Mercy is in a Fangirl mood. (I mean I always am but like- gurl please)

Good morning girls, it's Tuesday.
GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT?!?! MY HARRY POTTER FAST ENDED YESTERDAY SO I CAN TALK ABOUT IT WHENEVER I WANT NOW! YAYAYAYAYAYAY! I AM SO HAPPY YOU HAVE NO IDEA!
So if y'all don't mind, I will have a Harry Potter SPAM post. Yes, yes I will. And there's nothing you can do to stop me.
Ohmigosh, did you know that SquareSpace provides everything you need to create the perfect website? My Spotify just informed me of this.

SO, to start this off, I'm going to post my favorite songs having to do with my favorite books by one of my favorite people.. persons?

And the fact that this last song accurately describes my other school (obviously not my home school cuz that's like.. my home.) well, it's pretty depressing. I mean, like, really. My school doesn't. have. stairs. 
None. 
It's not Hogwarts.
AND THAT UPSETS ME.

Anyway. Now I'm going to dump a crap load of Harry Potter and AVPM pictures on you.
ALSO I JUST FOUND OUT THAT THERE'S THE AVPM SOUNDTRACK ON SPOTIFY I'M FREAKING DYING!

I'm crying right now. Like I'm listening to A Very Potter Musical and looking at a copious amount of Harry Potter pictures holy crap I'm dying.
IT'S HARRY FREAKIN' POTTTTEEERRR!
I'm pretty sure probably only Rose is still reading this at this point because she gets my obsession to this extent- this extreme fangirl I NEED HARRY POTTER extent. You know it's probably a good thing I fasted from it for so long.. I mean, this seriously is kind of unhealthy. But so is chocolate and I still eat that!
ANYWAY THIS IS A REALLY FANGIRLY POST BUT I'M LIKE TOTALLY RUNNING OUT OF COMPUTER TIME AND I WILL NOT BE THE FIRST TO BE PUNISHED SO GOODBYE SEXY FACES! SEE Y'ALL NEXT TUESDAY!
xoxo, Mercy the Fangirl

Laura is in a Rose mood.

Hello world,
    I feel like I can say "hello world" now, since half the continent shall soon start following this blog! Which frankly, ladies, freaks me out more than anything else. But y'all know me. I'm Anxiety Girl: able to leap to the worst conclusions in a single bound!
    This is actually the first post of mine where I have absolutely no idea what to write about. So, I shall try to inspire myself. I'm wearing my favorite sweater (the reindeer one you're all secretly jealous of [especially Mercy]), drinking a cup of coffee, and listening to Rend Collective Experiment. Let the creative juices flow.
    (20 minutes later): still faced with the unconquerable monolith of Writer's Block.
(15 minutes later): Maybe it's not that I can't think of a thing to write. Maybe I have something on my mind, and I'm afraid to bring it up because a) I hate ranting, and b) I'm terrified of revealing my real feelings to even my closest friends. There. I said it.
    Okay. here goes nothing. I ask that everyone reading this prepare themselves for a lot of nonsensical words, loosely strung together to depict my thoughts:
    The truth is I roll my eyes too much. Whenever someone says "YOLO" and waxes long on how high school, like the glorious Internet, is forever- or worse, 5ever. My pupils retreat back into my sockets when Mr. Popular starts complaining about The Nerd as soon as he leaves the conversation, words like sewage sludge coughing out of his mouth. My first thoughts are "ugh, kill me" when girls take rumors-turned-drama way too seriously. Or when they ask you about how your night out was, just because the guy they have a crush on and  are probably going to marry was there. And then, they get mad because you didn't ask "*girlish sigh* him" about his every thought, just in case he was thinking about her. Am I being condescending and arrogant? Yes.I think I am entitled to be like this after taking everyone's First World problems without being able to speak up about my own insecurities (and, yes, First World problems. I have those too, and I am not ashamed to admit it).
    You all know who I'm talking about. We make fun of these people, girls, but should we not feel sorry for them? They care more about being popular and pretty and thin, than being clever and noticing all the pretty things in life that aren't looking out at them through the mirror. It's not like we're any better than them, though. We are just as bad in different ways.
    Anyhow, since my spiritual gift appears to be coming up with clever comebacks and never saying them to the face of my adversary, here I go:
No,I don't care that your parents are horrible monsters from the pit of Hades because they have the audacity to expect at least a B- on your report card. Heaven forbid they want you to get into a decent college so you can have a career (read: be out of their hair so they can retire early).
    Yes, I do think "suck it up and deal with it" is the proper way of dealing with any physical injury you have that does not require a visit to the ER.
    I don't know what you see in him. He looks like Steve Rogers before the Captain America transformation.
    I'm really not sorry that you didn't have anyone to be entertained by on Saturday night. You could have asked me to hang out with you, but we don't belong to the same social standing you have constructed in your tiny brain.
    Tights are not pants.
    It's not me, it's you.
    I'd really rather not sit here and listen to you read your text conversation with "*girlish sigh* him" out loud. That does not mean I want to read it myself. Please, here's your phone back, let's talk about the weather.
    Why does everyone like you except for me? Is there something wrong with me, or them? Frankly, I find you annoying, and I think I'm allowed to think like that because I'm pretty sure you think I'm annoying, too.
    *End rant.*
     Okay, hopefully I offended no one in this post. I am so blessed by The Foursome, and our followers, and if you don't know me very well, you probably have written me off as a cold-hearted witch after reading this. To tell you the truth, I can be very cold-hearted and witchy. I can also care way too much about being pretty, thin, and popular. But isn't almost everyone like that? And don't we all have warm and huggable good qualities deep down- even those of us who complain about their parents and wear tights as pants and think too much about "*girlish sigh* him?" And in the same way that a sarcastic, myopic girl like myself can also be intelligent and sensitive, so can my vapid peers be kind and caring people.
    I complain too much- about my hometown, my church, and my friends. But I know that this time next year, when I am in a new and different place, that I will come to miss it all. As for the here and now, I will laugh- at my crazy friends, at how seriously we seem to take this humdrum life, and at myself.
    Well, since Rose has read this post and deemed it "not too ranty," I am going to post this, and end with some pretty little things I found in my archive on Tumblr (which I did not make. I am not that talented):

--Laura :)

my creativity has been forsaken for too long

Hello Laura, Rose, Mercy and whoever else is reading this,

First- Greetings to our very first followers! I know Rose may have freaked you out yesterday with a greeting but I wanted to give a greeting too (and probably freak you out again). But seriously. We were texting about you guys. Laura and I were sending texts that sounded kind of like: 'OHMYGOSH!! WE HAVE A FOLLOWER! WE HAVE TWO FOLLOWERS!! WHO ARE THESE AMAZING PEOPLE?! THEY MUST LIKE US IF THEY'RE FOLLOWING US! WELL WE LIKE THEM TOO! THEIR NAMES SOUND FAMOUS!!' it was slightly creepy now that I think about it. But just so you know we didn't mean any harm we were just very excited. Very very very very excited. It was a big day for us. :)

Now for my actual post. Laura, your post was exactly what I needed to hear on Tuesday morning when I read it. Last week wasn't the greatest and then this week started out pretty terribly. I was feeling very depressed for reasons I won't get into but as I talked to my friend about it I realized: I can't change my circumstances, my family, or my school but I can change my attitude towards all these things. And when I read your pots about creating and I realized that my creativity has also been forsaken for awhile so I've been trying to re-amp my creativity and my happiness.

So, to answer your question of how I've been creating:

Reading- I went off on what you said about reading and I compiled a list of books I want to read this school year, it consists of Harry Potter books, Mark Twain, Sir Author Conan Doyle, Corrie ten Boom, Anne Frank and others.

Music- I've been creating playlists of music that inspires me and makes me happy and not depressed. Ingrid Michaelson, Mumford and Sons, Bon Iver, and The Head and the Heart are all amazing artists but if that's all I'm listening to just to depress myself then something is wrong. Now I have playlists of music from Wicked, Mamma Mia, High School Musical, some of my favorite YouTube artists (including Hank Green) and when I listen to them I just want to have a dance party. They're fun.

I've also been making the computer desk space more creative and fun to look at. Before I would just look at the blank wall behind the computer but then I put up a big Van Gogh painting, a Keep Calm and Write On poster and a 'Not all who wander are lost' poster that Rose made me. It's nice.

I've also tried some new recipes for dinner. Nothing exciting, just some turkey meatloaf and a chicken cheesy pasta dish but it's more fun than making things I always do. And I helped the little kids make one of those cookie pizzas instead of a bunch of individual cookies and that was fun.

So I'm not the most creative kid ever, I don't write my own music (though my piano teacher gave me that as a warmup), I'm not willing to share my poetry like Mercy is (yet), and I'm not taking amazing pictures like Laura is but I'm working on seeing things a little differently, a little less on the psychology smart side of things (oh the things school will do to you) and more on the creative side and it's starting to perk me up. Yesterday and today have both been 100x better than Monday and Tuesday and tomorrow I get to see all of you at Lymans and who can't have fun there? So I'll see you all tomorrow and Laura we can't wait to hear from you on Monday <3 Grace

To live a creative life we must lose the fear of being wrong.

-Quote of the moment

I SWEAR TO GOODNESS I'M ADHD

Hi there! I really don't like this opening! !@#$%^&*()_&*&*&*^*&(*(*((*(^%&^%$#

Anyway, happy Wednesday! Unlike Laura my brain has been like....like.....a squirrel, chipmunk, white girl hybrid that's high on life and drinks way too much coffee...basically I've recently self diagnosed myself with ADHD because I cannot focus on anything lately. I don't know why. I think it's school. It's probably school. It has to be school, right? It's frying my brain like it's low fat tofu. Wait, random question time, is there not low fat tofu? Like is there high fat tofu? Like tofu for Jaquan? Hmmm....I can't decide I'll google it. Actually, there is high fat tofu! Okay, so anyway. I've been ADHD lately because of school and my point is it effects my ability to create.Anyway, since Mercy talked about poetry yesterday I though I'd tell you guys about my newest project.

So the other day I really was bored so I picked up this really cool book that my mom owns. It's a book of the all the Psalms written really cool with cute little pictures it. And since I had nothing else better to do I read the book jacket, and the author of this book sounded really cool. He was English but he had lived a great deal of his life in India. And since I got to thinking I could do this. Probably half as well as the this guy but I could do it. So to get myself back into creating I'm going to write out You Come Too which is a collection of poems by Robert Frost. I know it won't work out how I want it to but  it'll give me something to do.

Actually, Grace and Mercy do you know who Robert Frost is? BECAUSE YOU SHOULD BECAUSE HE'S MY MOST FAVORITE POET AND I YOUR BEST FRIEND FOR JAQUANS SAKE! And for this reason I include my favorite of his poems below.

-

Anyway, I have a bunch of things to say that have nothing to do with this rest of this post (IT'S THE ADHD I SWEAR!) I'll make a list because I freaking love lists! 

Irrelevant point #1. The other day I was listening to Itunes radio and this band named The Head and the Heart popped up, and Laura tells me you guys listen to them and I want to know one thing: WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ABOUT THEM? THEY'RE WONDERFUL! I'M POSTING ONE OF THERE SONGS THAT YOU'VE PROBABLY ALREADY HEARD BUT I LOVE IT SO LISTEN TO IT, OKAY?

Irrelevant point #2. We have our first followers! I don't mean to freak you guys out but, HI! THANKS FOR FOLLOWING OUR BLOG! I HOPE YOU DON'T THINK WERE WEIRD! Just kidding we totally are. I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT YOU EXIST! Unless you don't exist. Unless you're secretly our mothers trying to make us feel good about ourselves....then this is an awko taco. And yes I just used the term "awko taco" don't you judge me. I am who I is. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. Please ignore this paragraph. My social skills are underdeveloped/they don't exist. I'm so sorry. I'm  really a very uh, nice? person I swear. Sorry. 

Irrelevant point #3. I'm so excited to go apple pick on Friday! BUT MY MOTHER SAYS IT'S GOING TO RAIN. BUT THAT'S OKAY, RIGHT? WE CAN GO APPLE PICKING IN THE RAIN. WE HAVE TO GO APPLE PICKING IN THE RAIN. WE'RE GOING APPLE PICKING IN THE RAIN.

Irrelevant point #4. Did you know Milwaukee isn't a state? I found that out on Monday. I feel like this is something everyone knew. Why don't you people tell me these things? This probably isn't something I can blame on you, isn't it? I can blame it on my suck-ish homeschooled geography skills.

Irrelevant point #5. EDWARD SHEERAN'S  NEW ALBUM COMES OUT ON FEBRUARY 17TH 2014. Which his Birthday. And Mercy's Birthday. I'm so freaking excited! 

Well I've gotta bounce, Grace I'll see you tomorrow. 

We're all in this together!

Oh hey girls! No, I am totally not having a Camp Rock/High School Musical singalong right now... pfft. Nope. Not me.... *ahem* Moving on....

Good morning, girls, it's Tuesday.
It's actually not a very good morning. Well, sort of. It is good because I'm wearing my super warm and fuzzy gold and scarlet socks that make me feel so warm and delicious.
It's not good because it was  picture day at my other school today. Ew.  I'm going to be that one awkward kid who ends up looking like seriously horrible in their school picture. Also, in my Textual Analysis class, this kid Luis was turning the lights on and off really fast and Grace, this is all I could see-

 

 And it was seriously freaking me out. You have no idea. Plus my friend Emily wasn't making it any better, saying "THE ANGELS HAVE THE BLUE BOX! THEY'RE COMING, MERCY! DON'T BLINK!!!!" 

So yeah, that was school today.

Anyway, congratulations Laura, on again posting at the very last minute.. I applaud you on your bravery.

To answer your question on what I've been creating- well I'm not sure, exactly. I mean, I've definitely  been creating ways to keep my mouth shut because half the time I feel like people aren't really paying attention or just don't care what I'm talking about when I'm talking to them about something. And it makes me feel neglected and stupid so I've just learned to keep my mouth shut more. 

I've also been creating lots of poems- I've been in a very poem-ish mood and I'd totally post an excerpt from one I've been working on but my notebook is nowhere near and I'm too lazy to get up and get it. So sucks for you.

And this is going to be a really short and lame and non-inspiring post because I only have 9 minutes left on my computer time and I'd like to finish this post and not get punished by Rose tomorrow.

 So I guess I'll just say that.. I'm in the process of growing and creating and learning and not really giving advice so if all my posts are scattered and questioning and silly and rather unorganized, it's because I'm learning, processing, growing, changing and creating. 

So with that, I'll just leave you with these two songs, which have both been on my mind lately:

 Can I just say, that I have a mild obsession with Nick Jonas? Okay? Okay. (AAH TFIOS MOMENT)

okay. okay. 

okay.

okaybye. 

xoxo, Mercy

My brain is sometimes mashed potatoes

Hello girlies!
    

    You know I'm having a bad day when I post the above GIF. Actually, today itself hasn't been too horrible (except for school, coupled with my complex anatomy assignment, coupled with senioritis). I just haven't had time to sleep lately, and I have recently become stressed about the unnecessarily high cost of colleges everywhere. I advise you all to quit school now and join me as I jaunt off to the hinterlands and become a semi-homeless hermit. Who needs higher education? All it brings you is the grief of a 100k student loan and a job you probably hate and an obligatory mortgage that ends up costing THREE TIMES what your house is worth, because it takes you thirty years to pay off all your debt (Laura has also been taking a personal finance class, which has also been stressing her out).
    Okay. End rant. Other than everything mentioned in the above paragraph I have nothing to stress about! Really. It's one of those gray October days, when the wind softly blows the yellowing leaves off the trees and they flutter to the ground like snowflakes. I just took a shower and shaved my legs, and I feel so clean and ladylike. And a good friend of mine is coming over in about an hour (which is why I'm writing this now, instead of five minutes before midnight [and yes, I realize I did not publish this until ten. Past Laura was so hopeful that she would not procrastinate for once]).
    And, ladies, I have been creating.
    All your posts last week definitely inspired me. They opened my eyes to the fact that I simply have not been as creative as I used to be. Lately, my attitude about almost everything I do or think about doing has been "if it gets me into college, or wins me a scholarship, then it's worth it." Thus, since I don't intend on getting an arts degree, I simply have been neglecting my creative spark. My brain, instead of looking like this

has been looking like this

I'm sure y'all go through times like that. 
    So, lately I have been coming out of my uncreative funk, and I wanted to share with you girls how I have been gettin' crafty:
1. This blog. All the reading and writing I have been doing lately for OTAS has been a great workout for my cranial muscles. We are only entering into the third week of this project and I can already feel my thoughts clearing up from reading all of your fabulous posts, which enlighten and cheer me in a thousand different ways.
2. Reading. I haven't had a good book to lose myself in for a long time. But now I am perusing "Looking For The King," a World War II-era novel about Tolkien and Lewis with a Camelot twist. It has also aided in my thinking process, as well as giving me more of a scope for imagination. Also, I went book-hunting on the dusty shelves in my house, and between what I found here, and several other book recommendations from a friend, I am set to hibernate for the winter.
3. Photography. I got a new phone. With a halfway decent camera. So I have set out to capture the little things -all the details I love- through the lens. I'm not going to lie, I am not the world's best picture-taker. But it's amazing what you can do when nature is simply begging to be photographed this time of year. I love fall and technology. Both make me look like I really have an eye for things like this:

gah this one is my favorite.

this leaf was on our hummingbird feeder. #nofilter

on the steps at SHU<3

I'm not even gonna pretend I didn't edit this.

    These are my creations. This is what you ladies have inspired me to do- all of the sudden I am less afraid of being wrong and more motivated to notice and make beautiful things. I'm singing Les Mis in the shower again- at the top of my lungs and somewhat off-key, but I am singing. I don't say "I'm bored" as much as I used to, because now there are books to read and pictures to take and people to talk to. We should keep this blog up. I have a feeling it will cause some wonderful things.
    So, before I say goodbye, I want to know: what have you been creating? Please, share furiously with me every inspiration, dramatic monologue, foreign recipe, or piece of calligraphy you have. I am excited for where we are going to go with this.
-- Laura :)

This post has no name (except now it does)

Hello Laura, Rose, Mercy, and whoever else is reading this

First I want to say thanks to all you dearies. All your posts were awesome and I really enjoyed hearing all that nice stuff about me ;)

I've been thinking a lot about this post since last week because I tend to think a lot and that's just who I am, but I've kind of not been really sure what I was going to post about until it hit me. Laura is hormonal, Rose is angry at lots of things, and Mercy and I haven't had much self confidence in the past week so I thought I would post some nice motivational quotes by people a whole lot cooler/smarter than me.

Better to be strong than pretty and useless.

A girl should be two things: who and what she wants.

“Fat’ is usually the first insult a girl throws at another girl when she wants to hurt her.
I mean, is ‘fat’ really the worst thing a human being can be? Is ‘fat’ worse than ‘vindictive’, ‘jealous’, ‘shallow’, ‘vain’, ‘boring’ or ‘cruel’? Not to me; but then, you might retort, what do I know about the pressure to be skinny? I’m not in the business of being judged on my looks, what with being a writer and earning my living by using my brain…
I’ve got two daughters who will have to make their way in this skinny-obsessed world, and it worries me, because I don’t want them to be empty-headed, self-obsessed, emaciated clones; I’d rather they were independent, interesting, idealistic, kind, opinionated, original, funny – a thousand things, before ‘thin’. ... Let my girls be Hermiones, rather than Pansy Parkinsons.”

Read Books. Care about things. Get Excited. Try not to be too down on yourself. Enjoy the ever present game of knowing.

To live a creative life, we must lose the fear of being wrong.

Beauty isn't about having a pretty face. It is about having a pretty mind, a pretty heart, and most importantly, a beautiful soul.

People are going to judge anyway, so forget everyone and be [create] yourself.

I found these quotes from multiple different sources but I think they all kind of tie into each other and are summed up pretty nicely with the last one, which I edited to tie in with what Mercy and Hank Green have talked about this week. 

We need to focus on creating ourselves and sharing that creation with others and not worry about what people think of it. Because those who don't like it can find someone else to talk to, but there are some who will like that creation and some who will love that creation even with all it's flaws and it's socially awkwardness. (In the long run though, I think everyone is socially awkward resulting in no one being socially awkward. But that's a whole entire different post). Also, I really like that JK Rowling quote about being fat and skinny. I agree with it 110%. What is with girls throwing the word fat around as if it's the worst insult ever? I think it's worse to consider fat a bad thing, than to be fat. If that makes sense. 

Being fat isn't bad! Being unhealthy is. But if someone is naturally a big person that's not a bad thing. Just all those anorexic girls who are wasting away to nothing think it is. Not that I think being skinny is bad. Again, being unhealthy is. And Mercy before you start spewing things, no I don't think I'm fat. But I'm also not anorexic and I understand the difference and even if I'm not fat I still side with the 'fat is not a bad thing' view. Plus, who decides if a person is fat or skinny? How do people get deemed with the label fat? Not that it's a bad label, but who decides these things?

Also, I don't think being pretty is a bad thing. And I also don't think that every single pretty person is useless. (Obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be friends with any of you)

Rose, I also wish I lived before highways. That would be cool. And not all scientists are bad. Just most of them.

Laura, we'll see you on Monday. <3 Grace