Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Why does it have to be spiders?

Arachnophobia.

A lot of us have it, me (and Ron Weasley) included. No matter how many times I read or watch Charlotte's Web, I do not come away with a love for spiders. Sure, Charlotte was a great friend to Wilbur, and I feel bad for him that he lost her, but she was a spider. Sure, spiders eat other bugs, but that doesn't mean I want them around any more than any other creepy insects.

So, since I'm afraid of spiders, I don't want them around. BUT since I'm afraid of them, I'm usually too freaked out to get near enough to kill them. This is a problem. However, I've come to realize that spiders' creep factor increases exponentially according to size, so I've developed the following chart to determine how to deal with them.

Spider Scale

1. The smallest spider on the scale is about the size of the head of a pin. Obviously, this is the best size of spider to have. It can be dispatched of with a tissue without causing a significant amount of grief to the arachnophobic. Unless, of course, you happen to be driving a car at the time, and one of these is making its way along your steering wheel, like I had happen this week.

2. Next is the slightly larger size, approximately the diameter of pen or pencil. This size causes some concern to the arachnophobic, and requires the swift use of a shoe to dispose of the bane.

3. Now the spider is around the size of a quarter. This is where the arachnophobic begins to run out of options. You can actually see the hair on its disturbing body and long legs. No longer small enough to comfortably crush, you must resort to trapping the beast. Grab an empty cup, jar, or box and drop it over the creature. Now that it can't move and you can no longer see it, it becomes less worriesome. From here you can either let it remain in the trap until it dies, or carefully carry it away (slipping a piece of paper under the trap) and releasing it into The Wild. Of course, with the second option you have the possibility of accidentally releasing it before you get to The Wild, in which case you have to start all over again, provided the spider hasn't already successfully hidden itself from you. I currently have one of these under a box on my work table at home, which is really hindering my ability to work.

4. The Tarantula. This is something no arachnophobic should ever have to see in real life. If you do come across one that is not safely behind glass or on a computer/television screen, the only real option is to run over it with your car. Do not get out to look unless you are certain it got creamed.

5. The Acromantula. Pray that this giant spider only exists in books and movies like Harry Potter (Aragog) and Lord of the Rings (Shelob), because it will in fact eat you. I think the only way to kill them is with magic or an Elfin-made sword. And good luck getting your hands on one of those!

So, fellow arachnophobes, in the future when you are paralyzed with fear in the face of a spider, just refer back to my handy chart to determine on a scale of one to five how much you should be flipping out.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Nerdfighter Win!

Every year my family visits the Fricks during the first weekend in August, and on Saturday we go to the Blueberry Festival. After breakfast of blueberry pancakes, sausage, and fruit cups, we hit the used book sale. This year they had a record amount of books. Immediately after I entered the book tent, I spotted a couple of Monk books. (They are based on the TV show, which is about an obsessive compulsive detective.) When I picked one up, I realized right next to it was a copy of Paper Towns!

Here's some background so you understand why this is exciting: I follow vlogbrothers John and Hank Green on YouTube. After I knew that John was a YA author, I started looking for his books. I've searched several used book sales and shops and never saw any of his novels. I came to the conclusion that John's books are so good that no one would want to get rid of them. I was able to read them all by borrowing them from the library, but I still keep my eye out to buy them. Since I watch John's videos all the time, I feel like I know him. So I was pleasantly surprised to find a John Green book right away--I hadn't even started to hunt for anything specific yet.

Now, sometimes John or fans (aka Nerdfighters) will go to a bookstore and tuck a note inside one of John's books for whoever happens to buy that book. So I was thinking about that and opened the book just in case. And there was a note! Inside the front cover were two orange post-its that said this:

"To my dear Alisha: Make an adventure of it. <3 Amanda :)"

and

"Paper Towns: It's a signed copy. :) The girl reminds me of you. I <3ed it. :) It's different. I met the author, and his brother. Hope you enjoy it."

Wow! I'm surprised that after Amanda put a lot of thought into giving her friend this book, Alisha got rid of it, personal notes and all. What happened there?! Secondly, did she say signed?! Sure enough, there on the title page is "J Scribble"! No way, that is so cool! I lucked into a signed copy?

So then I flipped through to see if there were any other notes, and I discovered there are five more orange post-its stuck throughout the book! I like this one on page 22:

"Promise me you'll look up & listen to the "Black Santas" song by Hank Green on Youtube! I heard it live! Haha"

If you haven't read the book, there's a character whose parents have the world's largest collection of black Santas. I don't remember Hank singing about it, but I found this song by someone else from one of their live events. The video is shaky, but you can occasionally see John and Hank on the side cracking up. :P

Anyway, the best part is, I got this super awesome book for only $2! (The hardcover goes for $18 new). This particular novel has two different choices of art for the hardcover (and the paperback has a third completely different picture). The one I happened to get is happy Margo. :D


(Happy Margo didn't forget to be awesome. Sad Margo did.)

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Celtic Thunder 2.0

For those of you who have never seen one of their PBS specials, Celtic Thunder is a group of five male vocalists from Ireland and Scotland. I recently discovered that they have a new CD out. I think it actually was released around my birthday--I guess I'd know these things sooner if I wasn't so far behind in watching their YouTube channel videos.

I am very excited about this CD (Get a taste of the awesomeness that is "Heritage" here) because they're actually going back to Celtic songs. They've been covering so many pop songs lately that I was beginning to think they were becoming Celtic in name only. But, finally, the kilts and traditional music are back! Heritage includes songs like "Whiskey in the Jar," "Black is the Color," and "Red, Red Rose."

The new music isn't the only change, however. This might be the last album with all of the original five members (George Donaldson, Paul Byrom, Ryan Kelly, Keith Harkin, and Damian McGinty). First to leave is Paul, who wants to have a solo career. He is one of my least favorites (I'm not a huge fan of his opera-style voice) so I don't really care. However, I do mind that Ryan is quitting, because he "decided to take a step back from Celtic Thunder and the public life that goes along with being part of it." Nooooo! He and Keith are my favorites. Ryan sang all the dark or "bad boy" songs which I dig. As the Celtic Thunder website says, "Ryan's love for drama made him the perfect pick for the role of the 'rogue' or 'Dark Destroyer' in the Celtic Thunder Show." Pretty much all of his songs are my favorites. Now I'm bummed that he's gone, and he's not planning on a solo career. (Too bad--I'd buy his music.) I guess he got tired of the publicity. Maybe he'll go back to being an accountant. Check out their fantastic performance of "That's a Woman"--it really juxtaposes Ryan's style with Paul's usual sappy love songs.

If you've been doing the math, this puts us down to three guys. Paul's replacement is Emmet Cahill. I haven't seen much of him yet, but so far he's okay. And then we have Neil Byrne. He's been around for awhile, playing guitar in the background. He started edging his way forward and singing once in a while. They never really seemed to acknowledge him as an official member, but I expect he'll be getting a bigger role now, which is cool with me.

Now that I'm just getting into Heritage, I've learned that "Storm" will be coming out this month on PBS, with the CD for sale in mid-September. They work fast! The preview for Storm is intriguing--it looks like a full-on musical!

Also, I read that Damian is one of the top five finalists on "The Glee Project," a reality TV show on Oxygen (which I don't get so I haven't seen). The winner of that show gets to be a guest star in seven episodes of Glee's third season! I really hope Damian wins, because that would be really cool. It'd be fun to have an Irish exchange student. The funny thing is, Damian doesn't even need the "instant fame" from being on Glee--he already has it!