Freedom Fest!!

This past Saturday was Freedom Fest! It's a festival put on by a nearby church each year that's entirely free--free rides, free CONCERTs, free fireworks....I spent $3 total all afternoon. $1 for a slice of Pizza Hut pizza, $1 for lemonade, and $1 for a snow cone (snow cones are a bit over-rated, by the way. =/ ).

When we got there they had the "Larger Rides!!" going, larger rides consisting of a Pharaoh's Fury and The Sizzler. Not Very big, but big enough to be fun. =)

We sat at the very end of the ride the first time, and these are a few of the pictures I took before one of the workers said "No cameras!" He's the dude in the red shirt at the end of the ride.

There's the view from the top of the ride.

Note the "Jason Dolley" haircut the guy on the right with the blue shirt has. That haircut was allll over the place. 

I found it fun wandering all over, seeing a few people I know and then recognizing lots of others from earlier in the day. There was The Justin Bieber Girl, who had a tee shirt saying "Justin Bieber Justin Bieber Justin Bieber Justin Bieber,*" the Sunburned To The Point That My Neck Felt Burned Guy, who sat in front of us the second time we rode the Fury. He must have been outside all day Saturday to get a burn like that! There were the Giggly Group O' Guys, who stood in line ahead of us for the Sizzler (Yes, they were giggly! They stood there, told each other a few jokes, and giggled!!). 

Anyway, we wandered around for about four and a half to five hours (FIVE HOURS?!? It didn't seem THAT long!), until the concert started. I have to go through these pictures and edit them--some of 'em look like they'd be pretty awesome! But since you guys have been begging to see them (admit it, your subconscious is anxious to see these.), I'll put a few up now. 

Jason Roy's guitar

Jesse Garcia, lead guitarist. If you look closely, you can see he's looking right at me and smiling for the picture. =D

You can see better in this edited version.

Well, I don't have time to put all these on here tonight. =( Just time for one more: This is for you, guitargirl. ;D

ELVIS LIVES!!!!

=D

~Kiwi~

*One of these days I want to print up a tee shirt with my name over and over on it. Why is it that Justin Bieber and the Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana get shirts with their names all over it? 

A Highly Entertaining Book

Okay, I have something to say now, and I feel like writing it, too! Yay! ;)

I just finished a highly entertaining book (hence the blog title) called The Season by Sarah MacLean. It is supposed to be a romantic drama, but it kinda turned out more of a sickly-romantic comedy. If you want to read it for yourself and not have me spoil it, please either skim over my summary or skip it. I plan to give away the whole plot, and include excerpts from the book itself, mingled with my commentary on it. =) This'll be fun.
And don't worry, you could still read it and enjoy it for the comedic side!

Okay. The Season takes place in 1815 England. The main character, Alex(andra), and her friends Vivi(an) and Ella (Eleanor), are the daughters of a duke, an earl, and a marquess, respectively. Alex has three brothers, Vivi has a twin brother mentioned by name at the beginning of the book and then never again, and Ella is the oldest in a family of girls. The three girls and Alex's brothers are good friends with Gavin So-and-so, [accidental] Earl of Blackmoor. I say 'accidental' because his father died unexpectedly in what appeared to be an accident several months before the opening of this book. Except, the author foolishly made it obvious that the former Earl was actually murdered by writing the first two pages from the murderer's point of view. [She shouldn't have done that. should have let us figure it out ourselves, but oh well.] Some other more prominent characters in the book are Gavin's uncle Lucien, the Baron Montgrave [he escaped from France during the revolution. Remember, this is while they're fighting Napoleon.], and Alex's parents.
The Season is the time of year when girls [about 17 or so] came out into society for the first time. Or, as Alex puts it [she's quite the feminist], a girl was "paraded like a piece of horseflesh in front of every unattached male in London who happened to have a sizable inheritance and an acceptable title. Her mother's goal was to have Alex married off by autumn."
Neither Alex nor her friends are excited by the whole marriage thing, but they must at least go along with their mothers.
At the first ball, Alex spots a guy who was so tall that he towered above the women around him. "The way he was positioned made him impossible to recognize, but Alex couldn't help but notice his broad shoulders and blond hair falling attractively over the collar of his waistcoat.....His shoulders were broader still than they had seemed when she was spying on him. ...She noted with appreciation the way his tailor had fitted his black jacket to them like a second skin....his hair...was a more golden shade of blond than she had first thought." A second skin?? Really? =P
I wish I had time to quote the entire book on here, or at least great big portions of it, since it is hilariously sappy, but I don't think the author would appreciate that. I mean, quoting chapters of the book would be one thing, but making fun of the chapters I quote? Somehow I doubt she would like that. But I'll give you one or two more portions.

Alex and Gavin fall in love. SURPRISE!!! Didn't see that one coming, did you? Well, they go to a ball together, him as her chaperone. Although technically they shouldn't have done that because he's not her brother, father, or trusted older male relative, like a chaperone was supposed to be.
ANYway, they have an argument at the ball because he was being to older-brother-ish and telling her to stay away from this one guy, so they went home early.
Later That Evening....
"'You have to stop thinking of me as your sister, Gavin.' [I think she meant, stop pretending you're in authority over me.]
"He offered her a half smile. 'That seems to be the singular problem.' Confusion clouded her emerald eyes as he continued, 'You see, I haven't been thinking of you as my sister. In fact, the way I've been thinking when it comes to you is the very opposite of brotherly.' [italics are in the book. "clouded emerald eyes." how very descriptive.]"
blah blah blah blah...
"'You needn't worry. I'm not going to act on my feelings.'
"'Why?' Alex asked the question without thinking."
blah blah blah sappy sappy sappy...
"'Instead of the feelings dissipating as I spent time in your company'--he slashed a hand through the air in frustration--'they only seemed to grow stronger.' [An example of 'absence makes the heart grow fonder', eh? Italics in that sentence are mine.]
"Alex looked up at him, meeting his frustrated grey eyes. [okay, so far we have 'clouded emerald eyes' and 'frustrated grey eyes...'] 'Not why are you feeling the way you are, Gavin. Why aren't you going to act on those feelings?'"
sappy sappy sappy...
"'There are a dozen reasons why I shouldn't act on them.' He lifted his hands to cradle her face between them. 'A hundred reasons why I should turn around and walk out of this room.' He leaned down until he was a hairbreadth away from her. 'But I'm through listening to them.' And, with that, he kissed her."
BLEAH!! It's not that I don't like romance: I don't mind romance one bit! Some romances are very sweet to read, or watch as movies. I like romances. IN MODERATION! This book is...
I expected it to be more adventurous than it was. I mean, the cover says "[Alex] manages to get entangled in her biggest scrape yet." And yes, the cover suggests teen romance novel, but the description sounded a bit better than that, and besides, my favorite series (The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale) was changed to have a teen romancey cover, but it's still a good book.

Oh, oh oh, at the end, Gavin is (of course) put in a tough spot by the villain *SPOILER ALERT!* who is his uncle. The uncle sticks a gun against Alex's neck and starts talking about how "Oh, your father had it sooo easy as Earl! And then he had a perfect family and he got everything that should have been mine, and then when he died his Earlship went to YOU, a mere child [about 20 or so], instead of me....oh poor me...I'll take from you the one thing you care about, since you don't deserve to be so happy!" Alex catches him monologuing!!! Isn't that the oldest thing in the book? He talks about how Gavin doesn't deserve to be happy, and about how he (the uncle) deserves more, and then looses his grip on Alex, who stomps hard on his foot, making him lose his balance and hop around the room, holding his toes.
Wow.

I know, I'm poking some fun at this book, but it's fun to poke fun, and it was also a very entertaining book. Sappy and sticky-sweet, but fun. =)

~Kiwi da Critic~ ;)

Hum.
I know I was supposed to have blogged already this week, but I don't really feel like I have anything noteworthy to say. I know I do: we went and spent the weekend at a friend's house, and went to another friend's graduation party, but I'm not really in a writing mood right now.

~Kiwi~

graduation photos

Um, I don't really know what to post about today. =/ I am uninspired. Earlier in the week I tried to load a video on here from my computer, but it wouldn't load so you won't be seeing it. (sorry, folks.)

So instead I'll show you a few of my grad photos. Mom and I just went to the Gardens and used my camera, then had Walgreens print them up.

This one might have been sent out, I don't remember for sure.

And this one I know we put in the cards. 

For some reason I can't remember which one of the others we used! Oh well. 

Anyway.

In an attempt to make this a little more informative & interesting, I'll tell you what we did this afternoon: painted the dining room! Now it's blue with a white ceiling and dark wood trim. My grad colors! ;) The walls still need a second coat, but it looks much better than it did before. 

Sorry this one's so dull. =/ I'm kinda dull right now.

~Kiwi~

BREAKING NEWS!!! F-16 BLACKBIRD!!

One quite talented photographer, Kiwi D. Fruit, noticed an amazing picture in her portfolio earlier today. Although quite rare, she had managed to catch the first known photograph of the Wisconsin Giant Blackbird.

Here's the stunning picture.

This amazing bird has been known to range from large crow-sized to small car-sized, but never before has one been documented as F-16-sized!

"I was taking pictures at the local air show," says Fruit, "When this plane flew over, I remember thinking to myself that looks like the perfect angle for a picture. So I snapped the picture and moved on. I think I saw the bird, too, but in the heat of the moment (the planes were flying low and loud over my head at the moment) I thought it was just another airplane."

This picture has been checked out be the governments FPI (Fraudulent Photograph Investigating) because so many people thought it was a fake, but Dave Berghenstein, head of the FPI, said it all checked out.
"Just because this bird is so rare, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. People rarely see the Loch Ness Monster or Big Foot, but those exist, too. Giant squid. Bill Waterson."

There may be some more investigation, but most people have been satisfied by the FPI's work.

We may do another article or two on this, as more research and investigation is done. For Lack of a Better Title makes no claims as to the authentication of this picture

Man, I'm really neglecting Bloggerland. =/ i'm sorry, it's just a little....hard to write each week. I am, however, very close to my 200th post on here! i should reach 200 in about a month. =)
I'll try to make this post as worth your while as possible.
Yesterday, Mom & I went to the local Botanical Gardens so she could take pictures of me for my graduation announcements. =) My grin started feeling cheesy after a while, but even with the cheesyness, the last few pictures we took were the best. I'll go ahead and put them on here after we send out the announcements, okay?
While we were there we saw a pair of geese and a trio of goslings. So cute-n-fuzzy!!
Once we had the pictures we needed, we headed to Walgreens to have them printed. mom ordered 10 of one, 10 of another, and 5 of a third. 25 pictures, right? Uh..... I suggest reading all the specifications/small print/large-and-obvious-notices when you order things. We ordered 25 pages of four. Ooops.
Now I have 100 fabulous pictures of Moi! Maybe I'll have my room wallpapered with 'em.

Well, I hope that was worth your while! I don't think it was worth much, but then again, it shouldn't have taken much of your while, either. =)
~Kiwi~