Thursday, 20 January 2011

Did I Set That Off?

Right. So. The last thing I should be doing right now is blogging. I have a killer headache, like the one I had back in October(or was it November?). The one that lasted two and a half weeks? Yeah. It's like that. I convinced my mum to let me stay off school yesterday and my nan convinced her to let me have today off, too. I feel like crap, I can't look at the screen for longer than a couple of minutes at a time, and I hate it. I don't know how I managed to write that post about Darren yesterday but let me tell you, it took a very long time.

I realised I hadn't actually blogged about how things were going, so I decided I should tell you while waiting for the first episode of Gossip Girl to load.

The Biology exam was okay. I was really nervous beforehand. I couldn't stop shaking and I felt like I wanted to throw up, but I stomached it and sat the exam and all was fine and dandy. I'm reluctant to say that I think I've possibly scraped a B, just in case I completely fail it, but that's what I'm hoping for -- if I get a B or higher, I'll be happy.

On Saturday, my friend Shannon turned fourteen. She was my best friend from birth until the age of eleven and it was the first time I'd been round her house in two years -- it was scarily nostalgic. Abby, Alex and Jess came round my house at eleven and we went to Shannon's at twelve. From there, we caught a bus to the cinema where we watched the third Narnia movie in 3D. I love Narnia.

It was kind of suffocating because there were seven other girls and I'm just not comfortable around females. I'm comfortable around guys, most of my friends are guys, I can be happy around guys. With girls, there's too many high-heels and skirts and too much make-up and gossip. It's disgusting. Nauseating. Awful. I hate it.  However, I suffered the grueling task of hanging out with those seven girls and lived to tell the tale.

We then came back to town where we separated briefly, Abby, Alex, Jess and I returning to my house for a few hours while the others went to Shannon's. At seven, we went back to Shannon's, where we ate dinner and played Just Dance on the Wii for three hours until it was time to leave. Abby and Alex got picked up from my house and Jess stayed the night. Watching over the footage I took from that night, we found one clip in particular too hilarious not to share with the world. Abby, making a complete fool of herself.


And that's that, really. There is, naturally, other stuff going on in my life right now. It is, however, too personal to share. A lot of matters aren't even my stories to tell and I doubt my friends would be too happy if I blogged about it online.

Now, before my head splits open, I'm going to go. Gossip Girl has finished loading so I'm going to go and watch that. See you whenever I'm better, readers!

Darren Everett Criss

Darren Criss is my favourite musical artist, my favourite actor, and my biggest idol. For now, let's just forget about the fact that I'm also head over heels for him because that's completely irrelevant. If you're following this blog, you probably know who he is (at least by name) but this post is just outlining how excited I am for/about him.

Darren Criss made his on-stage debut when he was just ten years old, in 42nd Street Moon's 1997 production of Fanny in the role of Cesario. Robin Williams, the voice of Genie in Aladdin, made him want to act. A voice in an animated movie. If that doesn't scream "amazing", then I don't know what does. He can play a variety of instruments that include violin, guitar, piano, cello, mandolin, and drums. Darren wrote his first song when he was fourteen and he later began attending the University of Michigan. He was just this dorky, Disney-loving, carefree guy with a million possibilities in front of him.

He met these people in university and they started writing nerdy plays and musicals, performing them at UMich. They're all adorable, hilarious people with outstanding talent. They won some money and threw together a webseries called Little White Lie, which they didn't post online until a much later date. At this time, he was still just this unknown guy who recorded himself singing Disney songs and posting them on YouTube under the username inspired by the cartoon character he created when he was eight.

In 2009, Harry Potter: The Musical was created, in which Darren Criss not only wrote half the songs but also starred as the one and only Harry Potter. They posted it online for friends who couldn't manage to see the show live. After getting into a few copyright issues, they took it down and re-posted it as A Very Potter Musical, cutting out a few inappropriate jokes here and there. They expected their friends, relatives and classmates to watch it. Never did they expect -- or even dream -- that it would become such an internet sensation. These friends began to call themselves StarkidPotter.

Almost immediately after they re-posted the Harry Potter parody, they also uploaded Little White Lie and received a very positive response. Darren Criss plays Toby Phillips, a down-to-earth guy with his eyes set on one of the main characters -- Sami -- but his availability stolen by Sami's rival, Tanya.

For 24 Hour Theatre, a challenge to write and rehearse four plays in 24 hours, Darren played the role of Dick in Me and My Dick. Afterwards, StarkidPotter decided they liked the idea so much that they'd clean it up and perform it properly as it's own musical. In November, they posted this musical on their YouTube account. It, too, quickly became popular. However, this time, Joe Walker took Darren's place.

Why? Because Darren was busy filming for a new television drama series called Eastwick. He was in five out of thirteen episodes, portraying a character named Josh Burton.

In April, Darren then guest-starred in an episode of Cold Case (titled Free Love), before returning to his friends (now an official acting company, Starkid) to work on A Very Potter Sequel. The sequel, it's music entirely written by Darren, was posted online in July 2010. Once again, he played Harry, and the musical was a complete success.

Around the same time, Darren released his debut EP on iTunes, which was produced in his bedroom. It contains five of his original songs: Human, Jealousy, Sami (written for LWL), Don't You and Not Alone. He performed quiet shows in coffee shops and street corners where anyone could stand by and listen, free of charge.

In November 2010, he appeared on Glee as an openly gay teen from a rival school, Dalton Academy, and Kurt's love interest. His version of Teenage Dream became Glee's most successful, fastest-selling single to date as Starkids swarmed in to buy it. I started watching Glee when Darren landed a part and I am now a proud member of the Glee fandom.

Darren's character, Blaine, is an inspiration to many people and Darren Criss is now officially a celebrity. A month into his new-found fame, he performed a show at The Roxy and asked people to bring along unused toys, which he then donated to the Toys For Tots charity. He recently attended the Golden Globes and stood on stage with the rest of the Glee cast as they accepted their award, and is now going to appear on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, alongside Chris Colfer (who plays Kurt).

This year, he is writing the music for another (original) Starkid production, Starship, will be working on Glee some more, and has plans to release a full-length, original album. He will also be taking part in the Glee UK Live Tour with the rest of the Glee cast. 

The main reason this man is such an inspiration to me is that, in less than two years, Darren Criss has gone from this random guy that makes goofy musicals with his friends to this fantastic, globally acknowledged actor on one of the most popular television series of all time. From July 2009 to January 2011, he's gone from a guy who sits in his bedroom singing Disney songs to the cover of one of the biggest American magazines. He's still just as humble and dorky and open as he was back then, and he's not afraid to rock those pink sunglasses and make nerdy references in interviews. He's still a fanboy, he's still new to fame, he's still the adorably hilarious guy we all know and fell in love with.

The point of this post? I'm not completely sure. I'm just so proud of Darren, of how far he's come and in such little time. I'm so excited for him, watching all these new experiences and opportunities take hold of him. It makes me so happy to see how much he's enjoying himself now, and to realise that fame hasn't affected his personalities or tamed his hilarious quirks in the slightest. I love him, he's my biggest inspiration, and he will be my favourite actor/musical artist for a long time to come.

Darren Criss, never change.



Tuesday, 18 January 2011

Golden Globes

It's late, I'm tired, I want to go to bed, but I'm trying to keep this thing up. So, hi. I'll blog about Saturday (friend's birthday) when I'm more awake and I find it easier to concentrate. Right now, I want to blog about the Golden Globes.

I didn't watch them but most of the people I follow on Tumblr were liveblogging/screencapping/filming it so I managed to see everything I care about. Glee, Lea Michele, Matt Morrison, Jane Lynch and Chris Colfer were all nominated in various different categories. Glee won, Jane Lynch won, and (to me) most importantly, Chris Colfer won. Lea and Matt sadly didn't, but to be nominated is a fantastic achievement in itself -- and they still won through Glee.

Chris is genuinely the sweetest person I know of. Every time I watch the video of his acceptance speech, I choke up. He's amazing. When they called out his name, he just sort of sat there in shock while Dianna Agron kissed him and Ashley Fink pushed him up. As he walked to the stage, he was in a complete trance. It was obvious. He looked completely shellshocked. His speech was so beautiful and inspiring and wonderful. I love him.

Since the Golden Globes, I've watched various interviews with the cast/Chris/Darren about the awards and they're all adorable. Every single member of that cast is so amazing and beautiful and inspiring and gorgeous and fantastic and I'm tired so I'm running out of adjectives here.

Darren, as always, was sporting his infamous pink sunglasses. If he ever decides not to wear them to any kind of special event, I'd start worrying. They are him. They complete him. They are amazing. And he got up on stage! With the rest of the cast! I started flailing and fangirling when I saw the pictures.

Anyway, I am insanely proud of all of them. I love them so much. I realise this post has genuinely just been a gushing ramble that none of you care about, but there we go. At least I'm blogging.

Thursday, 13 January 2011

Pre-Exam Stress

It's late, the night before my exam, and I can't sleep. My head hurts, like usual, and I'm petrified of failing tomorrow. I've studied myself into a frenzy, my friend and I quizzed each other today after school, I've done everything I possibly can to try and get everything into my overcrowded brain. I know I'm prepared, I know that I know enough to get a passing grade, but my paranoia is getting the better of me and convincing me that I know nothing and that I will fail.

I'm sorry for being such a Debbie Downer lately, and thank you so much to those of you who commented and gave me your support and kind words. You have no idea how much I appreciate it that you took the time to leave those comments for me.

The stuff going on in my head isn't something that can sort itself out overnight. I understand that you don't know what it is so you won't be able to get it, but it's something I have to come to terms with about myself and by myself. That's going to take time because I'm so confused about it, and I wish I felt comfortable enough to talk about it but I really don't. When I do, however, you -- my readers -- will be some of the first people to know.

Telling me not to worry, though I understand you have good intentions, generally only tends to make me worry more. I try not to think about whatever is worrying me which effectively only makes me more aware of it which makes me worry more. It's a vicious cycle, and one I've fallen prey to more than once.

My birthday, Megha, is on 31st January. Once my birthday is over, I will blog about it. It will either be a babble about how excited I am that it turned out alright, or an angst!fest because it got ruined. All (about why I'm dreading this birthday) will be explained in that blog post.

Right, I'm starting to feel more tired now, so I'm going to try and get some more sleep. I hope I'm not too exhausted for the exam tomorrow. See you, readers!

Tuesday, 11 January 2011

Nothing Eventful

"I'll try and post every other day," I said ... and then didn't post for five days.

I've been busy doing homework and, more completely, studying for my Biology GCSE (which is on Thursday! Ack!). When I'm not studying or at school, I'm sleeping or spending time on here, talking to friends. When I'm not studying, I'm just really not in the mood for blogging. I'm not now, actually, I just decided I should try and actually stick to my promise.

Aside from the fact that I'm never in the mood to blog, there's also the little factor that I have nothing to talk about. Nothing eventful is happening at school, and what is happening is top secret, tell-anyone-and-I'll-have-to-kill-you kind of stuff, so I can't exactly talk about it here.

I've been suffering with headaches, lately, too. Nothing too bad like before, not painful enough to bring my life to an abrupt halt, but I've been getting them at least twice every day for the past week or so. It's not fun.

I've had a lot of down moments over the past couple of days for several reasons. I won't go into detail but January is a bad month for me as it is, especially this year with the stress of the GCSE exam. There's also a whole lot of stuff going round in my head at the moment (stuff which, at the current time, I'm not comfortable discussing ... with anyone) which generally leads to me getting angsty when I think about it all too much.

So, my life is extremely uneventful and dull at the moment, though I hope it'll pick up soon. Exam stress will be (partially) over on Thursday, and my friend's birthday* is at the weekend so we're going to the cinema/city centre/her house. That ought to lighten my mood a bit. I'll probably post about that afterwards, so that's something to ... I don't know ... look forward to?

I suppose I'll see you all later.

*Speaking of birthdays, mine is (unfortunately) coming up. People keep nagging me about doing something for it, and I just ... do not want to.

Thursday, 6 January 2011

2011 Book Count

I've started up my new blog for this year's Book Count. Again, my target is different, but there are new rules. It's a fresh start, and I'm already close to putting my first book of the year (Looking For Alaska by John Green) on there. It's funny how, last year, I'd read four books by the 3rd January. This year, it's the 6th and I've barely even finished one. However, I do have other things to think about (i.e. exams) so reading isn't my main priority.

Anyway, if you'd like to follow my 2011 Book Count blog, you can find it here. My 2010 Book Count, for anyone curious, can be found here.

I don't have much else to say, other than it's kind of late and I'm tired so I'll be going to bed now. Goodnight!

Tuesday, 4 January 2011

Another Full Moon

I'm gonna try and get into the habit of blogging at least every other day. I was going to blog about my first day back at school (today) but it was so boring and uneventful. Of course, I suppose it could have been more interesting if I hadn't only gotten two hours of sleep last night. Nothing is interesting when I'm exhausted.

Here's a short story I wrote months ago about Remus Lupin and the Marauders experiencing another full moon. For those unfamiliar with the Harry Potter series, Remus Lupin is a werewolf. He (Moony; Harry's 3rd Year DADA teacher), James Potter (Prongs; Harry's father), Sirius Black (Padfoot; Harry's Godfather), and Peter Pettigrew (Wormtail) were best friends at Hogwarts and they called themselves the Marauders. When Remus' friends found out about his being a werewolf, they started researching animagi. In their Fifth Year, they finally succeeded in (illegally) turning themselves into animagi (people who can change into a specific creature at will) so they could accompany Remus during the full moon.

Without any further ado, I give you, Another Full Moon:

Monday, 3 January 2011

Steph Blogs Too Less

Again, this is kind of in response to Megha's comment on my last post, but I had actually been thinking about blogging about this before I saw her comment.

Megha's right, I don't blog often enough. I used to be really good about it, too. I used to blog a fair bit. Then it slowly dwindled down to hardly blogging at all. I'm going to try and change that. Consider this my unofficial, three-days-late New Years' Resolution -- I'm going to blog more. I'm going to make a conscious effort to blog more.

See, now that I have Tumblr, I just vent/stress/scream/fangirl over there very briefly and I don't even think about blogging. That's going to change. I'm not going to stop talking about things on Tumblr, but I'm going to talk about things more here. I will. Even if I have to get my friends to kick me up the backside to do it.

I start school tomorrow and I have a Biology GCSE on the 13th, so I'm going to be cramming. You won't be hearing much from me throughout the next ten days because what time I do spend online won't be spent blogging about how much I hate school and how tiring studying can be. However, I shall keep you updated when I can.

See you soon, I suppose!

Sunday, 2 January 2011

In Response to Megha's Comment

Megha wrote a comment on my last post that I wish to reply to. However, blogger doesn't allow me to reply to comments, so I have to do it like this.
Wow, Steph! You've had a really... busy year! I can't believe you've been able to go through it with all the ups and downs in your life (such as the constant headaches).
I've been ill an awful lot this year, but it's the same as it always has been. Getting diseases and illnesses constantly is something you get used to when you've had a weak immune system your entire life. It's the same with my sleeping problems -- a lot of people don't understand how I can find it so easy to stay up late, but when you've rarely been able to sleep before midnight for three years, you get used to it.

The way I see it, you just have to deal with illnesses and problems and stress; suck it up and keep going. If you let the bad times in your life control you, you won't ever have a chance to properly live. So while I was dealing with all the crap last year threw my way, I tried not to let it affect what I was doing. There were a few times, like with the headache that lasted three weeks, when it did interrupt my life, but sometimes, it's inevitable.

Long story short, I've learnt to put up with the low times in my life.
Do you keep a diary or something? Cos' most people wouldn't remember so much. 
Well, I have this blog, which is kind of like a diary, but I didn't really look back on here to see much. While my memory is generally pretty terrible, I can remember a lot of events and such that happened in my life. When I spoke about Tumblr, I admit, I actually went through my Tumblr archives to find my first post and find out when I joined. The rest of it, however, was written from memory.

So have I, you know. It's been a different year from the others, sorta... relaxing. It's like a message to beware, as it might be the end of Fun (although that's unlikely - probably my imagination running loose again) this year.
I'm glad you enjoyed your year!  Mine has been pretty stressful, especially since September. The schoolwork and homework has really been stressing out, and I've been struggling to handle it all. But, like I said, problems aside, it's been a good year.

Have you made any resolutions? 
I'm not really one for resolutions, I'm afraid. So, no, I haven't.

Saturday, 1 January 2011

Happy New Year

2010 has had his ups and downs, but overall, it's been a pretty good year. This time last year, I was a completely different person. I have changed, matured, and grown so much in the past twelve months, it's kind of surreal.

My biggest change, I think, is that I'm a Nerdfighter. I discovered Kristina Horner towards the end of 2009, and at the beginning of 2010, I started discovering everyone else. Nerimon, fiveawesomegirls, Vlogbrothers. Through them, I found charlieissocoollike, lexcanroar, the 5AG as separate people, DFTBA records. And so many more YouTubers and things. They have changed me so much, it's kind of unreal. Because of Kristina, I was introduced to Wizard Rock, and DFTBA Records introduced me to so many new styles of music.

I've really gotten into fanfiction and I love finding friends in fandoms (particularly the Harry Potter one, naturally). I've become a lot more involved in the online community and I love all the online friends I've made. My writing has improved dramatically thanks to KWC and

In the early months of the year, I read my first manga, Pita-Ten, soon followed by Vampire Knight. I later watched my first anime, Ouran High School Host Club. I started watching the Vampire Knight anime, though for some reason, I stopped a few episodes in. I also began reading the Ouran manga, though I've yet to read past the first volume. I'm now attending an anime expo with my cousin a few months.

I went to my first concert in June, and P!nk completely rocked that stage. I also went to France with the school for a day, which was my first time abroad. My mother and I had been considering going somewhere with some kind of connection to Harry Potter, and we eventually deciding on going to a small town six hours north called Alnwick. The castle grounds were used in the Potter movies. We went in August, and it was one of the best long weekends of my life.

Another big change was finding Starkid. About a week before A Very Potter Sequel was put online, I finally got tired of being confused by the AVPM references on AverageWizard and decided to watch A Very Potter Musical. I fell in love with it. I watched it several times over that week, and when A Very Potter Sequel was posted, I was so excited. I quickly found Little White Lie, too, even though it doesn't have a playlist of it's own and you can't access it from Starkid's account. After a few weeks of re-watching the musicals and hovering over the link to the Me and My Dick playlist, I finally decided to watch that, too.

On 5th August, I joined Tumblr, a site that has drastically changed my life. I joined so I could easily keep track of lexcanroar(youtube)/iseahorse(tumblr)'s posts, and it was amazing. I have over 7,000 posts on there already, in the space of five months. I got into it instantly and I've been addicted ever since. When I turn the laptop on, Tumblr is always the first site I go to. It has it's issues, but I absolutely adore that site. On 19th September, I created an EffYeahDevinLytle tumblr. Devin followed it twenty-four hours after it was created.

In September, I went into Year Nine and begrudgingly watched the piles of homework topple onto me. It was stressful and I was on the verge of a mental breakdown. But I got through it. At some point between September and November, I discovered pansexuality, and knew instantly that -- after almost a year of questioning -- I'd found my sexuality.

In October, it was revealed to the world that Darren Criss -- Harry Potter from AVPM -- would be starring in Glee as a gay teen from a rival school, and was to supposedly going to become Kurt's love interest. For two weeks leading up to 9th November (his first episode), I watched as much of Glee as I could. Glee had never interested me beforehand and I'd never planned on watching it. With one of the most important men in my life getting a role on the show, however, I knew I had to watch it. As I whizzed through the first season, I found myself falling in love with the show, and I am now proud to say I'm part of the Glee fandom.

I'm now part of a Glee RP on Tumblr, roleplaying as Blaine, and I get along really well with the girl who roleplays Kurt -- Blaine's boyfriend -- and she's my first Tumblr friend. If you're reading this, hey Karo ^.^

On 13th November, I went to my second concert -- a Paramore one. I went with my best friend, and it was absolutely amazing. This month, they announced that two of the band members would be leaving (and are supposedly to be replaced by Taylor York's brother and someone else who I've forgotten the name of). I'm so grateful that I managed to get in just in time.

In December, I came out to my best friend. We haven't really gotten a chance to talk about it thoroughly but she's perfectly okay with it, completely supportive of it, and really grateful that I told her. I couldn't ask for a better friend than her. She's so amazing and I love her to pieces.

Christmas wasn't the best it could have been, but it ended on a happy note. My baby cousin was really ill with a dangerously high temperature so, while his parents took him to A+E, the rest of my family sat quietly in the living room, watching TV and attempting to eat Christmas dinner, though none of us could enjoy ourselves or eat much because we were so worried. The doctors managed to get his temperature down and they came back a few hours later with him as happy as could be. I got several Disney DVDs from several people (though mostly my mum), and my wonderful mother got me a giant Simba teddy that I now sleep with at night. Not ashamed.

Overall, the year has been relatively good to me, though I've had a lot of low times. I doubt 2011 will top this year, but who knows? It might surprise me.