray! Naturally, I took a really long time to post it. Because I fail.

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews? Honestly?

I have to go with Aislinn on this...the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I have no idea why. In my head I really, really like it.

If you could bring three characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be?
Oh dear me! This is a most difficult question. I really and truly am having much trouble with this (*rushes off to scan bookcases*). There are honestly way too many characters that I love for me to choose just three. For now I'll have to say: Doctor John Dolittle, M.D. (of Hugh Lofting's The Story of Doctor Dolittle); Lyra Belacqua (of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials); and King Kazul the dragon (of Patricia C. Wrede's The Enchanted Forest Chronicles). Does a Grande Adventure count as a social event? Why, of course it does.

(Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde): you are told you can’t die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for awhile, eventually you realise it’s past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?
Thus far in my existence I have not yet met a book that boring. Perhaps I would just live forever. Hmm...that would kinda suck. What would happen when the apocolypse came around? Would I just...er...float around? Bookless? Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Come on, we’ve all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you’ve read, when in fact you’ve been nowhere near it?

I honestly cannot remember having done that. I may have, but I can't think of any specific instance.

As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realise when you read a review about it/go to ‘reread’ it that you haven’t? Which book?

Alice in Wonderland...? Anne of Green Gables...? I know both of the stories quite well, and happen to love them. But to this day I'm not entirely sure if I've read either all the way through. Which is weird.

You’re interviewing for the post of Official Book Advisor to some VIP (who’s not a big reader). What’s the first book you’d recommend and why? (If you feel like you’d have to know the person, go ahead and personalise the VIP.)

Matilda and The Witches by Roald Dahl. Why? Because they're awesome...and (since The Mother of All Evil is breathing down my neck and just called "Because they're awesome" a cop out answer) dey is kewl like dat.

A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with?

Oh! What a question! Hmm...I think I'd have to say...Every language in existence! Is that allowed?

A mischievious fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?
The Moorchild, by Eloise McGraw. Or The Very Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, by Julie (Andrews) Edwards. Or The Witch Family, by Eleanor Estes. A yearly return to my youth sounds rather nice, actually.

I know that the book blogging community, and its various challenges, have pushed my reading borders. What’s one bookish thing you ‘discovered’ from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art—anything)?

A really awesome thing about YA authors is that they not only write fabulous books, they really like their readers. Or, you know, fake it really well.

That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she’s granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leatherbound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead—let your imagination run free.
I would love to be wonderfully imaginative/wildly creative, but somebody has already imagined my dream library. I want the library from Disney's 1991 version of Beauty and the Beast. The. Most. Amazing. Thing. Ever.

I'm sure I could imagine something even more spectacular...but I've been in love with Beast's library ever since I was very young. Not to mention that Belle was the only Disney princess that I could ever relate to. She read books. I read books. She had a crazy father. I had a crazy father. She hated oily, misogynistic, pompous hunter-men. And wouldn't ya know it, I hate oily, misogynistic, pompous hunter-men. She loved a towering, hairy, rose-in-a-jar guarding beast man. Hey...me too! (Who doesn't love Beast? I was so mad when he turned all gross and princelike!)

Answeringly...


PS: I shall tag soon. Vhen you's vleast vexpecting it! Mwahahahaha. Ha.

Jazz Hands and Chair-Sharing -- Or -- A Lovely Night

So, the other night, I and my cousins met the fantastically frickin' fabulous Libba Bray and Shannon Hale.

I know, right?

It was awesome. They were awesome. Shannon Hale likened me to a character in a book she's working on. Which was very exciting. I shared a chair with Libba Bray. Again, very exciting. We cousins got to actually give Libba Bray the cookies we'd promised her in exchange for the interview! Homemade, of course.

Books were signed. Pictures were taken. Conversations were had (I played it cool despite the fact that my brain was going Ssssssssqueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!). Jazz hands were...er...jazz-handed(?).

All in all, 'twas a lovely night.

And now for the photographic evidence:

Self explanatory, I should think.


With Shannon Hale. See? Jazz hands!


With the very foxy Libba Bray. (Hurray!!!)

Happily and happily and happily...


PS Check out this blog: The Incandescent Corner. We met some really awesome people, the blogstress of the above link included.

Sharing the...er...Love!

Because all you need is love. Right? (In other words: Avery will list some of the the things she loves. [Partly to spite Aislinn. But mostly because she wants to. (Why am I talking about myself in the third person?)])

1. Awesome teenagers. (NERDFIGHTERS FTW!)
2. Well-written books. (Whether or not they have good covers/titles.[sheepish smile])
3. Broccoli, Spinach, Tofu. (Not mushrooms, though.)
4. Frozen Yoghurt
5. Tapioca Milk Tea
6. Kittens and puppies and baby unicorns! (Plus cats and dogs and grown-up unicorns...I love animals.)
7. The cold and the shade and snow and rain. (I'm not particularly heat-resistant. At all. I get overheated very easily.)
8. The sun. The moon. The stars. (Oh dear. Am I being sappy?)
9. Eloquence
10. Dancing in the rain.
11. My cousins.
12. Our readers.
13. Those lovely days when crisp, brilliantly coloured leaves carpet the ground.
14. Music. (A beautiful, wonderful, magical thing.)
15. Words.
16. Life.
17. Magic (as in -al powers)
18. Magic (as in The Gathering)
19. Harold and Maude (One of the best films ever!)
20. Beauty and the Beast
21. Many, many other things.

I'm not trying to paint myself the optimist or anything. I mean, I hate a lot of things too. I could generate a things-I-hate list with greater ease than it took to make the things-I-love list. Which I guess is kind of the point. I don't want to be a hater-of-all-things. There are so many things out there to love. And to love something is a much pleasanter sensation than to hate* something.

'The-hills-are-alive-and-the-world-is-a-beautiful-place!'-ly
*Some say that hate is practically the same thing as love. They're both strong feelings that require a fair amount of focus. Hate isn't apathy. Just saying. Aislinn must have a complicated relationship with kittens.

B. Will Someday Take Over the World!

I would just like to point out that B. has got you all beat. Sorry, Aislinn and company. He's right. And he proved his rightness with the very words that you guys are fighting for. No 1337sp33k to speak of. What could be more awesome than that? He ran circles around you all with his beautifully logic-ed paragraphs.

For that, I commend him.

Oh, and to Medeia Senka: In saying that you are less idiotic-sounding, you have implied that B. is idiotic-sounding. Which is absolutely, positively, one-hundred percent ludicrous.

I may even have to borrow Aislinn's doom spork.

Laughingly, You-guys-got-pWNd-ingly...

To Judge a Book--or--Avery is a Terrible Person

Most people have been told--at some point in their lives--not to judge a book by its cover. Whether the context is literal or figurative, the saying is rather familiar. Though I try my very best to refrain from judging books by their outer shell, I cannot say that I have been entirely victorious in that regard. You see, I have this nasty habit of judging books by their titles. For instance: I absolutely refused to read Libba Bray's book, Rebel Angels, because I considered the title to be absolutely awful*. I'd truly enjoyed the first book in the series(which happens to have an awesome title), but I just couldn't (initially) bring myself to read the second, because somewhere in my mind I feared that the book wouldn't be very good...because of its title. How very stupid of me.

The Sweet Far Thing came out. Then I realised that I really wanted to know what was going to happen to Gemma Doyle. And of course would have been absolutey inexcusable sin (For which I would be condemned to Special Hell...I simply would not be able to endure eternity with people who talk at the theatre. [Any Browncoats in the audience tonight...?] ) to skip the middle book and read the last. Not to mention it would be incredibly silly to never read a book that I wanted to read, merely becaused I hated the title. So I read it. And it was excellent. I loved it. (So much so that when Aislinn forgot to lend me her copy of The Sweet Far Thing, I rushed off to the bookshop to purchase it myself.)

So, as indicated by the title of this post, I feel like a terrible person. The fact that I judged something so hastily makes me hang my head in shame. Especially since I know that I'll likely do it again. Also, I do believe that it was I who eagerly pushed a copy of the first book in the series, A Great and Terrible Beauty, into Aislinn hands, ordering her to read. It shames me that she beat me to reading the final one...and to reviewing it. But that's another, more trivial matter entirely. The point is (Yes, there is a moral to the story. Please don't kill me.) that though it is sometimes awfully tempting to run for the hills when a badly titled book presents itself, I am beginning to see the error of my ways. And I hope that you, dear reader, shall learn from my mistakes. After all, beauty is found within (Ha! I have ended my post cheesily! This makes me happy!)

As always, learning...


*Meaning no disrespect to the author. Libba Bray is made of awesome! And the title makes more sense to me now that I've read the book.

Aislinn is Holding Me at the Computer...at Spork-Point

Did everybody miss me? Apparently Aislinn did. Otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here typing and fearing for my life. She really might just kill me, since I have not posted in a while. I guess my wonderful wit and charm are important to her sanity. So I will sit here, typing and fearing and feeling awkward because Aislinn is boring a hole in my head with the power of her gaze. Seriously. It's freaking me out.

Anyhow, since I'm posting, I might as well say something semi-worthwhile...
Hmm....It's almost time for winter vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Notice how politically correct I was. I said winter. Yay me!)

That wasn't all that worthwhile. Oh well. Such is life when you're being forced to post on your blog. While being held at spork-point. Fearing for your very life! Your existence!

Speaking of existence...Why do I exist? OMG! Existential crisis!

On another note: Bagels! I love bagels!

Easily distracted from my existential crises...Avery Trelaine

Book Drought

I feel it my duty to apologise to all of our faithful readers for the recent lack of reviews (of my own, at least). My mum is on journey to a magical, far-off land...and as a result, I am suffering from a book drought. I've read(almost) every worthwhile book in my house, which means a)most of the books that I am in possession of and b) a lot of books (which are all alphabetised. I absolutely adore alphabetising books! Why? Because I'm a book-obsessed freak, of course) . Buying more books is not really an option, as I am relatively money-lacking. And the libray is not a very good place for me to go, because I have very high fines there (I forget to return my books...until they're about a month [or more] late. I know, shame on me, right?).

So anyway...my mum will be returning soon, at which time I will bow before her and beg for stacks of books to review for all the lovely readers. Sound good? I think so. Apologies once more for the review-lackage.

Perishing of book-thirst...Avery Trelaine

A Very Exciting Thing!

Ladies and Gentlemen...we are proud to present the fact that (drumroll please)...Avery Trelaine is doing NANOWRIMO*! This is very, very exciting!
Except she hasn't started writing yet. And needs to stop referring to herself in the third person.
Heh, heh, heh.
Anyhow, I am doing NANOWRIMO! And you should too.

Writing and Procrastinating...Avery Trelaine

*See Twyla's post on NANOWRIMO if you're confused.

Surges

So, I was thinking (a rare occasion, I know...) about the surges in Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series. Extras specifically. I mean, plastic surgery is pretty creepy, right? But some of the surges are pretty damn cool. Infrared vision...flash tattoos...manga eyes! Creepiness aside, I must admit that it sounds kind of awesome. But then I think about the Pretties system before the mind rain, and am really disgusted by my thinking that it sounds cool.

I wonder...would I surge? I'd love to be certain that I would have the will and the strength to refuse to succumb to the pressures of society. But I'm not sure. I think I would be a very different person if I had been born into a society that was built upon such extremes of fame.
Then again, it really isn't so different from now. And I have no intention of ever having plastic surgery. Because...ew, and stuff.

Though I will content myself in deciding that I would not surge, I wonder what I would do if I were to. Nothing like the original pretties. But it would be cool to have infrared vision. And maybe manga eyes. But probably not. That would be really weird.

What would you have done?

Pondering...Avery Trelaine

All Hallow's Eve...

Hallowe'en is upon us!
Anybody else excited?
Anybody...?

I, personally, am of the opinion that it is the best holiday EVER. What could be better than a day that practically requires one to dress up? For one night of the year, you can be absolutely anything that you wish. Brilliant, non?

The holiday has, unfortunately, been ridiculously skewed by candy companies. But we'll ignore that superfluous detail because a) candy is delicious and b) costumes are wonderful. This year, I shall be in the guise of a favourite book character: Sabriel, from er...well, you can probably figure that one out. (I should hope.) Anyhow, I am ridiculously happy about it. As usual.

What are you going to be?...Avery Trelaine

Books feed my soul.

Vapid, vacuous label-driven texts, however, destroy it.
They're sort of like 'LOL'. Except worse.
This is why you will never find a review of 'The Clique' or other such drivel here.
Ever.

Hate me if you wish...Avery Trelaine

ps- No offense. Really. Je le jure.