As I sit here trying not to listen to The National because it'll make me cry.

Well.

This is awkward.

Or maybe it's not, in which case great. I don't know why I'm so shit at blogging. I apologise.

Anyway, I am currently sat in an airport, waiting for my flight to be ready for my to board. I arrived here in New York City at 3 in the afternoon, and now it is quarter to 8. My flight has been delayed at does not leave until half 9. It seems like such a waste that I should be sitting in one of the greatest cities in the world, and I can't experience it at all because I can't leave the airport.

Ah well. It's all right because I've just come from another one of the greatest cities in the world. I've been so ridiculously absent from the internet for months that you'd only know this if you follow me on Twitter, but for the past ten weeks, I have been living and working in London.

I have way too many stories to try to put them all down in one blog post, and I'm still a bit fresh from the whole thing right now (besides, according to my internal clock it should rightly be 1 in the morning right now, not 8 at night, so I'm majorly sleepy), but I'd like to try to record some of the best stories here, starting at the beginning. So I'm going to start on that in the next few days and hopefully get through the most noteworthy of tales from my time in England (and, briefly, France).

As it is, I am currently not too happy to be back in the Land Of The Free. I mean, don't get me wrong, America's great, but I made myself a very nice home in London. I found myself very comfortable in that city, and it had started to become mine. My flat, my workplace, my restaurants, my walking paths, my church, my friends. I loved it there. I loved the people I found. I miss them all very much already and I miss the city. I miss the Southbank and miss St. Paul's and I miss my stations (Victoria, and then Waterloo), and I miss the Gherkin, and I miss Snog frozen yogurt, and I miss all of the places I lived (five in total), and God forbid I even miss Soho. I miss my workplace and my coworkers and most of all I miss my wonderful friends. They are wonderful. It hurts for me to think that I don't get to see them all the time anymore.

And on that cheery note, I think I shall end this post. I do have many stories of silliness and homelessness and riots and trying to find Maureen Johnson. It was an amazing time, and I can't wait to go through it with you all (with pictures, probably).

Oh and also I went to Disney World for my 21st birthday. Maybe I'll write about that too.

Cheers
Emily

Oh my god, I have a blog!

Hey, guys. Long time no see.

I kind of want to get back into blogging, but every time I say that, I blog twice and then give up for another three months or so. So I guess we'll see how this pans out.

My best friend Lauren is blogging every day this year, which is an admirable feat, but anyway a few days ago she mentioned that she's tempted to start all of her blog entries like Captain Kirk started every episode of Star Trek, and I've gotta admit, I'm facing the same temptation. Probably mostly because I've been watching The Original Series with my little sister a LOT recently. I was pretty much raised on Voyager and The Next Generation, and I LOVE AND ADORE the new JJ Abrams reboot (I'm beginning to think I'd love and adore anything that JJ Abrams creates, though -- I already feel that way about Christopher Nolan), and I've somehow managed to be always familiar with the characters and vernacular of TOS, but this is the first time I've actually gone through and watched the episodes of TOS. I'm enjoying it a little too much, maybe.

So yes, that's what I've been doing. Star Trek-y things. Also, I just went to North Carolina, which was fun. I went snow tubing, which was just amazingly and ridiculously fun. It was so good to see snow. I love snow. I never get to see snow. It was lovely.

I've also been on Tumblr. A lot. And watching a TON of movies over break while I still can. So far, I've watched Love Actually, Revolutionary Road, The Holiday, Just Friends, this ridiculous movie called Swimfan, Fight Club, 28 Days Later, Zombieland and Kick-Ass -- and those are only the the movies I hadn't seen before. I've also watched Carriers and Inception...and some other movies that I'd already seen but don't really remember. Lots of movies. I've been enjoying it. The weird thing about being a film major is when you study films so much that you don't have the time to watch films. I've got Blood Diamond, Definitely Maybe, Never Let Me Go and The Hangover waiting for me, as well as a few other tentative movies I might try to watch before I go back to school next Tuesday. I'm also trying to finish up Merlin, watch season two of Lie To Me, and Being Human starts again soon, so we'll see how this goes. I also really really really want to see Black Swan and Tangled before I get too busy. And I still haven't seen The Social Network. Oh yeah, and we're trying to catch up on Bones and finished Buffy. So yeah.

Well, that makes it sound like all I do is watch TV and movies. I promise, that's not the case.

Anyway, I'm sort of bored of blogging now, so you must be bored of reading. I'll go now.

Ta
Emily

I should probably be writing that scene for scriptwriting right about now.

Okay, so I realize that I haven't actually posted in here since June, but I'm sick today and spent the entirety of the time I should have been in my first two classes of the day on my couch reading blogs and sleeping, but then my hunger got too much, so I'm cooking a kids' frozen dinner and blogging. Anyway, my hair looks ridiculous because it was still wet when I accidentally fell asleep while reading old Hyperbole and a Half posts from a year ago, and I'm still feeling pretty crap, but the microwave is beeping with my food, and Friends is on TV and I'm not at school, so that's fun.

And I actually just realized that I have to leave in about a half hour if I want to go to my last class tonight, which I was hoping to do, but I'm not feeling that much better. Hmm.

TBS keeps playing these Leonardo DiCaprio-themed commercials because they're playing Catch Me If You Can and Titanic this weekend (which, side note...Titanic? On TBS? "Very funny"?), but it's kind of hilarious if you know me because I have multiple running jokes with some of my friends centered around Leo. I don't know why, but I do.

Also, I keep hitting Cmd+S to try to automatically save this blog. Which isn't how you save blogs. Obviously.

I'm super rambley today. I apologize.

Wednesdays are my super long days, actually. On a normal Wednesday at this time, I'd be sitting in this room at my uni that's specifically there for commuter students for them to go to study or chill out or watch TV while they wait for their next class. I'd probably be either working on the scene I'm supposed to be writing for my scriptwriting class, or ignoring responsibility and watching a movie on Netflix. Either way.

I'm VERY excited that NaNoWriMo is about to start! It'll be a little hard to find time to write with how busy I am already, but losing is not an option. I'll probably come back to this blog through November to keep track of my progress, like I did last year. This year's novel is going to be super cracky and awesome. It's based completely on this idea that when my friends and I get rich and famous, we'll build a castle in LA and live in it together. Yeah. Should be good times.

If you want to add be as a buddy (and you SHOULD), here's my id: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/467301

Are you doing NaNo this year? What's your novel about?

Unstoppable trailer! TBS is so nice to me. Any time I'm stressed or feeling crappy, it plays the Unstoppable trailer. Which has Chris Pine in it. Yes, please.

Okay, ending this blog now.
Emily

Our Individual Human Experience

I recently read an article (recently being...an hour ago) which highlights the long-term effect a child's name may (or may not) have on their personality and behavior. There were several obvious flaws in the article, the first being that the science was off at best. Except for the study which showed that boys with girlish names (Ashley, Shannon, etc.) are highly likely to act out, which honestly just seems obvious and inevitable, most of the conclusions that are drawn in the article have less than a leg to stand on.

The argument was that a child's name has a huge, long standing impact on that child's development. Or maybe it's because of the way people perceive that child because of their name. Or maybe it's the way the parent raise the child. Or maybe....

This is guessing. This is not science. This is not research. This is conjecture, nothing more. A British survey that says that 1 in 5 parents of the 3,000 they polled regret giving their child the name that they did says nothing about the child's behavioral reaction to the same name. Nothing. Trying to prove one point from the other is ridiculous. There are a few other studies in the article that do little more to actually prove the point they're trying to make. One or two are at least relevant.

The real problem I have with the article, though, is not the lack of science. It is the argument that a child with a more unusual name is worse off than a child with a common name. Whether the parents' attitude toward their child pushed them to try to be unique or to fit in will have an effect on a child, absolutely. This attitude can be reflected in the names a parent chooses, sure. But is being pushed toward standing out any better than being pushed to fit it?

I would argue no.

I am a firm believer that every child should always be treated exceptionally by everyone, taught to do what is right through both word and example, disciplined kindly and lovingly for doing what is harmful or wrong, protected from evil, encouraged in magic, and should never ever be pushed into something they are not. Parenting that falls too far on any side of this is poor parenting.

As a culture, we can't decide if it's best to fit in or stand out. Those who stand out get the recognition and the isolation. Those who fit in get the community and the herd mentality. Something is wrong.

I was raised in a home where no one ever really followed conventions. We were never radical, but we have always been the harmless rebels. The quirky family. The endearingly odd. Once you know us, you'll probably love us, but if you don't, we won't cry. We're close, as a family, and my sisters and I have all grown, at one time or another, to be happy with ourselves. I find little joy in standing out just for the sake of it, but I've grown up my entire life never really being content to just fit in, either.

Now here's the part where I'm going to introduce something radical: I think, as human beings, we must learn that through standing out, we can fit in.

Let me explain. We know that every person on this planet shares in what we call the "human experience." We know that everyone around us has felt pain and heartbreak, joy and excitement, apathy and enthusiasm, fear and anticipation. Sometime when we are young and emotional, or old and nostalgic, or a person and in pain it's easy to forget that we're surrounded by people just like us. Sometimes we can think we're alone. Even if we fit into a cultural norm, we all feel alone. The problem is that no one fits into a norm. No one actually fills the mold. We all stand out already. It was when I first started to embrace this fact about myself that I first started to like myself. Pushing to stand out farther and pulling to blend in better will both leave us wanting. It is only, I propose, by allowing ourselves the freedom to be who we are and love who others are that we will ever really feel like we fit, and also feel like we matter.

This is not a Disney movie. This is real life.

I realize I'm writing this to a following of about 16, but I feel like this is important. Whether your name is Morgan or Mary or Maine, you are unique. You are different. It's important to know that about ourselves and each other.

No one is the same. And no one is irreconcilably different.

Just a thought.
Emily

Some Splainin' To Do

This blog post is entirely made up of explanations and excuses. You have been warned.

VEDA: I didn't fail VEDA. I quit. I was a little behind with every intention to catch up, and then one day I just...got claustrophobic. It had gotten to the point where pretty much my entire life save for one thing was on the internet, and I just didn't want that. So I stopped making videos ever day in April, I quit tweeting frequently, and I was just in general fairly absent from the internet. It wasn't like I decided I don't like the internet anymore or something, I just wanted to make sure I was keeping my life...my life. But everything is cool now, so no worries.

Random Videos: This would the the "Ohh" and "Lost Who" videos. These...have no explanation. Sorry. If you had a laugh at them, that's awesome. They made me laugh a lot. If you were just confused, sorry. I honestly can't explain them. One was a happy accident, the other was my sister's doing (she asked me to post it on my channel).

Trock Music Videos: The idea is that both my sister and I (who make up the band Time Children) are writing a song each per Doctor Who episode this season. We were going to take one of those songs per week and make a music video. Life got INCREDIBLY HECTIC recently, but the plan is still to do all of that. It will probably just be later in the summer.

And that all I can think to explain. If you have any more questions, leave them as a comment and I'll edit this post.

See you soon(ish)!
Emily
Current Music Obsession: St. Vincent, "Paris is Burning"
Reading: Geekery by a bunch of people.
Chipotle this year: I lost track. 10 or 11 probably.
Watching: Merlin (which is AWESOME) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which is also AWESOME).

Twenty-Six

We're re-watching "Victory of the Daleks" right now because my dad didn't watch it with us yesterday. I've been trying to work on my novel today, but I thought while we're in the Who mode, I might as well tell you, my lovely blog readers, about my fun new project.

My sister, Rachel, and I have long been talking about starting a Time Lord Rock (aka trock) band, and we've finally done it. We're called Time Children, and we've started to do this absolutely insane thing where we both write a song every week about the current episode. Since we're doing one each, that means at the end of this series we'll have twenty-six songs between us. TWENTY-SIX! I'm not sure if that's going to be one album or two, because half of our songs are short little silly ones, and half are longer, more serious, full-length songs. For example, I wrote "Fish Custard" about the first episode, and that's a silly one that's less than a minute long. Then, after the second episode, I wrote "Like a Miracle", which is a darker song and more likely to be closer to 3 minutes. I wrote a song about the new Daleks today, but that one doesn't have a name yet. So we'll see about the albums.

And here they are! The multi-colored Daleks of the new age! They are freakishly tall and have bottom ends like bumper cars.

I like them. In a weird way.

Anyway, one of the BEST parts of this song project, is that our plan is to release both songs each week, one on the Myspace and one as a music video on one of our YouTube channels. We're hoping to release each music video the Saturday after the episode airs on BBC America, before the new one premieres. Starting, probably, with "Fish Custard", which you can already listen to on our Myspace.

Anyway, that's all I have to tell you right now. I really hope you'll check it out and support my music. :D

See you soon!
Emily

Current Music Obsession: Time Children, not because I think we're super special, but because as my new music project, I think about it ALL THE TIME.
Reading: Liar by Justine Larbalestier
Chipotle this year: 7
Watching: Being Human

Frenzies, Vlogging and the ER

One of the reasons I've been pretty absent around here is because I've begun keeping a pen-and-paper journal, which I haven't done since I was about fourteen, and is actually really nice. Because of that, though, I feel less of a need to write here, which...isn't so nice.

I'm also doing VEDA and Script Frenzy AND working on my novel because I am INSANE. And tomorrow is Easter Sunday, and I must be up early to sing in the choir at both services at my church, so this will be short.

I've had one blog-worthy experience lately, and I want to share it with you. For the first time in my life, I took someone to the Emergency Room.

I was hanging out with my friend Jessica and my friend Catalina and my sister Rachel, and Jessica had some sort of allergic reaction to something. We called my dad, who is a doctor, and he told us to just chill with her and she should be okay, but if she started to have trouble breathing, we had to take her to the ER. Well, a while later, she started to have trouble breathing.

Luckily, Jess only lives about five minutes away from a hospital. We had some trouble with parking, but we got her in and since it was ten after midnight, she got seen pretty quickly. Rachel went in with her. I did not volunteer because I have a horrible, horrible fear of needles. And there were needles. So I did not go in. Instead, Catalina and I decided to hang out in the lobby. We just talked for a while, but when it seemed clear they weren't coming out for a while, we pulled the cards out of Rachel's purse, which she'd left out with us.

Sometime in the middle of our game, I happened to look up to one of the televisions and saw...Christopher Eccleston. As it was one in the morning, Catalina and I both wondered if we were really seeing Christopher Eccleston or if we were crazy, but there he was. It was pretty bizarre, haha.

Anyway, Jessica and Rachel came out at about quarter after two and we all went home. Jessica is fine, they gave her a prescription and she's going to be fine. It was an interesting night.

Doctor Who is back tonight! It's not on BBC America until two weeks from now, but that never stops us. We all watched it and LOVED it. I was a little unsure of Matt Smith when I saw End of Time (ahem...), but I've been getting REALLY excited about this series since New Year's and I just...I loved it. Well done, Matt Smith, well done. I CANNOT WAIT for the rest of the series! I do not approve of this having to wait thing.

Anyway, I have to go sleep.
See you soon!
Emily

Current Music Obsession: Telephone by Lady Gaga
Reading: Scarlett Fever by Maureen Johnson
Chipotle this year: 6
Watching: Secret Diary of a Call Girl

I'm usually making my way through at least one television show. I will now keep track of it here.