Tomorrow, I'm going to dress like Amy Pond

Unfortunately, my hair has once again decided that it hates red hair dye. So I will be Amy Pond, but with hair that is more of a dark strawberry blonde. After the second attempt at dying my hair. I mean, I like the color, it's just not what I was going for.

But I'm totally excited about my costume other than that! :)

I should really blog more.

My latest internet-related news is... this week I got monetized on youtube! I think I made about 1 or two cents so far, and it's pretty much going to be that way for the forseeable future, but I'm cool with that. It's not about the money. I'm just excited for the feeling that I'm moving up in the youtube world. And that I get to annoy my viewers with ads now. Yay!

I'm not actually happy about annoying my viewers. But ads aren't that bad, right? I don't ever watch youtube and think "I wish there wasn't an ad next to this video." It's the internet. Ads are inevitable. And the youtube ones aren't too obnoxious. If you disagree, feel free to comment on this blog post.

I really need to figure this out...

So, I started school. I love my classes. I'm going to do well in them and stuff.

Since my "I'm about to start school" post, I've made up my mind. I am absolutely, positively going abroad next year. The problem is, I keep bouncing between different destinations and it's confusing and I just don't know. Moo.

I figured that it would help to write this out. Get some ideas out of my head. So I will give you (does anyone read my blog?) an idea of what I'm thinking about, and in the process, maybe help myself decide.

First, I have a few different options of what I could do while studying abroad:
A. I could do a program that is centered on a specific topic, where I'm there just with other international students, possibly all UC students.

B. I could do an immersion program, which would mean I basically become a student at a foreign university for a semester. Within this option, I'd say there's two sub-options:
     B1: Take classes that will count toward my major.
     B2: Take GE's and/or electives.
    Or, of course, with a lot of programs I would end up doing some of each.

I keep thinking that I want to do an immersion program, except there's one topical program that I keep wanting to consider, even when I think I've ruled it out. That is:

1. Costa Rica. There's an awesome Tropical Ecology research program done with the Monteverde institute. As an Ecology and Evolution major, it kind of sounds perfect (+), though I don't have much of any specific interest in tropical ecology over other areas (-). It has an independent research project for credit as a big part of the program, which would be great experience (+). It's in a Spanish-speaking country, and includes a Spanish class and a short homestay, which would be great for furthering the Spanish I've already taken at UCSB (+). That seems like a lot of plusses. I'm going to add to that a few more minuses: I wouldn't be in classes with students from other countries (-), and it's probably the shortest program I'm considering, lasting less than 3 months (-). The fact that it is shorter than some other programs does mean that it's also cheaper (+).

The other programs that are in the running at this point are all immersions:

2. Canada. I could spend a semester at the University of British Columbia. It does seem a little too close to home (-), especially since I lived in the Pacific Northwest for a long time and have family in Seattle.  However, it would be nice because I could take biology courses that would be similar to the ones I can take at my home campus, but might have some Western Canadian edge to it (+), like we get a lot of California examples. Also, I just like Canada(+). I'd be taking classes with foreign students (+), though they're not as foreign or whatever as people that are from, say, Europe, or Africa (-).

3. Ghana. The Ghana program is a semester at the University of Ghana. I get the feeling, however, that my mom doesn't actually want me to go to Africa (-).  This would definitely be the most intense cultural experience (+/-?). Yeah, I can't make up my mind whether that's good or bad.  It could end up being the most life-altering amazing good thing ever, or traumatizing and miserable. On the good side, they have some decent Ecology course options (+), and I could do some really awesome volunteer work while I'm there, making it a mission trip-type thing within a study abroad (+). But yeah, Africa. That's daunting.

4. Barbados. The University of the West Indes. This one has been on my list for a while, but never a strong first choice. Again, some nice ecology course offerings (+). It's in the freaking Caribbean, so that's cool, and not just the Bahamas or somewhere else everyone's gone to (+). And... I don't know what else to really say about it. It might have become a sort of Ghana lite in my head. Have I read the program guide? I'm not sure. Maybe I should reread it and maybe my opinion will get stronger.

5. The Netherlands. Specifically University College Maastricht. For a few weeks there, I thought I'd settled it on this one. I would end up taking most, if not all, of my classes there outside of my major, as it's a small school without an ecology major, so their biology classes are mostly aimed toward the  biomedical end of the spectrum (-?). But I think I'm actually okay with that. What I could take is some great electives and GE's in a college environment completely different from the one I'm used to- It's tiny, and has an academic focus of problem-based learning in teams of students (+). It's an international school, which means that I wouldn't just be meeting Dutch students, I'd be meeting students from everywhere (+). Also, a European program would mean that I could use it as a home base to do some great traveling (+). That is, if I can afford to do that traveling- it's by far the most expensive program I'm looking at (-).

Okay, I'm leaving it at five. The UK was high on the list for a while, but if I go for Western Europe I'd rather be in a non-English-speaking country, even if I am still going to an English-taught school. Plus, if I consider England and/or Scotland, then that means narrowing it down between a lot more schools.  I also was looking at programs in other parts of Africa, but Western Africa (Ghana) sees like the least intimidating.  And at one point I was thinking I might want to take enough Spanish to do immersion in Spanish, going to Chile or maybe Mexico. But, um. No. No quiero estudiar la biología en español.  Es demasiado dificile. (I'm not even sure that's right.)

It's so much to think about! I guess I need to go to all of the info meetings and see what they have to say. And probably talk to my department advisor. And just let it sit and stew for a while (yummy... stew). Pray on it. Talk to other people. Do research on all the programs.

Or I could just be a square and not go anywhere. But that's no fun.

I start school again in a week...

And I'm really looking forward to it... I mean, the most exciting thing I've done in the last 3 weeks or so is go to Ikea. I'm moving into an apartment in IV next monday, if I ever hear back from the rental agency- I'm adding on to a lease, replacing another girl at the last minute, so we're still waiting on a final approval. Which is a bit stressful, but I'm sure it'll work out.

So I'll have about 3 days to get settled in and all that, and then suddenly, CLASSES! I'm signed up for five classes right now, but I'm definitely dropping one of them, I'm just not sure which yet. The problem is that which one I should take depends on what the entire rest of my college career is going to be like.

Last spring, I decided to stop fooling myself about being a premed- biochem major, and to do the ecology and evolution major instead. So still in the biological sciences, but pretty much the other end of the bio spectrum. I still need to officially make that change, but I know for sure that's what I'm doing. So I'm signed up for two classes from my major's "core curriculum"(Intro to ecology and genetics)- those are for sure. Then I also have an environmentally-based literature class I'm taking for a GE.

The two I'm debating between are a freshwater ecology class that would be a part of my major, and a multimedia writing class, which would be part of a writing minor, if I decide to do that. If I don't do the minor, I'll probably go study abroad next year, in which case it would be a good idea to get more of my major done sooner. So I need to decide between a minor and a study abroad in order to decide what my schedule is going to be. Big decisions. Can't I just go back to the beginning of college?

Another youtube dream...

(I wrote this at 5AM this morning.)

I just had a dream in which i met Charlie McDonnell. We talked about TV shows (Survivor? And he brought it up?) we like and stuff, but I got the sense that he was just doing it because he knew i was a fangirl and he was being polite. I was kind of okay with that though. And we held hands, but somehow it was totally in a friends kind of way.  I was fine with that too. Then we went back to hanging out in a group with a bunch of other famous-but-not-as-famous-as-him youtubers, who I had met earlier in the dream. It was nice.

Oh and he definitely still had his long hair. Possibly even longer than he actually let it get.

There was also a bunch of non-charlie stuff before that with other youtubers, but i don't remember who. They may have been generic ones my brain made up. There was also something with me getting a new roommate (Kara's subconcious saying "figure out where you're living?"). 

It's been almost exactly 4 months  since I had a dream about Wheezywaiter. Then, a little over a week ago, I met Wheezywaiter. Does this mean that I'm going to meet Charlie in real life sometime soon? I'm not usually one to think dreams mean anything other than just clues to what is on your mind... but it would be cool if this meant that I'm going to meet Charlie. Hmmm...

MOFFAT *shakes fist*

Lots of incoherent freaking out ahead. But I needed to write some stuff down for the sake of my sanity.

So, my brain for the last month in general for the last month or so, but even more so since last saturday:

DOCTOR WHO DOCTOR WHO okay at class, focusing on school, studying OMG I JUST REALIZED SOMETHING ABOUT DOCTOR WHO WHOA DOCTOR WHO MOFFAT HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US BRAINSPLOSION.

Oh, and also some probably unhealthy fixation on Arthur Darvill.

I'm pretty sure that last year, there was also high levels of "I just want to know what's going on. Now. Can't wait until next week." It can't have been this bad, though. And then for the first four seasons, I had the luxury of watching them after the entire season was out, so I could go straight to the next episode in the event of a cliffhanger.

Anyway, last week had one HELL of a cliffhanger. And the trailer for this week looks AMAZING. And we're going to finally find out WHO RIVER SONG IS. And. And. And. BRAINSPLOSION.

Right. So here's my best guesses for what's going on:
1. Amy's been a ganger since sometime during the 1st episode of this season, or possibly between the 1st and 2nd episodes (see my blog post about her clothes.)
2. It seems pretty clear that River is the doctor's wife, or at least lover, at this point. But I wouldn't be too surprised if he is the man she killed/ will kill. And Amy's baby being baby River... also possible. So basically, I'm not ruling anything out as I am too chicken to take a firm stance on anything.
3. I am pretty sure that the regenerating girl was Amy's daughter (who could also be River, again, I really don't know.) The only thing that makes me think maybe she's not is just how obvious it seems to be.
4. Rory is a sexy Roman Nurse awesomeface. I am in love with him. Also, there's a chance he's also a ganger- that could be part of the reason he had to stand away from Amy when the Doctor revealed her to be a ganger. Or maybe he's a nestene duplicate again, who knows?
5. Eye patch lady freaks me out. Seriously. More than anything.
6. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON.

Switching Shoes: clothing in Doctor Who series 6

(By the way, spoilers through the sixth episode of series 6. Also, musing at length about things that you may not think need musing at length about. You are warned.)

If you watch Doctor Who closely, or spend a lot of time around the Doctor Who fan community, you probably became aware of the Eleventh Doctor's color-coded bow ties during series 5. While in the future, he wore a red bowtie, and in the past or present, he wore blue (with the exception of the first episode and the final 2-parter, when he does wear red despite being in the past and present).

He doesn't seem to be following that pattern this year. In "The Curse of the Black Spot" he wore red in the past, and in "The Rebel Flesh"/"The Almost People" he was wearing blue in the future. Maybe there's a new rule. Like, if Rory dies, the Doctor wears Red. Or something. He also seems to have a purple bowtie and suspenders in the first episode when he's Future Doctor. Or maybe it was just the light. I couldn't really tell.

Then there is a Doctor wardrobe plot point in "The Almost People," when the Doctor reveals that he and his doppelganger switched shoes so that everyone thought the doppelganger was the original.

Anyway, I'm not too interested in the Doctor's choice of clothing. No, this is going to center around the very plaid costume choices of one Amy Pond. First of all, to recap what she's worn so far this season:

Amy has two red plaid shirts, and she wears one or the other for at least part of every episode. Shirt Number One, which she wears for most of "The Impossible Astronaut" and all of "The Rebel Flesh"/"The Almost People" is a little more fitted, and is a brighter red with less white. Shirt Number Two, with a little more white in the plaid, was actually first seen before the season started, in the two part Red Nose Day special, and then is worn for a part of "Day of the Moon" and all of "Curse of the Black Spot" and "The Doctor's Wife." The only other tops we've seen Amy in are a darker purple plaid at the very beginning of the first episode, and the black suit in the second episode.

At this point, you may be wondering why I am so fixated on Amy's lack of clothing variation. She did, after all, start the season by packing a backpack and running off with Rory to meet the Doctor in Utah, hitchhiking on a school bus in the process. Maybe she just ended up packing one of her favorite flannels, and then wearing another, similar shirt, and didn't bring any of the solid-colored shirts that were her standard fare last season. She had at least a couple of pairs of boots and a couple of jackets in that bag, so there wasn't much room for anything else.

Therefore, while I am hesitant to dismiss anything as non-plot-important in Doctor Who, especially in the Moffat era of Doctor Who, I am willing to let one of these two shirts slide as just a shirt and not a plot point. That would be shirt number Two, the one she is wearing during the middle of the Spring run. At this point, I am willing to admit that it is only a shirt.

Shirt number One, however, does have some significant plot significance, as do the cropped skinny jeans that she wears with it.

Starting from about two minutes into "The Impossible Astronaut," Amy wears shirt number One, the cropped jeans, and brown sneakers.  In one or two scenes she adds a tan jacket. She wears the same clothes through that episode, and is still wearing the same outfit at the beginning of the next episode until they all meet up and get back into the TARDIS, about six minutes in. Then in "The Rebel Fresh," she's wearing the same shirt and jeans, but this time with some tan ankle boots and a black leather jacket. Since, like most Doctor Who episodes, the entire two-parter takes place in the span of several hours, she's still wearing the same outfit through "The Rebel Flesh."

But.

At the end of the episode, after everyone is seemingly out of danger and they're out of the cold, drafty monastery, Amy changes her outfit a bit- she is now wearing shirt number One, those cropped skinny jeans, no jacket, and brown sneakers instead of the boots she had on earlier. And that is what she is wearing when the Doctor reveals to her and Rory (and the audience, of course) that Amy isn't actually Amy, telling her, "You haven't been here for a long, long time," and sonic-ing her into a puddle of raw Flesh.

Okay. So why am I so fixated on what she was wearing at that point?

Well, it didn't specifically show every article of clothing she was wearing, but she had a perfectly duplicated outfit from the first episode at that point, and that from what we could see, her clothes went all Flesh with the rest of her. This indicates to me that she was wearing clothes that were made entirely of Flesh at that point- gangers can and do change clothes (especially since Amy didn't know she was one), but if she was wearing clothes that were the originals, she would have dissolved and left her clothing behind.

Gangers are created wearing whatever their original was wearing when he or she was scanned, so it seems to me that Amy must have been replaced while wearing that outfit- ergo, sometime during episode one or between episodes one and two. This is supported by the fact that she first sees eyepatch lady in the middle of episode two.

So there we go. My take on Amy's clothing in series 6 and it's significance. I kind of want to buy a red plaid shirt now.

BEDA 30!!!!!!!!!!

My last BEDA post! Wow!

Today, I spent about 8 hours at the Santa Barbara Red Cross getting certified in Adult/Child/Infant CPR/AED/First Aid. Yeah, I got 5 separate certifications. Pretty good for a day's work. And I can save babies now, or whatever. Not the most interesting way to spend a saturday, but not the least either (traffic school wins /that/ award).

Now I'm watching Starship. It's pretty darn good. Not quite on the level of the Potter ones, but it's fun. I never actually got through all of Me and My Dick. But anyways, this show is pretty darn awesome, and I'm only halfway through. Lauren Lopez is awesome in it. And of course, Joey Richter. I love Joey Richter. Maybe I'll write a non-BEDA post sometime in the next few days and do a more complete review.

So yeah. DONE WITH THE BEDA!!!!!!

BEDA 29: Almost Done!

I thought for a second, "Wait, I didn't blog yesterday" at about 12:05, then I was like "wait, I blogged twice." Haha.

So, I blog once during daytime today/tomorrow, and I will have officially done 30 blog posts in the 30 days of April. I haven't done an actual every day for the last week and a half, but I've done pretty well. Better than I did on NaNoWriMo, but then, that's a lot of work, while BEDA is exactly as much work as you decide to make it be. MY blog posts are mostly short and pointless musings that take 15 minutes to write. If i'd done the vlogging option, it would have been a much bigger commitment.

That said, I might do Vlog every day in August. Depending on what I decide to do in august. I guess there's a very real possibility that I'll either end up doing absolutely nothing, making it difficult to find things to Vlog about, or I'll do too much, and end up away from reliable internet or too busy to want to blog for days at a time. Oh well, I have time to figure that out.

BEDA 28: Finally registered for Annual Gathering!

My big news of the day is that I finally got around to registering for the church conference annual gathering that I'm an official delegate for. So I get to go to San Diego the first weekend in June! I'm kind of excited. I've only been to San Diego once, for like a day, during christmas break last December. I guess now I kind of officially live in Southern California, though.

Have I talked about this on my blog? I don't think I have. As of probably this June, my parents will no longer be living in Oroville. My dad has already been down in La Habra, CA (the northern edge of Orange County, for those who care) for about 5 months, and my mom is moving down there once the school year is over. My sister's staying up north, and I'm staying here. My brother's presumably moving down with my parents. So I'm officially going to be a SoCal person. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I mean, I've been in Santa Barbara for a year and a half, but that's just at college, I can still consider myself a NorCal person, and Santa Barbara is like the top edge of what you can call SoCal anyways.

So right. Church meeting. I like church meetings. Well, the business part is inevitably boring, but at least I get to vote. Going to church business meetings and not being able to vote is both boring and frustrating. I don't know how it works in all kinds of churches- I'm pretty sure a lot of them just have a few head honchos who decide everything- but in the UC, everything is very democratic, everyone gets their voice heard, and they argue about pointless stuff for hours on end if they are allowed. But the rest of everything is a lot of fun. :)

BEDA 27: I need ideas...

4 more blog posts this month, including this one. And I don't know what to write about. Maybe I should just go to bed.

And yes, I'm counting this as a BEDA post. Get over it.

BEDA 26: I was kinda a jerk to Alex Carpenter

We can add "jerk" to "stalker" on the list of "qualities Kara exhibits toward youtubers, specifically ones named Alex Carpenter."

Okay, I don't think it was that bad. I don't think he thought it was that bad. But he made me feel bad. Basically, he posted a kind of ranty VEDA last night about how people think he's in MoM and that his song "Don't Blink" is either a cover or just inferior to the Chameleon Circuit song, "Blink." Oh, and he said Charlie McDonald instead of Charlie McDonnell. Twice. Yeah. So I had to give him a hard time, because I always give people a hard time. I commented, saying "Defensive Alex is Defensive", and that if he was going to call Charlie, "Charlie Mcdonald" I would call him "Alex Carpenterd."

Then he responds to my comment, with the Remus Lupins channel for some reason (I'm guessing because he just logged into that channel for whatever reason then went to check comments on his veda without switching back to the veda channel). He leads with "Attacked Alex is Attacked." Then goes on to say that he knows what Charlie's name is, and some bs excuse about his problem being bad sentence structure. Thanks, now I feel like a meany.

So in my defense, I posted this comment at about 1:30 AM, while taking a break from studying for my Environmental Studies midterm (which went quite well, thank you), and I was in a bit of a bad mood because I was tired and tired of studying. And I wasn't trying to be mean. And I didn't realize until later that I was kind of calling him a turd (Alex Carpenterd? yeah). Don't know if he, or anyone took it that way, but it could be interpreted like that. It wasn't aimed at any particular pronounciation or anything- if Jason had misspoken in the same way, I would call him Jason Mundayd. Luke would have to lose a D on his name, to become Luke Conar.

Alex probably doesn't care. He probably isn't going to lose sleep thinking one of his fans is a total bitchface. I just feel sad because I like to come across as a nice person. It generally makes me very happy when people respond to my comments on their videos. It doesn't make me happy when I feel like I've been mean to them. Not that I was even trying to be mean. I was teasing him a bit, maybe, but not being malicious. I was being snarky. I do this with my friends. And even though he doesn't know me, I feel like I know him pretty well. There's a lot of youtubers that I feel that way toward. Maybe I should try a little harder to remember that the feeling isn't mutual?

I dunno. Probably blowing this way out of proportion.

I think I'll do another blog post later, work on getting caught up before the month ends.

BEDA 25: It's birthday day. Still two days behind.

So it's actually the 27th? You know what that means? It's international Kara's friends' birthdays day. And this year, it's actually international, because 2 of the 3 friends in question are out of the country at the moment- Jessie's in Spain, and Kristen is in freaking Gambia. Cool Caitlyn is still in Oroville, though, so it's not all international. Though, I guess, America is a country.

Um, duh, Kara. Anywho.

Yeah. I have 3 friends, who I met at completely different times of my life in completely different places, who have the same birthday. And a few acquaintances that I know have birthdays today, too. Yay.

BEDA 24: Still behind... this is something I've been working on.

Um.. spoilers for season 24 of casualty. If you care. You probably don't.

Anyway, I made a visual map of the various multi-episode story arcs in the 24th season of Casualty. I'm not done. There's some major ones I haven't put in yet. But yeah.

Season 24
1	12 September	Establishing Lenny, Yuki, and May
2	13 September
3	19 September
4	26 September				Nick's brain cancer
5	3 October
6	10 October		Ruth's abortion and it's fallout
7	18 October			Zoe's stolen zipdrive
8	24 October
9	31 October
10	7 November
11	14 November
12	21 November					Shona pt. 1
13	28 November					Noel does Christmas	JAFA
14	5 December
15	12 December
16	19 December
17	27 December
18	2 January			Adam and Jessica's car accident massive angst.
19	2 January
20	9 January
21	16 January
22	23 January					Shona pt. 2/ Charlie's Pulmonary Embolism
23	30 January	Yuki and May. Also known as, May is a manipulative liar who doesn't deserve him.
24	6 February				Dixie's dad's cancer, and her wedding to Jeff
25	13 February
26	20 February			Kieron and his daddy issues
27	27 February
28	6 March
29	13 March
30	27 March
31	3 April
32	10 April
33	17 April
34	24 April
35	1 May
36	8 May					Shona pt. 3 (Charlie's really going to be a granddad)
37	15 May	Cryptococcus and Yuki and Lenny's budding bromance.
38	22 May
39	5 June
40	12 June
41	19 June
42	26 June
43	10 July
44	17 July
45	24 July
46	31 July
47	7 August
48	14 August
49	21 August

BEDA 23: I'm a couple of days behind...

And I don't really even have an excuse. I'll have to do a little catching up, I guess.

So how about them 49ers? (AAAAHHHH 49ERS AHHHHH) Yeah, that's a bit of an in-joke. But no one actually reads this blog, so it's okay.

I should probably do some reading. I finished my book for Environmental Studies yesterday, but I still have quite a bit of reader to read. Boo.

BEDA 22: How to get rid of a cold.

Yesterday, I felt like I had the beginnings of a bad cold. You know, that weird feeling in the back of your throat that comes a day or so before you actually get sick. So I took a bunch of vitamin C, and had like 3 cups of this tea that supposed to be good for not getting a cold (which is, by the way, also delicious). It seems like it actually worked, too- at least I'm only feeling like I have a little bit of a cold.

I think that willpower definitely factors in here too. In February, when I went to Gallifrey one, I went from full-blown cold on friday to barely sick at all on saturday to having a cold again on monday. I have control over my immune system. One of my many superpowers.

Anyway, I'm leaving in a few hours to see my family people for Easter weekend! Yay!

BEDA 21: What happened to April 20th?

I just realized that I didn't blog on Wednesday.

I don't even have the obvious excuse. I'm not really into the obvious reason not to blog on April 20th. The obvious reason gives me a headache just when someone has it in the next room.

It took me a while to figure out why I had a headache for most of the weekend two weeks ago. Yeah.

Anyway, I had a midterm and a lab quiz wednesday. We'll call that an excuse.

BEDA 20: Glee and AcaDeca

Do people at other schools call it AcaDeca? I'm sure at least some people do. Anyway, this week's Glee prominently McKinley's Academic Decathlon team, which is entirely made up of Glee Club members. Their portrayal of Academic Decathlon was, however, almost entirely inaccurate. They used the name, Academic Decathlon, but then showed something entirely different. As someone whose High School years were more or less defined by AcaDeca, I found this somewhere between annoying and offensive. So let's clear a few things up:

Things Academic Decathlon is:

Academic Decathlon is a competitive academic High School club, which is ideally made up of nine members, three in each of 3 defined GPA ranges, though a school can compete and win with as few as six members.

Academic Decathlon consists of ten separate subjects, nine of which are subjective (Math, Science, Social Science, Economics, Literature, Art, and Music), and three of which are objective (Essay, Speech, and Interview). Each is equally weighed. The subjective parts are all multiple-choice tests. Speech and Interview are done in closed rooms, with only the competitor a few judges, and maybe a timekeeper present.

The material tested is set for each subject and revolves around a central theme each year, with each individual subject having something to do with that theme.

Academic Decathlon has competition on the county, state, and national levels. A school generally has to get first place to move on to the next level.

Things Academic Decathlon is NOT:

Academic Decathlon is not a quiz show, with the exception of part of the super quiz (which alternates between Science and Social Science each year). Even that is multiple choice, with all competitors answering at the same time. No one gets buzzers.

Academic Decathlon is not a test of random knowledge. Those who do well are usually those who study the most, not those who know a lot about some obscure topic. It's also not something you join at the last minute and expect to be much more than a placeholder.

Anyway, if you are an author or scriptwriter and want to have your characters do Academic Decathlon, you should probably speak to someone who has done it. Or, alternately, you could call your high school game show thing something else. As it was presented on Glee, it really didn't need to be called any kind of Decathlon.

BEDA 19: Blood and TV

I donated blood this afternoon. Now I feel kind of run down. Kind of just want to lie in bed and watch more casualty (season 23 now- meaning no Lenny or Yuki, but at least there's Toby). But I really do need to study for my bio midterm tomorrow. I usually feel fine after donating blood, too. The only time when I've felt sick afterward was the one time I didn't drink enough beforehand and almost passed out. But this time I was fine while I was donating, and it was only an hour or two after I left that I started feeling not so great. Oh well. Studying doesn't require too much physical effort.

My arm hurts too. I don't think I'm getting a bruise, though. It just hurts to move it.

Oh well. I'll be fine in the morning. Stupid 8AM midterms. I think school should just start at 9:00. It isn't a problem getting up for my tuesday/thursday 9:30 class. But 8 just feels so early. Less so now that it's properly spring and the sun comes up a bit earlier, but still. (Was that last sentence kind of british? Too much Casualty, methinks.)

So, speaking of casualty, I find myself comparing a lot of characters to particular youtube people. Like "Dylan has the same accent as DoctorBenji." "Keiron is like Alex Day, but less hot." I love this show. :)

BEDA 18: I should do a video some time this week...

It's been a while since I've youtubed. I'm really bad about that. And I've been putting my creativity, such as it is, into blogging. And like, Twitter. Most of my thoughts can be summed up in one or two, 140-word statements.

I'm sitting in the UCEN right now. I came here under the pretense of it being a good place to study for my bio midterm in 2 days. Then I turned the youtube on, and decided to write a blog entry. Well, I would have had to do this sometime later anyway, hence the every in blog every day. Anyway, I'm listening to a Casualty episode in one ear, and the music they have playing in the UCEN in the other. Do people actually like Nicki Minaj? I don't really get the point of her. She doesn't actually sing that well.

Oh and now they're playing mm Whatcha Say. Which of course reminds me of one excellent SNL skit. Okay and now, more Nicki Minaj? They played 2 Nicki Minaj songs with one song between them? I'm not sure how they choose the music in here. Maybe it's requests, and people are weird and like this music. Silly people. Or maybe I just need to listen to her more. I tend to like a song more after I've heard it ten or fifteen times. Heck, I've even gotten to the point where I kind of enjoy listening to Friday.

BEDA 17:

I think I'm losing steam on the whole blogging thing. I don't really feel like writing.

Yesterday, I didn't actually get a blog in before midnight. Maybe that's why I feel unmotivated now. It's like I've already failed at the whole blog EVERY day in april thing, and now it doesn't matter so much. I guess I'll keep going. 14 minutes after midnight doesn't count as a complete failure. I'm doing better than a lot of people in the world, I know.

I got exactly halfway through NaNoWriMo last November, staying right on schedule, then gave up all of the sudden. I seem to have an attention span of about 2 weeks when it comes to writing projects. Kara= unmotivated.

Speaking of which, I need to study.

BEDA 16: NOOOOOO!

I missed a day! It's after midnight! It's the 17th! I haven't blogged every day in april! I'm a failure!

I was busy studying ochem. Then I was watching Casualty. Which here means, yelling at my computer because May sucks and she does not deserve Yuki and grrr.

Yeah. 3 midterms in the next week. Church in morning. I should go to bed pretty soon.

BEDA 14:Random stuff day

2 weeks into BEDA! Wait, that means it's also 2 weeks into April. Stupid year going so fast. My birthday's in about six and a half weeks now. I'm going to be super old. 20 is super old. Except, you can't actually do anything new at 20 that you can't do at 19.

I need to find my nail clippers. I think I put them somewhere when I moved my room around, and I have no idea where.

Okay, I just went and found them. Typing is slightly easier now. Yay.

I think today is going to be another rambling about nothing in particular day.

Um... I like Casualty. Good show. I could waste a whole lot of time on this one. I talked about it content-wise the other day, but let's talk about how much time I could possibly waste of my life by watching this show. The show's been on since 1986. That's 25 seasons if you do the math. Plus, the last several years, they've been on a pretty much year-round every week schedule, with twice as many episodes in a season than your average American show.

I think I might go to bed before super late times tonight.

BEDA 13: Fungus

We looked at all kinds of fungi in bio lab tonight. It was kind of fun. And a little bit smelly. Actually, every lab this quarter has been smelly. This quarter is all about phylogeny, and we've gotten through bacteria, protists, and fungi so far. Which means lots of looking through the microscope at wet mounts of things that were growing in petri dishes.

I don't mind it though. I'm getting pretty darn good at using the microscopes too. Not that I couldn't do it before, but now I'm even better at it. Yay biology lab. If I'm going to be an EEMB major, it's probably good to be good at microscopes. I'm also very good at plating samples. That's of course due to my time in microbiology at the Oroville Hospital lab. My medical ROP class I took junior year may not have solidified my career plans, but I did learn two nice concrete skills- I can take an accurate blood pressure without too much difficulty, and I can plate a culture and make it pretty. Yay.

I've used both of those skills in biology lab this year.

BEDA 12: Another fun TV show, and new shoes.

First, I would like to say that my nose itches. Like the outside of it. My eyes have been itchy lately too. Not my actual eyes, like my eyelids. I dunno. Is that weird? Am I allergic to something? Is it dry skin? Am I going crazy?

Second, I have been watching a lot of Casualty. Good show. Combines two of my favorite things: medical dramas and British people. Basically, my thoughts on the show can be summed up simply like this:

1. Nick is awesome. He's like Giles, but a doctor.

2. I think I saw an episode of ER like this once.

3. Why can't there be more Yuki? WHY???

4. Yay accents! Especially Lenny's Scottish one.

5. Actually, yay Lenny in general.

6. I definitely saw an entire half a season of ER like this once.

7. Oh, Ruth...

8. The English people! They're so English!

9. I now speak medical show in two languages: American and British. They're quite different.

10. I love this show!

If you've never watched casualty, half of those probably mean absolutely nothing to you. But yeah. Good show.

Also, I went down to State Street to buy new shoes this afternoon. My converse are wearing through the insoles, and it makes my feet hurt to wear them too long. So I now have pretty black and grey vans with purple laces. They make me happy.

I also walked through the farmer's market they have down there. So many fresh fruits and veggies. It made me wish I had a kitchen to cook in. Next year, when I'm no longer having my tastebuds bored by dorm food, I'm going to do a good part of my shopping at farmers markets.

BEDA 11: Climbing the church tower.

Today has been one of those days where I just don't want to do anything. So I pretty much did nothing. I'm not really sure why.

Since today was boring, I'll talk about yesterday! Sunday is a day when I actually do stuff, specifically church stuff. Yesterday evening, I climbed up the church tower with the rest of the young adult group. There's a ladder in the storage closet in the back of the sanctuary, which brings you to the next level, which has the back of the pipe organ pipes and a room where they store extra sheet music. Then another ladder brings you to a short level where you have to be careful not to hit your head. At that level, there's a smallish round window that looks out right over the front doors of the church. The next level is open to the outside air, with wooden slats with screens over them.

Then finally, you can take the last ladder into the very top of the tower. It was a bit tight with five of us up there, but the 360º view is amazing.

Santa Barbara has a lot of buildings. And palm trees. That's pretty much what we could see from the church tower. Oh, and the ocean. And the mountains. And everything.

On the way down, we decided that it would be a very good place to hide out in the event of a zombiepocalypse. I like planning for zombiepocalypses. This is one of the reasons my church friends are awesome. Anyways, fun times were had by all.

BEDA 10: I love when I dream about youtube people!

I've dreamed about Youtubers I follow before. I'm sure I had a vlogbrothers dream a month or two ago, and I know I've dreamed about other Youtube people. However, I rarely remember more than a few very vague details about my dreams.

So when I woke up at 6:30 this morning after having an amazing youtube-related dream, I reached straight for my laptop and wrote what I could remember. Which was this:

So Wheezy Waiter had this fake restaurant. In Oroville. Right next to his new apartment, which was ridiculously tiny and behind a yellow door i'd always wondered about. I went to this restaurant. Me and the other people at my table were Beardlovers, and we were in on the joke, but there were a bunch of people there who weren't. When I was done eating, I volunteered to help out and be a waitress in the fake restaurant. I think that's how we became friends.

I'm not sure what it means that it was a fake restaurant. Like, we were serving food and everything. But maybe we only actually made one dish. It made sense to dream-me.

Then there was a bunch of hanging around in his apartment. I'm not sure about a bunch of this, I'm not great at remembering my dreams. I know a bunch of my friends got involved.

Then there was something with a missing guinea pig. Like it was in his apartment and we were looking for it. I found it. Then the police came in, and arrested me, and a bunch of other people I think. I don't think Wheezywaiter was one of the people who were arrested. I'm not sure what I was actually getting arrested for. And they used those ziptie handcuffs on me, and did it pretty badly, and when i showed them I could slip the handcuffs off, they were like whatever. I guess they didn't think i'd try to escape.

During the arrest part, there was a definite moment, where a silly cop (TM) was like *points at dog who is randomly there* IS THAT A DOG and we're like "umm, yeah." *Points at guinea pig* AND THAT'S WHAT, A SMALLER DOG? "Um, no, that's a guinea pig." I'm thinking this silly cop had a British accent. A little bit Monty Python-esque. Yeah, that was kind of random.

So finally, I was in a courtroom (I guess) with a bunch of other people. I wasn't too worried because I knew the judge and he said he wouldn't charge me with anything. Then I started singing, and everyone joined in. When we were done, someone was like "hey good singing." That's pretty much all I remember.

What the heck does that mean? Besides that I have a bit too much of a youtube fixation. I guess there's worse things to dream about than youtube people showing up in your hometown. In fact, I was one of those dreams where you wake up and you're like "that was fun, I wish it hadn't ended." As opposed to the dreams where you wake up and you're like "not sure I want to sleep any more right now." I have those sometimes too.

Maybe I should start a regular dream journal. So next time I have an awesome youtube dream, I'll remember it better.

BEDA 9: In which I decide I am a boring person.

My suitemates have friends up from LA for the weekend. Which means that I am hiding in my room. Not that I have a problem with having 4 or 5 random guys in my suite, it's just kind of awkward because I don't know them. Plus, they're openly drinking in the suite common room, and I don't really want to go down with them in the off chance that an RA comes by. In an hour or two, they'll leave to go do the party thing, and I will have the suite to myself for all my boring Saturday night fun. I'll probably watch a few more episodes of Casualty (like ER but 90% more English!) and go to bed before too late. I have a headache. Not sure why.

Man, I'm boring.

Maybe I should do some homework. That would at least give me an excuse to be boring. I have 3 midterms in a row, starting a week from Monday, so it's about time I actually get serious about that. Stats and Ochem back to back, then Bio two days later. Then I have a lab quiz the same day as the Bio Midterm, but I'm not too worried about that. Seriosly, college, must you be so much work?

So Stats homework now? Or readng for Biology? Hmmm...

BEDA 8: I found a new show to waste my time watching!

Show review time! Or something.

I watched the entire 1st and possibly only season (13 episodes) of this new Medical Drama called Off the Map, within the last... um. Day. Yeah. I pretty much have done nothing but watch TV on my computer, go to class, and sleep in the last day. Oh, Kara.

Off the Map is kind of like... halfway between Grey's Anatomy and Lost. Actually, it's kind of like the episodes of ER where Carter decides he's too angsty for America and goes to Africa (okay, that might be simplifying that a bit). And the Africa episodes are some of my favorite ER episodes, so that kind of points toward me liking this new jungle doctors show.

The basic premise of the show is that there's a bunch of attractive and brilliant but angsty doctors working in a clinic in a remote area of... well, somewhere in South America. My best guess is that it's a fictional country either to the north or south of Peru. Anyway, there's 3 really experienced doctors (Ben, Zee, and Dr. Cole) who have been there forever, 3 brand new doctors (Lily, Tommy, and Mina) who have just come from the US, and then well Ryan doesn't really fit into either of those categories, but she's there too. So they all practice medicine in the jungle, which is half taking care of villagers and tourists with minor illnesses and injuries, and half running off into the jungle to save the life of terribly mangled accident victims.

The show mostly works. I mean, pretty much every character needs a good hard kick in the shins to maybe get them to make better decisions in their personal lives, but that's pretty standard for TV characters. Overall, everyone is at least bearable. The jungle medicine is kind of fun. If there is a second season, which from looking at the ratings seems unlikely, I'll probably watch it.

BEDA 7: I should give this a title. But it's not really about anything.

Wow, a whole week of blogging. I'm a little bit proud of myself. Not that it's hugely hard. The rules seem to be just that you have to post something every day, not that it has to be long, well-thought-out, or particularly good in any way. So yay for mediocre consistency.

Apparently I can't spell consistency. It took me like 4 tries.

I randomly took a 2-hour nap in the middle of the afternoon today. Not really sure why. I had a dream that I was driving and ran out of gas. Then my parents found out that I had a drinking problem. Which is funny, because I pretty much don't drink. But dream-me had been regularly drinking to the point of blacking out. So I'm not really sure what to make of that. Yeah, I don't usually remember too much of my dreams, and when I do, they don't generally make too much sense.

What else to talk about? I feel like I had something that I was actually going to talk about today, but I can't remember what. Um... my brother's having surgery on his ankle tomorrow. So jealous! Just kidding. Getting metal things screwed into your bones is not something to be jealous of. I am so never skating without my high tops ever again. Not that they probably protect me at all, but they give that nice, secure, my ankles aren't going to die feeling.

I feel like songwriting. Maybe I'll work on some Doctor Who music, for this theoretical Trock band Heather and I apparently are having. I should probably get on that before the feeling passes.

BEDA 6: School talk.

So, Wednesday. Already a week and a half into the quarter. I need to start actually hitting the books, I think. Not that I haven't been studying at all, but it always seems like I can take it easy for the first week or two of the quarter. Then I realize that I'm behind. That's the problem with the quarter system: with only 10 weeks to learn everything, you really can't get behind. I should really figure out how all my midterms and papers fit into the quarter, now that I know my schedule for sure.

I did end up getting into ochem; there were 200 spots in the class and 300 people were trying to take it, so they opened up a whole nother room. That means that I'm not taking Music Appreciation this quarter, which I'm actually kind of bummed about. Music would have been a fairly easy A. With ochem, which I've already failed once, I'll have to work my butt off to get an A. Heck, I'll have to work my butt off to get a B. I'm naturally an intelligent but lazy person, so the actual motivation involved is harder than the chemistry itself. Then I have Biology, which is interesting, but at 8 in the morning, and Statistics, which will be fine as long as I do the homework, and Environmental Studies, which I'm taking as a GE. It's more or less a history class.

So, after this quarter, I'll have all the preparation for the major classes done, and be able to actually declare as a Bio major. I should really figure out if I need to declare pre-bio to become a Bio major. Right now, I'm declared Biochemistry, which is separate from biology, but I figured out that I don't actually love Chemistry that much, and I would rather do a major that has field study than one with lots of lab work. So I'm planning on declaring Ecology and Evolution once I'm done with my 3rd quarter of lower division bio class. Or I might do the general Biological Sciences major. Or I could even flip all the way over to Environmental Studies, though that would necessitate catching up on some of the lower division classes for that major (I'm taking ES 3 but there's still ES1 and ES2, plus I'd need some econ and geography and stuff). So I'm most likely staying in the biology realm of things.

It's weird to think that I'm almost halfway through my undergrad education. In 2 years, I'll be on my way out of here. I still need to finalize my decision on a major, decide if I want to go for a minor, decide if/where/when to study abroad. Then I need to decide if I'm going to grad school. Or still attempting to do the Med School thing? I think I'm done pretending to be premed. Maybe. Okay, now I'm stressing myself out unnecessarily.

So that's where I am school-wise. It's kind of the big thing going on in my life, I guess. Which is kind of expected. But yeah.

BEDA 5: Miso Soup

I have miso soup mix. It makes delicious miso soup. I'm not sure where I'm going with this.

Also, it is day 5 of veda and I am at a loss as to what to write about. I'll ask my sister for suggestions.

She told me to write about miso soup. I think I already said what I have to say about miso soup. But maybe I can say more. Um. It's delicious. And it has miso in it. According to a certain cat boy from my favorite Manga, it is the only food that should have miso in it. Yay Kyo.

Can I just call it a lazy blogging day? I promise that I'll actually write something meaningful tomorrow.

BEDA 4: Is longboarding dangerous?

I just realized that it's almost 10:30 and I haven't blogged yet! At this rate, I'm going to start missing days pretty soon. But that's not going to happen, it's just a Monday, and that makes me lazy. Yay laziness.

So, besides increasing laziness, what will I talk about tonight? My little brother broke his ankle longboarding today. So I guess that sucks, but I don't feel too terribly sorry for him. Longboarding is one of those things you go into expecting that you will get hurt. There's a lot of people at my school who longboard, and it's not an uncommon sight to see guys on boards with a cast on one arm. I'm pretty careful, and haven't had too bad of luck with it, but I have lost skin quite a few times, and gotten some nasty-ish bruises. I also broke a shoelace once. That was kind of weird.

So, longboards- fun mode of transportation, or dangerous source of injury for teens and young adults? I say, both. There is definitely inherent risk in standing on top of a board with four little wheels, which can go thirty or fourty miles per hour under the right circumstances. You just need to recognize that it is a bit risky, and try to stay within reasonable limits.

BEDA 3: Rearranging my life

I rearranged my room last night. All by myself. In hindsight, it was probably not the best idea in the world to deloft a bed without help, but I didn't end up hurting myself, or the bed, so I guess it's okay. So now I have a bed that is of normal bed height. I'm hoping that will make it easier for me to get up in the morning, since I have early classes, and I actually think I need to go to them. :)

So I left my bed where it was against one wall, and delofted the other one and put the head of it under the still-lofted one. Then the 2 desks are against the other. wall, and my dresser is next to the lower bed, which I moved my bedding onto. The 2nd dresser is still in the extra closet. Oh, if you're confused by the double furniture, I had a double for fall quarter of this year, then my roommate went to Italy. Technically, the school could still move someone in since I do have a double room, but I'm pretty sure I have a single for the rest of the year. Anyway, I like my new setup. It seems so intentional.

BEDA 2: I whine about Grey's Anatomy's music thing (minimal spoilers, if you care)

So, Saturday.

I got up at like 10:00 this morning, for no particular reason. That is really weird for me, for a Saturday. Then I went to a baseball game. I'll talk about that some other day. Oh, and I made a youtube video. I hadn't posted anything on my Youtube for way too long.

Now, however, I would like to talk about a certain TV show that you may have heard of, called Grey's Anatomy.

They started hyping this big Musical Event a few months ago. I generally like Grey's Anatomy, and I figured that they could have some fun with a musical episode. Musical episodes tend to be fun; Once More With Feeling is one of the truly great episodes of Buffy, and the Scrubs musical episode gave us Guy Love, which is quite possibly the most hilarious song in the history of music. Then I learned that Grey's was doing a "Let's have the cast sing these songs we've used as background in the show over the years." That made me a bit skeptical, but I figured it could still be fun.

I guess it was fun. But they went for about as angsty of a plot as they could, and then shoved some music in there kind of haphazardly. Yeah, we get it, Sara Ramirez is a good singer. Kevin McKidd has got some serious sexy voice going on, and we were already aware that Chandra Wilson could sing. The rest of the cast also sounded fine, if a little autotuned at times. So I didn't have any real problems with the music itself. It was just the way the randomly shoved it in, and left it more or less unclear why? I guess we could have expected that- the show has a long history of plot lines that make you wonder whether or not they were meant to be supernatural.

Either way, it was super cheesy. I was unimpressed, for the most part, and laughed through many scenes that were supposed to be totally serious. The parts I liked were when they actually decided to lighten it up for a few minutes. Even though most of the iconic Grey's Anatomy music is from the angsty parts, it does not mean that having the characters break out into angsty song does the angsty show justice.

One more thing- they had Owen (Kevin McKidd and his sexy voice) start out How to Save a Life. Soooo not suited to his voice. Really.

Verdict: Decent idea. Lots of potential. Poorly executed.

BEDA 1: Hello Blog, we're going to be seeing a lot more of each other.

I considered doing VEDA (Vlog every day in April). But that sounded like it would be too time consuming, and it would also fill up my youtube channel with videos of Kara saying, "well, I have nothing to say today. Except... um... I have nothing to say." So I'm going to say that in writing form instead.

So what do I have to say? Well, it's April. Spring quarter just started. I'm still waiting to see if I'm taking 13 or 17 units, and if those last four happen, if they're going to be Music Appreciation (easy GE) or Organic Chemistry (hard major class, which I've already not passed once). So it could end up being a super easy quarter or a much harder one. So I may spend a quite a bit of the month whining about how much studying I have to do. Part of me is hoping that I get into Music and not Ochem, because it would be approximately half as much work, even though it would mean 2 extra papers to write. It's basically Academic Decathlon Music. I was the best at Academic Decathlon Music.

So that's my life. I could talk about a bunch of other stuff. But I have 30 blog posts to do in the next month, so I need to save some stuff to write about.

Life, Doctor Who & Combom: 76 Totter's Lane — Doctor Who Oddity: Decorating a...

Life, Doctor Who & Combom: 76 Totter's Lane — Doctor Who Oddity: Decorating a...: "This Youtube user had a troubling situation: she's going to the Gallifrey One convention, and she has nothing to wear! What would she do? W..."

One of my videos got some actual recognition within the Doctor Who fandom! Somehow a Doctor Who news blog found it, and then another one embedded it in it's very own post, and I got a whole lot of views.

That is, a whole lot of views by Kara standards. There are quite a few youtubers who get considerably more views than this video has. In the first 30 seconds after they post a video. But that takes time, talent, definitely some luck. So I'll be patient.

This kind of begs the question, though- should I start doing more Doctor Who-centric videos? Do I have a fanbase? Should I just keep on doing whateverness and not aim at a particular fandom. Well I still need to do a vlog about Gallifrey, so that'll be one more for thewhovians.