Happiness in a Link

Brought to you by Buzzfeed. (Aka me just linking to them)

Click me for eternal happiness

It makes me smile.
It makes me happy.

Come on y'all, it's SO CUTE.

Hey, I do Math

No, I'm not your average math lover.

I'm your trying to be Olympiad level math girl here.

Confused? Good.

Let me explain. Olympiad level problems are crazy hard. As in circumcenters, isogonal angles, homothety, inversion and stuff like that for the geometry. Barycentric coordinates and trig-bashing guys and girls! Confused yet? Sorry. Even I can't do it.

I never could. And I'm trying to learn it.

Now let's move on to combinatorics.

Lots of graph theory and stuff I don't know.

As for algebra? I'm not too sure.

For number theory, there's a TON of Chinese Remainder Theorem, Wilson's Theorem and so on.

Peeps, y'all want to help? I'd appreciate it.

Just let me borrow some of your brains haha.

Cruel Place

I'm not gonna say which website, but there's a very snarky website out there full of HATERS. Honest. All they do is hate on people.

I hate it.

I feel so bad.

Watching City of Bones

So it failed at the box office.

It's okay though. Cassandra Clare's greatness is so great that this movie is at least half good. I don't care what Rotten Tomatoes says. I will watch City of Bones and like it.
I love Lily Collins. I love Jamie Campbell Bower. I love the cast. I will watch City of Bones.

Because honestly? I'm faithful to Cassandra Clare, no matter what happens in the movie.

*Just took this walk in very humid weather. *
Anything will seem good now.

CASSANDRA CLARE I FREAKING LOVE YOUR WRITING

Paleo

So I think the paleo LIFESTYLE is the way to go. Honestly.

I've been running more and feeling more energetic. I've been waking up at usual times aka not at noon. I've been living with a bunch of junk food (pretzels and 40 ice cream bars/cones/sandwiches) and I haven't even touched it.

I've been running faster. Translation: I got my butt out of the house.

And to be honest, I feel pretty good. I actually like going paleo. That's not to say I don't eat carbs because I eat TONS OF FRUIT. Still, fruit is amazing.

Ice cream? Not so much.

I'm not a strict paleo as of five days in. I'm more of a greek yogurt and some sugary fruit type of paleo eater.
That's okay though.

I still feel so much better.

Hey Jude

The Beatles are the bomb.

Like they make me happy in ways that Taylor Swift can't.

Man, I wish I were about 40 years older so I could have lived in the Beatles era. I mean honestly, they ROCK.

You know what the definition of rock music is? Anything that has been influenced by the Beatles. No seriously. I was at this lecture on the history of rock and roll and that's what the guy said. He was probably the first dude at Juilliard to listen to rock music and be a piano major at the same time. That's called SKILL.

But Hey Jude, Here Comes the Sun.

You want to watch it with me? Turns out Jude was actually Julian, John Lennon's son. But of course no one else cares about it as much as I do.

Here Comes Valerie, not dressed in white. Man, I forget the rest of Here Comes the Bride.

Hey, Costco Rocks

cause they have supersize EVERYTHING. Which means I can buy EVERYTHING cause it's cheaper! Like bananas. And frozen pineapple. And frozen blueberries. And greek yogurt.

And this epically good sausage.

Plus they have great samples, great return policies, great people, and great everything.

If only they'd sell peanut flour and stuff. Then my life would be perfect.

But their cheese is delicious, so we're all good.

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It features books we're LIVING to read. This is my first Waiting on Wednesday in a long time, and my first attempt back in the book blogging world. Well, technically, I'm not back. But hey, it's worth a shot.

And this week I'm waiting on



Yeah, you got that right. Isla and the Happily Ever After.

Synopsis:
From the glittering streets of Manhattan to the moonlit rooftops of Paris, falling in love is easy for hopeless dreamer Isla and introspective artist Josh. But as they begin their senior year in France, Isla and Josh are quickly forced to confront the heartbreaking reality that happily-ever-afters aren’t always forever.

Their romantic journey is skillfully intertwined with those of beloved couples Anna and Étienne and Lola and Cricket, whose paths are destined to collide in a sweeping finale certain to please fans old and new. (Goodreads)

May 13, 2014. Yeah, it'll be quite a long wait. Luckily I have blog posts to write and stories to read and... yeah it's not happening.

STEPHANIE PERKINS, I WILL GIVE YOU MY SOUL AND MY HAIR FOR THIS BOOK. You know you want my hair. It's down to my waist. It's crazy long :)

Or not.

Things Getting Microwaved

It's kinda addicting watching cheese melt in the microwave. And no, it's not just because I love cheese. Okay, so maybe twenty percent of it is.

But the other eighty percent of the time, I hate cheese. So it's okay.

I like cheese in grilled cheese sandwiches and cheesecake and that's about it. It's just so cheesy!
Honestly though. Get a microwave and some cheese.

Put said cheese on plate and put plate in said microwave.

1 minute later= MELTED CHEESE WHICH IS DELICIOUS ON BASICALLY ANYTHING.

There. I just taught you how to perform a life skill you don't need. Scratch that. You need it. You just don't know it yet.

Valerie=trendsetter in odd activities= pretending to be cool= we get the picture.

CHEESE. ON CHEESE. ON CHEESE. ON CHEESE. On a camera. Haha, I suck at jokes.

GOT THE BLOGILATES APP

Are you jealous? Don't be! :)

Just get it through the app store, unless you have an Android. Then be jealous. Very, very jealous.

It's like my dream come true.

 

The process.

The jealousy building up the Android owner.

SO HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. In your face. No offense of course.

Debate

... Is a pretty intense thing.

No joke.

But even so, the girls who debate are the nicest, most empowering people out there. I love them.

They make me feel so smart and happy. Here's to debate girls. I love you :)

Music

I listen to everything.
Classical, hard rock, punk, so-called emo, pop, jazz, just not rap. I want to love it, but I really can't listen to rap when I don't understand what's going on. I'm sorry, but my mind just can't process the speed.

• Taylor Swift
• Black Veil Brides
• Gustav Holst's The Planets
• Philip Glass
• Paramore
• Coldplay
• the Beatles
• Demi Lovato
• Carly Rae Jepsen
• Sara Bareilles
• Karmin
• Blessthefall
• Lights (the musician, not the song, although the song is good too)
• Avril Lavigne
• Owl City
• 78violet (aka Aly and AJ!)
• Liz Gillies
• Ed Sheeran (I loved you BEFORE you were famous)
• Christina Perri

..... and more.

But honestly, I love all music.

Being A Selective Vegan

I'm a selective vegan. Which means I'm a part-time vegan, part-time carnivore.

Which means whenever I eat something that qualifies as vegan (yes bananas, apples, rice, grains, tofu...) I'm a vegan. And if I eat meat or cheese or eggs? Hello carnivorous life!

So hey. I'm a selective vegan.

And don't laugh.

And don't say "Valerie, stop dreaming!"

Oh no... I'm doing.

With selective veganism.

Aka Valerie's average diet.

So hey, you want some vegan food? Come here, to the dark side. We've got some awesome smoothies made with almond milk. Carrie Underwood can drink them too!

VMAs, anyone?

I didn't watch them, but I did hear a lot about Miley Cyrus's performance.

All that I can say is that Miley has a really long tongue...

And that as a feminist, all I want to say is that Robin Thicke has faults as well.

PS. Check it Buzzfeed right now! It's going BANANAS (or should I say TEDDY BEARS) over Miley Cyrus right now.

Hanging Out....

Panera Bread is such a nice haven..

What comfort and peace.

Plus their bagels are AMAZING. :)

And I like pretending I'm an awesome writer/blogger/person with a laptop using their wifi...
because I'm a successful person with who's loaded with money.

In my dreams.

But you know, it is nice to have awesome music and stare at everything and everyone.

Got a Grooveshark

... because playlist.com totally changed since last year.

And now it's like Pandora, and I'm not a Pandora girl.
I'm a "know-what-is-playing" type of girl.

Dear Me,

Sometimes I wonder if my parents actually care because if they do, they sure do a terrible job of showing it.

Honestly.

I could be ana and they wouldn't notice a thing. I'm not kidding here. They don't notice whenever I skip meals or ANYTHING. I could get through the whole day and not eat until dinner. And they don't notice.

I'm tired.

I want my life to officially start.

Will the real Valerie please stand up? Please tell me she's cool and beautiful and sophisticated and not awkward or introverted. I hope she's happier than I am now.

Will her real parents please stand up too? Please tell me they're amazing.

And will her life officially start? She doesn't want to be like this.

I'm crying as I write this. And of course, no one notices.

I could put all the help pleas in the world on here, and no one would notice. I have put so many on here, and no one freaking does a thing. Where is everyone?

Please. Help.

Dear Me,

You've got a ton of issues.

Sincerely,

Valerie

Bye Bye B

Watching movies helps me defeat (well avoid actually) B.

Discovered that yesterday. Trying it after failing it today.

It's getting better.

Oh No- Help Needed

I think I just failed.

This is terrifying.

I'm calling the other side of me B. That because it's the kind of thing you do not want to be. B   is a monster, and I'm trying to control it.

I can't even call it a she or give it any endearment.
I won't.

It's like B is spiraling out of control.

Help. Help. Help.

PS. It's like a psychological thriller against myself. UGH. I hate it. I HATE B.

Comeback

Yesterday I took my first run in over a month.

More Later.

So Much Obsession, So Little Time

Buzzfeed is my newest obsession.

It's just
Zayn Malik, DON'T BE ENGAGED

Kids Are Pretty Much Drunk Adults but tinyfied 

and more but you have to discover it yourself :)

I'm switching from AOL to Buzzfeed. Why?

I want to be ENLIGHTENED by the sarcasm and humor that's only in Buzzfeed.

And any site that documents the "unabridged Sprouse twin Twitter war"  or something like that is EPIC.

PS. on day 4 of habit breaking. Nearly failed already, but I'm back.

Will someone please

• say to a stranger, "That dress is really pretty!"?
• smile at someone
• skip instead of walk
• watch Winnie the Pooh
• do a dance party
• read Cinderella
• help someone out
• help me out (haha)
• chase a butterfly
• take a midnight walk
• go on a scavenger hunt
• scream like a maniac
• go to Barnes and Noble and just read
• get some books and just go
• fulfill a dream
• accomplish something

Please :)

It'll make you and me happy. 

Valerie

Breaking, Breading, Breathing

So now I need to make the post relate to my title.

On it.

Breaking: I'm trying to break these bad habits. Many of them. It takes twenty one days to break them. Me? I'm day two of many more to come.

Pray for me. Think of me as you go through your day.

Breading: Bread is losing its appeal bit by bit. I'm working on it.

Carbs are evil. Haha. Salmon is delicious. And I eat lentils like once a year.

Breathing: yeah, there are too many songs and books with a title related to that.

Breathe by Abbi Glines

Breathe by Taylor Swift

And so on.

I'm Addicted

To way too many things.

• Internet
• my iPod
• reading
• Procrastinating
• sleeping
• summer
• obsessively reloading pages
• trying to be messy
• Being messy
• youtube

You?

Faux Gardening

That's a broccoli plant! Too bad it's not mine...

Nomnomnomnom except I don't exactly like broccoli...

And I need spellcheck to spell it

I should be anti-broccoli for Halloween 

Finding Motivation

I would love to be self-motivated.

Exercise cause you want to! Write a book cause you want to! Do anything and everything just CAUSE YOU WANT TO. (sorry, my fetish for caps lock seems to be coming out)

Don't you just love and hate those nice, smart, seemingly perfect people? You want to hate them, but you just can't.

Now I just want to be one.

Once I get my self-motivation.

But I can't yet.

So think to yourself, how are you motivated?

Parents

They do everything for us.

They mean almost nothing to us until we become parents.

Let's break the trend.

#tellyourmomyouloveher
#tellyourdadthankyou

#thosearemyfirsthashtags

PARENTS.
To my parents: Thank you.

I know I'm messy, but I was born that way. I'm trying.

Keep on trucking

That's my kind of car.

Planes kinda suck

My flight has been delayed for three hours.

Not coolio

blue

 Idk what this is
I found it in one of my drafts, so I'll
Just post it.
 

But the picture is something I found on Baidu


The Gothic Ballerina

I have this thing for feminism

...as of two days ago. And you know what's so amazing? You don't have to be a girl to be a feminist. And a feminist isn't someone who just supports gender equality. A feminist is someone who supports equality in all forms: sexual orientation, gender, religion, age, race, and so on.

So I AM A FEMINIST. And I hope you are as well.

And it's crazy the notions we have about feminists today. But that's just because we live in a patriarchal society that naturally brings up children this way.

And I hate it.

You know when I say, "hey guys?" That can be unintentionally sexist. So now I'm trying to say "hey y'all" or "hey cats." I know that cats must be offended, but I'll be animalist over sexist any day.

And you know what's so weird? Girls have to be "softer" in debate and "polite", but guys don't get ANY OF THAT JUNK AT ALL. What is wrong with this society? The assumption that men must be this so-called masculine and girls must be feminine?

Where in the world is this word called GENDER? BTW, gender is in the heart. Sex is from the body. You are born a certain sex, but your gender is all up to you. And








So yes I am a feminist. And I don't think I'm a doormat. I don't think that I need to back down. FEMINISTS UNITE.

be strong be sweet be healthy If only I could do that

Help

I need help. But no one offers it. It's so weird; it's like I'm going through a psychological thriller like Black Swan.

A July Event

Strategy stealing arguments are clever, yet they are also very accessible as well. 

THIS IS FOR THOSE XKCD FANS (maybe) WHO LIVE (loving is so last year) MATH AND GAME STRATEGY ARGUMENTS.

I did not digress that much.

Yay me.

The monster hasn't been calmed yet (binging).

But I'm getting better.

Inspiring

Doodles on a flow? DINOSAURS ON A FLOW?

Freaking amazing! Like I can now debate my heart out amazing.

Note: this is not mine. It's from a friend. 

Like I said, amazing.

And debate related.

This is how the greats do it.

And there goes Another Milestone

Does flying on an airplane by yourself for the first time count as one? 

It had better.

Thank you, picture, for providing this interlude. And in all seriousness, Conflict Kitchen is pretty hardcore and delicious. Whoa! Hardcore now counts as a word...

I almost got lost. I did for about twenty minutes! And that's when my inner innocent girl who's so not cultured came out.

But at least I'm still alive.

This is outside the art store at Carnegie Mellon. So creepily cool! 

(Even more than the idea of kale brownies or raw egg smoothies...)

PS I'm not in Pennsylvania now

Past life

I miss you Dreamlight.

And I loved ice cream. But it's so lethal

SSSSSOOOOOOOOOO GGGGOOOOOODDDDD.

But like I said, past life.

Recurring People

If only math was as natural to me as seeing similarities in people. It's scary, seeing one person but only seeing the person you associate them with in him or her. It's freaky. And confusing.

Like I can't look at this one guy in my grade without associating him with a bald eagle. Scary right?

Yeah. Totally. 

But for someone like me who has been exposed to many social situations, one thing that's fairly interesting is the recurring types of people. Hence the title. I find that they always are somewhat interconnected, which is very interesting. 

No matter where you go, there are always the judge mental and cruel people, but then there are the extremely compassionate and loving ones as well.

( that's so not me. I wish though)

Unless you're me. I've only met one person like me in my life. Maybe that's the case for everyone though.

So that's it for now.

But I'm so conflicted about the Internet security resolution for LD debate. I mean, what can I do?

Debate meme

I'm a trendsetter. You just don't know it yet.

Something that's been hidden

Yes it exists. More later.

Trying out that one app Over

It's for OBS. 

Here's to you, Taylor Swift

I secretly loved you five years ago when you weren't cool. 

Okay, maybe love is too strong of a word for knowing some of the lyrics to You Belong with Me and watching your videos. However, keep into consideration that I was young(er). Know that I thought you as a role model.

I knew all the lyrics to Speak Now, to Love Story, to Mine. I was a Swiftie. I sang along to every song on the radio! I knew your height!

Then enter Red. I was do hyped about it. Until I actually listened to it that is. I hated it. We are Never Getting Back Together?

Major ew moment for me! And I knew You were trouble? Way worse?

Where was the country girl Taylor that I knew? And why was this parody person taking her place? And you changed your looks! GASP. 

It was as out of place as this suitcase.

So I didn't listen to you.

Meanwhile, all the girls at school started going to your concerts? Red anyone? Yeah! Taylor Swift is just too good! I know all her songs!

Sure.

I knew about Ed Sheeran before he was mainstream, and now you're telling me he had a duet with Taylor?

I'm not that behind...

Until the Everything has Changed music video came out.

Everything in my life was changing. And here was a song that made me happy. I missed you so much Taylor. Especially the little kiddy songs that made me smile.

Taylor, you shouldn't be angry. I don't think it suits you.

I listened to the rest of your album. I love All Too Well. And don't worry, I didn't search up "why is Taylor Swift too tall" or "how many guys has Taylor Sift dated" or anything. I'm too loyal to do that. Haha.

But I still can't listen to the singles on your album. Give me The Moment I Knew instead.

Here's to you, Taylor Swift.

(Does anyone recognize the book title reference I made? It's Here's to you, Rachel Robinson by Judy Blume)

And I'm getting to understand your boy drama... although not on your level. Maybe in another life...

Feelings

You know what? Today's post isn't going to have pictures. And I know all that clichéd "a picture is worth a thousand words and all", but I really don't care.

Because today is a feelings post. A post about feelings and abstractness and imagination. And hurt and shame and guilt and lalalalalaness, you know.

I haven't posted in what, almost a year? I'm sorry, but my reviews are at Open Book Society (email me at blackandblue@openbooksociety.com).

Now this is a blog about self growth.

I'm entering a new chapter in life (no I'm not saying what as I don't want stalkers sorry), and I'm scared.

Because I feel like a mess-up. I used to be super skinny (not really but skinnier I guess). And then something happened. I can't pinpoint where I messed up or when I messed up. But this is where I am now: probably 20 pounds heavier and ashamed.

I want to stop binging and all. I want to have a normal life with food. I WANT TO GET BACK IN SHAPE. (Sorry for the caps).

So starting today, I'm getting serious.

Blogging provides accountability, and here or there, my feelings are out here. I don't need a Facebook. Correction: I don't have a Facebook or anything more complicated than a blog, so here I am. I'm gonna be healthy.

One blog post at a time.

Hello blogging world. This is Valerie saying her hellos.

By the way, if no one reads this, I'm okay. It's probably best if no one does, to tell you the truth.

You know, I actually might one day be sane. (Probs not though)

So I don't know how to stop binging forever. I don't know. I tried to be pro ana or whatever. It didn't work.

But when I find out and I will, you bet I'm writing a post about it.