An insight onto why I have been absent.

But you all knew that, right?
Well, I've been absent for a while now. I've enjoyed it, too, and have had a marvelous time catching up on my life before it could catch up to me. And now I'm back, but who knows for how long? In any case, nothing truly amazing that would also be amazing to you all has happened to me, but here's an exciting insight into my past two weeks:


Seriously, we have been doing this. Its been fun, too, book awards. Technically they were the books we were writing ('we' being me and a few people who joined me to write stories together...to be fair, I came a little late in the game, it was my fellow bloggy Mokka who started it...) and not real books, but someday we should do this too. Movies are all very good, but books deserve hype too.


Speaking of book, I've been thoroughly enjoying Ender's Game and its counterparts. While the series certainly isn't for everyone, there are precious few books that make you think about things the way that these ones do. In most books, you have the good and the evil. You never stop to question that the good is good and the bad should lose the war. Ender's Game and the others make you question the morality of war in a new light, and the fact that the human weaknesses of deception, misunderstanding, jealousy and anger can't always make the good 'good', and just because you're fighting for the humans doesn't mean that you're right.

And I was in shock, having not expected anything much from the BBC series Sherlock. Yes', I'd heard how amazing it was, but being a die hard fan of the books and the Robert Downey Jr. movies, I decided no uppity British dude and his weensy little sidekick could top it, much less make the classic stories modern, even if they did do a fantastic job in Star Trek: Into Darkness and The Hobbit. (Cumberbatch and Freeman, respectively). And I was right - they didn't top it. They tied in just about every way, though. My first mistake was thinking that Cumberbatch had a high voice. Wrong, so wrong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64eonMsecAA

And I nearly fell asleep listening to this, too. Yes, I listened to the whole thing. No, I didn't really understand it. No, you don't have to listen to it. But that's beside the point - the entire series, with the amazing acting, captivating story lines, subtle humor and character development completely exceeded my expectations and made me an instant fan of Sherlock Holmes...again. 

Why there's Hogwarts in the background, I don't know. But really, the ever-quotable Moriarty did a fantastic job. Not like the books in any way, but somehow I still thought he was one of the best villains ever.

...and Smaug suddenly became a very sexy dragon...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4hK0y_u6yI
Speaking of TV, I started to watch it for the sake of The Voice and America's Got Talent for the first time in forever. Danielle Bradbury, sixteen years old, youngest competitor, and she blew me out of the water, winning against one of Michael Jackson's background singers, the remaining two finalists and hundreds of other incredible voices - 40,000, to be exact.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-q7cfA8pfs
America's got some real talent this year - the above is my favorite act. Of course, they had some plain insanity, too - a man eating three raw eggs (oo! such talent! >:P), a voodoo doctor (or at least pretending to be), etc., etc. But if there's any TV show to watch, I'd encourage that one.


Well isn't that just the most miserable thing? Ernest Hemingway was challenged to to write a tragedy in six words. This doesn't really have anything to do with my week, except to prove the power of words, because I've already read more sad and classic books this summer than I've read the rest of my life, and probably cried more too.

Just...just because, ok?

Thus, besides working and writing, that is my insight into my life right now. And grad parties, of course, but I didn't get any pictures. So, besides finding a marvelous balance between books and movies that I've never seemed to understand before, what is the lesson learned?

-Rhian

For the Seniors

Well, here you are, about to graduate. I'm really bad at writing moving messages and all that stuff, so I'm going to be blunt here - I'd just like to take a moment to say thank you to you guys. I've known most of you for as long as I've been in St. A's, and you've really changed my life. Using the very cliched but nonetheless appropriate words of Wicked, "Because I knew you, I have been changed for good." For good meaning for eternity, and also for the better. Also from Wicked, "Now whatever way our stories end, I know you have rewritten mine by being my friend." No, not by me being your friend, not by us being friends. By you being mine. The fact that any of you ever bothered to talk or hang out with me still amazes me. What amazes me more is that most of you went beyond that to actually try to become friends with me. I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with - I get random waves of enthusiasm and I'm a very spontaneous person, and I think that scares people, not to mention the fact that I can get shy but blunt at the same time around people I don't know very well - and so I thank you with all my heart for putting up with that to make me feel generally accepted. I'd like to say a special thank you to Sarah, who loved and played with and laughed with and tolerated me for my whole life. I actually don't know how many of you read these posts, if any of you; besides that selfsame loyal sister who reads them even when I don't want her to, but really guys - thank you. Excited as I am to see how we do as oldest in the school, I'll still be one of the youngest, and I'll miss being able to look up to you, to have someone to try to impress, though I'm sure I failed miserably. It really does help to be able to have most of you there to help me build my self control by trying not to be stupid, and the rest of you to be there to allow me to let it out and listen to me. 
Whatever colleges you guys go to, wherever you go in the world, I can expect great things from all of you, and I have a feeling you'll all live up to those expectations. It excites me to look ahead and try to see where you'll all be in a few years. Congratulations, seniors - I am eternally blessed to have known and loved you all, eternally favored as to have known people like you, to have grown up with people like you. I'm the last person to be giving advice, but I'd recommend taking a good look at this ending quote here - one of my personal favorites:
"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." -Pooh Bear
-Rhian

On Courtesy

This one is for the guys. Look gents, I feel compelled to say something about your guys' conduct at the dance last night. If you go to a dance, you should be prepared to (wait for it) - dance. Is that really too much to ask? It's your duty as a man to ask a woman to go to the dance floor with him. It doesn't matter who the woman is, or how well she dances. I found myself thinking of a line from Pride and Prejudice: "He danced only 4 dances, though gentlemen were scarce, and more than one lady was in want of a partner." Its scandalizing for Mr. Darcy to dance only 4 daces - right now, it looks like were lucky to see a guy dance at all. Its really hard for a woman to have to go to a dance, to spend time making herself look nice, to discover that it is only just another social gathering. What's even harder is the realization that not only I, but several other girls I have talked to have come to simply expect that, going to a dance, they will not get danced with. This is truly disappointing. It's simple, common courtesy to dance when you go to a dance - if you're not going to, then don't come. Girls shouldn't have to sit there hours after hour and not get danced with at all. Freestyle is all very well and fun, but girls can't to swing with another girl like they can with a boy. Dances are meant to be fun - and you're enjoying yourself at the expense of our enjoyment. It's. Not. Enjoyable. 
Girls, if you are continually getting asked and know that there are girls who haven't been, encourage whoever keeps asking you to ask someone else. 
Boys, if you don't dance with a girl because she's not pretty - that's the way God made her, so suck it up. If you don't dance with her because she's not as good, how is she ever going to get better is she is never even given the chance to do so? Please, boys, this is far more important than you think. You all are such wonderful people - live up to it! I can expect such great things from you - can I expect the small as well?
"A real woman can do it herself, but a real man won't let her." - Anonymous
-Rhian
P.S. Sorry if this sounds harsh, but I'm hardly speaking for myself - I don't care whether you dance with me or not, I care that you dance. Period.