I have recently stumbled upon Pandemic 2, and I am now hooked. Right now, I've got a virus running rampant, and it's reached everywhere except for Mexico, China, Madagascar, and Cuba.

Other randomness: Jezebel posted a great ode to Clarissa Explains it All, the one that was somewhat similar to the one I posted a few weeks ago.

I ordered the necklace I mentioned here and I got it in the mail today! :D

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but John Green is one of my favorite authors.

About... two years ago, Looking for Alaska (his first novel) won the Michael L. Printz Award, and An Abundance of Katherines was a Printz Honor winner. Looking for Alaska is one of those books that wrecks you in the best possible way (it's up there with The Book Thief with Books That Made Me Cry), and An Abundance of Katherines is funny and sweet at the same time. I can't wait for his next book, Paper Towns, and he's going to be... somewhere near me in November doing a signing and I really want to go.

But that's not completely why I am making this update.

There's a site called YA for Obama, which features YA authors posting about why they are voting for Obama. John Green contributed this essay. I think he says it better than I probably ever will and ever could.

Also, Scott Westerfeld wins for talking about President God.

Today at work, I was pointing a family in the direction of a shoe similar to one they were looking for (that we didn't have avalible in the mom's size) when I happened to see a kid (about six or seven) lying in the middle of the floor. He wasn't hurt or anything, he was just... lying there, arms outspread, being perfectly still. I just blinked, said, "Oh-kay," and I stepped over him as I pointed out the shoes the customers had asked me for. He was still just there, being perfectly still.

Then I broke into this big, epic fit of laughter for no good reason. I still can't explain why. It just got worse when the kid's dad came over and was all, "What are you doing?!" and at that point, I was crying from laughing so hard.

I laughed a lot today, actually. The first time was when Jeff (one of my fellow shoe people--I think I'm just gonna call everyone I work with in my department a Shoe Person unless I come up with something else) and I were talking about growing up and I said something like, "I knew my childhood was over the day I realized that I couldn't hang upside down on the monkey bars anymore" and he started coming up with these random other comments: "Why is that boy talking to my friend, and what is wrong with his pants?", stupid stuff like that. And later, I told him that when I was a kid my cousins told me that every time someone turned on a spotlight, they were trying to call Batman, he did the same thing ("Where's Batman?" "He's, uh... in China! Fighting the Joker!" And later: "YOU SAID BATMAN WAS COMING, WHERE IS HE?!" "HE'S DEAD, OKAY?!" "NOOOOOOOO!").

I work with weird people.

I have a Tumblr blog now. I'm using it as a way to make posts that can be read by my Facebook friends without directing them over here or to IJ. Also, it's crazy easy to use and good if I happen to find one random thing that I like and want to share with everyone. Anyone else have an account there?

I know I posted this there, but watch this, it's made of win.

I am lame, and I have, on occasion, gone to public events solely to see if I could guy-watch. Tonight I went to a VP debate watch party partially because of that (the other reason was to actually meet people other than guys, okay, and because I like getting free stuff, and I got free stickers and pins, whoo). I was wandering around and over at a table where two women were selling seriously marked down designer bags (I don't care if they're elaborate fakes, they look real enough to me, and I have spent enough time drooling over this one plaid Coach bag to know what it looks like) when I look over and oh my God, Hotness standing alone in the corner.

In a move of bravery, I went and introduced myself, and saw that he was with my school's paper. We talked for a moment and I found out that he went to the same high school as me and he graduated a year ahead of me. After the debate was over, I went and let him interview me. I knew what I wanted to say, but it may have come out rambly and/or ridiculous, because I was A.) excited and B.) thinking, "Oh my God oh my God you are the first attractive guy I've talked to in months who seems interesting and I hope that I run into you on campus so that something more can come of this chance encounter!" And I made note of the name on the press pass, because, well--this is the age of social networking. Any good college student can be found via a Facebook or MySpace search, right?

So yeah. Five minutes ago, I looked him up. And he has a girlfriend.

That horrendous screeching sound? Yeah, that was me putting on the brakes.

I swear, it's like a curse. Half the guys I meet and like have girlfriends. A fourth of the half left are complete morons or have traits that I find in no way desirable. And a fourth of that is just not into me. Guys, what do I do now? I am totally considering a Craigslist ad, or joining some dating site, or, well, considering inventing some kind of time machine so that I could go back and tell myself ten years ago, "KISS THE BOYS YOU LIKE. REALLY. DO IT. YOU WILL END UP REGRETTING NOT DOING IT, SO SCREW IDEALISTIC NOTIONS. I PROMISE, YOUR LIFE WILL BE BETTER."

My current Facebook status: Candice is hopelessly unaccomplished (and listening to Queen).

Logging on to Facebook does on occasion make me feel unaccomplished (though I don't always listen to Queen). My classmates are either well on their way to graduating and starting their careers, or they've already graduated and are starting life on their own. Some are in serious relationships. Some are engaged. Some are married. Some have kids.

I... am still living at home. I'm a good three, possibly four years away from graduating because I decided to add another major. I work part time selling shoes, I still have the relationship status that I did when I was fourteen (and fifteen, and sixteen, and seventeen, and eighteen...) and I while I never really had this crystal clear vision of what I wanted to be or do once I got out of high school, I feel like I haven't got jack to show for anything. And the thing is, I was hoping that by now something great and amazing would have happened to me so that I could have my moment of "HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW?!", 'cause I'm petty like that.

I've never been able to imagine what my life would be like in ten years. I hate when people ask that question, because I don't know what to say. I know that there are things I want to do, but I feel like I've felt for the longest--like my life is caught in this heinous stalemate, that I'm like a hamster running in a wheel and I think I'm going somewhere, but I'm just stuck in this stationery place spinning and spinning. I know that everyone finds their way in a different way and at different times, and I think I'm starting to, but God, I just want to be there already, wherever there is.

Okay, I'll go cry moar later. Like whenever I finish that drawing for my class (PLEASE GOD LET THE STUDIO BE OPEN) and when I finish studying for art history (I WILL ACE THAT CLASS DAMMIT). Anyway: I need to find a case for my Zune and I can't ever find one that is not hideously fugly.

I can't stop playing Hexic on my Zune--which I got after I updated the firmware. I need a Marketplace card, man. I love this thing.

Even though this necklace is supposed to be Twilight related, I don't care; I just might buy it 'cause it's crazy pretty.

I just ordered something from Etsy for the first time. Why had I never been there before until last night, seriously?! Ugh, the jewelry is so gorgeous.

I have just realized that I have nine blank journals, so that whenever I finish the one I'm writing in now, I'll have a decent variety to choose from. O_O

Oh! I totally forgot to mention this, but here you go:

During the first year I was working at The Store, this one day in early summer a guy came in, and he had a pet squirrel on a leash. I remember telling everyone even though I was about to die laughing (because seriously: A SQUIRREL. ON A LEASH.), and then everyone started to come and look at it.

So about a week or two ago, I was doing something when one of the other guys pops up and says, "GUYS, THERE'S THIS GUY IN HERE WITH A PET SQUIRREL," and I kind of freaked out: "IS IT ON A LEASH?! OH MY GOD THAT GUY HAS BEEN IN HERE BEFORE, AWESOME."

So yes, Squirrel Man made a return. But I missed seeing him this time.

I stopped at the mall today before work and had lunch, and I went into the ladies' room to wash my hands. Near the end of the row of the sinks, I saw a woman with her daughter, and the woman had taken off her flip flops and she was washing them in the sink. I was so making the D: face, even though she didn't see me.

I do not get people at all sometimes.

I think I'm crashing a lot lately. I'll be fine and then when I get enough time to sleep, I'm out cold. I also think I'm getting wound up over things that shouldn't worry me, like my drawing class homework and the readings for my art history class. Next semester, I am going to need to take some more broadcast stuff, not just because I'm closer to finishing that part than I am with the film stuff, but because the art part is driving me a little bit nuts right now. Another semester of all art classes and I might run away screaming and change my major again (and with the way things are going now? I am starting to think, "Well damn, I need to CHANGE MY COURSE OF STUDY AGAIN and look into something practical, like being a dental hygienist or teacher or something.").

Ugh, my right eye is twitching. This means I need to cut back on the caffeine.

In other news: I have a new favorite blog, 30 is the New 13. Its creator (and a few guests) share the "books" they wrote as kids. That is a friggin' brilliant idea. On a similar note: is it sad that I still have a notebook in which I wrote a story that was a knockoff of the Baby-Sitters Club Super Special where they went to camp (only mine was kind of a crossover with Salute Your Shorts)? I still have a few diskettes with my first attempts at writing long stories, and I still have a few horrible pieces of boy band fan fiction tucked away somewhere. I am probably going to still have this crap when/if I get married and I only hope that my potential husband doesn't question it or actually reads it for the lulz.

(Damn, this reminds me: I need to look over my idea list. It's almost NaNoWriMo time!)

( Sometimes you need pictures of animals being adorable with captions on them. )

The Ceiling Cat entry at LOL Speak is cracking me up so hard.

Blair Waldorf may be manipulative, but damn if that girl can't dress well.

Oooh, is that what Ed Westwick sounds like when he's not Chucking it up? I approve!

Also: why am I just finding out that Amazon doesn't take payments via PayPal? WTH?!

So hey, let's have some nice and disturbing up in here:



Are you kidding?

Sometimes I try to remember little moments in days that are just exceptionally nice. I'll look up and the sky is a shade of blue that I wish I could recreate in my room or on a great t-shirt, and I'll think, I don't ever want to forget this. Tonight's one of those nights. There's a full moon and it's casting a nice glow over everything, and it's cool and the wind's blowing just a little bit. It feels perfect.