Inbound (Or, I Don't Know Why This Post Was So Absurdly Late in Coming, Since It's Been Ready For Publishing For Almost A Week .) (Or, Have I Mentioned Lately That I Hate Navigating HTML Code?)

Kiersten's Ultimate Accomplishments of Awesome List, 2012 Edition: (yes, I purposely used a sans serif font here.)

1. Finish writing at least two novels.  (I have very specific ones in mind.  It will happen.)
2. Memorize cool stuff.
3. Don't procrastinate on volunteer work.
4. Finish reading Unfinished Tales and The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún.
5. Become reconciled to the idea of Lee Pace as an elf and Richard Armitage as a dwarf.
6. Complete NaNoWriMo again.
7. Write and send those letters of appreciation to people that I mentally drafted last year and never wrote.
8. Finish reading the Inheritance Cycle, just because I feel it must be done.
9. Keep a journal specifically for intercessory prayer.
10. Continue overcoming phone fears.
11. Make at least a semi-consistent effort to exercise and eat a balanced diet.
12. Become more reliable in following up on promises.
13. Don't let my reading habits take second fiddle to my mindlessly-surfing-the-Internet habits, like they kind of did  in 2011.
14. Succeed reasonably at the French language.
15. Do a lot of praying about my prophetic words.
16. Pray and fast about my heart and boy stuff.  A lot.
17. Don't lose my mind when we move twenty miles closer to civilization in the summer.
18. Habitually be more joyful, in a God-filled way and not an obnoxiously chipper way.
19. Sleep.
20. Plan something.
21. Money:  Do a better job with it.
22. Vividly visualize punching anyone in the face who demonstrates unforgivable ignorance of ancient Mayan civilization by claiming the world will end in December.
23. Keep in touch with my grandmother.
24. Do more prophetic art at home and not just at church.
25. Learn to ride a bike.
26. Acquire a driver's license.
27. Acquire a pair of glasses that a) are super cute and not from the kids' section, and b) have a prescription that actually allows me to see clearly more than eight feet in front of me.
28. That Thing.
29. That Other Thing.
30. Make bread.
31. Hair. 
32. Write down super craft ideas for later that have been stockpiled and abandoned in my closet over the last few years.
33. Befriend R_______.
34. Get my wifi card replaced in my laptop. (it's been broken since April.  Why yes, I do procrastinate.)
35. Makeup:  Acquire?  Learn to wear?  
36. Act on preparations for potential post-KVCC academic plans (e.g., make decisions and apply for stuff).
37. Don't second-guess myself so much.
38. Use my vintage chocolate pot to make chocolate.  (Perhaps have tea party?  Except with hot chocolate?  My teapot only makes two cups, and I can make five with the chocolate pot.)
39. Make you laugh.  Yes, you. 

This post has no title. I do not know why.

So, basically I alone, among my small group of peers who keep blogs, did not post on new Years' weekend.  I almost feel remiss, especially since what I was doing instead was sleeping and playing on the computer (and watching Pixar shorts with the Demskes before the snow came [late *cough cough*]).  I listened to the obligatory Death Cab For Cutie song, and watched Inception, and did a little bit of knitting, and not much else.

I should do an update/redux on the Accomplishments of Awesome List soon.  But it might be a day or two.  I feel that last year I sort of impulsively transcribed a list of grand things I would like to do, and then shelved it.  I want to give it more thought this year—not just determining what is feasible, but also (I shudder to say the word) prioritizing.  Oh man—I know.  Hierarchy is not my area of expertise.  Sticking with projects is not a thing of mine either (as I recall, tweaking that might actually have been an item on the 2011 list.  Oh dear).

In other news, this is my last week of Christmas break.  I will be very sad to see it go.  I desperately do not feel ready to dive back into the boiling cauldron of academia, English course or no.  Therefore, I shall have to make the best of this next few days.

Behind the trend as always…

Kiersten’s Ultimate Accomplishments of Awesome  list 2011

– updated and revised –

Bold = comments related to accomplishing, 

Italics = revisions & associated comments, 

Strikethrough = omissions.

1. Finish (writing) at least one novel.  Working on it as always, not as diligently as I would like.  (Also: see item 77.)
2. Witness to somebody.
3. Come up with a system to start memorizing Bible verses.
4. Read the Bible regularly.  Partially done!  At least…I’ve been doing it fairly consistently for the last two weeks or so.
5. Befriend S______ more successfully than I did in 2010.
6. Put music to some of my poetry.  Partially done.  Possibly accomplished, period.
7. Actually give birthday gifts to non-family people.
8. Finish learning the basics of playing guitar.
9. Read three more of C.S. lewis’ books.  Partially done—I read The Abolition of Man on May 11th, and just checked out The Dark Tower & Other Stories from the library.
10. Learn to practice good time management (Omission: “at least 70% of the time”.  No good way to quantify this.)
11. Grow my hair back (out).  More or less done:  I grew back all the short bits I hid under hats, then cut the rest of it.  But I am pretty content with where it’s at right now and where it will be going at its current rate.
12. Exercise regularly. I need accountability, or a good system.  This is far too vague.
13. Finish Anna Karenina.  Partially done.  Leo Tolstoy, though, requires a lot more diligence than I have to spare at present.
14. Acquire a sonic screwdriver.
15. Acquire a Hadhafang replica, if I can find one at a reasonable price.
16. Start being consistent about intercessory prayer.
17. Grow closer to my family.  I feel like I am definitely making progress here.
18. [Possibly] investigate learning to play the violin.   I definitely want to make this happen someday, but I don’t think I could handle it right now.
19. Memorize my phone number.  Accomplished!  Sometime in February.
20. Start overcoming my phone fears.   
21. Figure out where I stand on dating, for me personally, at this point in my life.  Is this even a possibility?  I am open to this not happening like I was expecting it to possibly happen.  You would think being asked out would have fixed this, but no.  Though considering my most recent post…oi.
22. Learn how to ride a bike.
23. Acquire a bamboo plant.  Accomplished!  Christmas Day, 2010.
24. Come up with meaningful things to blog about.  Sort of Accomplished—Done, but the actual bloggage of most of those things has not happened.
25. Sleep.  Accomplished!  I can’t believe I’m actually getting more sleep, on the whole, as a college student than I did as a high school student.
26. Reread The Lord of the Rings in a month or less.
27. Reread The Silmarillion.
28. Have consistent pen pals (e.g., be consistent about writing letters back to anyone who writes letters to me.  and vice versa).
29. Draw (not just doodle) more than once a month. This may undergo revisions at a later date.
30.   Manage to read something (unabridged) by Charles Dickens.  Partially done:  I am on my way through Bleak House.
31. Finish Romeo and Juliet.  I am okay with this not happening.  I might do it, but I already know the story and I don’t really like it, so why bother?
32. Read Hamlet and Macbeth.  (Revision: “either/or”.  Likely won’t be both.)  Though I am taking a class on Shakespeare in the fall.  We’ll see how this fares against that.
33. Watch Disney’s Snow White.  Accomplished!  I don’t remember the precise date, but I wrote a Facebook status about it.  I think it was in March.
34. Get to know some of the people at C & C [Dwell].  Partially done!
35. Get in the habit of tithing (at least, once I have any income).  
36. Read The Phantom Tollbooth.
37. Do something genuinely crazy (but not utterly pointless, life-threatening, or illegal).  This may also undergo revision or omission at a later date, as it is rather vague.
38. Take my driver’s test, pass it, and get my license.
39. Buy shoes that fit.
40. Be bold.  Partially done.
41. Buy new flavors of tea.  Accomplished!  Blueberry (yum), wild cherry (horrendous), mint verbena (haven’t tried it yet).
42. Name my laptop.  Accomplished!  My MacBook is now Asfaloth, and my hard drive is Glorfindel.  (Bonus awesome points to you if you get that without Googling.)
43. Name the dancing monkey on my laptop.
44. Name my teapot.  Accomplished!  Well, my sister named it for me:  Clive Staples.  
45. Acquire some pragmatism to balance out my excessive idealism.  Far too vague.  Also, I am second-guessing whether I really want to do this, and whether I can without becoming outright cynical.
46. Practice writing concisely so I can do so when necessary.  Accomplished!  (But not “done”.)  
47. Overcome my fear of overhead showers.  Who cares?  It occurs to me now that I was okay when I had to use one in El Salvador for two weeks.
48. Get my Technician and Demolitionist awards on Star Wars Battlefront II.  Accomplished!  In mid-January and early March, respectively.  Yay nerdiness!
49. Write out a thorough and/intelligent explanation of why I dislike Twilight.  This is a dead horse; I’ll stop beating it.
50. Consider what I might do after graduating KVCC.  Accomplished!  But not done.  There will be much more consideration and prayer on this topic over the next year and a half!
51. Fast something (besides books and food) for a month.
52. See Glowfriends in concert, if possible.  Accomplished!  May 26th, with Hannah, and it was fantastic.
53. Attend at least one epically awesome rock concert with friends.
54. Get drunk in the Holy Spirit more than once.  Accomplished!  But also not done.  :)
55. Learn six new long words and use them in everyday conversation.  Partially done!
56. Brush up on my French.  This may be accomplished or deleted in the very near future, depending on whether I try to test out of it so I can take more math courses…ugh.  
57. Develop an appreciation for a genre of music I currently dislike.  Partially done.
58. Organize my room and keep it at least relatively clean.
59. Write about the random stuff I research on a whim.  Partially done—handy topics for school projects, these turn out to be.
60. Read The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.  Accomplished!  Not the whole book, but I’ve browsed it quite a bit and might buy a copy.
61. Develop an appreciation for more spicy food.  Partially done.  Banana peppers, mmm.  Also, Asian pork with bamboo.
62. Do laundry more regularly.  (Revision:  this means I need less clothing.)
63. Finish reading A Room With a View.  Accomplished! Some Sunday in late March.
64. Spread the word “über” beyond my church family.
65. Acquire at least three more awesome hats.  Accomplished!  Christmas Day 2010, March 8^th/May 27^th 2011.  I have a shocking nine more hats in my retinue.
66. Write letters to at least eight people telling them what I appreciate about them.  (Revision:  five people.)
67. Refine my Jamaican accent.  Accomplished!  I don’t know if it actually is, but this is fairly difficult to qualify.  Nobody tells me it sounds Italian anymore, at least.
68. Speak in a foreign accent for one full day every month.  (Revision:  I didn’t do it for the first five months, so I’ve technically failed.  I would still like to do it at least once.)
69. Help spread accomplishment in the important life skill of giving Good Hugs.  Most people seem to be fine with hugs as are.  I suppose this one was a bit presumptuous.
70. Find someone with whom to have deep and pointless theoretical conversations.
71. Acquire at least two sundresses.  Partially done—I purchased one at Goodwill a couple of weeks hence.
72. Create and DM (run) one Dungeons & Dragons campaign. (Revision:  “campaign or adventure”.)
73. Learn to juggle.

Additions as of January 1st:

       74   a.  Get down to business to defeat the Huns.

               b.  Possibly with a wonderfully choreographed musical number.

     I have no idea how to go about doing this, but it sounds like an awful lot of fun.

New addition[s]:

       75.  Acquire a legal source of income.  (To random readers who don’t know me—this would be a change from no source of income at all, not a change from a illegal source of income, ha.)

       76. Take the initiative to stay in touch with/do fun stuff with awesome people over the summer and beyond.  

       77. Complete NaNoWriMo. 

       78. Do a smashing job as Mr. Keller’s ENG 110 TA in the fall. 

Monday sucks. / Birthday. / Monikers. / Birthday surprise!

I refuse to start this post with an excuse for why I haven't blogged in almost a month, so I won't.  (Partially because I don't have one, but mainly because they're obnoxious and unoriginal, unless it's a really good one.  And typically they aren't, I think.)

This past Monday seems to have been fairly universally horrid.  (Monday is usually begging to have someone light a match to it and laugh maniacally as it burns, but this one was particularly awful.)  It was big and bad and ugly for our immediate family for reasons I cannot presently expound upon on the Internet, but prayer for all of us would be welcome.  I found out tonight that someone very special to my grandma died on Monday (which was also her birthday, in a twist of bitter irony).  And a lot of my friends posted Facebook statuses about generally suckish things that were happening to them on Monday.  Though Hannah appeared to have a fun self-revelation on Monday, which is always exciting.  But mostly, Monday was really terrifically not terrific, and I've been trying to sort out the rest of my week bit by bit since then.  AUGH.  At least classwise, 'tis nearly done.

I am so sad that I didn't do a birthday post on the 8th.  i was going to do like a little journal-y thing with bits if things that happened and were observed by me throughout the day, and a screenshot of the birthday wishes email I got from YourPants.com, and it was uber cool, but then it was 6 minutes too late by the time I realized I hadn't actually posted it and I was kind of devastated.

So!  I have named my laptop at last!  Its name is Asfaloth.  That's the name of Glorfindel's white horse in the Fellowship of the Ring.  (For any non-book-devotees reading this, it was Arwen that rode Asfaloth in the movie, taking Frodo to Rivendell.)  That's one Accomplishment of Awesome achieved!  I need to go through my list and update what I have and have not accomplished…I know i've accomplished at least 4 or 5 (barely a dent in my 74 1/2 items, I know)  and failed one…Anywho.

My bamboo plant:  Spritely Fetch-the-Battle-Axe Takemoko.  I think.  The first name is still under debate (yes, it's supposed to be irony).  I'm thinking about something more Asian, possibly.  Or an obscure, long, and thus awesome adjective.  But I definitely like the last name and the middle addendum. 

Oh, and my friends threw me a surprise party last week.  Which was AMAZING.  Because I've wanted a surprise party since around the age of 11 (8ish years), but I didn't say anything about it, because, you know, my parents wouldn't remember that idea long-term and they couldn't use it the same year or it wouldn't be a surprise.  (Just the way parents work.  Or, mine do.)  (They did throw me one when I turned six, but it scared me and I ran and hid in a kitchen cupboard instead of being social, like you're supposed to do at your own birthday parties.)  The Sunday before, Gwen and I had actually had a conversation about surprise birthday parties, about which I promptly forgot and thus did not suspect a thing, even when Mom was like , "I have to go run errands at 7 at night!" and then "didn't hear" any of my queries about where we were going.  Thus, I was caught very off guard when lots of people leapt out from Adam and Terra's living room furniture and yelled, "SURPRISE!"  It has been reported that my face turned purple.  We ate lots of tasty party food and watched The Road to El Dorado (just about the best/most quotable movie ever, made before DreamWorks started making crappy live-action films) and lots of Tim Hawkins videos and it was SO MUCH FUN and MY FRIENDS ARE AWESOME, even if all of them couldn't be there.  
It made the previous Tuesday, which was my actual birthday, less depressingly anticlimactic, which is most bodacious.

So, it's forty minutes past midnight, and I still need to write a 600-word paper for my humanities class tomorrow. Thusly I bid you all a very fond farewell.  (I feel as though this is a quote from a movie in which someone dies immediately after saying that…Hm.)

(Oh—Bilbo Baggins says that right before he leaves the Shire forever.  Not really dying.  But still a drastic end to his life as he knows it.  Possibly good and possibly bad.  I sense that I'm about to launch a tangential and philosophical discussion right now, and I really need to not do that right now, so…guten nacht.  Maybe I will do this *points upwards* later.)

The American Dream…version Two-Point-Kiersten.

Something to add to the Ultimate Accomplishments of Awesome Life Bucket List:

I am going to build a tower.  And it's going to be freaking amazing.

Dad and I schemed it all out.  Obsidian, with some metalwork on the outside and a fiberglass core (which Dad says will be on the cheaper side, and more stable & versatile than plain stone) with a dungeon, roof access, a spiral staircase, a dumbwaiter (in case I can't find the heart to put in an elevator, hahaha), an entire floor devoted to a library (complete with one of those sliding ladder-thingies), and a chandelier which runs continuously through every floor.  And a wrought-iron fence in some really sweet design, and a great scenic view.  And maybe a couple of spires.

WOULD THIS NOT BE AMONG THE MOST  ÜBER FANTASTIC THINGS EVER? (In every sense of the word?)

So now—to add to one of the items on my 2011 Accomplishments of Awesome list—I have to learn to draw well so I can design all of this for a good architect someday.
And finish at least one novel (referred, item #1 on the 2011 UAoAL), and maybe live off ramen for a while (this is not on the UAoAL) once I get an $80,000-salaried editing job after college, so I can make enough money to do this.  (Imagine what kind of mortgage I'd have to take out if I actually wanted to furnish the place, too. *sarcasm*)
And marry somebody whose American dream is not a white picket fence (e.g., nerdfighter).

(Note & explanation of title:  in my honors humanities class today, we discussed the American dream, and when I was telling him about it on the way home tonight, Dad posed the question of "What if…" to me—what would my "American dream" be?  And this is what came out.  Apparently we're both a tad bit on the eccentric side?)

A song about British bowler hats and yellow snow and lack of organs and dance parties and recurring bipolarity.

I made an amazing playlist for New Years and am throwing a one-person dance party in my newly clean room.  (The linked version is missing a couple of songs, one by Glowfriends and two by Charlie.)

The Demskes are AWESOME.  My family is also AWESOME.  And putting them together makes a SUPERFABULOUSGREATUNFORGETTABLESPARKLYEPICDOUBLYAWESOME bonanza for New Year's!  YAY!  Movies and food and goofy camera moments and arguments over board games and food and movies and Nerf gun wars and food (including snowman-shaped marshmallows and chocolate cream cheese balls), and even sleep.  ILOVEIT.
Ordinarily, I would be one to write a very lengthy and nostalgic and idealistically futuristic post, but I have too much energy to at the moment.  Also, I did a lot of that in my Christmas post.  Suffice it to say that 2011 is going to (what rhymes with eleven?  Besides the number seven, and a couple of proper names, and heaven, which I can't use without saying something ridiculous and/or presumptuous.) be…purposeful (at least, as purposeful as Kiersten can get), with the help of my Ultimate Accomplishments of Awesome list, which I really need to write up somewhere.  And I hope to enjoy school and better my friendships and go crazy for Jesus and get in shape and do some thinking about the future and have lots of dance parties, one-person or otherwise.

I'm now, because I wrote this post three hours ago and my computer wouldn't let me post it, watching Miyazaki movies on YouTube.  Yay!

…One more addition to my Accomplishments of Awesome list:
74a. Get down to business to defeat the Huns.
74b. (Possibly with a wonderfully choreographed musical number.)

Kiersten's Not-Quite-Ultimate-Because-I-Think-I-Left-Something-Out-By-Mistake YouTube Accomplishments of Awesome List for Christmas Break 2010:

1. Marathon the Vlogbrothers videos
2. Watch the Charlie videos that I missed
3. Look up all the musicians that Hannah and Emily post on each others' Walls
4. Watch the rest of Alex Day's (appropriate) videos
5. Finish A Very Potter Sequel
6. Try to find out where my posted MovieMaker project disappeared to

I think Emily's a trendsetter.

Kiersten's Ultimate Accomplishments of Awesome List for 2011:

1. Finish (writing) at least one novel.
2. Witness to somebody.
3. Come up with a system to start memorizing Bible verses. 
4. Read the Bible regularly.
5. Befriend S_____ more successfully than I did in 2010.
6. Put music to some of my poetry.  
7.  Actually give birthday gifts to non-family people.   
8. Finish learning the basics of playing guitar. 
9. Read at least three more of C. S. Lewis' books. 
10. Learn to practice good time management at least 70% of the time, including bedtimes and homework  
11. Grow my hair back (out).   
12. Exercise regularly.
13. Finish Anna Karenina.
14. Acquire a sonic screwdriver.
15. Acquire a Hadhafang replica if I don't get one for Christmas (and if I can find one at a reasonable price).
16. Start being consistent about intercessory prayer.
17. Grow closer to my family.
18. [Possibly] investigate learning to play the violin.
19. Memorize my phone number.
20. Start overcoming my phone fears.
21. Figure out what I'm going to do if anyone I like asks me out (e.g., figure out where I stand on dating, for me personally, at this point in my life).
22. Learn how to ride a bike.
23. Acquire a bamboo plant.
24. Come up with meaningful things to blog about.
25. Sleep.
26. Reread The Lord of the Rings (again) in a month or less.
27. Reread the Silmarillion.
28. Have consistent pen pals (e.g., be consistent about writing letters back to people who've written letters to me).
29. Draw (not just doodling) more than once or twice a month.
30. Mange to read something by Charles Dickens.
31. Finish Romeo and Juliet.
32. Read Hamlet and Macbeth.
33. Watch Disney's Snow White.
34. Get to know some of the people at C & C.
35. Get in the habit of tithing (at least, once I have any income).
36. Read The Phantom Tollbooth.
37. Do something genuinely crazy (but not illegal, utterly pointless, or life-threatening).
38. Take my driver's test, pass it, and get my license.
39. Buy shoes that fit.
40. Be bold.
41. Buy new flavors of tea.
42. Name my laptop.
43. Name the dancing monkey on my laptop.
44. Name my teapot.
45. Acquire some pragmatism to balance out my excessive idealism.
46. Practice writing concisely so I can do so when necessary.
47. Overcome my fear of overhead showers.
48. Get my Technician and Demolitionist awards on Star Wars Battlefront II.
49. Write out a thorough and intelligent explanation of why I dislike Twilight.
50. Consider what I'm going to do after graduating KVCC.
51. Fast something (besides books, because I've already done that, and food, because that's probably impossible for a college student) for a month.
52. See Glowfriends in concert, if possible.
53. Attend at least one epically awesome rock concert with friends.
54. Get drunk in the Holy Spirit more than once.
55. Learn six new long words and use them in regular conversation.
56. Brush up on my French.
57. Develop an appreciation for one genre of music I currently dislike.
58. Organize my room and keep it at least relatively clean.
59. Write about the random stuff I research on a whim.
60. Read The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien.
61. Develop an appreciation for more spicy food.
62. Do laundry more regularly.
63. Finish reading A Room With a View.
64. Spread the word "uber" beyond my church family.
65. Acquire at least three more awesome hats.
66. Write letters to at least eight people telling them what I appreciate about them.
67. Refine my Jamaican accent.
68. Speak in a foreign accent for at least one full day every month.
69. Help spread accomplishment in the important life skill of Giving Good Hugs.
70. Find someone to have deep and pointless theoretical conversations with.
71. Acquire at least two sundresses.
72. Create and DM (run) one Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
73. Learn to juggle.