The Fault In Our Stars

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."

I woke up on January 10 feeling normal - much calmer than the night previous when I had a minor breakdown after calculating how much it would cost to get me to LeakyCon this year, and said number being far too large for me to obtain. Then I checked Twitter. And I realized with more excitement than I can quite convey here that January 10 was TFIOS Day. The more I read tweets from Nerdfighteria exploding with excitement, the more excited I got. I checked my Amazon order, and realizing that it wouldn't be shipped unti January 19, cancelled the order and decided to go get my copy at my local Chapters. After class, of course.

Which mean that I had to sit through class, nearly bouncing with excitement, until I could go get my beautiful green j-scribbled copy of The Fault in Our Stars. I started reading it that night, and devoured it. I took it to school and read it during my free time. I stayed up until 1:30 last night finishing the book.

I loved the book right from the start. It has John's typical flair to it - fun writing, quirky characters - so I just ate it up. I loved Hazel and how she looked at the world. I loved Augustus Water's constant metaphors. I loved their interactions. I even grew to love Isaac and Lidewij. I cursed at Van Houten (right in the middle of the Arts Centre hallway, mind you). I fell in love with Hazel and Gus' Amsterdam. But nothing affected me more than the ending. I have never weeped more openly, or felt more pain, from a book. Not even Harry Potter. I was just sad during Harry Potter. In The Fault in Our Stars, I felt Hazel's distraught. I put myself in her position. I can honestly say I have never identified that closely with a character, or felt what they were feeling that strongly. During the last 100 pages or so, I texted my boyfriend "I love you" repeatedly because I just couldn't stand what was happening. It was both amazing and horrifying, and kudos to John Green for being able to put that emotion into Hazel and her story.

Even with the distraught, I would read The Fault in Our Stars again in a heartbeat. John's writing has a way of capturing me that no one else's does, he pulls me right in, and I can't wait to reread The Fault in Our Stars (after I finish some other books in my ever-growing pile of "to read" books).

Tom Freaking Felton

It's no secret that I have a huge fangirl crush on Tom Felton, and have had for quite a while now. (I mean, come on, he was the entire reason I got a Twitter account in the first place.) So, naturally, when the Calgary Entertainment and Comic Expo announced that Tom would be attending this year's event, I freaked. Actually freaked. Flailing, screaming, shaking arms freaked. It's a good thing my classmates all know how big of a Harry Potter fan I am, otherwise they would think I am totally mad. (Well, they might think that already but...no more than I am already. Right?) See, they got to witness my flailing, screaming self when I discovered the glorious glorious news. Right in the middle of the scene shop. Mocking ensued, but I honestly heard none of it. I was tweeting, facebooking and texting everyone I knew that would care about the good news. (Well, Dylan had to text Kayla for me. I was unable to hit the buttons at that point because I was shaking so badly.)

AJSKLHFAUWBGW I AM GOING TO GET TO MEET TOM FELTON. AOIHAWGOINAWG

New Years

I had a whole year-in-review post written and I thought I had published it, but apparently Blogger glitched and only up to March got published. So, there is that. I'll rewrite it later, but right now, my goal is to talk about New Years.

I don't usually do anything for New Years. I usually spend it on my parents farm, watching movies with my dad (my mom, who works very early in the mornings, is usually in bed by that time.) But this time, I was back in Red Deer, so I spent it with my dearest friends.

Ben, Dylan and Matt hosted the "party" at their townhouse on campus. We had a potluck - Ben cooked a ham, which was amazing and completely took me by surprise, and mashed potatoes and roasted veggies, and there was a really delicious casserole and cheesecake and it was just wonderful. It hit me how much more like an adult it made me feel. A potluck is a very adult thing to have, no?

After dinner, we all headed down to their basement to watch movies. The new Start Trek was already playing, so we finished that, and watched some Arrested Development and a few episodes of The Office and Community.

Ben suggested Monopoly, so Lauren, Dylan, Ben and I crowded around the kitchen table. Dylan has Nintendo Monopoly, which was awesome. I took the lead early, buying about half a dozen properties in the first few rounds, but my lead didn't last long. There was one point when I was down to $36. But thanks to Dylan's generosity (aka giving me money to buy hotels to stop Ben, who was kicking all of our butts, from winning) and mortgaging a few properties, I got back into the game, and ended up winning, thanks to the hotels on my properties.

It was only about 8:00 by this point, though it felt ore like 11:00. We retreated back downstairs and continued to peruse Netflix. Until it was decided we would watch Attack of the Clones. Well, I can say I had never watched Star Wars that way before. There wasn't a horribly written/delivered line that we didn't  ridicule, or a ridiculous filming choice that we didn't laugh at. It was quite brilliant, actually.

Midnight came with a chorus "Happy New Years!" (and a New Years kiss) and then we settled back into Star Wars.

Really, it wasn't that much different from any other time my friends and I hang out. It just included some wine, and a potluck. It was definitely my best New Years celebration yet.