Day two.

Devoted entirely to driving across Texas.

Sorry, Texans, but you know I-20, that road that goes straight through you all? It smells like death. And there aren't many stops. And I swear there are skeletons scattered around, the results of running out of gas or getting a flat in THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. Couldn't call any rescue team because the cell signal is spotty at best.

But we're the lucky non-dead ones, if you consider lucky being stuck in a car with a five year old and a seven year old currently having a heated discussion about if the smell is from oil drilling or one of them passing gas.

In my ears, all I hear are the sweet sounds of Jason Mraz and oh snap one of them is crying. I have no earthly idea why, I just noticed in the break between songs.

It's the second day, the time change is messing with our heads, and none of us have had adequate sleep. Frankly we're all pissed at life in general but some of us have better self-control.

Aaaaaand one of them has a timeout now. Mkay, that's cool.

I think we're going to White Sands National Monument tomorrow. Now, my good little readers, did you ACTUALLY Google it? If you did, you'll know that it's absurdly beautiful. Ill probably post pictures in tomorrow's post, but for now I have to lip-Synch and dance to Geek in The Pink. It's kind of a rule about listening to that song, even if you're seated, and I fear that breaking that rule would be an invitation for fate to make my cell signal spottier. Cross my fingers I can even post this.

Subscribers: 1640
Wants: To sleep in a stationary bed.

Mobile blogging

For those days when you've been up since 5:00 am driving down I-95 on your way to New Mexico.

I think I'm in... Georgia right now? I admit I've lost track a bit. The trip is 28 hours; 15 the first day, 13 the second. I think I've made this exact trip there and back at least ten times before, and let me tell you; the fun part of going to New Mexico is NOT the drive. But you probably already guessed that...

But there are a lot of reasons that New Mexico is my favorite place. I mean, favorite that I've been to. I'm sure it would take second by a long shot to London, Venice, or Rome, but I'm not fortunate enough to have much to compare it to.

Anyways, the first is White Sands. I'd give you a little link but I'm currently moving 75 mph down the highway and don't know how to do that. Google it, guys. It's not that hard. Anyways, it's basically a bunch of hills made out of-- you guessed it-- white sand. It's primary use? Sledding as if it's snow. But it's so much better because it's not cold or hot; it's always just right.

Reason two:
Indian jewelry. My style (if you can call raiding the junior's section of TJ-Max having style) fits perfectly with $6 turquoise and coral necklaces. That's better than even Forever 21 can offer.

Reason three:
People. Yeah yeah yeah I love my relatives.

Reason four-- sorry, had to put you down to make a passing truck honk. So we all pump our arms and... It sounded like a bicycle horn. Lolololololol no wonder most of them don't honk for us anymore; they're embarrassed of their horns!

Well my thumbs are tired so I'll leave you with that stunning insight into the collective psyche of truck drivers.

Subscribers: 1633
Trucks that honked so far: 15
Hours left of driving: 21

Adsense and orange juice

I'm currently uploading a video entitled "dominating the world with genetically modified orange juice." What am I doing with my life?

So speaking of videos, I am now eligible for revenue sharing. Ooh, exciting. I thought it would be just YouTube with money, but it's not. My entire home page is different and snazzier. Oh yeah, YouTube wants in on my profits. I'm a hot commodity.

But I haven't actually been able to make any money yet because... Well, long story short, Adsense is the devil and YouTube is the antichrist.

Well, I need to cut it short here because I'm about to go to a lady's house to meet her kid who I'll be babysitting for the next three days and (hopefully) many after that. I'm trying to save up money for a trip to Boston for a YouTube gathering. You have no idea how freaking excited I am at the thought of meeting TheMunchKym and loads of other YouTube friends. That reminds me, I need to check the guest list to see who's coming again...

Toodles, all. <3

Subscribers: 1,527
Days left of school: 0 (and not tracking that anymore, so leave me suggestions in comments)
Wants: To go to Boston in November.

JK Rowling is fallible. ZOMG GASP.

I was going to make a video about this, but I'm still a little bit nervous to talk to 1,200 people about a topic that has already proven to be so controversial; Harry Potter.

I know, right? It's a children's series. And while I, like 90% of the people I know, think the series is well-written and wonderful, I don't have the same emotional connection with the books that most of my friends have. Meaning: I like other books better.

It could be just because I read them when I was older, but it's probably just a matter of personal taste. Don't ostracize me yet, I'm about to give you WAY more reason for insult.

Once upon a time I was reading the Chamber of Secrets and I found a grammatical error. It was during speech, so it doesn't count. I posted it on facebook as a 100% humorous stab at my OWN grammar nazi tendencies. I WAS NOT IN THE LEAST SERIOUS.

That being said it wasn't half an hour before the comment thread following it had become a heated, 6-on-1 war against the thought of anyone DARING to criticize the BEST BOOKS EVARRRR!!!11!11!1!!!!!1

The last comment before I deleted the post was my friend warning me not to speak critically about the books again, lest the same sort of terror ensue.

The comment infuriated me not because it was patronizing, but because it was just illogical. You should think critically about everything lest the entire world turn into some psycho religious compound. That's what happens when people don't think critically.

And pointing out flaws or plot holes in the book series doesn't mar the shiny gold plaque that Harry Potter has earned as one of the best children's literature series of all time.

Now you guys know that I'm as die-hard as it gets when it comes to Doctor Who, and yet I still rant frequently about last season's finale and the giant paradox that ensued. I've teased people for not liking the show, but only in jest. Everyone still knows how much I love Jon Garcia and Brendan Linwood (even though seriously, guys, I don't understand you.)

Conclusion:
I love the Harry Potter series. (Well, the first four that I've read)
I reserve the right to acknowledge flaws in a book series without being treated like Judas.

Subscribers: 1,284 Believe me, I'm as surprised as you are.
Days left of school: 1!
Wants: TO FIND OUT WHO RIVER SONG IS OMGEEEEEEEE.

Love you all. <3 Bye.

Nerddom and how it's changed.

My mom occasionally tells stories of hiding her good grades because they were nothing to be proud of. And I'm sure that nerds in general were teased a lot back then. But now? I honestly don't feel the wild nerd-persecution that everyone is talking about.

Now don't get me wrong, whenever I alert someone to the proper subjective/objective form of a noun, I'm showered with "NERD!" but I've never felt bad about it, the way I feel bad when people comment on my freckles, my height (or lack there-of), or my paleness.

Maybe that's just me and the culture I grew up in, but most of the 'nerds' I know take immense pride in their intelligence. I mean, maybe not publicly, but you can tell they don't feel put down by those comments at all.

Some of the leaders of the "pro-nerd movement" are John and Hank Green. But really, they too grew up in a time where our feelings towards intelligence were greatly different. I just don't think their argument against anti-nerds is relevant because I honestly don't know of one anti-nerd.

The problem here is that it's still socially considered an insult to call someone a nerd, and it's still considered socially neutral to indicate your superior intelligence. It doesn't matter how smart (or not smart) I am, I've grown up around a bunch of people who are smarter than me. People who don't need to be hit over the head to get them to tell you their SAT/ACT scores.

And while society doesn't acknowledge it this way, whenever someone comments on how much more of a "nerd" they are than I, it's a truly hurtful insult.

And that's my weirdly serious post for the week. Expect your normal programming to resume tomorrow.

Subscribers: 509 (Thanks, Buck!)
Days left of school: 3
Wants: To go down on the boat for a weekend. OCEAN, Y U NO WARM UP ALREADY?

Technical difficulties and... No, nothing else. Just technical difficulties.

So I made a video for you all. :) As I'm writing this it's about to go live, and I'm getting that weird oh-my-gosh-what-was-I-thinking-this-isn't-funny feeling again.

Basically, the joke is that the hardest part of filming is finding decent lighting. Yeah, that's it. That's the joke. And it's not very funny, but I like to think that funny is something you will happen upon. So if the odds of making something funny are 1/5, I'm just hurrying to make five videos so I can see which one is funny.

The reason that I'm still posting it even though I'm adamantly against people posting things they aren't proud of is because I worked SO FREAKING hard on it. I found all the music, sound effects, and made the graphics this morning. Then I spent the afternoon working around about 50,000 technical difficulties, and that's the funny part.

First of all, in the middle there are four clips of me trying to find good lighting but failing. This is basically a montage of the past week for me, except in the ONE VIDEO where I am actually embracing the bad lighting, my lighting is good. Too good. And I can't get the right effects without color and contrast distortion after the fact. No one probably noticed, but it made me feel dishonest.

The second technical difficulty I encountered was video/audio un-synching. Most of you probably know what that's like and most of you probably know that it's usually unexplainable. And that it sucks. But after restarting my computer three times, it magically worked again. For no apparent reason. So next time it happens, I won't know of anything to do except restart my computer. Three. Freaking. Times.

Subscribers: 442
Days left of school: *shifty eyes* >.> ... <.< ... <.> ... 4
Wants: FOR MY COMPUTER TO WORK RAAAAAAAAWR.

A job well complimented

As a child, I more or less lived for attention. And compliments, those too. I put on magic shows and dance recitals (and charged admission, of course, I ain't no chump) for the sole purpose of having my entire family sit and look at me, because I was awesome.

This is the same reason that I used to do math problems on napkins in restaurants just so the waiter could see that yes, an eight year old really was doing pre-algebra problems. (A fact that, while somewhat remarkable, didn't put me in the same category as Newton and Einstein like I thought.)

In my defense, I was one of four children who were all taller and louder than me. I had to stand out someway. And while I won't say I was really attention deprived, it wasn't 'till a couple months after the fact that my own mother learned of my ability to read.

But all this is to explain why I've never been able to take pride in a job well done, but I take quite a bit of pride in a job well complimented.

This causes problems when the jobs I have to do I suck at, such as writing papers, or when the jobs are done privately, such as cleaning my bathroom.

Today I'm finding it hard to do the former, and that's why you'll notice my "days left of school" tracker hasn't gone down any. Someone offer to lie and tell me my paper is awesome, 'kay?

Subscribers: 439 (thanks, Kym.)
Days left of school: a never-ending 4.
Wants: a self-cleaning bathroom.