In which I am immensely happy to be alive and well.

- Wednesday 27 July 2011

So apparently the bug bite that I had was from a poisonous spider (likely either a brown recluse or a hobo), and I had MRSA, which is an aggressive form of infection spread by certain spider bites that resists antibiotic treatment if not dealt with in enough time, and is known to cause major organ failure and, in some cases, death.

Thankfully, neither of those things occurred in my case; the bite is almost completely healed, and I am no longer experiencing any of the symptoms. So, basically, I am very, very, VERY happy to be around to type this!!

Despite that, I actually managed to finish what I decided on doing for Skandar's b-day project. The picture mosaic that I planned didn't work out because I was unable to find a compatible software to use that wouldn't cost me an arm and a leg, so instead, I made a Google Search Story video documenting how I came to be a fan up until current time in about 32 seconds. Pretty impressive, those search stories. I'm having a bit of an issue with my converter right now, otherwise I would post it.


Now that I am finally back in good health, I can feel less guilty about making a summer trailer and not making any videos until summer is nearly over by editing, editing, editing. Hopefully, not too many people will need music/videos edited or any other digital-related media things done in the next week or so, so that I can focus on the stuff I already have planned. The only setback to knowing how to do all of this stuff, is that all the people who don't stack up a pretty large pile of things for you to do. But it's all good; I love every minute of it. :D

In other news, vacation 2011 is FINALLY confirmed as a go! I'll be out of state from the 27th of August to the 3rd of September with little to no possibility of being able to post my adventures (the house we rented has internet access, but I have got to be the only 17-year-old in America who doesn't own a laptop, so I won't be able to use it, *facedesk*). However, I'll be sure to take lots of detailed notes and pictures, so that I can relate them to you upon my return.

In cinematic news, my sisters and I were unable to swing the midnight showing of Harry Potter (CURSE YOU, MISTER SPIDER!!), but we were still there on opening day. It's pretty safe to say that I was overjoyed with how the series ended! In an attempt to stay spoiler-free, I'd say that it was as loyal to the book as I would have hoped, I would have liked a little more time spent on Shell Cottage and Gringotts (it felt like I had blinked, and we were back in Hogsmeade), the effects were astounding (it's amazing to see how much they have evolved from the first film to the last!), and 2/3 times, certain lines and moments that I had been expecting were right there, just as I had imagined them. Alexandre Desplat did not disappoint either; his work on the score was PHENOMENAL. I especially enjoyed the inclusion of the original Hedwig's Theme when Harry, Ron, and Hermione return with Neville towards the middle of the film. His take on the music was full of heart, it built where it was supposed to, subsided where it should have, and took the already-heavy emotional weight of the film in its entirety to a completely new plateau. All in all, congrats to the people who brought these films to life, because they turned out just as they should have. I tip my hat to thee!

My summer reading list has grown by about twenty books. It turns out that browsing different genres and recommended reading lists at the library is quite fruitful when attempting to find new and interesting reads. As well as some well-loved familiar books, I'm happy to be discovering new ones. It's been a very successful literary summer so far!

Musically, it's been fantastic as well. I'm working on some new covers to hopefully actually get the chance to record --- yes, RECORD --- over the next month or so! I have a friend who is a music producer, and has a studio right in his house, and we're trying to plan an afternoon to hang out and do what we do best: make music. I will definitely be posting the results of our musical labors (and, of course, insanity) as they come!

I have also discovered what I think could possibly be the ultimate 18th birthday gift: the Prince Caspian reusable sticker book. I was pretty much speechless when I found it online. Now, if I can just convince my family of my sanity (even though I doubt it exists much anymore XD)...

Hopefully, I'll be out driving soon. My mom gets horrible migraines, so sometimes she's too sick to take me driving. I hate to mention this, but the first time I was behind the wheel, I hit the van on a wooden stake which left a long, bumpy line across the side, so I'm not too terribly confident just yet. Ahh well. Baby steps!

Anyways, I think I'll wrap this gargantuan blog update up now. Indecision is currently plaguing me: should I read, write, edit, or watch LWW (commentary version, of course!)? I think I'll draw from a hat!

Hope that your weeks are going smoothly! :D

DBF out!

In which Megan now just feels like she’s spamming up everybody’s dashboards.

- Sunday 10 July 2011

OKAY, this is the third post I’ve put up in two hours, but I got on Facebook and the first thing I saw was THIS!

http://uskandar.org/?p=122


We should totally put together some graphics or something for our favorite Skandar’s 20th! (Not to mention the only Skandar I think exists at the moment, haha). I’m thinking about doing one of those things where you take one picture, and make it by putting together a thousand little tiny pictures within the picture. I may use all screencaps from Narnia and other such pics. I’ve never done one of those before, so this ought to be interesting!

Let the brainstorming begin!!


DBF out!
(AGAIN!)

In which Megan tries out a new plugin.

-

This is what I live for. (And no, I don’t mean “toastie”. (;)

Okay, so while catching up from my three-week absence, I noticed that Kellie mentioned wishing that you could get The Call by Regina Spektor without having to purchase the entire Prince Caspian album. So it hit me that, if I get the proper plugin for Windows Live Writer, I can probably upload the MP3 that I have on my iTunes and, thus, make the world a more musical place. So, if this works right, you should be able to right-click the text below and say “Save target as…” or something of that nature, and then save it and open it with iTunes or whichever music media base that you use and VOILA!

And if this does not work, I’ll have to weep. (Probably not, but it’ll be a bummer, haha.)

http://www.mdn.fm/files/320638_oetvh/13%20The%20Call%20%28Film%20Version%29.mp3

DBF out!

(Oh, and lest I forget... I believe that it was Caroline who mentioned a few posts ago wishing that keyboards had a music note key. In a way, they do. You just have to hold in the "ALT" key, then type "14" (without the quotation marks -- just 14) on the numeric pad on the right side of the keyboard, and a music note appears! It's the same with "13" as well. Observe: ♪♫. :D You can do that with a ton of other number combinations, too (well over a hundred, if I remember correctly)... I'll put a grid below.)

alt + 1 = ☺
alt + 2 = ☻
3 = ♥
4 = ♦
5 = ♣
6 = ♠
7 = •
8 = ◘
9 = ○
10 = ◙
11 = ♂
12 = ♀
13 = ♪
14 = ♫
15 = ☼
16 = ►
17 = ◄
18 = ↕
19 = ‼
20 = ¶
21 = §
22 = ▬
23 = ↨ (same as 18)
24 = ↑
25 = ↓
26 = →
27 = ←
28 = ∟
29 = ↔
30 = ▲
31 = ▼
32 = (space)
33 = !
34 = "
35 = #
36 = $
37 = %
(and I believe from here on out it's standard keyboard symbols and the alphabet/numeric alphabet. Pretty nifty, hu? (:)

In which Megan has her leg propped up on her desk like she’s some sort of cheerleader.

-

Recap of the past three weeks begins now!

First off, I have to explain the propping. Remember a while back when I said that I had some sort of infected bug bite on my knee? Well, I got another one last Sunday, and it’s just now starting to shrink down. So, naturally, I’ve been couch-ridden with a heating pad on my leg for the majority of the week, not getting much done but putting a considerable dent in my reading list.

Other than that, life’s been pretty swell! We went to Pennsylvania last week (we used to live there till we moved a few years back) to visit some family. I keep forgetting how much I miss it there. (:

Then we kept up a 4th of July tradition and went to spend the day at the beach on Monday, which was awesome, except that it stormed really hard the entire way back home, which meant that the fireworks for the night were cancelled. Big bummer, but at least there were some great waves to ride!

My older sister and I went to see the first two Transformers movies together, and we’re planning on going to see the third one soon, but my little sister wanted to go with us, so we re-watched the first two to refresh our memories. That was a ton of fun – those movies rock. So between that and Harry Potter (IN FIVE DAYS ASDFGHJKL), I can practically hear the cinema calling my name.

I’m missing voice lessons terribly, but I’ve come up with a solution: COVERS! I’ve been making a list of songs to cover on piano and guitar over the summer, and so far have seven “albums”, so to say, lined up. If you have any suggestions for songs, let me know! Then as soon as I have them ready, I’ll get recording (erm, on my camera, that is) and have it up here.

Also, I have this rekindling fascination with chess. My older sister has a really sweet virtual version of it on her laptop which is a lot of fun, but unfortunately I’m $498 short of being able to get one of my own so that I can see if I can beast the computer haha. Epic fail? Will have to be patient until birthday/Christmas at this point? Desperately need a job? I do think so.

Last night my mom, sisters, and I watched The Social Network, which was really fast-paced, but a fantastic movie. It was funny getting on Facebook after seeing all that it took to get it to the point it has arrived at now.

I’m sure that there’s a ton of other things that I have forgotten to mention, but they’ll have to wait until I’m not on super strong Motrin for le annoying infection to be recalled *blushblush*. So, until then, my friends, I bid you adieu. Hope that the sun keeps shining for ya!

DBF out!

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