ol' lang zion

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Well, after throwing up over Christmas, New Years should be a bit more of a party. I think 2007 will be good. It's a nice sounding year, don't you think? Just the way 16 seems a lot younger than 17, 2007 sounds more...refined...than 2006. Does that make sense? It's nice being born in '89 because:
a) You can always remember how old you were in every year by just adding 1 and then the decade. Ex: I was 4 in 1993. I was 12 in 2001 and in 2020 I'll be 31.
b) Because my birthday is in the middle of the year, I'm always the "same age" as the year I turn...well, sorta anyway. Ex: I'm 17 going into 2007. I was 10 when we changed to 2000. It would work better if I was born in 1999 or 2000, but you get the idea.
c) Because I get to say I lived in the 80's without actually remembering any of it. sstm It sounds so much cooler to say you were born in the "late eighties" than the "early nineties."
Anyway, besides being totally and completely freaked out about going to college, I'm excited for 2007. It should be a good year. If nothing else, I'll become legal...although to do what, I don't know. It'll be fabulous, as all years are once you get comfortable with them. What's the Monster tagline (or maybe it was the GA Lottery) "Today could be the day" or will be the day or something like that. So maybe 2007 will be the year. The year it'll happen. What, you ask? I don't know. It. Stop being so specific! Gosh!

Dancing Alone in my Room Oldschool

Click to Play

Yes, I have a life.? What I do with it is my business.

Dancing Alone in my Room

Click to Play

Singing to Keane, "Crystal Ball" if you wanted to know.

calise goes vlogger...and her contemplation of noses

I am extremely excited because tonight I finally discovered how to put videos on my blog after much confusion... unfortunately, I have a bad cold and would rather puke than be seen by a camera so my excitement will have to be postponed till next week or something. But, it should be good and, with my MacBook's built in iSight (I swear I should get paid for advertising this stuff) I'll be vlogging in no time. You'll get to hear my voice (ooooh) and see my nose in motion (ewww). I know I'm digressing, but I hate my nose. It's pointy and bumpy and gross. And I should know--I'm a bit of a nose connoisseur, you see. I am mildly obsessed with large, aquiline noses. Not wide noses, but ones with distinctive curves and bridges that start up between the eyes. I have a thing for glasses too, and I think it would be so attractive to see a boy whose spectacles were almost too high because his nose got in the way. This began for me several years ago, in 2003, I think. I had another mild obsession with Tom Cruise. When I saw that nose upside-down in the Langley scene in Mission Impossible I was hooked (no pun intended). Watch any Tom Cruise movie and look closely at his nose, you'll see what I mean. That lasted about a year longer than it should have and in the end I was left with a working knowledge of movie release dates and a love for fabulous noses. I could give you several famous examples of gorgeous, large proboscises, but I've found just as many around here that I've met in person. This gives me hope. If I've met at least four good looking boys with noses that would make Caesar proud, then I consider myself validated in my search for one on the face of my eternal mate...if not, I'll get over it, but it would be a nice bonus.
Hopefully I'll introduce the world to moving, talking Calise in the next week so check back, if you will.

calise has waaaaaaay too much time on her hands

If you want to see something severely complicated that someone does when they're not in school, click here. Yes, hold the applause please. This is what staying up until after 3:00 am when you have to go to work in the morning does to your brain. For those of you still wondering what this is, it's basically a list of everyone related to Prince Ellic of Dallania (my dear little protagonist) and his family including their birth and marriage dates and locations and "family codes" that can help you see which line everyone comes from. It took me about 36 hrs. And if you think that's impressive, you should see their Personal Ancestrial File.

Goin' Christmas!

Christmas is coming, Calise is getting fat... haha jk. Actually, I'm looking quite trim this week but I'm going to have to watch my figgie pudding this year. I must look good at college, you know. Anyway, Christmas lights are officially one of the top ten banes of my existence right behind telephone calls and editing. I put the beautiful twinkly nuisances up around our store today. Tape guns and twinkle lights are tied for # 3 on the "stick a needle in my eye" category. Tape guns are stinky and I can't stand the sound of two pieces of cardboard rubbing together--and I work in a shipping store. Fabulous. Anyway, the store looks beautiful now so go into your local Goin' Postal and maybe it'll be ours and you can see my handy-work which keeps falling down.
On another note, today is my mother's birthday. I made her a birthday girl hat out of a shipping envelope. I don't think a single person will see this blog entry, but if you do, could you please leave my mother a birthday greeting? Can I comment on my own blog? I'll have to try it. Then I'll feel good about myself. Well, what's the point of having a blog if you can't imagine thousands of people are reading it when they're actually not?

back from homecoming

Okay, so homecoming was probably the eighth dumbest thing ever, but that doesn't mean I didn't look fabulous!

Me, By Myself After Homecoming

google is a girl's best friend

I've always thought that Google would take over the world. This week it was confirmed when Google combined Writely, their online word processor, with Google Spreadsheets. To me it is the best thing that has happened since spellcheck.
I was jumping off the walls when I discovered Writely a few weeks ago. I can hardly believe they've finally made soemthing as simple and wonderful as a word processor that can be used online. It's like 'no duh!' sstm (I'm a mature adult, I promise ='D) It's especially wonderful bc I just bought my first MacBook and I've been dying not having all my beautiful folders neatly organized and labeled with their appropriate icons that I spend way too long on. But Writely brought me out of my dissapointment and misery about moving on from the PC that has seen me through so much. (I'm seventeen--I'm supposed to be dramatic)
Anyway, I think it's fabulous to have everything in one place. I have Gmail, Blogger, Calendar, Notebook, Page Creator, Picasa with online photo album, Reader, Talk, Video, Desktop and Personalized Search. Before I had Writely and Spreadsheets, but now they are One. Talk about a novelist's best friend! Call me crazy for being so excited. I probably am, but that's okay. I'm a happy weirdo and that's all that matters.

i love shoes

Don't you just love getting a new pair of shoes? I have so dang many shoes but they make me so happy. Most of them have to be flats these days because I have psoriatic arthritis in my toes (I like to say it sounds fatal, but it's really just a little ouchy) so I can't wear heels. Luckily for me, ballet flats are in right now! In the last year I have probably gained twelve pairs of shoes, give or take. There are my creamy white crocheted-looking flats with pink edges I got for my birthday--thay make me feel elegant and princessey, with a little edge. sstm (smirk softly to myself) I have other ones with pretty blue flowers on them that I saw in brown on another girl--also for my birthday. I have fushsia ones with big silver buckles, black ones with rhinestones on the end which I got because I was accepted to Brigham Young University (yay me!) and just have to have some walking shoes (heehee), I also just got brown converse-looking shoes for the same purpose which are just so cute. I think all of those except the fushsia ones were from Target. I love Target...not as much as Walmart, but still excellent. I also have knee-high leather boots that I got for Christmas last year that my older brother calls my "Hooker Boots"...I have to admit they're a bit much. Needless to say, I haven't gotten a chance to wear them yet. ='D I inherited some cute little black shoes with short heels from my sister, who hardly ever wore them (and has far more shoes than I do) but, *sigh* they kill my feet.
Well now, don't you feel enlightened? Didn't you need to know about my shoes? Of course you did. Now, haha, you have just wasted at least three minutes of your time reading about my shoes. Go get a life. Get a job. Something!

*sigh* the supernal joy of writer's block

I don't know if you've ever experienced anything as painfully exciting as sitting at a computer with a blank sheet of paper before you and absolutely nothing to put on it. I can only compare it to trying to push hair out of your head. You push and squeeze and bear down, and yet nothing will burn holes in that unbearable white canvas before you. I wish I could put a happy ending on this story, but unfortunately I don't have one yet. I don't know how to push writing out of my gut any more than my own organs. Everything I've ever read on writer's block (and believe me, I've read a lot) has said there's really no such thing as writer's block, or that you just have to push through it until writing becomes easy again, though it's never really easy. Perhaps I haven't tried everything I could to break through my clot. All I know is that I haven't written anything really good in probably six months and writing hasn't flowed for me in about a year and a half. And now it's almost two in the morning. I'm exhausted and I have to get up before seven. Why am I blogging about writer's block at two am? I honestly have no idea. Perhaps in the hope that one of these days it'll strike me in the middle of the night. BLAM - The perfect story idea. Well, as Catherine O'Hara said, "Nighttime is really the best time to work. All the ideas are there to be yours because everyone else is asleep." Hopefully the same will be true of me.