Triceratops, Rhinoceros, or Hippopotamus?

We NEED to know! Comment here or on YouTube for which you think it is or if you think it's something else entirely. Only you can settle this argument!

This also happens to be my favorite of the vlogs by far. I think riding on plastic playground equipment adds a certain je ne sais quoi to the cinematography. All except for the parts where my sister seemed to deem the plastic triceratops (yes, I am on team triceratops) more important than my head. I am very glad the screen shot includes my head.

Also, I want to briefly address the punishments I've been getting. You can all look at the April 22nd post comments where these punishments have been congregating. First I'd like to say that I'm committed to doing all of these should I fail to post. I'll summarize them here: one requires me to go somewhere I've never been, another requires me to interview a person I don't know well, and another requires me to invite someone to spend time with me.

I think the only problem with these punishments is how nice all my friends are. I know I eliminated the really exciting punishments like streaking in public but I think I'll revise one of the rules a bit. I still will not eat anything inedible or improperly cooked but I will eat anything that is gross but qualifies as safe food. So getting me to eat something slightly gross (I really hate eggplant parmesan) is on the table so to speak. You may all add food punishments if you've already given a punishment or you can now submit one by itself.

Vlog #3: Chrissy Tentatively Speaks to the Camera

Chrissy defends Narnia. Sort of. But not the children. Or the sandwiches.

NOTE: I actually say in this video that we don't agree about the children but, in fact, we do and I knew we did going in. I don't know why I said the opposite. Just one of those things.

This will be the last Narnia-bashing one for a bit. I promise.

Some of you may be saying "Cherie, you're not in this vlog. That's cheating." First off, my voice is in the vlog. And secondly, I never said in the rules that I had to be in the vlogs I make.

Also my sister's a lot more shy about the camera than me. She really likes the idea of video blogs but it seems less so the idea of people seeing them. However, she was kind enough to allow me to post this and gave me permission to post another one as well.

Whereas I wouldn't care what people said or thought about me and love the idea of lots of people seeing me act insane, my sister is the exact opposite. I don't think I have to worry about anyone in this blog being mean to her, but if anyone was, then they would regret it... Just so we're clear.

You can make fun of me all you like, though. Although, if you do, I'd prefer you give a reason so I can improve or just, you know, have a better reason to make funny faces at you.

Vlog #2, Playlists, and Some New Links

Yesterday my sister and I went to the park and made several video blogs. This is one of them. I think I'll space them out one per day just to keep you all on the edge of your seats. It also means I'll have a rather light blogging load for the next few days since my rules allow me to just post a video blog and nothing else (although usually I like to add some kind of text). Also I'm sorry if it seems like I'm yelling. I often underestimate the sound on my digital camera which, as Heather noted, is quite good. But you can turn down the volume on YouTube whereas I don't have that feature so clearly that's an improvement.

Also many of you may notice I'm outside and think "How come you can do a video blog outside Cherie but you have to be alone in the house?" The answer is that my sister was with me and so I didn't care what anyone thought of me. I'm sure the people in the park probably did think I was insane but as long as someone else is with me, I'm okay with that.

And if you decide to go to My YouTube (also found in my links), you could also look at my vlogbrother playlists. I have put all their videos (excepting video responses) into two playlists (they wouldn't fit into one) so if you ever want to watch several of their videos in succession (which is usually what I do since they're only three minutes long) you can do that with my nifty playlists. The vlogbrothers themselves do not have playlists of all their videos on their YouTube channel. They only have playlists of select videos so this was clearly a vital construct on my part.

I've decided to be a little less self-centered and add some links to my friend's blogs in the links section. I added Sarah, Tim and Mag, and Boris but if I've forgotten one of my friend's blogs, just let me know and I'll add it. Of if for any reason you want me to take your link down, I could do that too. Mostly I was tired of hunting for the urls to these blogs when I wanted to view them.

Friend of the Week: Sarah

Sisters

Not this kind of sister. I just couldn't resist the picture. But in today's exciting news my sister's here! And when she stops talking about computers with my dad we're going to do things! Hooray!

In other news I opened my 800 some page fifth draft of my novel in Open Office last night and it was 1023 pages! No, a little imp did not write 200 more pages while I was asleep. That's just how woefully inadequate the page is as a form of measurement.

And now for a completely unsurprising fact about myself that anyone who knows anything about me knows is that I love my sister and she's my best friend.

She just needs to finish with the computer so we can do something!

Friend of the Week: Tim (Thanks for the new punishment! I almost feel bad about the unlikelihood that I'll actually have to do the punishments because they're both things that would probably, in at least a small way, be quite good for me. But I don't quite feel bad enough to do them regardless.)

Back to Text

Hi all! I wish I could say I'd taken this picture, but this is NOT the case. This is Bodiam Castle in England and I've never been as far as Heathrow airport in that country. The reason for this picture is my news for the day which is that my little brothers have taken and interest in siege engines (constructed of cardboard) and other such middle-aged weapontry such as crossbows and swords (also constructed of cardboard with rubber bands for the crossbows). They even have something they call the "instant barracks" which I have no idea what that could do but it sounds cool and is, once again, also constructed of cardboard. So I've decided that they must be planning to lay siege to a castle.

This castle.

Why this castle? Why not?

And you could be wondering why I've not taken a picture of the far cooller siege engines. Well, this is because after the outpouring of praise (from Heather and my sister) I'd like to do another video blog and I wanted it to feature the siege engines, so I didn't want to ruin it all before the show.

The reason I've not yet made this video blog is because I've not been alone in the house again and, as we all know from my other video blog, this is a very important factor to me. But I might be willing to redefine my definition of alone later on once my sister gets here because people will probably just assume I'm talking to her if they hear me talking. However, I also prefer to wait for my little brothers to go to school to borrow their siege weapons. Otherwise they might think I'm planning a counter attack and seek to eliminate me...

As for a fact about me. I'm actually afraid to learn to drive. Aside from all the other factors against me I do not look forward to controlling a large metal object capable of smashing other large metal objects and even bursting into flame with me inside. I can't understand for the life of my why anyone looks forward to that. Of course, I never have such apprehensions when I'm in a car with a patently unsafe driver so this isn't necessarily the most logical fear. I'm pretty sure I can drive better than some people I've been in the car with without any formal training at all. Incidently, studying for my driver's test was something I forgot to mention in my video blog of things I could (should) be doing.

Friends of the Week: Heather (yay for vblogs!) and Dejah (I promise not to go Blair Witch on anyone).

Sister of the Week: Chrissy

Mom of the Week: Mom

Vlogging!

Hey all! Guess what I did yesterday. That's right, I made a video blog! See the amazing unedited (because I don't have editing software yet) version of my video blogging antics:



Also I added a link in the links section (scroll down and look to the left) to my YouTube right above, do my eyes deceive me, no they do not, it's a Graveyard Book Countdown widget! That's right, I PWN the standardized format. But for all who miss my dulcet tones and divine powers I hope this video blog is a good dose of Cherie. And yes I know I cut off the top of my head for most of the video. I'm working on it. But please tell me what you think. If you like it, I might put in more of an effort to make more sooner. If you don't like I still might make more, because I'd like to get good at this, but I just might have less of a sense of urgency. Or I might have more depending on how stubborn and contrary I'm feeling. We'll see. But I really do want to know what you think. You could at least help improve certain aspects with suggestions so the next ones are more to your liking.

This one also took FOREVER to upload. Like three hours. Because it's 24 more megabytes than YouTube generally recommends without its nifty uploader software which I don't know how to install to Linux (Chrissy?). So if nothing else my next video will be shorter and hopefully a smaller file.

Incurably Nocturnal

It seems no matter what timezone I travel to (with the possible exception of France) I quickly adjust, if "adjust" can be considered to be consistently going to bed after midnight and waking after noon. For a time here I would wake consistently around 7am for unknowable reasons since that would be 10am in my original timezone. Of course, by "wake" I mean I would become conscious, look blearily at the clock, and choose not to get out of bed on principle. This is also why I shall generally provide yesterday's news since I write my blog posts earlier in the day but my brain generally doesn't warm up to anything useful until closer to evening. This also probably why I generally detest calling people because it usually requires me to call earlier in the day when my brain isn't up to much more than a vegetative state. (For those wondering, writing, when it's not for a novel, is a vegetative state for me).

All the same, because I hate doing one thing at a time while trying to jumpstart my brain I'm also watching/listening to Mansfield Park on YouTube, the newest version with Billie Piper, and a thought has occurred to me. It has always been said that Mansfield Park was Austen's favorite book which is quite mysterious because it's generally despised by most Austenites due to its prudish heroine Fanny Price. But what if Austen did not like it for Fanny? It has often been remarked that the dashing villainess of the book, Mary Crawford, is more like Austen than Fanny. What if Austen wanted to write a tragedy? People often assume that Mansfield follows the same happy-ending formula of Austen's other romances because Fanny and (the insufferable) Edmund get together at the end while Mary Crawford, for all her wit and cleverness, is left to be alone. Just as Austen was. What if, in truth, Mansfield Park is actually the only Austen book without a happy ending?

Of course, I am no Austen scholar, simply the average fan, so I'm sure anyone who has really studied her life could poke a dozen holes in my theory. But it is nice to at least to pretend to have profound thoughts this early in the day.

Not much for news since I've not done anything today, but I finished reading the first volume of Fruits Basket last night (actually this morning), and I've started to read, Machiavelli's The Prince. I'm not actually past the introduction, but it's an interesting introduction. It posits that Machiavelli may have have been being practical rather than amoral, but I think it's more fun to think he was simply amoral (it does not follow this means he was impractical since in politics it is often practical to be amoral).

Friend of the Week: Dejah (I'm still waiting for punishments from the rest of you but for now it seems my punishment--if I do not post--will be to go to a place I've never been, take a picture of me in that place, and then blog about it).

Chocolate and Hobbits

Yesterday I had a horrible chocolate craving and at first thought myself to be completely without chocolate. Luckily I remembered that I'd brought a chocolate pudding cup with me that I hadn't eaten on the plane, but I had to turn all my bags inside out twice to find it and had paranoid fears of little brothers with their faces smeared with chocolate pudding. It's a scary thing when I go on a chocolate rampage. Once I had devored the pudding cup my craving was momentarily sated and I was once again sane. But since that was the only chocolate in the house I decided to go out today and get some more, so I would not soon find myself in a similar position. I'm staying with my dad in good old Oceanside California right now, so I don't really need any other kind of food because my step-mother cooks all three meals (which is more than I do for myself at home). True, I'm never up for breakfast, but there's plenty of fruit around, and if I was really on a protien kick, I could cook myself an egg. But it's generally easier to wait for lunch since I wake up so late.

So that's the Cherie news for now and I suppose the fact that I get crazy chocolate cravings is a fact as well but I'll share another one about myself. I'm not much of an explorer. I'm a bit hobbit-like in my homebody nature. It isn't that I won't go out exploring if someone else makes up all the plans or I just want to spend time with someone. But it isn't something I generally do by myself. There will be times I'll go a little stir crazy and want out of the house but I'm generally happy to stay within the confines of familiar territory and go places so long as going there is as little trouble to myself as possible. But that's why I generally like to be around people that are the opposite because I'm aware that this aspect of my personality means I miss so much of the world. Even when I traveled abroad I was not the exploration type which I realize most people would think makes me a waste as a traveler. Maybe I am. Still I will always treasure the experiences I had in different parts of the world, but even there I would get stuck in routines. Shortly before I left Taiwan, I went a few streets over from where I normally walked and it was like a whole different world. And in France I think I surprised my host mother by staying around the house so much (though I definitely made sure to see as many museums as possible and spend plenty of weekends in Paris).

I forgot to add to my book review yesterday that Only You Can Save Mankind is a children's book which is possibly the reason for less description (although, this is not the case in Pratchett's Discworld children's books).

Anyway, as a reminder, you guys still need to think up punishments for me if I don't post. Read the post below for punishment rules. If no one comes up with any punishments for me, I'll begin to think you guys don't love me...

A Book Review and Exciting News!

Last night I finished reading Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett. It's the story of Johnny Maxwell who finds that the aliens in his shoot-them-up computer game have surrendered and now he's sucked into the game, not to save mankind, but in order to save the aliens from mankind.

This was a great quick read. A different style than Pratchett's Discworld, mostly in the lack of much description. It's 80% dialogue or internal monolgue but good dialogue/monologue because it's Pratchett. And the other 20% has plenty of action with fighting against or to defend aliens for anyone who finds the idea of dialogue boring. There's also some of Johnny's life in the real world during the Gulf War and while his parents are getting divorced looked at with Pratchett's brilliant satirical eye. I wish I'd checked out the other two books in the trilogy before I left Ann Arbor because none of them were in the library here. But they probably wouldn't have fit in my suitcase anyway.

Yesterday was my brother Curtis's birthday, and it would be good to say that's why I did not post yesterday, but actually the truth is I was just feeling lazy. So I'm thinking I need to start up another post or be punished deal. Just for the duration of my break (from today-May24th) to be absolutely clear and not on days where it would be physically impossible (i.e. I am on a plane with no internet access), but I think I also need a new one other than not reading the fanfiction my sister wanted me to read all that time ago. Sorry Chrissy, but it's no fun if that's always my punishment. So if any of my friends can think of some good punishments, that'd be great. That's what friends are for, after all, right?

However, here are some ground rules of the punishments:

1.) They cannot have the possibility of resulting in me getting arrested (i.e. public nudity, ect).

2.) Come to that, no nudity of any kind. Not that I think any of you are all that keen on that, but I just thought I'd put that out there just in case.

3.) They cannot result in me being made physically ill, injured, or killed (such as having to eat any questionable items.)

4.) This cannot result in punishing anyone but me.

5.) My hair stays the same length and color it is now (yeah, I know what some of you were thinking...)

6.) It has to actually be possible for me to do. Like...buying a million dollar house or going sky diving are not things I have the resources for. In fact, if it requires more than 5 dollars, it's not really something I have the resources for...So nothing that requires more than $5.

7.) Cannot have any possible negative effects my professional life (as dyeing my skin blue would).

I dunno, maybe punishments with all those rules are no fun. If that's the case, I'll just do the fanfiction thing again. As a matter of fact, even if I do get other punishments, I'll just throw the fanfiction thing on the pile. Because I'm a good sister. Of course, really it'll be mostly hypothetical because as long as I have motivation to post, I can post. Now if I get more than one punishment I could alternate, like (this week if I don't post every day, I'll...) Or I could just volunteer to do all of them at once. We'll see. Either way, any punishment that fits all those rules will be honored if I do not post.

However, just so I don't shaft you guys with a lame post with just a link or funny picture I found on the web but did not create myself (as I have done in the past), I'll state that my posts must be ONE (but not all) of the following:

1.) At least 500 words written by me on any subject (or on several subjects).

OR

2.) Must include current news about myself, as well as at least one fact about myself. You may all think, that's not hard Cherie, anyone can say "Woke up today, ate, did stuff, went to bed. And I like cheese." But not me! First of all with how much I like to sleep the "woke up" part might not be true. Second, I hate writing things that are lame. Which is why I often don't write in this blog at all if I feel my life has been particularly lame and I often have a hard time talking about myself (as much as I love myself and as much as I like to talk).

OR

3.) Must include some form of art that I have created such at a drawn picture or photo taken by me because creating any kind of art is not something I do without motivation anymore (sorry Ponce). A video blog would also count as art, but unfortunately I'm very unlikely to produce one of those. Honestly if I do one of those I should get a prize. Or maybe that could be a punishment... But it'd be more like a challenge. Really I've always wanted to do video blogs, but I'm rarely in places I'd be comfortable doing them. For instance, currently I'm at my Dad's house where I'm NEVER alone and would definitely be marked as insane if I started talking animatedly to a camera.

Okay, now while my posts only have to comply to one of the three following things they must always include a picture of some kind like the book cover on this post (although I am not responsible for if the picture later has some sort of glitch that causes it to disappear but if this happens I must be able to either provide the picture again or describe what it looked like). AND a new and amazing feature: I will ALWAYS answer any question anyone asks me. However, I do not promise correct answers and stupid questions will get stupid answers. I also only have to answer any given question once. For example, if someone asks the same question, such as "Is your hair long?," to which I would respond "Yes" or possibly "Yes in comparison to average but no in comparison to Rapunzel," I would then NEVER have to answer that question again on this blog. Unlike real life.

And now for today's breaking news!

Today I went through the invites I've gotten on YouTube. There were seven of them and all but one of these people had been suspended from YouTube. I added the one that had not been suspended. Of course, I didn't just add him because he was the only one left. I added him because it turns out he might have had a legitimate reason for adding me whereas the others most likely did not.

Friends of the Week: Sarah, Dejah, and Brian (who now know their Harry Potter Houses.)

Awesome...

I recently found out that a form of Muggle Quidditch has caught on at Middlebury University which is the alma mater of both the new parents pictured below. There are several ways people can play as listed here, but I love Middlebury's version of dressing a cross country runner in bright yellow with a ball hanging from his back and letting him run wild around the campus. Another cool idea which I'd like to see in practice is a remote control airplane operated by an impartial viewer. But it's so much fun seeing people tackle the snitch and see the snitch fight back. Harry would definitely be too much of a lightweight for Muggle Quidditch.

See a movie of the fun below featuring an interview with an actual snitch who has some pretty mad moves (backflips, handstands and everything). I generally hate sports but this I would watch!



Question of the Week: If you're a Harry Potter fan (which quite a few of my friends are) which house would you be in? I'd be in Hufflepuff. Go badgers!

Special offer! If you respond to this post I'll play the sorting hat and tell you if I agree with your choice or, if what I know about you, indicates you'd be in a different house. Or if you do not choose a house I'll tell you which one I think you're in.

Don't Worry Kirana

Doofiness isn't genetic. But your mother's looks are so you're safe (although Tim will probably have to keep a shovel by the door to ward off the boys). Some of you may think I make fun of Tim too much. I believe this picture rests my case.

Friends of the Week: Brian and Kirana (honorary because I'm sure she'd comment if the crazy dad didn't have her hostage.)

The Good and Bad of Gmail and New Comments

It's never particularly bothered me that Google owns my soul, and while I understand about the concern for privacy in principle, my own privacy has never been a topmost concern of mine. I would only have a deep and profound sympathy for any poor fool sent to monitor my life. I like to think I'm not a boring person, but I suspect I would be if one were looking for exciting criminal action.

Since these are generally the main problems people have with Google, I'm usually pretty okay with them. And I still am really. I like the fact that if you send an email on one subject to several people you don't get nine hundred responses on the same thing. But it just took me a moment to realize that my sister was not the only one to email me. Which could have been bad. And there's something to be said for having an inbox filled with messages from people you actually like. It's a visually pleasing thing. But organizationally I suppose this is better.

And by popular demand (or agreement I suppose) I have decided to enable the word verification step which will apparently look like the picture above. But if there are any problems or someone who hasn't chimed in yet doesn't like it (unless you're a spammer), let me know!

Thanks for the support!

Friend of the Week: Brian (Because you're not a spammer)

Sour Sour Cream?

How do you tell if sour cream is sour? I had some sour cream in my fridge that had the date 4/3/07 on it. Which means it expired on my sister's birthday (which reminds me I did not make note of her birthday in my blog however I did draw her a picture and call her so I guess that's alright). Anyway, the point is that the sour cream in my refrigerator is (was) now four days past this mark. However, this date did not indicate if it was a use by or sell by date.

Now, I'm a hypochondriac but I'm a weird kind of hypochondriac. I'm a hypochondriac who, as a child, used to eat sand. So, after a quick smell check and visual examination for funny fuzzy growths I decided to chance it. It was extremely delicious sour cream that went well with my chips and salsa. And I feel fine now. But if I die of a particularly virulent form of penicillin (yes I know that's a medicine) you'll all know better than to eat expired sour cream.

Not Friends of the Week: The people who keep spamming my comments!!! Argh! I don't want to disable the open comments because it's hard enough to convince my friends to comment without making it hard and I'd rather not to have to approve every comment to my site. But sheesh! For now I'll just have to keep hitting delete and hope it doesn't get too out of hand. You're all smart people, so I don't think I have to tell you not to click on mysterious links from people you don't know and who have not said anything more substantive than "click here." But since I can't always delete them immediately I thought I might as well give you all a heads up.

Please comment if you're a friend: Would you all still comment if I enabled word verification? I don't want to do it but I'm really sick of the spam.

Congratulations to Tim and Mag!

For becoming new parents! Welcome to the world little baby Kirana! That big doofy guy in the hospital room is your father, but don't worry, your Mommy will take care of you both.

I once read a story called The Ship of Dreams where the sandman hung a star in the sky for every newborn child. Can you find yours?

Friend of the Week: Sarah (Go Gilpartiyaks!) Kirana, it's not to early to think about college. Denison is awesome! ;)

The Gilpatriyak in its Natural Habitat!

Gilpatriyak
–noun

a miniature, stocky, shaggy-haired wild ox, Bos grunniens gilpatriatus, of the Denisonian highlands, having long, curved horns: endangered (because there can only be, at most, ten at a time). Primary food-source--left-over cookies, crackers, cheese, the occasional cake, fruit, or fruit juice from Gilpatrick House Honors events.

Here's a wide shot of the terrain.

Gilpatriyaks live in constant danger of being trapped in coffee mugs.

Fording couches is a constant challenge

But naps are a favorite pastime.

Yaks have all the luck.

Friend of the Week: Gilpatriyak and its Keeper Becky