This morning when I turned on my computer, I did not expect to see anything that would particularly catch my eye. And I wish I hadn't. At around 3:00 this morning, a wonderful 16 year-old girl named Esther Earl, passed away. She battled cancer for the last four years.
Now it might seem odd that this has hit me so hard because it was not until June that I learned of Esther. However, when the HPA won the $250,000, I had the honor of meeting her via skype, although it was briefly. But that doesn't mean that she hasn't inspired me.
It's been almost 5 months since my father passed away from cancer. The effects of this disease are still very much in my mind and I remember distinctly every moment leading up to the death of my father. So although I never personally knew Esther, and only said hello to her once, I feel for her family. I know how hard it is to lose someone you love to this horrible disease. My family has just started to recover from it. I think that's why it is affecting me so much. It hits so close to home. But I want to use my experience to try to help Esther's family start healing. It is a long and hard process, especially when someone so young has been taken away from you.
When I called my mom this morning and told her about Esther, I told her that I wanted to go to her funeral. I realize how that might not be totally appropriate, but as a fellow nerdfighter and HPA member I want to be there. Because in the two months that I knew of Esther, I looked up to her. She was such an amazing, strong, and wonderful person.
My heart truly goes out to Esther's family and friends.
#DFTBE <3
August 25, 2010
August 7, 2010
UPDATING! HOLY CRAPNESS!
I actually find time to update. Woohoo! Know why? Because it's a Saturday night and no one is home and I have no friends. YIPPIE! ok I'm kidding. I have friends. However the majority of them are currently..hmm...3000ish miles away from me. Something like that.
So what has happened this summer? Here's a rundown.
I worked at Applebee's. It was awesome. In fact, it's not over. I still work there. :)
Melinda and I drove to Arizona to see The Remus Lupins and Skyway Flyer.
Then, like a week and a half later, I drove to Arizona to see the ROFLCOPTOUR minus Kristina and Luke. I also registered people to vote at the concert. It was cool. :)
NEXT, THE HARRY POTTER ALLIANCE WON $250,000! (more about that later)...
THEN...THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE SUMMER...INFINITUS 2010.
So here's the fantasticness of Infinitus. I got there extremely late Tuesday night, or I guess you could consider it extremely early Wednesday morning. So I had two sets of roommates. I stayed with one the first night and the other for the rest of the conference. So the first group of roommates and I had a little miscommunication. I thought they were staying at the Royal Pacific. But it turns out they were at the Portofino. So at 1 in the morning I'm walking around the Royal Pacific trying to find a room that doesn't exist there and of course I can't get a hold of my roommates because IT WAS ONE IN THE MORNING. I thought I was going to have to sleep in the lobby (which would not have been fun).
So finally I was able to wake them up (oops) and they had to come pick me up because the shuttles weren't running. I felt horrible. But thankfully they didn't seem to mind. That was the first night of no sleep because I didn't go to bed till 4am and had to get up and be out of the room by 10:30. But it turned out that I stayed till 11 and got a ride back to the Royal Pacific, where I met up with my second set of roommates.
So first off, the girls I roomed with were AWESOME. Lindsey and Agostina were the only ones at the hotel when I got there because Bri's flight had gotten delayed (sad). However, registration wasn't opening again until 1pm and it was 11am, so we ended up sitting in the lobby of the hotel for 2 hours talking and basically doing absolutely nothing. After we were able to get our registration, we went down to the water taxi and took it to Islands of Adventure, because of course the first thing everyone wants to do is go see Hogwarts. I mean seriously. YOUR RIGHT THERE. So we went to the Wizarding World, walked around in awe, then had a delicious and very filling lunch at The Three Broomsticks (you have no idea how cool that sounds). Of course we tried some Butterbeer and it was divine. Yes, divine. It was like Butterscotch something, but way way better. We wanted to keep walking around, but it started raining, so we decided to just head back to the hotel because we knew we would get to check in soon anyway. By the time we got back, Bri had arrived and so we decided to check in and kinda collapse for a while. Then Lindsey had to go to Final Battle rehearsal, so Bri, Agostina, and I went downstairs to get dinner because Brianna wasn't there yet. The food at the hotel was actually pretty good. We all kinda just took it easy that night because we were all exhausted from traveling.
Ok, that was Day 1. More to come in a few minutes. I have to log out of Google first so I can create my new YouTube channel.
:)
So what has happened this summer? Here's a rundown.
I worked at Applebee's. It was awesome. In fact, it's not over. I still work there. :)
Melinda and I drove to Arizona to see The Remus Lupins and Skyway Flyer.
Then, like a week and a half later, I drove to Arizona to see the ROFLCOPTOUR minus Kristina and Luke. I also registered people to vote at the concert. It was cool. :)
NEXT, THE HARRY POTTER ALLIANCE WON $250,000! (more about that later)...
THEN...THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE SUMMER...INFINITUS 2010.
So here's the fantasticness of Infinitus. I got there extremely late Tuesday night, or I guess you could consider it extremely early Wednesday morning. So I had two sets of roommates. I stayed with one the first night and the other for the rest of the conference. So the first group of roommates and I had a little miscommunication. I thought they were staying at the Royal Pacific. But it turns out they were at the Portofino. So at 1 in the morning I'm walking around the Royal Pacific trying to find a room that doesn't exist there and of course I can't get a hold of my roommates because IT WAS ONE IN THE MORNING. I thought I was going to have to sleep in the lobby (which would not have been fun).
So finally I was able to wake them up (oops) and they had to come pick me up because the shuttles weren't running. I felt horrible. But thankfully they didn't seem to mind. That was the first night of no sleep because I didn't go to bed till 4am and had to get up and be out of the room by 10:30. But it turned out that I stayed till 11 and got a ride back to the Royal Pacific, where I met up with my second set of roommates.
So first off, the girls I roomed with were AWESOME. Lindsey and Agostina were the only ones at the hotel when I got there because Bri's flight had gotten delayed (sad). However, registration wasn't opening again until 1pm and it was 11am, so we ended up sitting in the lobby of the hotel for 2 hours talking and basically doing absolutely nothing. After we were able to get our registration, we went down to the water taxi and took it to Islands of Adventure, because of course the first thing everyone wants to do is go see Hogwarts. I mean seriously. YOUR RIGHT THERE. So we went to the Wizarding World, walked around in awe, then had a delicious and very filling lunch at The Three Broomsticks (you have no idea how cool that sounds). Of course we tried some Butterbeer and it was divine. Yes, divine. It was like Butterscotch something, but way way better. We wanted to keep walking around, but it started raining, so we decided to just head back to the hotel because we knew we would get to check in soon anyway. By the time we got back, Bri had arrived and so we decided to check in and kinda collapse for a while. Then Lindsey had to go to Final Battle rehearsal, so Bri, Agostina, and I went downstairs to get dinner because Brianna wasn't there yet. The food at the hotel was actually pretty good. We all kinda just took it easy that night because we were all exhausted from traveling.
Ok, that was Day 1. More to come in a few minutes. I have to log out of Google first so I can create my new YouTube channel.
:)
July 21, 2010
See
I totally knew I would be horrible at updating this. Note: This is not really an update...it's more like an update saying that I will at some point update.
Oh jeez. But seriously. I want to write a blog post about Infinitus. And surprisingly I have free time right now but I'm using it to catch up on...well...life.
So maybe tonight I'll write a real post.
:)
Oh jeez. But seriously. I want to write a blog post about Infinitus. And surprisingly I have free time right now but I'm using it to catch up on...well...life.
So maybe tonight I'll write a real post.
:)
July 5, 2010
The Epicness of Nerdfighters
John Green mentioned The Harry Potter Alliance in his vlog today on youtube. If you don't know who the vlogbrothers are your life is seriously lacking something majorly important.
Their channel is www.youtube.com/vlogbrothers
In the meantime, watch this! :)
Their channel is www.youtube.com/vlogbrothers
In the meantime, watch this! :)
June 23, 2010
To Make a Long Story...Well...Long :)
Today, as per Beverly fashion, I'm going to use a long, pretty pointless story to explain an easy, insignificant detail. But that's alright, because I have a caution sign ^^ so you can't say you weren't warned.
So I have two more papers due on Friday for the class that I took an incomplete in last semester. And it is now early Wednesday morning and I have yet to start said papers. I don't work tomorrow so I was originally planning to pull an all nighter to write these papers. But I've decided that there is absolutely no way I can do that. And here's why:
Last night, Melinda (my sister) and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. The wings were delicious, but apparently the Ranch that went with them...well...not so much. So I got ridiculously sick through like...2:30pm today. Which sucked major butt by the way. So not only did I not get any sleep last night, I didn't eat all day and then I went to work at 4. And of course like 30 minutes into work I was starving.
And then, in case that wasn't enough, Melinda, Alissa, my mom, Ben, and I are all becoming mega obsessed with Wii Fitness. So we spent like all night doing that...which by the way was pretty awesome. Oh. Then Ben and my mom and my sister and I went driving and I sucked horribly (I'm learning how to drive stick). Actually that's not totally true. I did pretty well...I just had a problem getting into 4th gear because the gears on that car are so freakin close!
Anywho this all leads back to this: I'm extremely tired, so I'm not staying up all night to write papers. Which I will probably regret tomorrow when I get assigned a whole bunch of crap for my two summer courses. Oh. I also have a midterm on Friday that I probably should sort of study for.
Ahh the joy of summer classes.
Here's the awesome song I was just listening to. Click play!
Goodnight :)
So I have two more papers due on Friday for the class that I took an incomplete in last semester. And it is now early Wednesday morning and I have yet to start said papers. I don't work tomorrow so I was originally planning to pull an all nighter to write these papers. But I've decided that there is absolutely no way I can do that. And here's why:
Last night, Melinda (my sister) and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. The wings were delicious, but apparently the Ranch that went with them...well...not so much. So I got ridiculously sick through like...2:30pm today. Which sucked major butt by the way. So not only did I not get any sleep last night, I didn't eat all day and then I went to work at 4. And of course like 30 minutes into work I was starving.
And then, in case that wasn't enough, Melinda, Alissa, my mom, Ben, and I are all becoming mega obsessed with Wii Fitness. So we spent like all night doing that...which by the way was pretty awesome. Oh. Then Ben and my mom and my sister and I went driving and I sucked horribly (I'm learning how to drive stick). Actually that's not totally true. I did pretty well...I just had a problem getting into 4th gear because the gears on that car are so freakin close!
Anywho this all leads back to this: I'm extremely tired, so I'm not staying up all night to write papers. Which I will probably regret tomorrow when I get assigned a whole bunch of crap for my two summer courses. Oh. I also have a midterm on Friday that I probably should sort of study for.
Ahh the joy of summer classes.
Here's the awesome song I was just listening to. Click play!
Goodnight :)
June 21, 2010
The Awesomeness of THE HARRY POTTER ALLIANCE
So after a night of rest, I am now ready to write a post that inspired my whole "I'm going to attempt to keep a blog...again" idea. :)
There's this great organization called The Harry Potter Alliance which takes themes from the Harry Potter books and uses them to fight the Dark Arts in the real world, such as fighting for equal rights, human rights, and increasing literacy around the world. We are the real Dumbledore's Army.
I have had the great pleasure of working with this organization since March and I've never been more in love with what one fandom can do to change the world. Which brings to the point of all of this...
The Chase Community Giving on Facebook is giving away $250K to a charity. While there are many great charities out there, I'm asking everyone who reads this to please click this link and vote for the HPA to win
To find out more about what the HPA will use this money for watch this video:
There's this great organization called The Harry Potter Alliance which takes themes from the Harry Potter books and uses them to fight the Dark Arts in the real world, such as fighting for equal rights, human rights, and increasing literacy around the world. We are the real Dumbledore's Army.
I have had the great pleasure of working with this organization since March and I've never been more in love with what one fandom can do to change the world. Which brings to the point of all of this...
The Chase Community Giving on Facebook is giving away $250K to a charity. While there are many great charities out there, I'm asking everyone who reads this to please click this link and vote for the HPA to win
To find out more about what the HPA will use this money for watch this video:
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