Wanna know what I like? Youtube.

My love affair with this website started when I was in about fifth grade, and I went through a phase of watching "Fred" videos. I'm pretty sure most elementary schoolers were obsessed with those videos (at least all the kids I went to school with were...). The weird thing is that I went back a few weeks ago to see if all of the "Fred" videos were still on the site, and sure enough, they were. After rewatching a majority of them I really questioned why I liked them in the first place. The only one I still think is even remotely funny is this one. And saying that I enjoy watching it is a bit of a stretch, but the line about him being "top dog" gets me every time.

A couple months ago, way back in April, I got back into the Youtube scene, after a three year dry spell where I didn't really use the internet too much. The first youtuber I really loved was Nerimon. I first found his "Alex Reads Twilight" series (which I would recommend), and from then on I went and watched pretty much every single one of his videos. After that I moved onto Charlieissocoollike, then Danisnotonfire, and most recently I found a lovely vlogger named Jenna whose channel is called LesbianAnswers.

At this point in time I have pretty much run through all of the videos uploaded on each of those channels, and I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not. Do you have a favorite Youtuber?

Living My Life on 8tracks

For those of you who aren't aware, there is a music sharing website called 8tracks that I absolutely adore. I found it a year ago back when I would use StumbleUpon to find new websites. Basically what people do on 8tracks is make unique play-lists with music from their iTunes library. While I must admit that you have to sort through quite a bit of crap, there are some very  good mixes on that website. I've made a few myself, and while I wouldn't say they were particularly bad by any means, it is very hard to become "8tracks famous". There are hoards of people who frequent that site, so my pipe dream of getting a mix that becomes popular is a long way off.

The funny thing is, I forgot about this website after winter break of 2011, and I just started using my account again this summer. I think part of the reason is because I associate 8tracks with a time in my life (the beginning of freshman year), that was very stressful for me, and I knew that this website helped me calm down. I would literally just listen to 8track mixes and surf blog spot all day at school first semester of last school year.  I think I may just have to resort to that again. I've actually found quite a few new blogs these past few weeks, and I've followed them, so hopefully blogging joy will abound.

I just made a mix on 8tracks today because I was bored, so feel free to check it out! I made the mix as a sort of "Final Hurrah" for my freshman year. In other words, I just took all my favorite songs from when I was a freshman and plopped them into one mix. Link is here!

Side note: My profile picture on 8tracks is the Swag Snowman. More than likely that is the best piece of artwork I have ever come up with.

I'm Returning to the Flaming Dungeons of High School

I just realized that tomorrow is August 1st. How did this happen? It seems like just yesterday I was lounging in my room trying to beat the June heat wave and gorging on mac n cheese (Easy Mac was my drug of choice this summer). What I find especially distressing about all of this is the fact that I will have to make a big decision about whether or not to use a back pack again this school year. Last year for a majority of second semester I had to roam the halls back pack-less. In a school where you're allowed to carry back packs, I was making a major fashion faux pas. It wasn't even my decision to get rid of my back pack, it was the doctor's orders! If you'll recall, I actually wrote an entire post about the trials and tribulations of being without a book bag, crappily illustrated and all. 

My back is actually much better than it was when I wrote that post (I'd really rather not go into my actual injury, mostly because the doctors still have no clue what's wrong). Even though I'm in much less pain, I don't know if I want to take the risk of the back pack again. I experience enough self loathing because of my back pain, and the decision to make myself more unlike everyone else by not carrying a back pack again would probably send me into another state of spiraling depression, much like the one I was in before I started this blog (okay, I probably shouldn't call it "spiraling depression", but I was not doing too well for a few months there).

If I do choose to go the route of the book bag, I do have one type of pack in mind. They're called Dakine back packs, and I heard from a girl, who I am no longer friends with, that they are just the best. I probably shouldn't trust her, considering by this point I have cut off most all ties with her, but she could be on to something. I was told that they come with a case for a laptop to slip into, and since I have to accept the school issued laptop, I could stick that in the book bag, and hold everything else! That is the best option I've come up with thus far. It would at least be better than carrying everything around like I used to. It actually made my upper back start hurting, because I was carrying an entire accordion folder plus a laptop. So I pretty much got to choose between lower back pain with a book bag, or upper back pain by lugging around all my school crap. I think that by getting one of these Dakine packs I could create a happy medium?

Now this is where you come in, dear reader. Yes, you! I know that a lot of you who read this never comment, and I suppose I'm okay with that. But I would LOVE AND APPRECIATE any input I can get at this point. So if you're a regular commenter or not, I would be so grateful if you could give me any ideas.

School starts in less than a month, I need to figure this out fast. 

Driver's Education

Driver's Ed, more like rip out my brain and drag it across molten concrete because that is how I have felt all week having to learn to drive. Most unfortunately for me, though, the class lasts two weeks, so I'm only half way done with the torture. The first day wasn't actually half bad! I went to the Health and Safety council building where the class was, and pretty much just filled in a worksheet from 8 am to 1 pm. Very low stress, low key (if not incredibly boring). No, the fun really started on Tuesday, when I actually had to get behind the wheel of a vehicle. I was tasked with driving around in a white Pontiac, my driving instructor sitting in the passenger seat, and all I had to do was not get both of us plus the other student sitting in the backseat killed. Sounds easy, right?

Wrong. 

Very, very wrong. Despite the fact that I have had my learner's permit since February, and have been practicing driving a lot since then, I still did a miserable job driving the first day (and the days to follow, might I add). I would like to blame children's television partly for my faults, though I really know that's a bit of a stretch. Really, though, didn't we all think we learned a little something from all the episode's of Spongebob where he was in Ms.Puff's class? And I'll be damned if you try and tell me that The Suite Life of Zack and Cody didn't teach me that the technical term for the "PRNDL" is 'gearshift'. What stinks though is if I try and explain all this to my driving instructor, I doubt he would take me seriously. 

"But... I'm really not a bad driver! I'll have you know I watched the episode of Spongebob where he wrote an essay about What Not to Do At a Stoplight!"

"What, that doesn't even make any... DEAR LORD, EYES ON THE ROAD HANNAH!!"

If that conversation went any other way than this, I would be completely and utterly shocked. 

Luckily on Wednesday, I got a day to recover. Back in the classroom from 8 to 1 again, I was able to sit back and relax as the teacher played movie after movie about proper driving techniques. A guest speaker also came and talked to us about organ donation, and I quite liked her. She had nice spunk. 

But like all good things, they must come to and end eventually, and on Thursday I was back on the road. Pretty much what happened was instead of driving around residential areas like we had on Tuesday, my instructor made me go out on the highway, and believe me when I say I was NOT ready for that. It sort of came like a punch in the gut, with me happily driving along neighborhood streets when all of a sudden we were on the merge ramp leading up to the highway and the instructor was yelling "FOOT ON THE GAS, HANNAH, YOU GOTTA SPEED IT UP". I think I more stressed then than I had been in a long time. I felt like I had reached the level 'Moonview Highway' on Mario Kart, and cars were coming at me from all different directions. I managed to hold back my tears as the instructor kept yelling, and I am unsure whether or not the other student sitting in the back seat was snickering at my distress, or horking snot back into his nose. 

I really could go on about Thursday, but I'll just leave it at that. Friday was my day off, so Josalyn and I spent some quality time together (which I actually plan on posting about later because it was amazingly fun?!?). But last night I was really upset about having to drive again today. It turns out driving today wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be, but I had to drive on the interstate, which was even worse than the highway and I probably almost peed myself about four times. After the interstate we headed to downtown, and that was especially terrible because of all the construction, and we had to parallel park. 

There was so much more to my week than this, but I think I'll be done writing about it for now. I cringed just bringing back these fresh memories to write about. Maybe I'll write a reflection post for week two? Maybe not? All I know is that if I fail my driving test next Saturday I am going to go insane. 

Goodbye for now, my lovelies. 

I'M BACK AND MORE FABULOUS THAN EVER

I suppose it is high time I explain my extended absence of posting. It's not that I wanted to let good 'ol Infinitely Pi grow dusty, but I didn't have much of a choice. What is even more distressing for me is the fact that the post that was front and center on my blog during my absence was about my journaling blunders of long ago. I'm quite positive that is going to be a post I will not be able to live down for a long time.

Now, the actual reason I was gone for so long was because, drum roll please, I was at a baton competition. I believe I've alluded to the fact that I twirl batons in my free time, but I've never actually written a whole post about it. Basically from Sunday through Thursday of this past week I was three states away from my home at the biggest competition of the year: Nationals. There were probably well over a thousand other guys and gals who were all participating, and I met a lot of amazing and extremely talented individuals. Not only that, but I also learned a lot about myself on this trip, such as the fact that I can eat a jumbo pretzel in under two minutes. A few other things I learned on my journey of self discovery include:

• I can only play the card game "Trash" so many times before I start to lose it.
• That sitting in a gym all day allows you to see people's dark sides.
• Drinking three bottles of water in a two hour time span is a terrible idea.
• "Hannah, you can't possibly eat that entire thing of fries."

           "Just you try and stop me".

These, really, are just the highlights of my week spent away from home. There is so much more I could talk about, but I'd really rather not bore you all with a long and drawn out explanation of the ins and outs of my whole week. I will say, though, that the worst part of the entire trip was the car ride. It was ten hours there, and another ten hours on the return trip. My father refused to travel by air plane, so we got to spend twenty some hours in our Ford Escape together. And for anyone who has ever had to travel a long distance with another family member, they'll know it can be a little bit maddening. About four hours in on the way home, I tried to get my dad to play a game with me. The rules went that we played the song "Revolution Nine" by The Beatles and time ourselves to see how long we could last before changing the song. Most unfortunately, as with most other games of my own creation, my father was unwilling to participate. In retrospect, it was probably a good idea we didn't follow through with it. 

All I can say is that I am extremely glad that I am home now. I missed my family, my dog, my friends, and of course I missed blogging ;) 

Edit: I realized I might not be posting again for a week or two, so I thought I would post something to help tide you all over for the next drought. Here's some songs I listened to constantly during my trip. I hope y'all enjoy them as much as I do.

Modest Mouse: The World At Large

Weezer: Keep Fishin'

Alex Day: Forever Yours

The Kooks: Junk of the Heart

I Suck At Texting

A couple nights ago around 10:30 I was sitting in my bed relaxing after a long day, and emailing one of my friends. After a few minutes my phone started buzzing, creating a racket by vibrating my nightstand and lighting up red, altering me of the incoming message. I wearily picked up my phone and opened it up, ready to send a brusque message to the whoever bothered me. But once I saw who it was from, I nearly dropped my phone. The message was from a boy who I had had a crush on in middle school, but I had not been talking to him as much recently. I was a little disconcerted, and what made me even more confused was that it was a picture message.

I closed my eyes tight and clicked the 'okay' button so I could read the text. In little black letters across my screen were the words "Where does the probe come out?".

Where Does The Probe Come Out?

This is what I get for having a cell phone with texting enabled. I had absolutely no idea why my former crush was sending me text messages about probing, and I sat there with my mouth gaping open. My eyes popped out of my head and I threw my phone down on my bed. I was utterly and totally confused. Then I saw that the picture was of our Biology lab about frog anatomy, and the probe was sticking out of one of the frog's body parts. Nervously, I sent him a text message telling him that no, I do not know where the probe comes out, and I am sorry that I couldn't be of assistance. After that I just sat in my bed for a minute, trying to pretend like that didn't traumatize me. I suppose at this point it'd be helpful to clue you all in on the fact that I am utterly afraid that if there is ever an alien apocalypse an anal probe will be used on me. Sorry if that was TMI, but I feel like it  is an important part of this story.

Soon afterwords I turned off my phone and went to bed. I am still working to forget about that night, but so far that hasn't really been able to happen. I need closure on this, but I have no idea what to do. Any advice?

Let's See How Far We've Come

I was looking at my blog archive today, and it sort of shocked me:

Since September of 2011, I have definitely made a big stride in how often I update my blog. Even this year in 2012, I've increased my post count each month since January. Part of me is proud of myself for being able to have so much to say, but another voice in my head starts to worry. Are my posts losing quality? Are the things I wrote way back when more interesting because I spent a few days coming up with them? 

One notable thing is that once I started reading Homestuck (March 2012), my post count started jumping considerably. While I realize I do post quite a bit about Homestuck, it can't possibly the only reason for my increase in posting. One reason I am sure of is that I love blogging, and it's very relaxing for me to type up things to post on here. But the fear is still there.

So, long time blog readers, what say you? Do you prefer my old posts, or my newer ones? I would post a poll asking, but my current poll still has about 8 days left until the timeout, and deleting that poll until it expires is just something I am not okay with (I have a staunch policy of keeping polls up until their time runs out). Instead, leave a comment, if you'd please. Honestly, I would love to hear what you all have to say. 

P.S.-I'm so sorry for the Matchbox 20 reference in the post title. Really, I couldn't help myself, they were my favorite band in fifth grade. Reliving my old musical tastes is still a sore topic with me at times, and I'm just trying to have closure, okay?

Just Popping In

I feel like I haven't posted anything fun in a few days, and I'm not really posting anything fun today, either. I'm just stopping in right now to tie up a few loose ends and post some pictures.

First Order of Business: My Strange Addiction
I was chilling with my friends Amber and Lizzie  last night, and Amber made us watch about three episodes of My Strange Addiction on Youtube. If you've never seen/heard of the show, it's basically a bunch of people who, well, have strange addictions. I think the strangest addictions we saw were a three way tie between intimate relationship with car, triple K breast implants, and adult who dressed like a baby. I always think it's sort of interesting how the people get into these addictions in the first place, you know? There had to be a first time they did the strange thing, and I always wonder what prompted them to do it.

While we were watching the episode of the woman who had so many breast implants she had a bra size of triple K, something really odd happened. There was a close up of the woman as she was having a heart to heart with her friend about her addiction, and in the background was the slightly blurry face of an unidentified man. Maybe we're the only ones who find this funny/creepy, but I feel like sharing nonetheless...

The fact that he has a mustache makes it so much worse better.

Second Order of Business: Omegle

Also last night while I was hanging out with friends, we decided to hop onto Omegle. I've only ever been on a few times before, and each time has proven traumatic in some way. Considering Omegle is a sight where people like do naughty things in front of strangers, I always feel like I am playing a game of Russian Roulette every time I get on (Will I see something gross this time?... Nope! How about now? ...OH GOD NO WHY). 

After being on for about half an hour, and skipping past hundreds of questionable individuals, something uncanny occurred. We met normal people! Two teenagers of about our age named Sean and Sarah were online, and we had the pleasure of making their acquaintance. We had a delightful conversation ranging from Harry Potter to Fanfiction to ridiculous teachers, and it was fabulous. Never before have I had such a long conversation on Omegle, and best of all, this one didn't end up with us being flashed or being asked to take off clothing. All in all I am quite glad we met them, and I think this will go down in history as being the best Omegle experience of my whole life. 

Third Order of Business: Tavros

Yesterday in Economics I was chatting with Josalyn as I went through old pictures on my desktop, and I found this:

As of right now I am still unable to explain why I love the idea of Tavros being able to play the bongos so much, but it's the truth. I have absolutely no idea who drew this picture, and I think it's off Tumblr...(?) Though I'm certain we all know I was not responsible for this. Honestly, there have been so many failed attempts at art on this blog, no one would believe me even if I said I drew it ;) 

Sorry that this post was all over the place, but I didn't really feel like writing three whole posts devoted to these topics at hand. I hope you all have a wonderful Saturday! 

EDIT: I feel like it's important to mention that sometimes I purposely stick Josalyn's name in posts just so I can use the 'Josalyn' post tag because it's fun.