Proof my lab partners don't give a damn about anything.

I wrote this introduction, because the kid who was supposed to write the introduction DIDN'T, and then I emailed it out to my group.
And got no response.


"Ever wonder what happens if you sit a bath that’s too hot? Neither have I, but for the sake of this experiment, pretend with me. A bath, quite frankly, would not be hot enough, so let’s image that it’s a cold, snowy night and your sitting in the backyard in a bikini or whatever it is you wear, you could be naked, I don’t really care, the point is, your warm, because you’re rich and can afford a fancy hot tub. And you want to be warmer, because nothing is ever good enough for you, because youre a princess too (I mean, why not, we are imagining here.) Well, your servant tells you he cant afford to turn up the heat because it's dangerous, and your like, WHATEVER SERVANT and you do it anyway. Then you die. Why?

Your death is due to denaturation of your enzymes. Denaturation a permanently changing the 3D shape of your enzymes, which are vital to your life. Once your enzymes denature, they cannot be put back together. Think of a cooked egg. The protein of the egg becomes changed when you cook it, and if you leave it on a plate, it doesn’t change back. That would be creepy. "


I think i might just leave it in there and turn it in like this. I mean, she said to catch our attention, and you have to admit, its catchy.

"...If I take one more step, it will the farthest I have ever run."

"Oh, Sam."

Sunday was the day I was waiting for.... my entire life. It was unbelievably amazing. Like, if I was given the opportunity to run a marathon every month for the rest of my life and not have to go to school/get a job, I would totally hit that opportunity up.

The best part of the Marathon was having all my friends close by.
Having Christine there made the event infinity times better. Then, my best friends from Mary Wash came and cheered.

Stella was there too!! She was doin' some quality studying at the time this gross picture of me was taken.

Also, Christine's mom and aunt were there to cheer and make a big fuss over us at the finish. My mom came too, but I never saw her on my run, just at the end.

I didn't think that i would like a large group of people (42000 of them), but It actually made it really entertaining and worthwhile. There were SO MANY FANS. SO MANY POSTERS. SO MUCH SAS.

The best posters were:
"A day may come when you can not run anymore... but it is NOT THIS DAY."
and

which is from HERE in case you aren't sold on the awesomeness of it all.

Next marathon (I am defs doing more) I'm going to get one of those super serious "I run for..." that people wear on their backs, and write FOR GONDOR!!!

Other thoughts that ran (hahahahhaaa) through my head:
1. I can't have already run 5 miles?
2. OOOOH, FREE CANDY!!!!
3. Why, hello there sexy Marine man and glass of water
4. This goo tastes like puddin' (it was SO YUMMY. it was a vanilla cliff shot, in case anyone wants to try it)
5. SO MANY BIBLE VERSES.
5 1/2. hahaha, wouldn't it be ironic if Phillippians 4:13 was actually bible verse Phillippians 26:2
6. I LOVE TWIZZLERS!!!
7. Someone smells good. Something is very wrong in this situation.
8. AHH MY FOOT IS METAPHORICALLY ON FIRE.
9. hahahaa, they would hire a banjo player to encourage people to run faster
10. I am so dominating in man points right now, Mike.
11. Maybe I should get a nerdy tattoo too. Maybe the crest of Gondor? ---> this led to an hour long sequence of me re-playing my favorite scenes for LOTR over and over again.
12. Never seen so many men peeing in bushes in my entire life
13. the new MLK statue is pretty fantastic
14 AHH MY FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
15. oooo, jolly ranchers!!!
15 1/2. Will run marathons for food.
16. Sorry, I'm thinking about cats again.
17. Yeah, only 7 miles to go!!!!!!!!! BRING IT ON BRIDGE.
18. I want to jump around and bang on drums...
19. NA, NANANANANANANAAA, KATAMARI DAMACY
20. I refuse to let a penguin beat me.
21. "It's nice to beet you!!" "Thats a raddish!!!!"
21. WHO GAVE THIS COLLEGE KID PERMISSION TO HIDE AMONG THE WATER GIVERS AND HAND ME BEER??
22. eating pretzals = worst idea for a food to hand out.
23. Wait. If this is only 26.2 miles, and I'm on mile 25, why can't I see the finish?
24. WAIT. THIS IS A HILL.
24 1/2. DOMINATE ALL THE HILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
25. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHcatsHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

So yeah, that was it in a nutshell. I hope you noticed the increasing amount of capitalization and exclamation points. also, theres a hidden word in number 25. Its not very hidden.

I realized I never said my stats, so here goes:
4 HOURS, 5 MINUTES, 52 SECONDS.

guess whose faster than P. Diddle?? AND Oprah.


I pass the line at 4:26 if you want to watch my not-so-epic finish. I'm on the far side by the Marines and the clock. It says the "official" time at exactly 4 hours and 14 minutes, which is when the gun went off, but that's not accurate because there were so many people that I didn't actually cross the start line for eightish minutes haahahaha.I'm behind some guy wearing a bright blue shirt who lifts up his hands victoriously, in case you don't enjoy playing Where's Waldo.

You can see my photos by clicking HERE and searching for Julia Randall. They're pretty hilarious.

Also, I got a winter job at Build A Bear workshop! Life is so great!!

"Julie, you never update your blog.."

Yeah, well, I'm busy!!

That being said, there will a blog post tomorrow (i promise!) about my marathon yesterday. So, if you want to read about running, check back tomorrow and I'll try to make it interesting for your sake.

See everyone tomorrow!

LA ESCUELA

Gone forever. (not really. tricked you! myahahaha)

I'm going out with my girls for the week, so if you were planning on calling me up to go bungee jumping or something, I'm sorry, but I'm out of town. Next week, maybe.

Here's some bad comics to get you through your week without Julie:
disclaimer: best when read at 3 a.m. Preferably, also when drunk/tired/high/on a coffee high. Also part of this disclaimer- I can draw much better (like a freakin' Leonardo). I can also draw worse.

Some going-on's from last week:
- NEW PATRICK WOLF!!!! His album, Lupercalia, is like being a seduced by Nessie. Trust me.
-Butt slasher?!? Thank god i never actually turned in my application to work at Forever 21.
- watched ROBOCOP with Will. I want to be reinforced with steel. This is not a new desire, thanks to Will Smith and that one movie with aliens (specific) where i dug my nails into Conrad's leg because I was so scared and left a scar.
- I ran into a post when I was running and got a mark on my shoulder that looks like a hickey. My Dad asked about it; I told him guys are just crazy for my gunz.
- I got some clothes from a store other than Unique?!? It was a rare day.
- My cat went snooping through every box in my room. Such a snoop. Snoop cat, if I may. Hahahahaa
- My aunt and cousin came to visit. We saw Casablanca at Wolftrap. It makes me wish that it WAS jacket weather, just so I could be wooed by some guy in a trench. (trench coat. Just to clarify. I'm not big on Immersion foot disease.
- i got a coffee pot for my desk at college. Going to be a crazy year at college, getting drunk (on coffee) ALL THE TIME. Mix that with staying up all night to watch Gone with the Wind, and you might say I'm out of control.


And, lastly, a joke for you herbology majors.

Fin.

Harry Potter? Lemon Sherbet!

*this post contains so many spoilers that if you were planning on reading any of the Harry Potter novels than you should probably just close the entire window.*


I’m so excited about tomorrow! The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2, comes out at midnight, which means that work tomorrow is going to be a monstrous affair of time moving epically slow. I’m going to see it at AMC with Christine, and we’re dressing up (House elves forever!).


To prepare myself, I’ve been re-reading the second part of book seven, for the second time this summer. Nerd, I know.

Anyway, re-readingt he second part, and I always come to chapter thirty four, where Harry is apparently just been killed, but isn’t dead because he has a bit of Voldemort in him because Voldemort apparently entered Harry when he tried to kill him the first time as a baby. And then Dumbledore is there and is like, you aren’t dead, because Voldemort made himself using your blood in book four, so really, you two are made of and share the same blood and therefore, him killing you two seconds ago really just killed the bit inside of him that he put there when he was a baby. SO, now Harry is all Harry, and Voldemort is both Harry and Voldemort, which is the bit that doesn’t make any sense to me because wouldn’t that mean that Voldemort also has one of these purgatory times? I guess not, because when he “killed” Harry (just now), he too was affected. I guess that’s their cleansing moment, when they’re no longer connected.

See, it’s so unnecessarily confusing. And although I think I’ve explained it to myself and am content to know that Rowling and I are on the same page now, it only takes me about ten minutes before I’m like, waaait, that doesn’t make ANY sense. Kind of like Donnie Darko.

And then there’s the bit with the wands. Somehow, the Elder wand belongs to Draco, whose randomly the master and NOT Snape, because Snape helped him die. The one, supposedly, who defeated Dumbledore, without ever knowing it, was Draco.

BUT THIS NEVER HAPPENED. EVER.

The Elder Wand somehow recognized Draco as its master, though Draco never knew, and why should he, because he didn’t defeat Dumbledore at all. Like, no. Absolutely not.

And then, of course, Harry disarmed Draco weeks before, and that if the Elder Wand is aware of this fact, Harry is the Wand’s true master.

And I don’t understand this. And it makes me angry.


*Just kidding. It all make's sense now. See, Draco disabled Dumbledore, which apparently is the same as "defeating" him. Also, auto-correct wants me to change Dumbledore to Dumbwaiter.*

I hope for the movie that they try to keep it as close to the book as possible. But this scene… Also, the epilogue. I hope they don’t do the epilogue. For obvious reasons. Of course, it cant be as good as THIS Harry Potter movie.

I feel no shame in saying that I’ve also gone through other pains to prepare for tomorrows movie premiere. Such as reading *gasp* Fan Fiction.

I always thought Fan fiction writers were lazy and otherwise incapable of creating their own characters and backstory, and that their stories would just be, well, bad. I, like many people, have spent life under the view that fan fiction is porn (Harry and Draco slash anyone?) or that it reads like it was written by (and for) middle schoolers.

But today I read an article in TIME magazine where it discussed the misconceptions and ideas surrounding Fan Fiction, and I guess that changed my mind behind the whole premise. It’s kind of cool that these people do so much writing on a subject without ever expecting a penny for their work. It’s cool to think that these people are so devout as fans to a piece of writing that they would give up their valuable time to create more about these fictional characters that were, honestly, someone else’s creation entirely.

I can totally see both sides of the argument, that is, that the writer created the characters and that its almost unethical to let someone else mess with your vision, but the fear that they will change their characters is unnecessary. Fan fiction writers become fan fiction writers because they can love and identify the characters and just never want their story to end.

In a way, it’s the ultimate compliment. You made a character that other people love so much that they never want them to die. In other ways, it’s an insult to a writer, who made the character, which needed the writers to, shall I say, bring them to life.

The piece I read was named “Crossroads”, by Emmyjean. The whole thing is online, and I spent almost five straight hours sitting on the floor reading it (because who needs chairs?). It was about Lily and James Potter, about their relationship that led to their marriage. It was very well done- no grammatical errors, no spelling errors- and the story was almost entirely her own, that is, she used the pieces from Rowlings work to create the story, but it wasn’t as if she didn’t take creative license with it. And best of all, it was really very tasteful and I feel like Rowling would read it and, if not agree with it, at least be touched by the way her characters came to life.

Eulogy for Aniene

The other day was one of the most stressful days I have ever had.

I was prepared to give a Eulogy for one of my closest friends, which it turns out, is a lot harder than they (meaning anyone else) make it look.

What happened was, I spent the entire day before sitting around and not writing down anything, but instead making a rather angsty watercolor.

And then, when it came to be my turn to talk, I just kind of sniffled loudly into the microphone, claimed “sorry, that was gross,” and then burst into tears.

I feel really bad about that.

So, I wanted to make up for my inability to speak, and to share my speech here instead.



When everyone talks and remembers Aniene, they remember the stories she used to tell. There were the particularly grand ones, about her father finding gold and bank robbers, and there were those stories that were almost too good to be true, about her best friends who were made for each other but waited until time and circumstance decided it had waited long enough for them to be together.

And although Aniene’s stories were the highlight of my highschool working career, it was the things outside of her memories that I think we should remember. We should remember the little things she did without needing to tell anyone, without asking or needing to be recognized.

Without having been asked twice, Aniene spent hours of her time to make a quilt for battered children, putting aside her valuable time for people she didn’t even know. Aniene took phone calls at two a.m. and could recognize people she hadn’t talked to for thirty years. She invited people into her house and made them feel at home when they had nowhere else to go.

One of the most amazing things that really sticks with me is the time she let Andrew stay on her couch for a week after he had his wisdom teeth taken out. His parents were gone, his house was empty, so Aniene stepped up, compassionate towards someone who was basically a stranger, and took care of him like a son.

This is the image of Aniene that I will always remember:
She was loving, kind, compassionate, and selfless. She loved to make others happy, to sacrifice her time and resources to see others smile.

Aniene would have found a way to spin this into a story, which would have led into a side story, which would have led to another, further removed story, but the things that she did outside of the time she spent working were just as monumental as the things she shared.

And I feel that, although she's gone, we should never forget her attitude towards others, and that she will continue to live on through her loving example.