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.

Is this going to be a regular thing now?

Probably. I think daily blogs are a good creative exercise, and a good writing exercise. At least during the summer, I intend to update this fairly often. I just hate having so much free time and nothing to show for it except every episode of Doctor Who firmly implanted in my brain.

BTW, JulNoWriMo is still happening. Are you doing it? Tell me so and we can ram our heads into walls out of frustration together.

I'll probably be telling my followers on my YouTube channel about this blog today. My brain has already come up with the most hilarious intro, so all I need is an ending. And, y'know, that stuff that goes in the middle...

So I woke up this morning with an ear infection. Lame-o. The last time I think I had an ear infection was a couple years ago and just the memory is enough to make me want to kill myself rather than go through it again. I can't really hear anything and my head feels all clogged up and like it's going to explode. So I decided to compile a list of the Top Ten Things To Do Whilst Feeling Like Crap.

1. Not school. (it's the weekend, so this doesn't even help me.)
2. Not school.
3. Not school.
4. Not school.
5. Not school.
6. Not school.
7. Not school.
8. Not school.
9. Not school.
10. Blog.

I chose number ten. But really, it just occurred to me that as a sixteen year old no longer incapable of making her own toast even while sick, there is virtually no silver lining to being sick.

Subscribers: 366
Days left of school: 4
Wants (yes, let's throw in a materialistic twist): Meet Me At Sunset. I've been getting weirdly into nail polish. I think I like it because it's, like, the one thing that I really can't justify spending $9.00 on except that it makes me happy. ^.^

Let's talk about the apocalypse.

Today someone compared making fun of the Japanese tsunami disaster to making fun of people who believe the world will end tomorrow. I don't even... ONE HAS HAPPENED AND KILLED HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE, ONE HAS NOT. Capiche?

So let's talk about tomorrow. Now I'm a Christian, so I do believe that Jesus will come back some day. There is as much of a chance that he comes back tomorrow as there is that he comes back in the next thirty seconds. Okay, well there really isn't because tomorrow consists of 24 full hours that he would have so it's exactly 2880 times more likely that he comes back... Right, nobody cares. Got it.

The problem I have with the whole thing is that it's positively stupid to think you KNOW when he's coming back, even if you accept the position that a Judeo-Christian God exists. Now I have a lot of atheist friends and the reason they think this idea is ludicrous is because God doesn't exist. But that's just ignoring the HUGE LOGICAL FLAW.

2nd Thessalonians 2:1

"Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come."

Basically, it's like me saying "look, I have two unicorns here and two unicorns there so I have SEVEN unicorns!" and someone else saying "silly person, unicorns don't exist."

Let's first start with the logical analysis of their opinion ON ITS OWN, and then judge the evidence of a divine creator.

/serious Hannah

Subscribers: 364
Days left of school (Thanks for the suggestion, Katie. But next time leave a comment): 4

I'm in one of those moods

You know, one of those moods where I feel that my life is absolutely perfect. And I'm in such a good mood I almost feel bad about it because I know that 90% of my friends couldn't possibly feel this good.

But that's just what summer does to me. First it starts with the adorable clothing that still manages to feel like pajamas in essence, then it's the lighter, healthier food. Popsicles instead of tater tots and salads instead of meatloaf will do a lot for your mood in general. And there was one other thing... Oh yeah, over 300 people caring about everything I have to say?

I don't know if anyone else can relate, but I always feel like the biggest difference between my internet friends and my real life friends is that my internet friends like to like things. We just take pleasure in telling people how awesome they are, and get told how awesome WE are in return. I have no idea why this is, and perhaps this is just a coincidence, but my real life friends never compliment someone just for the sake of making them feel awesome. You guys do. I love that about you guys.

I'm not trying to say that EVERY one of you is better or nicer than EVERY one of them, not at all. There is a big difference between 'nice' and 'positive'. My IRL friends would take a bullet for me, but we never just shower each other with adoration and love for fun. Well, we do. But then one of them inevitably says "no homo" and then I'm all ">.>" and grrrrrrrrrrrr let's not get into this rant right now.

Anyways, this is today's call to action. Every day this week, I am going to tell a different IRL friend how awesome they are for the sole sake of making them feel awesome. Should this be a thing? I think it should. Every blog post will have homework that we can all do together to make the world more awesome. Capiche? It won't be hard, I promise.

Subscribers: 363

Ah hey! Also; you should tell me what I should track with these posts. Ideas? Say so below. I think this is the start a beautiful text-based friendship, fellow bloggers.

Welcome!

As of now, I don't use this for much. I don't know if that will ever change, frankly, but this is a start. If you want to see me regularly, this is a shared blog; http://ourawesomesauce.com/
Here is my YouTube channel; http://www.youtube.com/user/HannahTheMidge
And my Twitter: http://twitter.com/Hannahejones95

I don't know where I'll be sharing this, but if you're a reader, hello! Leave a comment introducing yourself, and link me to your site. :)