Blog Relocation.

To All of my Readers

As of tomorrow, Tuesday, December 8, 2009, my blog will be moving to a new location via WordPress. Rest assured this blog will continue to be here for a while, however I will no longer be posting here.

The reason for my move is because WordPress is the chosen blog of the professional world. I'm currently in the process of building my personal brand: She Is Electrifying. To do so requires me to move my blog to a more professional and accessible outlet. 

What's going on at My New Blog

• I've decided to continue doing my Top-Five as a weekly feature appropriately titled Top-Five Tuesdays.
• You can subscribe to my blog so you will get my posts directly in your inbox each time one is posted, which can be helpful for those who have hectic schedules but would still like to read what I have to say. The easy-to-use subscription widget is in plain view on my homepage.
  
• In addition to the email subscriptions, you can subscribe via RSS with one simple click.
• In the near future there will be a variety of one-click buttons directly to my Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn (once I get the latter set up).

Where can I find this new blog?

You can find it right here.

I hope that all of you enjoy my and improved blog and more importantly that you respect my creative growth and transition into the professional world of blogging.

Descriptive Words and Alternate Meanings

“Let me ask you this” says Miree, with the hint of a laugh in her voice, “what’s your definition of a slut?”

I say to her “someone who will have sex with anyone and everyone without any regard for themselves or the other person.”

“See, that’s the same as mine.”

She went on to tell me how her friend Kyle has a completely different definition of the word. His being a little overkill personally and honestly a little off from the reality of the word, but that’s the difference between people.

Once we hung up I thought about how people have a variety of definitions for certain words such as hook up, dating, and lying.

I’ve done my fair share of traveling around the United States and whenever I remember to do so, I always ask people what their definition of hook up is. I’ve heard it defined as kissing, holding hands, meeting up with someone or a group, dating, and even sex.

The definition even varies with different generations. Older people tended to use hook up when referring to meeting up. Whereas younger people mostly used it in reference to something sexual.

Memory Lane.

"I hate Friday's!" Ben proclaims, chagrin deep in his tone. "Everyone's out tonight and I'm stuck at home, wanting to go to Wawa and pick up some egg nog".

The word Friday sparked an immediate idea to brighten up his mood. And mine too, for that matter. So I click around a little bit and find myself at YouTube's beck and call: "yeah I need this song for my beloved, do you have it?" Seconds drift by, going unnoticed, and out comes my answer: Montell Jordan's This Is How We Do It.

Laugh, it's okay.

But seriously, this is such a great song and it always puts you in a great mood. It's one of those bring you back to the 90's when life seemed a lot less complicated because you were too young to notice otherwise songs.

After listening to this song, I stumbled upon a slew of old songs that I used to love back in the day. And by back in the day I mean during middle and high school. With each new song came the spark of a different memory. Weird how songs and smells can do that to you, huh?

Anyway, I've decided to make a list of the songs and post them on here with hope that they will take you down memory lane just as they did for me.

The list is soon to come!

Random Top-Five Rant.

Today's not even over yet and I've already got several things to get off my chest. I think, perhaps, a little ranting list will help keep the issues in check...sort of.

1. Some oddly shaped girl, who probably drives a Prius (Prius owners always seemed to be as oddly shaped as their cars), who happens to also be a drama teacher at another school, was presenting along with her group today in my creative writing class. When I raised my hand to comment, she listened to me for all 10 seconds (maybe 15, tops) and then stopped me and continued onward.

She didn't even hear me out nor did she let anyone else in her group say/do anything, except for what she had planned, most of which was only her talking. She even stopped some of her group members during the presentation because it wasn't what she wanted. It pissed me off to the point of almost walking out of the class and cussing her out. Bitch!

2. Just found out that Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 doesn't come out in theaters until November 19, 2010! I knew it would be a while before it came out, but I didn't think it would be that long! Although it's quite trivial I still hate waiting between movies. Sure, the books are a fantastic read, but I like the movies too. I'm from New Jersey, so I'm allowed to be a little impatient at times.

Follow the yellow brick road!

Everyone out there in Bloggerland should follow my beloved, Ben Archer, and read his brilliant prose.

Benefits of Failure and Importance of Imagination

J. K. Rowling gave the commencement speech at Harvard University's 2008 graduation ceremony.


J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.

In her speech, she discussed the benefits of failure and the importance of imagination. I thought that it might be inspiring to some, so please feel free to watch the video and/or just read the transcript of her speech. But let's be serious, the British accent is much more pleasant!

The first thing I would like to say is ‘thank you.’ Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I have endured at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and convince myself that I am at the world’s largest Gryffindor reunion.

Twi-rap.

I'm sure he's going to kill me for this or something damn near close, but I had to post this. Ben wrote a silly Twilight themed rap and it cracks me up!

I ain't got no chain on mah neck
Ed's ICE COLD
I'm made of diamonds bitch
TRUTH BE TOLD

Cuz I'm a Vampire bitch
V to the Ampire
And Forks be
My mutha-fuckin EMPIRE

Bella be trippin'
in her broke ass truck
Get yo ass in the Guardian, bitch
What the FUCK!?

I do the Harlem Shake
and make mountains crumble
then I b-boy that shit
and make Atlas FUMBLE

The Untitled Facebook Project = A+

I received my 3rd paper back today in my creative writing class and to my astonishment, I earned an A+.

I wasn't sure what kind of grade I would earn on because I didn't feel nearly as passionate about it as I had with my previous paper (which earned an A). I felt like there was no possible way that I was going to top the work of my lyric essay. After all, the paper was framed around drugs, alcohol, and addiction.

What I ended up writing was an essay about writing an essay, which according to the teacher is very hard to do. Included were personal photography and screen shots of a Facebook status that I had posted asking for suggestions on the topic at hand. I wrote it like I was sitting there considering the idea of writing about the one and only really good story I had to tell, a personal experience of my own.

How I posted the Facebook status and with each response and the accompany screen of the response, I replied in depth to each person in which ever way seemed fit. There was so much content than just the responses, but you get the gist. In the end, it was a 13 page paper and it earned me an A+.

Should I be complaining? Absolutely not.

I've been looking back on old journal entries between here and my blogger, laughing about how foolish I once was (and still am for that matter) and how I used to hate the fact that I couldn't write a paper to save my life. Now I yearn to write. I get so much pleasure out of writing that it's almost surreal to know that just a few short years ago I was once hiding behind my own fear of ability, blinded by the constant bad grades and internal feelings of stupidity.

Comparing myself to the next person, who could write a decent paper with trouble, was probably the dumbest thing I'd ever done. It didn't solve anything. It didn't improve my writing skills. It only weighed me down to an unspeakable level of humiliation.

Out of fairness and complete truth, I contribute a lot of my writing ability to blogging. It helped me develop and organize my thoughts, thats for sure. But I also attribute my ability to the old fashion practice makes perfect mantra.

What really meant the most was the teacher's comment, which said:

"You've written an essay about writing an essay (meta discourse). That's really hard to do. Excellent job, Lauren. I was riveted throughout. You truly do have a very creative mind and you are a superb writer."

If anyone wants to read the essay, let me know and I'll email you a copy.

My 'Twilight' Experience.

I came across a brilliant 3 part article on The Washington Post's website about literary women, their love for the Twilight saga, and their complete and utter lack of shame for falling so hard for a silly tween love story.

Finding the initial piece led to another article about the healing powers of Twilight and it put me at ease, or at even more ease I should say.

When I first heard of this whole Twilight thing, it was during the holiday season last year and I was working a crappy mall job to pass time between semesters. People would come into the story raving about the movie, wearing the t-shirts and hoodies, and promising me how great it was. Initially I was very much against this whole vampire business, having had no interest in them prior, and swore up and down, to Jupiter and back that I would never Benedict Arnold my love and devotion to Harry Potter.

Then came the nonstop advertisements on OnDemand during the early spring time of this year. I kept ignoring them and praying they would stop showing me this stupid crap.

When a sudden and unexpected dry spell hit me, having no more new or old movies to watch, I caved in and decided to let myself find out just exactly what all the craze was about. So I picked up a copy of the movie and within 20 minutes, I was completely hooked. It was like I had been injected by an unwanted course of emotions and it wasn't going to stop.

5 Facts About The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Fact #1: It's Darker

The brand new poster for Eclipse (above) hints at a darker tone with its brooding storm clouds. With 30 Days of Night director David Slade at the helm, it's unsurprising. "Every movie is different because we work with a different director on each one, which I love," Taylor Lautner tells RT. "David Slade is perfect for the third film because it's darker. Eclipse was my favourite book."
 

Ashley Greene, who plays vampire Alice, tells RT that Slade isn't just a prince of darkness. "David is actually hysterical," she laughs, "He has such a dry sense of humour that sometimes you don't know if he's kidding or not. Eclipse will be amazing because he has made it far edgier and more dramatic. It's going to look very cool."

South Mountain Summit.

"All I can hear is the murmur of cars down below" Ben said, as we sat in my car at the summit of South Mountain this chilly November evening.

The view from the top of the mountain is certainly something to see, particularly Dobbins Lookout. I've only been up there a handful of times, but each time some sort of philosophical spark seems to ignite my thoughts.

A flood of speculation nearly swallowed up my mind as the two of us sat there, beneath the stars, looking outward to the north and east. Being up there always reminds of just how small I am in comparison to the world and how lucky I am to be apart of something so grand; so beautiful.

Watching an entire city functioning right before your eyes is so bizarre in a way. I couldn't help but pay attention to I-10 & AZ-60, wondering where all of those people were going. Were they driving home to their families, running errands, rushing to a night class, or simply out for a Monday evening drive? Thousands of lights could be seen all around the valley, sparkling like an on ocean of glitter.

The Happenings.

Things have been so crazy lately -- school, trying to find employment, advising friends on their many issues (a therapist's work never stops), and countless other random things -- that I haven't had hardly any time to update.

After a much anticipated wait I finally saw New Moon at the 12:01am showing on Thursday night. I'm definitely a self-admitted Twihard amongst other things and I must say that I was very impressed with the movie's accuracy to the book. Although it was definitely made for fans, I was pleased nonetheless that it came out so well. I have many friends who aren't the reading type so they have zero interest in the books, which is their loss because there is so much more detail in the book that wasn't explained in the movie -- thus it being made more for the fans.

Twilight: Harper’s Bazaar on Rob & Kristen

The Empty is No More

Blind, empty? What is it that she needs? Resurrection. Rebirth. The dawn of a new day, The embrace of a new... Of a new practice. Practice makes perfect, Or so they say. Weakness turns to ashes. The phoenix reborn, Its tears healing the bind -- The cure for the blind, The empty. So, whats next for the new? A new life? A new chapter? The next stage, Center stage, For the newly filled -- The empty is no more. The move.....it's on. It's real. It's passion. It's the reason....for being. And the empty is no more. And the sun sets -- Only this time with a smile.

Arizona State Fair.

On Sunday, Ben & I checked out the local state fair. We walked around majority of the fairgrounds checking out the local vendors, assorted provisions - all of which seemingly offered on-a-stick, and rode several rides including the largest of the three ferris wheels. After several hours, we finished off our adventure with the obligatory funnel cake and headed home, bell

Every Day I'm Hustlin'.

2,645 miles.

After 9 very long yet very exciting years with my car, the time has come to ay goodbye to my dear Honda. My parents were nice enough to sign one of their new SUV's over to me for my 25th birthday, which is less than two weeks away. I'll be flying back to New Jersey on Wednesday, taking care of paperwork, packing up a few things and then driving it back to Arizona. I'm taking the southern route instead of the standard (and very boring) route this time. Fortunately Anthony will be following behind me in his BMW because he's moving to Los Angeles. And my friends Mike & Dustin will be traveling the same route to New Orleans, so we've got a little convoy heading south. Should be a lot of fun. In other news, I was finally able to get up to Sedona and check it out. Let me just say how absolutely beautiful it is! Ben & I hiked the Devil's Bridge trail, which was far more intense than either of us had known, though we both handled it well and really enjoyed it. We're gonna be using my SUV and his SUV to tackle some of the harder trails once when we go back because we had to park on the side of the road and then walk 1.4 miles to the trail head, which was then another mile long. I'll be posting a few more pictures from Sedona, so keep an eye for them. :-)

Soon To Come.

A new post is soon to come. But first I'm in desperate need of a serious tennis match with Ben. :-D

Speechless.

Wow, say goodbye to your career Kanye! RIP Patrick Swayze.

Enchanting.

Now I have some what of a clear idea as to why Arizona is such an enchanting place to be. It has been a route often traveled by like-minded people. The true naturalistic beauty that is the Grand Canyon State offers all of its willing travelers the op