Auburn Update

So, apparently people at Auburn will sit out in lawn chairs all day on Friday just to mark their spots for tailgating Saturday! I didn't know people did that! I thought the three-day long Harry Potter lines were strange, but this? I don't think I would sit around all day like that for anything--well, maybe if Nathan Fillion set up a kissing booth somewhere, but other than that--

Creative Blog is up!

Okay, so my creative blog is now up and running. It's not under the same name as this one (after all the narrator is a character who just happens to be based very strongly on me).  Please read and review--and by "review" I mean play along.  I want this blog to be as active as possible.

Also, please keep in mind that this blog (despite being creative) is not made up junk.  Everything discussed on this blog is something that really happened to me when I was in high school, and I tried to make my blogger character as similar to myself in high school as I could.   This was not easy because I do not always like who I was at that point in my life.  So please keep in mind that this is not a great big lie.  I will admit things on this blog that I may have never admitted to anyone before.  In many ways, despite the name changes and time shift, this blog is far more personal than the blog I've been writing.  Please be respectful.

If you have any questions about this creative blog project, or if you would like to know how to start your own creative blog, please let me know.

So, without further ado, here's the URL:

http://ladytomboy.blogspot.com/

Creative blogging ideas

First of all, I'm sick with this awful sinus infection and that's the only reason I have to blog anything!  At all!

Anyway, the point is that my friend James recently told me that I should write a book series about my life.  A book series that focusses on the many love triangle that I have found myself in, and yes, there have been many.  I'm not trying to be arrogant.  The fact is, I'm a cute tomboy who was raised in a small town where the competition was mostly trailer-trash.  James insists that I write the series because there are so many juicy plot twists in my life.  It sounds like an interesting idea, but the problem is that if I ever wrote about my life, I might have some pretty upset friends.  Friends that used to be boyfriends.  Needless to say, I would have to change some names, which would make my autobiography a work of fiction, wouldn't it?  Or maybe it would just be a work of creative nonfiction...

Agh...so as a compromise, I have decided to attempt to write a creative blog.  This blog will tell my story from my junior year in high school and so on.  It will probably be weekly.  It will be mostly true, except for the names and the time frame.  I'll probably start it within the next couple of weeks, so be on the lookout for "All My Friends are Idiots."

I need to practice writing anyway.  Who knows, maybe Chase will be caught blogging soon, for those of you familiar with the detective novel I have in the works.

Been too long!

If there is anyone out there who follows this blog consistently, I apologize for my lack of blogging.  I've been crazy busy with work and two online classes.  If you want to check out what I've been up to, click this link:

http://www.facebook.com/shocco?ref=ts

This is the camp/conference center I work at.  I'm in marketing department.  I do a bit of reception, some telephone calling, but mostly I make videos.  Be sure to check those out!

Tootles!

I'm a graduate!

Wooohoooo!

I officially have my BA in English.  Now what?  There's a delightful song about this from Avenue Q, and I suggest you all check it out right now:



Well, now that you've done that, I think I'll tell you what I plan on doing with my BA in English. Since my first two novels are still not ready to be sent to the publishers, and I've always been called to teaching, I'm going back to school! Yay? Anyway, I'm going to graduate school to get my certification and master's degree. The good news is that I will be totally done with school by December 2011! The bad news: more student loans. Oh well, can't have everything.

Anyway, I didn't come here to whine...I actually came here to discuss that new Prince of Persia movie, but I'll just do that next time.

Tootles!

Short Fiction Profile Assignment

Good news: thesis is done. My theory is officially outlined and backed by various sources and literary evidence blah, blah, blah...

Unfortunately, I am not yet a graduate. Nope, thirty pages proving a somewhat original theory on the hero's evolution does not get you a degree, apparently. Sorry, guys. It's not that easy, and it should not be that easy. If it were, then we would be handing out degrees to every idiot who can't hold a job because he (or she) prefers to sit around and "think."

Anyway, I have one more paper to write for my undergraduate. I have to do a "Short Fiction Profile." That is, I have to write a 4-5 page essay on a short story that we have not discussed in class. Guess what story I picked! Never mind that, there are way too many short stories in the world to make an educated guess. I picked "The Pipe" by Jack Pendarvis. He's definitely one of my favorite short fiction writers (I haven't finished his novel yet), and in case you missed that blog, I met him and introduced him to an audience of my peers! He's really swell. Needless to say, I thought this essay would be easy!

I was wrong. In our essay, we are supposed to answer questions such as, "Whis is characteristic of your author's fiction?" Jack (I call him "Jack" because in my crazy, mixed-up mind we are really good friends) told us during his presentation that one characteristic of his work is that he writes about losers, but since he said that, does that mean I can write it even if it's not necessarily my opinion? I mean, I follow the man's blog, so there is so much I feel I know about him, personally. I'm supposed to judge his short story from the context of the story, not from my knowledge of the author. For some reason, this is hard.

Argh! I really shouldn't be stressed about this...I think I have senior-itis. It's a real disease, and it might be fatal to my future. Again, I'm over-exaggerating, but only slightly.

Well, enough venting, I'm going to write my paper now. Hopefully it will ramble less than this blog. I need coherence.

Thesis

Yes, I know I haven't written in a good long while. My excuse: 25-30 page senior thesis.

My thesis is on the evolution of the hero. It originally began as this genius attempt to trace the evolution of the hero throughout British literature (from Beowulf to Frodo Baggins). Unfortunately, that turned out to be way too long and (as I could not find any way other than chronologically to organize it) very boring. A 30 page chronological paper is boring, by the way; I learned that in my Rhetorical Criticism class. My professor looked exactly like Kevin Spacey, but after I got over that distraction, I did learn a lot.

Anyway, my thesis now compares the evolution of Sir Gawain (without a doubt, Arthur's most adaptable knight) to the evolution of Batman. That's right, folks, I wrote my thesis on Batman. Who knew I was such a nerd! Wait, everyone probably knew that...

Oh well, more on this later. I must now edit my 27 page thesis, so that it will be perfect and I can be proud of it. After that I must finish a short story for another class. Funny, it was a comedy in my head, but on paper, it's probably the most dramatic thing I've written.

Also, I earned my green belt in Budo Taijistu last night!  Which means I'm not awful!  Yay!

Comment if you'd like! Tootles

Oops

Neil Gaiman does have a blog!!  I don't know how I missed that.  He even talks about going to Tuscaloosa, AL.  I was there!  I saw him!  Go check it out!  (I can't believe I'm using all these exclamation points!  Hemingway would be so put off!)

No blog for Diana Wynne Jones, unfortunately.  I'll just have to read Howl's Moving Castle again.

I'm Back!

No, that's not a threat, and I know you all missed me (all 18 of you who accidentally found my blog). 

Anyway, I've been pretty sick for the past couple of weeks.  I won't go into detail because I just don't see why any of you would care, but before I got sick, I did some adventuring. 

Last Monday I got to introduce author Jack Pendarvis to a reasonably sized audience of Samford students and professors, and I like to imagine that it is me he is refering to in one of his more recent blog entries.  (That's right, I'm blog-stalking him, and if Neil Gaiman and Diana Wynne Jones kept a blog, I would probably stalk them too!)

He's probably one of my favorite authors right now, and I highly recommend his book The Mysterious Secret of the Valuable Treasure.  It's his collection of hilariously satirical short stories, my favorite one being "Sex Devil," which he read to us during his visit.  He also wrote the novel, Awesome, and another collection of short stories, Your Body is Changing.  Awesome is hilarious, but it's not for everyone.  If you have a problem with the word "ejaculate," don't read it!  I've only read one story so far from You're Body is Changing; I read "The Outsiders" in class when I probably should have been...well, teaching actually.  Anyway, I never claimed to be the perfect teacher's assistant or student, but I am an avid reader of good literature. 

So, go read some Jack Pendarvis!  I follow his blog, and you should, too!

Quote of the Day

"I find it best not to plan.  That way nothing goes wrong." --Neil Gaiman

(He is also a big fan of Diana Wynn Jones, so there's one more person who agrees with me!)

Literary Snobs

So, I have received some unfair criticism on my top ten book list. The top eight have remained safe, (being classics) but people seem to disagree on the “literary value” of the last two. I can easily argue that Diana Wynn Jones ranks with the best of the great children’s authors (I realize this puts her right up there with C.S. Lewis, but it’s a place I think she has earned). Howl’s Moving Castle is arguably her best work, so it gets on the list.

As for the Sookie Stackhouse novels, well according to my personal definition of “literary value”—a work that withstands the trial of time—those novels probably don’t have it. This doesn’t mean that I don’t find them enjoyable, entertaining, and a fun way to pass the time. Sometimes, that’s all that matters in a good book. Charlaine Harris may not have the alluring writing style of Tolkien, (a fact that she herself admits to early in From Dead to Worse) but she is funny! I enjoy reading her work like I enjoy a good action film, and it wouldn’t hurt my feeling to be compared to her as a writer.

So, there’s my defense, now give me a break. Stop being literary snobs and enjoy a fast-paced, entertaining work of fiction every now and then.

Neil Gaiman!

Tomorrow I will be going with a group of friends to hear Neil Gaiman speak at the University of Alabama!  For those of you who don't know, Neil Gaiman is one of the best writers of our day.  He does everything from comic books to screenplays to poetry to novels!  Some of his greater works include Sandman: Endless Nights (one of the few graphic novels to make the top twenty on the New York Times bestseller list) and Coraline (the children's novel that was recently adapted for the screen).  Sure, he's had his fair share of foibles, (anybody see that newest Beowulf film? He wrote it) but the things he has done for the graphic novel world as well as the literary world have made him a master.

Needless to say, I am extremely excited about hearing him speak, though perhaps not as excited as James, who claims to be Gaiman's number one fan.  (Of course James is coming with me.) I hope someone out there understands enough to share my elation! 

Quote of the day:

"Description in fiction is just poetry without the lines." Katherine Harrell

Marvel Movies: Why Bryan Singer is my Nemisis

So, for those of you who don't know, I am a huge comic book fan. The series I'm currently collecting is X-Force, even though it does not include Rogue or Storm. I have always been an X-Men fan. It was the first series I started collecting. Needless to say, the movies fell way short of my expectations.

Let me just say that I think the first movie was pretty okay. Wolverine and Sabretooth fought, Cyclops was an action figure, and Patrick Stewart was an ideal Professor Xavier. However, Anna Paquin was far from any Rogue I had ever seen. In fact, lets just admit it, she was Kitty Pride with some of Rogue's powers. The relationship Rogue has with Wolverine in the movies (the whole protective older man and young girl thing) is actually the same relationship that Kitty had with Logan in the comics. Rogue was also an adult by the time she joined X-Men. Rogue was always the "hot girl" in the comics (not that Paquin isn't beautiful, but it's a different type of beauty). Rogue was super-model tall with extra curves, and an accent. Nobody in the X-Men movies got their accents right (except Nightcrawler and Wolverine).

Don't even get me started on Halle Berry's pitiful portrayal of Storm! Agh! Why didn't they get Jada Pinkett-Smith?

Then, there was Wolverine. Now, I love Hugh Jackman as much as the next female and I believe that he got the attitude of Wolverine down perfectly. But in the comics, Wolverine was 5'4"! Let's face it, Bryan Singer once again screwed us all over by combining Wolverine and Gambit. For example: Wolverine never openly flirted with Jean Grey, Gambit flirted with Jean and every other woman who crossed his path; Wolverine was short and stocky, Gambit was tall and...sexy; Wolverine never drove a motorcycle, the motorcycle was Gambit's vehicle of choice. So, there you have it, the two coolest X-Men characters were combined to become Hugh Jackman.

I don't blame the actors (although Jackman did produce the movie that brought Gambit in with no explanation other than the fans wanted him). I blame Bryan Singer. I also blame him for the longest, most boring Superman movie in the world, in which he cast a skinny Brandon Rooth as the lead character. Honestly, if Singer would just stop making movies altogether, I would be so happy. He should stick with House. That's a great show! He doesn't even have to ruin my favorite characters to make it!

I was really hoping the Disney takeover would fix this whole X-Men issue. I was hoping that they would take over, reboot the entire series, keep Patrick Stewart, and cast Jada Pinkett-Smith. Alas, I just discovered that X-Men: First Class is being developed by none other than Bryan Singer. Oh, Disney, how you've let me down!

Also, Will Smith is rumored to be cast in the role of (I can't believe this one) Captain America! I love Will Smith. He's a wonderful actor, but Steve Rogers is a blond-haired white man who fought in World War II! I really hope Will has more class than that. There are so many good super-heroes he could play. Captain America would be bad for his career.

So, there's my opinion. Take it or leave it.

Voice and Performance

First of all, it has been way too long since I've written anything on this blog. It's as if I stopped blogging as soon as I let everyone know I had a blog! Agh.

So, about my life.

I started taking a voice class this semester. I'm an English major. I don't really see singing anywhere in my future, but I love to sing. According to my parents, I could sing before I could talk. I started doing musical theatre (just community stuff, nothing major) when I was three, and I've loved it ever since. Even though I haven't been in a musical in probably eight years, I still have a passion for the arts. So, with this level of defense, I decided to take a voice class.

On my first day my professor, Dr. Banks, tested our ranges, and he was surprised to learn that I've always considered myself an alto. If you've ever heard me talk, you would think that too.

He said, "You have a beautiful headvoice. You must always sing soprano."

"Not at all," I answered in my man's voice. "I'm an alto."

"You just sang a high F. You're a soprano." And just like that, my identity was shattered. Okay, that might be a bit over-dramatic, but I am over-dramatic. It might be a good thing, actually. Being a soprano will allow me to sing a wider variety of songs.

I have to pick one classical song to perform in class, and I am learning that I don't really like classical music. I would much rather get up there and sing some Saving Jane or Alanah Myles, but that's not going to happen. Nope, I have to sing opera. Not just any opera, no, a song from a French opera. I don't speak French--I don't even like French--but I'm singing French. I'll stop complaining, though. The song, Plaisir d'Amour, is actually really pretty, and it will be a great learning experience. I just wish I understood the lyrics.

Dr. Banks also told us to find a singer who we thought might have the same voice types as us and who we could "look up to" or something like that. This assignment left me totally confused. You see, there are a lot of female vocalists I wish I could sing like (and in the case of Freddy Mercury, there is also one male vocalist I wish I could sound like). As for whether or not we have the same voice type, I have no idea. I don't know what my voice type is. This is my first professional lesson.

So, for funzies, I have attached the names and links of singers I admire, leaving out the better known singers like Aretha Franklin and Judy Garland. (If you don't know who those two are, you're not my friend. Stop reading my blog!) Here we go:

Sara Ramirez
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TIVnq2kkjY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMwb3wG2fC8&feature=related

Kate Voegele
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v22NMAG1k18

Marti Dodson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggj1re60d2I

Kerry Ellis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVBR-SC3HDU&feature=related

Ruthie Henshall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyscZQmRc6w

Ethel Merman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s62MrU8mHx4

Idina Menzel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g4ekwTd6Ig

There you have it! Please enjoy and feel free to comment. Maybe you can help me decide which singer I should pick? Who knows. I'm going to go do something productive now, like read for my creative writing class. (I'm writing a short story! I might post it.)

Tootles,

Kayla Elise

Open book

In life, we are always realizing new things about ourselves. One thing about myself that I have recently realized is that I am not a very private person--at least not as private as I once was.

On my way back from Tennessee Sunday morning I basically told my friend Katie Carroll my entire life story, including all of my dark secrets. I have many such "secrets," but I now only have to keep them from certain people. I would prefer not to have them at all, but some things simply cannot be told. Anyway, Katie is very easy to talk to, so I suppose that my openness could be attributed in part to that fact. I am not, for example, ready to spill my story out on stage or even to write it in this blog.

The point to my little ramble here is that whereas I once had the utmost difficulty in opening up to people, I a m now able to do so with ease, and I believe I am a better person because of it. I like myself better, anyway. That's what really matters. God has taught me a lot in the past four years of college, but my newfound openness is one of the best lessons. I see it as a gift, and I am very blessed.

So, Kayla's life lesson of the day: be open with yourself and be open with others. Know who you are, where you stand, what your journey has made you and let others know as well. It hurts to be so full-out honest sometimes. You will be betrayed at least once, but the rewards are well worth the effort.

Headed to Rugby!

So, my final semester of college starts Monday.  Yipee!? I hope that my display of mixed emotions on the subject is evident. 

Today, however, I am leaving for Rugby, Tenessee with several of my friends, and I have absolutely no mixed feelings about that! My friend Alan has a cabin in Rugby, so I'm looking forward to a whole weekend of reading, hiking, camping, boardgames, etc.!  (If this doesn't sound fun to you, then you just aren't my type of person.  Why are you reading my blog?) 

Anyway, I woke up super early this morning to meet with my Uncle and his friend, Shane for breakfast.  (Note to self:  lawmen are always early for meetings--I need to start taking that into consideration.)  Shane runs the Birmingham Bujinkan Dojo, and I can't wait to start training.  It's been a little over a year since I've done any serious martial arts training (Oyama Karate is amazing, but I didn't have time for it) and, since meeting with Shane, I believe the art of Budo Taijutsu will be a perfect match for me.  It's a warrior style of martial arts, and most of it seems to be self-defense tactics instead of pretty kicking.  So, I'll probably get my butt kicked a lot.  If I never lose a fight, though, I'll never really know how good it feels to win one. 

What I'm really excited about is learning pressure points and blades--I love blades!  I know that the tumbling will come in handy, but I have a feeling I'll be bad at that.  I'm about as gracefull as a stuffed moose, which isn't very graceful (just ask Sarah Palin).  Sure, I was a majorette and I can swing dance, but when I fall, I fall hard.  I'll have to practice the tumbling a lot.

Okay, so now that you have an update on my life (all two of you who may or may not be reading this) I'm going to meet up with my buddies and go to Tennessee! 

We got our puppy!

So, Thursday afternoon Beau was able to go and get our puppy from the Tuscaloosa Animal Shelter.  He is a two-month-old German Shepherd-Husky mix with one blue eye and one brown eye, and we named him Stryder (he looks like a little rogue).

Anyway, I just got to officially meet him today.  Beau and I took him by Petsmart and everyone thought he was the cutes puppy ever (except for the Jack-Russell Terrier that wanted to eat him).  We bought him some toys then came home and gave him a bath.  He loves the hairdryer.

Well, enough about Stryder.  Those people who do nothing but blog about their pets are usually losers.

Friday I spent most of the day over at James's house, and we watch Trueblood on demand.  Well, we watched the last eight episodes.  I had to (literally) struggle through the first few episodes by myself.  I'm a fairly conservative person, so the overbearing amount of nudity in the show made me squeamish. However, the last eight episodes focus more on plot than Jason's sex life, and I found that I really liked the show.

Other than watching Trueblood, James and I also got to spend some time with his sister's baby, Vivian, who is the cutest, happiest baby I've ever met.  I would have kidnapped her, but I hear that kidnapping is illegal so I refrained.

That night James and I rented Tekken 6 for the PS3.  It was awesome.

Let's see, what else can I talk about...the script for the movie is coming along.  We're about 60 pages into it.

I went to my Uncle Ray T's 50th birthday party last night.  (I have two uncles named Ray.  They are both my dad's brothers.)  It was fun.  My dad and cousin Stephenie danced, and my brother danced with my Aunt Lisa.  Also, my cousins John David and Ben were there and it's always nice to see them.

Anyway, I came to Tuscaloosa this morning.  (Did I mention the pipes broke in our church so the hallway is now flooded?)  I didn 't make it in time to go to church at Safe Haven with Beau this morning, which was unfortunate.  I need to go to church and be around people of my faith.

Now, I have a puppy to play with and a boyfriend to pick on.  Good day, all!

Confessional Poem

So, I took a poetry class this past semester with Dr. Bryan Johnson (he is a renown poet, so you should look him up). I got some good stuff out of it, so I will be posting some of them up every once an a while. This one got the best reviews from my class. Tell me what you think.

A Writer’s Prison
By: Kayla Burke

Lost in an immutable absence
and nearly forgotten: with
no panegyric, no flights of angels to sing
they were gone. They were taken from him.

And the world fell into
vapidity, flat, insipid, uninspired
emptiness of a void
with nothing effusive: everything restrained.

They said it would lead to amicable peace
with everything in perfect precise permutation
nothing out of place
nothing accepting him—

They banished them
hid them away
and he was like an egret
without plumes: unable to thrive.

They eventually realized their mistakes
the lifeless void they had created was proof enough;
They asked him to speak
to speak the world alive again
and he spoke:

“There are no words.”

January 4-6, 2009

So it’s snowing in Alabama, which is rare. (I was in London the last time it snowed here.)

The past few days I’ve spent most of my time puppy shopping with Beau (Yes, James, I know I have a screenplay to help you write, but since “fluffy puppy” is a viable excuse for everything, I’m sure you’ll understand.)

Anyway, at first we found this adorable boxer-mix puppy online (petfinders.com). Beau called Monday morning and asked if they still had the puppy we wanted.

“Actually, sir,” the annoyingly flirty lady answered, “we have several boxer mixed puppies.”

“Any males?” he asked her.

“Several males.” She sounded fat. I could hear her over the phone and she sounded fat, flirting with my man.

“Great,” Beau said. “We live in Tuscaloosa, so we’ll be there in a few hours.”

So Beau and I spent his off day driving to Tupelo, Mississippi to get a boxer puppy from the Tupelo Humane Society only to discover that fat woman, who was actually overweight, had lied to us. Now, they had several adorable pups, but Beau couldn’t get over the fact that the people had lied to us. I would have said yes to any of the puppies, but I understood how he felt.

Optimistically I realize that a spontaneous trip to the birthplace of Elvis is never a bad thing, but I really wanted a puppy. I wasn’t thinking optimistically. I was winy and bratty.

The next day, Beau was relaying this story to his Yogurt Mountain co-workers and one of them (Katie) told him about a man she knows who is selling puppies are a part Alaskan Malamute and part Wolf. For those of you who don’t know, my very first dog was a Canadian Timber wolf-German Shepherd mix, and he was the best dog I ever had. I still remember crawling on his back and having him carry me around the yard. Needless to say, I jumped at the idea of owning such a creature.

However, that night when we got to the home of the couple who were selling the pups, it was to discover who were selling the pups, it was to discover that these half-wolves were actually full wolves—which made me want one even more! I has one picked out and everything until Beau (who is far more rational than I am) told the man we would, “Think about it and get back to him soon.”

After about an hour (and a good dinner) I stopped putting and started thinking. As awesome as it would be to own a wolf, I doubt we could keep one happy in a yard as small as Beau’s. A wolf would need acres of land to make it happy, so Beau and I did the rational couple thing and said “not to the wlf cub the following Wednesday morning.

Sad day, I know. I cried a little. Poor Beau was worried I’d be angry with him for showing me my dream dog then not buying him for me. Did I mention how silly my boyfriend can be sometimes? I have a tendency to be slightly over-dramatic sometimes, but Beau always seems to worry that I’m going to get mad and bolt over something stupid. The old me might have, but since I’ve fallen for Beau, there’s not chance of me bolting. I can’t be without him now. He’s worrying is kinda cute, though.

I just hope he doesn’t think I broke his Wolverine claw for revenge. Beau is an artist, he makes things like swords, axes, and for one Halloween in particular, a set of Wolverine claws. (Check out his blog “totally tubular dude” to see pictures of more of his artwork.) While he was at work Wednesday morning I went by his house to grab some things and entertained myself by paying with some of his weapons. That’s how I broke the claw.

When I finally got up the courage to go by his work to tell him about my accident, I told him very seriously that we needed to talk. He clocked out for a break, looking a bit worried.

I came right out with it, “I broke your Wolverine claw. I’m sorry.”

He was shocked. When I said “serious” he had expected something horrible, like, “You didn’t get me a wolf cub, so I’m leaving you.” Silly, I know.

“How did it break?” he asked me.

“I was hanging it back on the wall,” I told him.

“Why was it off the wall?”

I though longingly of how I might have blamed the puppy if we had succeeded in adopting one, but I answered simply, “Because I got tired of playing with your swords.”

He laughed. I love his laugh. It’s more of a chuckle than a laugh and it reminds me of Santa Clause (I know that’s weird).

Then he told me about another puppy he had found online. I walked over to the Barnes and Noble with my laptop and looked up the puppy with the free internet service. I checked the pup out, and he’s amazing. I’m not going to say anymore because not ours yet, and I don’t want to jinx it.

Anyway, after oooing and goooing over the online puppy pictures (I will call him Cable when he’s mine because he has one blue eye and one brown eye, and it reminds me of the comic book character) I went to eat with my friend/ex-boyfriend Travis. He’s doing the advertising for mine and James’s movie company, Green Room Production Studios. Also, I miss seeing him on a daily basis.

Then, Wednesday night I came back to Talladega to hang out with my family. We watched the People’s Choice Awards and got hungry when they gave the audience pizza, so my brother, Burke, and I called James and asked him to bring some pizza when he came over later. James brought pizza and we watched Let the Right One In (it’s supposed to be the best vampire movie ever made, but I’m not quite convinced). After the movie, James used my dad’s guitar to play a song that he wrote for our movie. It was really beautiful and I can’t wait to have it recorded. He also played some James Taylor songs for me. James Taylor is my favorite guitarist ever.

And that summarizes the events of the past few days.

Top Ten List for 2009

Okay, so I sat down to write out a top ten list for 2009, but it became a top 12 list. Apparently I had a great year! After the top one, the list is in no particular order. Anyway, enjoy.

1. Paw Paw became a Christian. We’ve been praying for Gerald Beecham to accept Christ for years, and it took him getting sick and dying for that to happen. Nobody can deny that my Pawpaw is stubborn. I’ll have to tell more stories about him later. Anyway, it was a miracle and an answer to prayers.
   
2. My one year anniversary with Beau. I didn’t get to go to Italy when I toured around Europe—anybody remember that earthquake? I’m not complaining, I am extremely blessed to have seen as much of this world as I have, but Beau knows of my desire to visit Italy one day. That’s why on our one year anniversary, Beau surprised me by cleaning out his guest bedroom and turning it into an Italian restaurant. He had fixed pasta, gotten us wine (neither of us are wine drinkers, so that mostly just sat there), lit candles, and had Dean Martin music playing. It was the most romantic night of my life.
   
3. Dancing with my daddy at my Aunt Libby’s wedding. My dad’s a great dancer. I’m not, but that doesn’t really matter when family’s around. It was a lot of fun to see all of my family so happy.
   
4. Glamis Castle, Scotland. It’s the most beautiful castle in the world, and I’ve seen a lot of castles. It was magical, not just because of it’s beauty, but because of the fact that Beau was with me. In all honesty, it was hard not to just put down “Scotland” as one of my top ten, but I was trying to go easy on the London stuff. I might make a top ten London list later.
   
5. Holland Tulip festival. Just watch the Katherine Harrell show and you’ll understand that the Netherlands are beautiful during Spring. There were rows upon rows of multicolored tulips.
   
6. Planning the movie with James at the Purple Onion. It was a great revelation when we realized what we were capable of. I’m still not sure we know what we’ve gotten ourselves into, but it will be fun.
   
7. Charlie at Samford. I was having a particularly bad day at school, so my mom brought Charlie, her new Yorki-Miniature Poodle mix puppy, Charlie, all the way from Talladega to see me. I introduced Charlie to Victoria, Shannon, and many of my other friends. They loved him. Who wouldn’t?
   
8. Shannon’s discovery of our arch nemesis, Scarvelli, at the Temple of Poseidon in Greece. If you haven’t watched the show, you really should. I’ll put videos up soon.
   
9. Halloween. Beau and I dressed as Rogue and Gambit. Then we went to watch Mother Pandora play at the Red Shed. It was so much fun, and since I had spent the entire semester getting into shape to wear my skin-tight spandex Rogue costume, I looked hot.
   
10. St. Louis City Museum. My road trip with Katherine and Victoria to visit Shannon at her home in St. Louis is something else I could spend my entire list talking about, but the St. Louis City Museum is like Chuckie Cheese’s (though I’ve actually never been to Chuckie Cheeses’s) for adults. Therefore, the city museum gets ranked.
    
11. Sips and Strokes with Beau’s mom. We painted Edward, and though I’m not a huge Robert Pattinson fan (I might be the only woman in America to think that he’s too skinny and has a crooked face, but this might be because my boyfriend is too hot to compare to), I really enjoyed spending time with Mrs. Becky. I’m really blessed when it comes to the future inlaws.
    
12. Me and Shannon embarrassing Alan in Spain. We had really missed his sunshine while touring Europe, so Shannon and I decided to show our feelings my clinging to his legs and making otter noises in the middle of a busy sidewalk in Madrid.

Because James Inspired me to

January 3, 2009

Okay, this is the third time I’m trying the blog thing. The first time I tried it, it was for class. The second time I tried it, it was for London. Both times were utter failures, though in my defense, I did create a very interesting set of videos to keep my family updated while travelling through Europe. Now, I’m trying it because my best guy friend, James, has his own blog and has therefore inspired me to continue with mine. So, congratulations, James—you have inspired me! I hope you have not doomed me to failure.

Anyway, I haven’t done this in a while, and since it is spontaneous, I don’t really have a plan…I guess I should just start writing about my day. It’s just like keeping a journal, right? And I have successfully managed a journal before.

Today was a Sunday. I should have gotten up and gone to church—when I’m in Tuscaloosa I go to Safe Haven Church with by boyfriend, Beau—but I didn’t. Beau and I went to see his housemate, Drew the drummer, playing with Mother Pandora (great local band) at Capone’s last night, and we didn’t leave the gathering until very late. We agreed when he dropped me off at his parents’ house last night that we would both be too tired for church this morning. Long story short: we were bums. I didn’t wake up until around 11:00 this morning. I don’t know what time Beau got up, but he had made it to his parents’ by 12:00. After lunch, we mostly hung out and watched football—well, Beau and his dad watched football, while Beau’s mom and I read books. Beau is the assistant manager at Yogurt Mountain here in T-town. If you ever go in there, he’s the really hot guy behind the counter, and if you touch him I will fight you or sick my best friend, Cheri, on you (she’s a second degree black belt, trained by Chuck Norris…okay, the Chuck Norris part is a joke). Anyway, Beau had to close tonight, so he went to work around 4:00. I brought him his lunch around 8:30.

That concludes my daily events. I hope it wasn’t too boring. It was a great day for me, personally, because I got to hang out with my amazing boyfriend. Really, Beau is amazing. I can’t wait until every single day gets to consist of Beau, Beau, Beau.

You know how some people hate the Twilight series because they claim it “gives girls unrealistic expectations of men”? (I, myself, am not a huge fan, but that’s because I think Edward is a creepy stalker.) Well, Stephenie Meyer could never have dreamed up a man as good as Beau. I have an exceedingly over-active imagination (they diagnosed it as ADD) and I could never have imagined a man as perfect for me as Beau.

I realized that nobody wants to read about some crazy woman obsessing over how great her man is, so I promise that I won’t do this every time I log on. However, I might as well get it out of the way by telling the story of how Beau and I met, so let’s go back in time a year so I can explain things:

September 2008

It was the second or third weekend of school, and I had decided to take a special trip up to Tuscaloosa (okay, T-town is only 45 minutes away from Birmingham, so the trip wasn’t that big of a deal) to hang out with my two best high school friends, Cheri and James.

Initially, I went up to see James. You see, for the majority of our young adult lives people had predicted that James and I would get together. “People” as in teachers, family, co-workers, friends, etc, and they had good call to think so. James and I are a lot alike. We have similar tastes in movies, music, comic books, and literature in general. Basically, he’s me in guy form and everyone who knows me seems to think that I am that narcissistic. Anyway, so I went to Tuscaloosa to visit James, and we were going to see if we could “work” as a couple.

Day two of my weekend in Tuscaloosa I went shopping at University Mall with Cheri for some much needed “girl time.” We were discussing my guy problems (before I “settled down” I had a plentiful amount of “guy problems,” so many that my friend Kara declared she would one day write a sitcom about my life and call it Take a Number). At this point, I was struggling with the idea of James and me in a romantic relationship. As a “couple,” we had been really awkward around each other, as if a wall had been built between us in the form of “romance.” We just didn’t know how to act. It hadn’t helped that my hot British suitor—nominated by my Aunt Libby—had been texting me almost the entire time I had been over at James’s apartment. Nick, the British suitor, and I had only been out on one date during the course of Summer ‘08, and he had waited an entire week after that date to contact me. He had texted me only in random spurts since then, and I simply did not know what to make of him texting me the entire time I was with James. On top of that, there was the constant threat of the return of my high school sweetheart, EJ, talk of my incredibly sweet and handsome guitar-playing suitor, Mark T., and the my recent introduction to the incredibly cool roller-blading phenomenon, Jeremy.

Needless to say, I was certainly not looking for any more irons to add to my fire, and that should have been obvious by the way I was dressed that day—make-up free and wearing jeans and a grungy pirate t-shirt. God, however, didn’t seem to care whether I was looking or not. As I turned the corner to enter Plan Nine (I had been in desperate need of some skate gear since meeting Jeremy) I found myself looking into the most beautiful pair of sea-green eyes I have ever seen. They belonged to the man standing behind the counter. He sported a full beard and shoulder-length curly brown hair that would make any girl green with envy—especially me. Then, he smiled at me. He smiled at me and I could have fallen into the floor. However, since that would have been way too over dramatic, I simply smiled back.

As Cheri and I explored the store, I couldn’t help but look back at the stranger, who continued to smile at me. I still couldn’t tell you what exactly it is they sell in that store because all my attention was focused on the man behind the checkout counter, checking me out.

After a while, Cheri and I approached the counter. She was looking for tongue rings or belly-button rings or maybe just ear-rings while I was trying to be discreet as I noticed that the man was even hotter up close. I’m a total failure when it comes to discretion. After about two seconds, the bearded beau made his way over to us.

“Do you have any other rings in stock?” Cheri—the former model who usually gets all the guys’ attention—asked him when he approached.

The handsome employee had been staring at me as and hadn’t seemed to notice Cheri—the model—until she spoke. He answered her a little too quickly, “No ma’am. Those are all we have.” Then noticing the “Pirate Girl” printed on my shirt, he spoke to me, “I see you like pirate stuff. We’ve got some jewelry over here that you might like.” ~Yeah, the most romantic first words ever, right?

Anyway, I let him show me some gaudy pirate jewelry that I never would have bought, but I smiled shyly, fishing for some words that would start a conversation or at least give me the chance to ask him his name—he wasn’t wearing a name tag, and I really hate when employees don’t wear their name tags. Cheri eventually got tired of the whole charade and began to pull me away from the stranger and out of the store.

“Somebody’s got a cru-ush,” she sang, as I struggled to get another look at him over my shoulder.

“You really think so?” I asked her, as she finally managed to pull me out into the mall.

“Duh!” I stopped walking right outside the storefront, and I could read the look on Cheri’s face like Sookie Stackhouse can read minds. It said, Kayla, you are so naïve.

“He was really cute,” I said, trying to get another look at him through the store window, but Cheri stepped in my way. She doesn’t like to be ignored. I continued, looking her in the eyes this time, “Really cute. Like, he was hot! Right?”

Cheri laughed. “Yeah. He was a hottie, and so your type.” She started to lead me down the mall at that point.

We got about another store length down when I did something very out of character: I planted my feet firmly on the ground and asked, “Maybe I should—do you think I should…give him my number?”

Cheri turned to me, her huge eyes blue with excitement. I had never done something so outgoing in my life—not without a ton and a half of backup. Cheri had once given my number to an attractive waiter for me, and she had no problem making the first move for herself. This was purely Cheri’s territory, never mine. I was shy and reserved; I would never give my number out to a stranger whose name I didn’t know. “Yes!” Cheri answered me with a devilish grin, and immediately started digging through her purse for a pen a paper.

I instantly felt the nerves coming up. “No,” I said. “Nevermind. Bad idea.”

“Kayla, this isn’t like that time with the waiter.” He never called, by the way.

“What? No, it’s—it’s just a bad idea. It’s crazy!” I started to walk off, and Cheri grabbed me. She had found the pencil and paper, I noticed with dismay or maybe pure terror.

“Kayla! That could be your future husband in there!” Cheri made what might end up her most accurate prediction ever.

“You’re right,” I said. “I should run away real fast.” I started to do just that, but Cheri had me by the arm and wasn’t letting go. (Did I mention that Cheri has a black-belt and military training?)

“Stop being weird,” Cheri insisted. “You’ve got to do this.” Cheri shoved the paper and pen into my hand and turned so that I could use her back to write on.

I scribbled down my name and cell phone number on the little sheet of paper, which might have been a Wal-mart receipt, then took a deep breath. Then I took another deep breath.

“Go!” Cheri insisted.

“Okay!” One more deep breath and I was off.

I walked back into that bong-selling, skate store, and spotted him behind the counter. He saw me as soon as I stepped across the threshold and gave me another sunshine-stealing smile; I felt my face burn blood red. I walked across the store as quickly as I could, shoved the tiny piece of paper into his hand, and gave him the biggest, brightest smile I could muster. His handsome face lit up with astonishment as if this was a first for him (I seriously doubt it was, even though he insists; he has a somewhat terrible memory, and I’m sure he just forgot about the other times). The look on his face made me smile even wider (I’m surprised by face didn’t split in half). Then I turned and walked out of the store without another word.

The very next day, he texted me. And that was all she wrote.