Watching Crash Course

That's what I'm doing. I don't really watch the biology ones as much but I do watch world history (because, you know, world history is the single thing that American education up to grade seven or so does not really teach - yeah, I know about the Native Americans and I've learned the American Revolution about three times, don't wonder why I'm not that interested in class).

This week's video was about the French Revolution. I learned all about it in Israel. It was cool.

Then, a picture of Marie Antoinette came up and the little "did you know" thing said "The cake was a lie."

Me: The cake was a lie?
Me: ...
Me: THE CAKE IS A LIE!
Me: LET THEM EAT CAKE!
Me: OH MY FREAKING GOD I GET IT!

And then it was chair happy dance time.

(If you get only half the things I'm saying in this blog post, go see the awesome that are John and Hank Green on Vlogbrothers and Crash Course. Join the Nerdfighters! We are made of awesome!)

(Marie Antoinette never exactly said "Let them eat cake" so the cake WAS a lie.)

(Also, excuse me for being vaguely disconnected with some aspects of popular culture.)

(And excuse the excessive parentheses.)

(I read once in Writer's Digest that you should not use parentheses. At all.)

(I don't really care.)

Alive

I've been reading Fahrenheit 451, party due to the urging of my friend and partly due to the Nerdfighter Book Club.

I like it and it's rather amazing.

This video is the first in a series in which John and Hank Green, aka the vlogbrothers, discuss the book and its meanings. I would discourage you from watching it if you've not read the book yet but it's not entirely spoilerific.

Anyways...in the video, John asks us what makes us feel alive. Now, I don't have a YouTube account so I can't exactly comment but I figured it would make a worthy enough blog post.

I feel alive when I feel I am doing something meaningful.

Sometimes I'll be doing the same thing at different times but at one time I'll feel like it's meaningful and at the other I'll feel it's pointless.

I feel alive when I spout random facts. I feel alive when I learn those facts. I feel alive when I write things I feel are worthy, or something that I feel will not end up as total crap. I feel alive when I walk outside and watch the world and suddenly I have the amazing feeling of something eagerly writing itself in my head. I feel alive in the hours I spend in libraries, searching, always, for more. I feel alive when I watch things I like on the internet. I feel alive when I see something that someone else is proud to have created  to show to all the other living people. I feel alive when I read, especially in that time at the end of the book when you are feeling emotionally over-capacitated but blissfully aware of the world, moving and changing. I feel alive when I make art. I feel alive when I am aware of everything inside me, pumping blood and handling food and my brain creating spurts of electricity as neurons communicate with each other. I feel alive when suddenly I can see in my mind the infinite wound ball of connections that the world is, when things seem just as they should be and yet could always be better.

I feel alive.

"I'm on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friend."

I have absolutely no idea what to put as the title

Right...yes...

I am obsessed with my ukulele which I got when I was three and only got interested in like four days ago. Ukuleles are super cool. I can now play "Time to Reply" by Charlie McDonnell (charlieissocoollike on the YouTubes). My goal is to be able to play "The Big Bang 2" by Chameleon Circuit, but that might be a while. It's not like I don't know the chords, I just can't transition between them quickly, and that is a fast song.

Back in America. Everything is so American.

"Things are thingy." ~ Hank Green

I should probably continue unpacking...or really, sorting my books, because it bothers me so much that they're messy that I can't do anything else.