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NaNoWriMo: What is it?

Put the ice queens, princesses, witches, monsters, pirates, Doctors, and whatever other costume the kids wore away.  Halloween is almost ove...

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Dancing With The Stars Season 24: a New Set for New Complaints

Recently, I saw an article (I can't remember where it was nor am I willing to hunt it down so I can link it to you) that claims Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) is no longer full of "has-beens" and "never-going-to-bes."  The reason for this according to that particular writer is one particular star on the recently announced casting list.

Now, before I fully read the article or even knew who had been included in Season 24's star list and whom they'd be paired with, I thought maybe they got Johnny Depp, Katy Perry, Anne Hathaway, or some other celebrity that is so much in the limelight that it would draw in viewers of all ages, castes, and occupations.  I was confused when the star they wrote of was Charo.  The article claimed this artist as the most popular in a list of stars that includes Mr. T, Chris Kattan, Heather Morris, Erika Jayne, and Normani Kordei.  Do I recognize all of their names?  Of course not, but that doesn't mean I don't recognize their picture or the role they played in a show.  Then there's Mr. T.  I'm sorry but I think of him as more well-known than most of the others.

Then I thought back to previous seasons, and while yes the first few seasons weren't nearly as star-studded, they've had some popular celebrities in the past.  I still don't really recognize the names of season 1's contestants, but season 2 held Drew Lachey and Stacy Kiebler not too mention Jerry Rice.  Season 3 held Vivica A. Fox, Sara Evans, Jerry Springer, and Emmitt Smith.  Season 4 included Joey Fatone and Billy Ray Cyrus while season 5 contained the very popular Sabrina Bryan, well-known for her part as Dorinda in The Cheetah Girls.  I'll admit that season 6 seemed to be more "has-beens" and "little-knowns", but then season 7 came back with Kim Kardashian.  Season 8 had Lil' Kim and Season 9 brought Melissa Joan Hart.  Season 10 brought Kate Gosselin and Season 11 was Bristol Palin and Kyle Massey though they placed 3rd and 2nd respectively.  They were beaten by "has-been" Jennifer Grey.  Season 12 contained Chris Jericho and Kendra Wilkinson.  Rob Kardashian and Rikki Lake competed in Season 13.  The only name I recognized from season 14 was admittedly "has-been" Jaleel White, a common occurrence for many of the names I recognized.  Season 15 brought back past competitors.  Season 16 however, held another huge star at the time, though it was through Disney - Zendaya.  Kellie Pickler was apparently making waves in the country music world as well.  Season 17 had members of the hit musicals High School Musical and Glee - Corbin Bleu and Amber Riley, respectively.  I really don't feel like continuing to list names that were big at the time they were on DWTS, even if there are only a few more to get caught up on.

It just annoyed me that someone claimed that DWTS has never had celebrities that were popular in the year they competed like how they managed to get this Charo for season 24.  According to ABC.com, season 24 will start with the 400th episode on Monday, March 20.  Recently, they celebrated 10 years on the air, now it's on episode 400 which is great.  Sadly, I miss the days where they had a results show that went over what they expected for the dances and various skits, like Len Goodman's judging scale (You get 1 point just for showing up; a two for actually moving on the dance floor.)

Anyway, here's to hoping you can enjoy another wonderful season of DWTS.  Oh, and don't forget to wear green on Friday, March 17!

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Laze-about

Okay, so last week I actually had the intention of typing up a post about some thoughts I'd been having about Pokemon GO and the buddy system, then I had thoughts about Charmed that I thought of making into a post (and I still plan on doing each of these eventually) but as Sunday got closer and closer, I felt myself losing interest in writing much of anything.  Finally, on Sunday, I ended up just lazing about.

What I mean is that I spent the day, a day I should have been cleaning, doing schoolwork and finalizing my weekly blog post just laying in bed, reading.  And I wasn't reading regular books either.  Confession time: I was reading fanfiction.  I know, it's not much of a confession when I look at previous posts.  If I write them, I have to read at least a few, right?  But here's the kicker: I was reading fanfiction as a way to detach myself from a world I've found myself increasingly losing interest in.  It's hard finding stories that don't piss me off in some way - and fanfictions are the worst for it.

It's not like I can justify disappearing to the library for hours of reading anymore.  I also can't just go out and buy every book that interests me and read as quickly as I used to.  Part of it is because the few people I deal with seem to delight in distracting me from whatever I might be working on.  It truly does annoy me when I'm reading to be drawn from a well-crafted world just to answer a question about something like dinner or a new game or going out that night for a walk...It shouldn't though.  I just have always found reading the best way to escape from a world I don't understand and, more importantly, don't wish to understand.

So, I spent last Sunday just reading, or at least trying to when a friend of ours shows up just as I was starting to get the energy to actually get up and do some much-needed housework done.  Suddenly I felt sapped.  All the energy I had gained from the enjoyable day before and the reading I'd done that morning was gone.  I didn't want to think or work or write, so I returned to finding fanfics to read.  I didn't go outside for Pokemon GO - lost that week's seventh-day rewards.  I didn't eat much.  I didn't even log on to my e-mail or Facebook...not that I check my Facebook that often anyway...  I just felt completely drained again.  Between my husband wishing to go out all the time and friends popping over to borrow our internet, I don't think I've had more than an hour to myself in the last three weeks, if not longer.  It grates on my nerves and makes me unwilling to do things I may once have loved doing.

Hell, I can't look at my stories because I know I have ideas, but there's no time for me to get all the proper research done, like rewatching a show to ensure things get written properly, but I can't seem to get ideas for the stories out of my head unless I hunt down fanfics and then I get annoyed because the stories that may actually fit the ideas in my head are either with pairings that I can't stand to read about (Harry/Hermione in anything HP related, for just one example) or use gender-bending, not as a part of the story as such that it had to occur or that the person truly felt that wy in their story, no, they use the gender-bending because they wanted to rename the character with a different name, or they will give them another sibling for that sole reason.  It doesn't matter what it was, most gender-bending stories I can't stand.  I'd rather read a story with male pregnancy than read one where this guy was actually born a girl and raised to believe they were a boy complete with all the bits.  That's not to say anything against Haku's story in Naruto.  That one is actually one I'm still unsure of their gender...

Anyway, I just needed to get a few things out of my head, and while it annoys me to no end that I feel a need to constantly strive for some time that is strictly for me and constantly failing, I love my husband who is always trying to get out and go places or spend time with me, and I love my dog who is curently sleeping after a late night in the city.