December 31st

Well, I did it. I blogged every single day this year! Sure, some days were only a sentence, but that's not what matters! I still wrote something, no matter how silly or short, every day in 2011!

Okay, you knew this was coming. The big end-of-the-year post. The one where I get all sappy and emotional like I'm accepting an Oscar or something. But seriously, some thanks are in order. If it weren't for the people who read this blog, I doubt I'd still be doing it. I have a small but extremely wonderful community of friends who support this blog, and I am so grateful to have them in my life.

2011 was one hell of a year, wasn't it? (Although if you followed the 2010 blog, you probably think 2011 was kind of tame.) But really, stuff did happen in 2011! I changed schools, for one. That was pretty insane. I bawled my eyes out over the end of the Harry Potter films, saw some amazing musicals and other movies, took some good classes and some bad classes, made friends, lost friends, reconnected with people I never ever imagined myself speaking with again...(haha!) I even watched all 82 episodes of the first season of Pokémon! (It's official! I did it tonight! I watched the last one!)

I am genuinely excited for 2012. There is a lot of potential for me to be successful at school if I apply myself. There are serious things to look forward too, as well as trivial ones. I can't count on my hands all the movies that I want to see, the books I want to read, the musicals I want to enjoy. Hopefully I will spend ample time with my wonderful friends, as well as make new ones!

I would like to take a moment to thank three people especially: Jon, Lexa, and Kady. These three have kept me so inspired to blog and helped me though some serious rough patches, and I can't express enough gratitude to them. So thank you, my friends!

One important technical note is that with the start of 2012, I will be changing the web address of this blog to 2011-and-beyond, as opposed to kate-2011. So if you have a link to this blog somewhere, please make the change if you wish to keep supporting this blog! And of course, this means I will be blogging daily in 2012 as well! I have no idea as to the longevity of this blog, or if I will ever switch from blogging daily to weekly or whenever I feel like it or something along those lines. Blogging daily has become such an integral part of my life, and I feel like if I ever went a day without it, it would feel very wrong. It is so ingrained in my mind that I have to allot time to blog. I plan around blogging time if I can help it, and those who hang out with me know that at 10:00 every night, an alarm goes off on my phone to remind me to blog if I haven't already done so.

Maintaining a daily blog has been really personally rewarding. It has shown me that if I am passionate about something, I can do it, despite the circumstances. Sure, there isn't a lot of recognition for blogging every day for two years, but it's something that I'm proud of. It may seem silly, but I love writing and blogging, so this experience has been really amazing thus far.

That said, I can't wait to tell you all about my life in 2012! Thanks again for all of your support, and I'll see you tomorrow!

December 30th

Holy crap, it's almost 2012. Another year of blogging has flown by. Tomorrow you all can expect a nice, big end of the year post!

Tonight, I'm going to freaking finish this season of Pokémon. I'm currently on episode 75 of 82. I can do this!

I'm thinking now is a good time for some Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Why don't they have that at school?

December 29th

I am super tired today because I stayed up cleaning and showering last night. Whoops.
On the bright side, look what my bestie got me for Christmas!

Mulan doll and Tangled coloring book? I think YES.

I might just go to sleep now. Is that super lame?

December 28th

So it turns out the yoga pants I got yesterday had a hole in them...so I had to go replace them. What a pain. At least the store was really efficient about it.

Holy cats I have so much Pokémon to watch by the end of the year. This is gonna get intense really soon I think.

December 27th

I now own yoga pants. Best decision of the day. They are amazing and comfy and perfect.

I'm going to bed early tonight because I'm massively lame. Also because I stayed up until like 5:00. One of the two, anyway.

December 26th

Happy birthday to my little sister Caroline! She's fifteen today!

Okay. I'm ready to commit the next hour to watching Pokémon, and then sleep in until like 11:00 tomorrow. This is gonna be good.

December 25th

Merry Christmas! I hope that you've all had a wonderful day!

I've just finished watching last year's Doctor Who Christmas special, which was amazing. That episode is the reason I started watching the show in the first place, so it holds a very special place in my heart! It's two hours now until this year's Christmas special airs, and I'm really excited.

I really need to find someone with whom I can watch Love Actually. Any takers?

December 24th

Doctor Who Christmas special in like 12 hours! Woohoo! December 26th of last year is when I first discovered Doctor Who, so this is especially exciting.

I really want to watch Love Actually, as well, but I don't own it nor do I know anyone who does, and watching on my computer by myself seems extremely lame.

Well, off to the Christmas service. I'm always up for being terrified of lighting myself on fire while holding a candle precariously.

December 23rd

I'm at my mom's house! My mom and sister say hello!

Who's excited for Christmas eve? This girl!

I don't really know what to say tonight...I'm just sort of hyper and tired and unimaginative.

December 22nd

My blog hit 14,000 pageviews sometime in the last 24 hours, so first and foremost I wanted to thank you guys for that. I'll write a bigger thank you post on either the 30th or 31st, but I just wanted to take a second today to express my gratitude to all of you who come here!

In less happy news, there is no snow. It's not supposed to snow between now and Christmas, either. I don't think I've ever gone a year without a white Christmas, at least not in Minnesota. I suppose in Hawai'i there wasn't any snow, either. But that's different.

I'm actually not a huge fan of snow most of the time, like when it's -50°F and windy and you have to get up and go to class, but I do like it around Christmastime. So this is just wrong. This is Minnesota, often called Minnesnowta, and there is grass showing. Unacceptable.

December 21st

Hey, it's officially Winter! ...aaaaand there's no snow. What's up with that, Minnesota?

You know that Monster Trail Mix from Target? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's all I've eaten for the past week.

Ten days until two years of blogging WHAT?

December 20th

I did my Christmas shopping tonight, hooray! And since I don't think I've ever been able to resist buying something in Victoria's Secret, I also got myself some smelly goodness...

Because I'm obviously very sexy hot. I just sprayed some on and I'm pretty sure I'm now sexually attracted to myself. Dear men: Please follow suit.

December 19th

First world problems: Taking a nice, long shower and meticulously shaving your legs, then getting out and realizing you missed a tiny patch of hair on your knee.

I didn't even have a good reason for shaving my legs, I just wanted to - so I really shouldn't be as disappointed as I am in this small bit of hair.

But seriously, can my legs just stop growing hair altogether? Thanks.

December 18th

Oh my god.
Les Misérables was absolutely beyond incredible. I don't even know how to describe it. Fantine had the most perfect voice, I loved Eponine, Marius was amazing, and I'm pretty sure Valjean was ike a mythical creature because there is no way a human sounds or acts like that.
I cried a bit at the end, just because it was so wonderful and beautiful. I really just love theatre.
Also Les Mis makes me feel all spiritual and religious and I find that to be really bizarre. It's just like...only some god-like being could bless the earth with this sort of creation. These people, this production. The orchestra, the set crew, everyone. It was just pure heaven.

December 17th

I'm so excited to see Les Mis tomorrow, you guys!

Sooo I should probably start planning some sort of end of the year post thing huh? I don't feel like it's been a whole year yet. I don't feel like I should be finishing my second year of blogging. I just finished my first year, didn't I? MINDF%#K.

December 16th

I'm hooooome! And I'm chatting with my lovely sister. So I will go do that now!

December 15th

I'm going home tomorrow morning! Ahhhh I'm so excited!

You know what sucks? When your super horrible dumbass teacher doesn't use your expensive textbook all semester and then no one will buy it back from you. Worst class ever.

One month til the Golden Globes! Except for the fact that there is a serious problem with Alan Rickman not being nominated from Best Supporting, they ought to be good. The Oscars will be better though.

December 14th

I have been wearing my new sweater for like two days straight now. I ordered it on Cyber Monday, and since I also had a gift card from my sister, it ended up only costing $5 of my actual money. FIVE DOLLARS. From American Eagle!

Anyway, it's so snazzy and cozy and perfect. I don't think I understood true happiness before I owned this sweater.

Hey look, there's me in my sweater.

December 13th

I'm going to see Les Mis this weekend and I am BEYOND EXCITED. Aaaand I'm seeing The Lion King in January! Oh, how I've missed seeing musicals!

Also, finals. Those are happening. I had a really easy one today though, so all is well.

December 12th

I would happily get on a plane right now and fly to New York City. I've always wanted to ice skate at the Rockefeller Plaza in the winter, plus it's Daniel Radcliffe's last month in How to Succeed plus Alan Rickman's show Seminar just started and I really want to see it. And him. Mostly him.

This week is lame, man. Finals are so not my thing.

December 11th

It's finals week! Wish me luck!

Also ohmygod finals have got me so freaked out that I completely forgot that tonight was the season finale of The Amazing Race WHAT. So in a few hours it better be on the CBS website and then I can eat leftover Subway and watch it and cry and scream and ALL THE EMOTIONS.

Aaaand new Misfits aired! Not as exciting as TAR, but still freaking exciting and I can't wait to watch it, too.

Finally, in my downtime from studying, I have been attempting to beat Pokémon Pearl. I've beaten the games from all the other generations, and despite my dislike for Gen IV, I had to give it a go. I've technically beaten the Elite Four and gotten the National Dex so you could say that everything else I'm doing now is optional, but I'd really feel more closure if I caught all of the legendaries, too. /nerd

December 10th

Saturday sure went by quickly. Dear Sunday: Please last awhile. This girl needs to study.

December 9th

I solemnly swear to have a better entry soon. Thanks for being patient!

December 8th

I hate dreams where you're just packing, like for a trip, and it's really stressful.

Is it the weekend yet? I'd like that, thanks.

December 7th

Studying. Sleeping. Rinse and repeat.

December 6th

Hey guys, one month 'til my HALF BIRTHDAY.
Yup, we celebrate half birthdays in my family.

Let me be honest, I'm probably going to watch Pokémon tonight. I have to finish the first season by the end of the year and I've still got like 30 episodes to go.

Finals? What finals?

December 5th

Getting used to sleeping with this piercing is giving me a headache. Literally. I just wanna roll over onto my right side but I can't and so I'm all stiff and FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS AHH.

I need to write an essay tonight. I really would rather take a nap first. Let's see what happens.

For your enjoyment, here is Vladimir Putin cuddling with a dog:

December 4th

Today I bring you some religious musings. My friend asked about how one should teach their children about religion, and this is what my brain spat out.

"Most people under the age of 16 or so can’t really grasp the idea of faith and religion anyway. They go to church (or wherever) with their parents and don’t really question that there might be a different “answer,” even if exposed to other things. I was exposed to a lot of religions, but always just assumed mine was right because that’s how I was raised. A lot of it is fear, too, that makes people not branch out from their religion, whether that be fear of being disowned by their family for converting, fear of being harassed in society, or most of all, fear of going to Hell (or its equivalent). So for that last reason, your kid is probably going to believe what you do, because they don’t want to think a.) that they’re going to hell, b.) that you’re going to hell, or c.) there is no hell and that their mom is wrong. Fear is an immense part of religion, and really, why a lot of it exists. Fear of ceasing to exist after death, of losing conscious indefinitely, of what that might mean - it leads people to believe in heaven/paradise/etc. because they a.) want to believe that their good deeds are not in vain and b.) that they will continue to exist after death. Neither finitude or eternity are things that humans can wrap their minds around, so we opt for what we believe to be the better one."

December 3rd

Hello my pretties!

The next two weeks I'm going to be studying for and taking finals, so my apologies if my entries between now and winter break are short or lame or whatever.

Can you believe it's almost been two years now? I feel like I just finished my first year of blogging.

Two days until my 700th consecutive entry.

I wish my legs shaved themselves.

December 2nd

It's my one-year Tumblr anniversary!

To do: Eat Subway while watching Hank and Katherine Play Super Mario Bros. Rejoice.

December 1st

IT'S DECEMBER!
And tomorrow is my one-year anniversary on Tumblr. :)

Helix piercings hurt when you roll onto them whilst napping.

I'm gonna eat some cereal now. Cereal is the best sort of food. After sprinkles, of course.