Book Buddies: "You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)" by Felicia Day

So, there are days where I get lost in the pits of YouTube. Usually I either watch let's plays or I end up getting trapped in what I like to call "Foreign Disney Void", in which I look up Disney songs in foreign languages all day and forget to function like a normal person.

You're welcome, world. Be prepared (!!!!!) to lose hours of your life to this monstrous phenomenon. Just as a heads up, some of these songs reallyyyy don't translate well to other languages - I think my personal fave is "Colors of the Wind" in Quebecois French.

Oh hell, let me save you the time.

IT WILL HURT YOUR SOUL.

Also fun - looking up the songs in the language they should really be sung in. (ex: any song from Hunchback of Notre Dame in French, Mulan songs in Chinese, etc.)

This is how I spend about 90% of my free time. Do you understand now why I don't really go outside??? Pfft, I'm cultured enough.

Unrelated, if you have a YouTube channel or video that you really like, tell me about it! Leave a comment or go on my Facebook page or you can even tweet me at @thegeekygal1. Maybe I'll make an entry here about some of the people I subscribe to/my favourite videos? I'm always looking for new content!

Now, speaking of YouTube, we need to talk about Felicia Day.

I'm a Felicia Day fangirl, kind of. (Hold on now.) Really, I am a fangirl, but I'm just not a hardcore "Supernatural" or "Buffy" fangirl. Yet, anyway. These things could change.

However... "The Guild" is probably one of my favourite creations on the planet. Although I was a bit jealous, because when I played WoW, my guild was filled with the rudest people on the face of the planet and I wanted to eat all of their families. I mean seriously. It was infuriating. And I was kind of jealous, because everyone on "The Guild" was comparatively cute and friendly (even Clara, the negligent mom, seemed like a wonderful change of pace - and Tinkerballa, the snarky cutie, would've been a better contender for a friend).

If you somehow don't know what "The Guild" is, please go check it out on Netflix or buy all the DVDs or buy me the DVDs (shhhhh). It's so clever and flows incredibly well, and it makes me feel good to know that there are people out there who are as anxious and awkward as I am. (But I mean even Codex leaves her house, so...)

Ahem.

So when I heard that the fantastic Felicia (nickname idea? Felicia, come on now) was coming out with a book, I basically threw my card at my computer screen and slammed my face onto my mouse so I could preorder this. I had to have it. I wanted to know more about how she became so cool (having watched her videos I'd catch little glimpses when she recalled childhood stories, but I was still interested in learning more).

I tweeted a reaction about this book, but...

To be honest, I'm conflicted?

I feel sacrilegious saying this - like, it's a sin that I don't automatically love it, right? Right...?

In fact, this was my first thought during the introduction:

(That's my personal Twitter, which you're also free to follow - I suck at Twitter and kind of mix this and my blog one up anyway, whoops.)

Oh, and when I went to get that screenshot, I saw that she liked one of my Tweets and I basically had a meltdown.

(I'm easy to impress, and I basically screamed and no one is awake for this news and I'm so mad????? FINALLY I ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING AND ALL OF MY INTERNET FRIENDS ARE MIA. Life is cruel.)

But um, yes. Sorry Ms. Day. (I feel like I should be more formal now - maybe Felicia is too personal and wouldn't make her comfortable and I wouldn't want to make her anxious.) I am a little conflicted about the book.

There were some things I REALLY loved, and some things I really didn't. But let's point out that the REALLY is capitalized with love, so for the most part I'm happy. I did enjoy this read - like everyone's been saying, this reads in a casual tone and you kind of feel like you're out eating pancakes and chatting.

And really, my complaints are so small I swear you'd think I was looking for an argument. (There's a scene in which she describes going to Build-A-Bear, and talking about this girl who likes princesses, and I was a bit miffed at Ms. Day's tone in regards to girls who love princesses - because EXCUSE AND PAUSE but princesses are just as amazing, okay? Princesses can lead countries and help people and be involved with politics and be intelligent and just as strong as a doctor or lawyer or any other feminist ideal of women SO HUSH.)

So, that miffed me a bit and put me off in the beginning and I felt guilty and kind of fell into a puddle and it turned into an existential crisis. But then I came back to reality and read the rest and wanted to be her best friend and go to pancake huts (houses? I mean IHOP?) with her every week. Oh, and beg her to teach me math. Math is so cool and I don't know why my brain won't soak it in, but I feel like she'd be able to teach me. (Or then we'd both have anxiety attacks - mine from having issues and hers from the fact that I'm having issues and maybe she'd feel like a bad teacher - and we'd eat Cheetos and watch Netflix for the rest of the day.)

So, overall I am really pleased. I was worried in the beginning but by the end I was really sad because I just didn't want the book to end. Although I'm sad it ended on a bit of a sour note - she talks of her experiences with Gamergate and I just felt so awful for her. Honestly I've been worried about her since she was doxxed and her writing made me even more worried - to not be comfortable in your own home? THAT is a tragedy. Especially when one is a homebody. I couldn't even imagine feeling uncomfortable in my own home. If that happened, I'd be horrified.

If you're a Felicia Day fan, or a fellow nerd, or a person who has working eyeballs and enjoys reading new things, I'd recommend picking up a copy of this. She's incredibly precious, but not in a condescending childlike way. She just seems like a precious kind of person - she's probably really nice and has a lot of information that she'd want to share with friends.

But I could be wrong. She could also be a succubus. I can't imagine a situation in which I'd ever know.

Thank you, Ms. Day, for finally writing a book! Hope you didn't cry too much during the process. Or that you at least stayed hydrated.

And to my readers, please share your favourite YouTube videos/channels with me! I want to write an entry about some of mine soon, and I'd love to hear from you!

Sleep well.

xo, Kate

Book Buddies: "Yes Please" by Amy Poehler

So, guess what?

Verizon STILL hasn't come around and given us good internet! Philadelphia has many disadvantages, and as discussed on 30 Rock, we are Kabletown (in reality, we are a Comcast city and it's vile). They were supposed to be done in May, and yet here we are in mid-August and the trucks have only JUST started showing back up on our block.

What, have my internet needs scared you away? Sorry, but I need my Netflix fix. And my Left 4 Dead fix. And my phone needs its' fix. Now give this to three people in my place and bam, everyone's happy.

But no really. Get on it, Verizon.

I'm currently at my parents' house (mom and I are going to the city tomorrow to see 'The Third Man') and I can't sleep. I was tempted to binge 'Curb Your Enthusiasm', which I've only somehow JUST started watching, but I'm tired and I wanted something to fall asleep to. So, the accidental 'Chopped' marathon began.

I feel so overwhelmed and sad lately. I hate it here and I just want to leave but I can't seem to do it. I'm tempted to just give up my desire of working for Pixar and I'm starting to think I'd be better off becoming a science major and just start mindlessly working for money. (I mean, I assume science majors make money - they seem to be more desired, anyway.) I just don't have the money to go to California and I can't find anyone to help me cosign anything. I don't know why, it's not like I'm an unreliable human being.

You're probably wondering why I haven't talked about Amy Poehler's book. I'm getting there, people. I haven't really caught up with you guys in a while.

Anyway, I dunno. I'm just really sad. My art class just ended and the semester starts shortly and I can't register for classes (they keep telling me I have to go to advising when I really shouldn't, so I sent them an angry letter that basically asked why they won't accept my money). So I'm debating just crawling into bed and only getting out for bathroom breaks and the occasional snack. That's all I want to do. I just want to crawl into bed and cry and never leave the house again.

But nope. For some reason I have to give it the "ol' college try". Mental illnesses aren't a real thing and I deserve nothing, I guess. THAT'S COOL. It's not as real as a physical illness.

(I'm not spiteful of certain people... Nooooo.)

Okay, let's get to the real reason why y'all are here.

My parents recently brought them with me to the beach so I could have a vacation, and I am a big beach reader. (The cover was safely in the hotel room so it didn't get wet - however, I somehow got water on the spine and it's still slightly ruined anyway. I hate myself.)

In a bit of a twilight state, I blindly took my card and ordered this (along with Aziz Ansari's "Modern Romance", which was also an interesting - though not as entertaining - read).

"Yes Please" is one of the best books I've ever read. I've been giddy about reading this book because I knew in the deepest place of my heart that I would fall madly in love with the beautiful Ms. Poehler and never ever fall out.

She is a delightful storyteller - reading her words made me feel as though we were both there at that beachside table, and maybe she was sipping on a pina colada while recounting the tales of her youth. (How pretentious can I be without you guys yelling at me? Let's test the waters.) And there are so many parts of the book where I cheered or sincerely felt like we would be friends if life had gone a little differently. (I can't help but think of her airplane story with this - my mother would shake her head at me in embarrassment, but I couldn't help it; that'd be what I'd do too.)

I've been recommending this like a madwoman. I'm sure my poor friends are sick of me wailing on and on about this, but it's just so good and leaves me feeling warm and happy in my heart. It's one of the few things in this world that sincerely makes me smile.

So, I hope you guys pick up a copy! It's definitely worth it. She's clearly a precious human being and we must protect her existence.

Have you guys been reading any interesting books lately? I picked one up and it's definitely going to be my next review! I have a bit of time before the next semester starts so maybe I'll do another review!

Be safe, my lovelies.

xo, Kate

Somewhat back!

Hi everyone.

First of all, I'll let you guys know that I should be back on a fairly constant basis soon - we're finally getting FiOS in our area (hopefully) by the end of May! (Living in Hell - I mean Kabletown, heh - has its disadvantages. Fucking Comcast.) Right now, we have a terrible internet connection and even going onto this website pretty much breaks the internet. I'm actually visiting my parents so I get to update from their house, hurray!

I feel weird jumping back onto this horse, but a lot has happened recently. Here's a list of reasons why I stopped updating for a bit (yes, a list of excuses):

• I finished the fall semester. Yay! 
• I had my seasonal job during tax season, and since we had to let someone go I ended up working 40-50 hours a week.
• I had two deaths - one a friend, and the other a family member. The latter was especially traumatic, as it was the one family member besides my parents that I got along with, and it was incredibly gruesome. I can't even write anymore about this right now. Not here, not now.
• As a result of these deaths, I've actually stopped being a vegan. I wrote about it on the Facebook page for The Geeky Gal, but at this point in my life I am so disheartened by this world that I just can't justify going out of my way to help others anymore when I see nothing in return. Selfish, yes. But it's hard to put work into something and see no result.

But hopefully I really will be back soon. I just wanted to let you guys know that I am working on stuff.

Again, I do apologize for being absent for so long. 

If anyone has something they specifically want to see from the blog, please let me know and I'll do what I can!

xo, Kate

Quick Update

Hello everyone!

First, I'd like to apologize for my silence lately. I should've written an update sooner.

I'd like to say that I'm going to take a break in November; my semester in school is finished in December, so I'd like to stay on top of my schoolwork for a bit.

In addition to that, I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this month. (NaNoWriMo, otherwise known as National November Writing Month, is a competition in which you try to write a 50,000+ word novel in one month.) I'm pretty much devoting my free time to that at the moment, so blogging is taking a back seat to that.

I WILL catch up on Sailor Moon Saturdays, and I'll tell you all about my Halloween party and my birthday. But these things probably won't happen until December.

Sorry for the delay in writing, lovelies! I hope you're all having a wonderful November so far, and take care! I'm sorry I won't be able to help you out with Thanksgiving recipes this year, but trust me, the Internet has a plethora of ideas!

If you have any comments, feel free to leave a message below or shoot me an email!

xo, Kate

Review Day: Endangered Species Creme Filled Chocolates (Almond Butter and Coconut)

So, I'll admit.

Sometimes vegan Halloween sucks. Especially if you're like me.

Yeah, I know we still have a lot of candy that we can eat. But do you know what I like? CHOCOLATE. Fuck those fruit candies we get. I mean, sometimes they're nice, but 90% of the time I'd rather be digging my teeth into a candy bar.

And I'll be honest - my chocolate making skills are ABYSMAL. I've tried multiple times. They always come out terrible. It's frustrating. And let's not forget that I'm a broke college kid, so going to the natural health food store to get myself a candy bar is like going to Fifth Avenue and asking for something from Tiffany's.

The struggle is real, folks.

But then, out of the darkness, the parents of the broke vegan college kid emerge and behold! A BAG FILLED WITH HALLOWEEN CHOCOLATE FROM THE AFOREMENTIONED HEALTH FOOD STORE?

BLESS. It's like heaven raining down upon your face in the form of sweet, chocolatey goodness.

But some of you may not have parents that are as supportive as mine when it comes to your veganism. Trust me, I've heard HORROR stories. I'm incredibly grateful that mine as so helpful, but I understand that not everyone is in the same situation. So, I like doing these reviews so that you can save some money if you can or, if something is awesome, you'll hear about it and go check it out!

So, let's get down to the CHOCOLATE.

Now, from what I remember, I think Endangered Species Chocolate just came out with these creme filled ones? If I'm wrong, please correct me. I love this brand. The chocolate is good, they inform you about animals, argh! So delicious. So I was excited about the creme filled ones, and it's been a while since I had creme filled chocolate anyway.

First, I tore into the coconut one. I'll admit that I'm not a huge coconut lover. But I was hopeful with this - I'm more against the texture than the taste. (Ew to shredded coconut, now and forever. There's a 90% chance you'll never see a recipe on here with that nasty stuff.)

Little squares of magic.

The inside of the wrappers give you neat animal facts, too!

So, once this was all out of the way, I took a bite, and...

Huh.

It's not BAD.

But where's the creme?

Did it hide?

What's this nonsense?

THIS ISN'T CREME.

In all honesty, it just really wasn't creamy. It had a nice flavour, and it was waaaay more mild than I expected it to be (I think coconut tends to be overwhelming) and it blends in well with the dark chocolate. But, hmm. The texture left something to be desired.

Also, can I mention that these bars feel a LOT richer/more decadent than the normal ones? Two squares of this and I was groaning over the fact that I had to review another bar.

So, I tore into the almond butter creme bar.

The cremes look suspiciously similar in terms of colour. And honestly, the amount of creme to chocolate in this one was even worse than the coconut one. Which is a shame, because the bit I tasted was WONDERFUL.

Overall I preferred the almond butter creme, and I would gladly eat these if someone gave them to me, but I don't know if I'd buy them. I was just really disappointed by the amount of creme in them. Especially because these are their first creme bars (I think)- I thought they'd really want to step it up. But yeah, one square and you'll be knocked out for the count. So you do get your money's worth!

I hope you all have a lovely and safe Halloween tomorrow!

xo, Kate

Book Buddies - Rod Serling's Triple W: Witches, Warlocks and Werewolves

So today was fun!

My class was canceled, but I forgot to unset my alarm so I still woke up relatively early anyway. I figured I'd get some stuff done for my Halloween party! (And around the house in general.)

My mom and I went shopping yesterday and we picked out supplies together for a nice decoration for the railing on my front porch.

Hehe, isn't it cute? I was so excited, I put this up the minute I woke up!

I also found a new friend at Joanns.

She is Queen Rebecca and I love her. (Her eyes also light up.)

Oh, AND I carved my pumpkin today! (Thanks for the pumpkin, mom!)

But today, we're gonna talk about a fun read for Halloween!

This summer, I went to Belmar with Eric and my friend Julia. We came across this really cool store that sold a lot of vintage comics and toys and other really cool memorabilia. I found this in there, and I knew I had to get it. I've always been a Twilight Zone fan, and I mean Rod Serling was also super attractive, hahaha.

Now, I'll let you know, this isn't a collection of Rod Serling's stories - rather, it's an anthology of horror stories that he picked out.

Like any anthology, there are some stories in this that are better than others. Overall, I was incredibly entertained! The one story that really stood out to me was 'Blind Alley' by Malcolm Jameson. (I looked him up and now I'm interested in reading more of his work!) While reading 'Blind Alley', I was reminded of a Twilight Zone episode, and I was on the money - because it was one.

Overall I really did love this collection. I wasn't really thrilled with Nathaniel Hawthorne's contribution though (but I have very mixed feelings about him in the first place, so this isn't totally surprising to me). I recommend picking this up if you're in the mood for some spooky stories before bed!

Halloween is almost upon us! Do you guys have any fun plans?

xo, Kate

Movie Madness: Hocus Pocus (1993)

Hello everyone! It's soooo close to Halloween! Is everyone ready for their parties or nights of entertainment? I'm getting there! I can't wait to show you guys what I'm doing for mine, heh. I'll make sure to post about it on November 1st!

Today I went to visit my parents. Halloween is one of my mother's favourite holidays, so I guess I got this love from her, heh. We went shopping for some Halloween goodies (I'll post about those on November 1st too probably) and we watched 'Hocus Pocus' together! (I feel weird if I DON'T watch it with her during the Halloween season, heh.)

I know this isn't really a horror movie, but it's definitely a Halloween movies.

A warning to my vegan friends: There's two sad cat parts in this, but please note that this is also a kid film, so those scenes do look fake.

It's also one of those movies that I kind of judge people by - if they tell me they don't like it, I just kind of squint at them and suddenly I'm hesitant to trust those kinds of people. No one needs that kind of negativity in their lives, heh.

In case you've somehow been living under a rock/you follow cult classics, I guess I'll summarize this. 'Hocus Pocus' is about three witch sisters who, after 300 years, have been resurrected by three kids on Halloween night. It's up to these kids (and an unusual cat) to put these witches down for good.

Okay, this movie is INCREDIBLE though. Even without my childhood nostalgia, there's a lot of great stuff about this film.

1. Bette Midler. Bette Midler can do NO wrong and she's beautiful and talented and and and just amazing. 
2. Sarah Jessica Parker. She's so weird and ridiculous in this. It's really endearing. I wonder if she does impressions of her character from this when she's in bed with Matthew Broderick.
3. The jokes. THE ADULT JOKES THOUGH. Do you even KNOW how many are in this film? This is back in the day when it was okay to make really crude jokes in kid movies because kids wouldn't understand them but adults would and oh my gosh. (I mean, they still do it now - the Shrek films, okay.) But the jokes in THIS are in a different world - that entire scene with the creepy bus driver, though.
4. Bette Midler's song. I mean, SHE'S GONNA PUT A SPELL ON YOU. I'd be mad if they put her in this and didn't have her sing a song. Get it, girl.

I can't praise this movie enough. It holds up really well with time. I could watch this all year, not just Halloween. It's such a FUN film.

I'll be shocked if anyone that reads this HASN'T seen it, to be honest. It's played on TV SO much around this time of year! It's everywhere! 

My class was apparently canceled for tomorrow, so maybe I'll do something a little different then? We'll see what I'm up for, heh. 

Hope you guys are having a lovely week so far!

xo, Kate