Poor Writing and Making a Difference

Reading: Kingdom Keepers: Disney in Shadow Ridley Pearson

The other day I received a (belated, but lovely) birthday gift of chocolate, a sweet card and a Kiva gift certificate. Kiva is an organization which "...empowers individuals to lend to an entrepreneur across the globe." Basically, you can lend a small amount to an entrepreneur of your choice in a developing country. The website lists the entrepreneurs, how much they need, what the need it for and how much of that has been raised. Once the loan is repaid, you can either donate it Kiva or loan it to someone else. I chose a woman in South Sudan who wants to build a shelter for her firewood business. I definitely intend to get more involved in this, and hopefully I can get some more people into it too. Guess what people are getting for Christmas this year :D!


I have a confession to make. In addition to my Harry Potter obsession, I am a die-hard Disney lover. It's completely magical to me, no matter how much I see of it. This led me to begin reading the Kingdom Keepers series by Ridley Pearson a few years ago. The basic premise is that Disney World is using some new tech to create virtual "hosts" to act as tour guides in the parks. Through a glitch in the system however, the kids who were the models for these "DHIs" (Disney Host Interactive) become their holograms when the go to sleep at night. So they basically get to run around Magic Kingdom after hours. Oh, and they have to save the world and stuff. I loved the first one and really enjoyed the second one. As for the third "Disney in Shadow".... it feels as though Pearson had planned a third book (indeed, the second ends in almost a cliff hanger), but then didn't really have time, or didn't want to write it when the time came. The result is a choppy third installment reminiscent of a pre-teens first FanFic. It's a bit like listening to your favorite song through a bad radio. You can tell there's something good there, but it gets a bit lost amid all the static. As a result it has taken me ages to get through a book that should've only taken a few days. It's disappointing to say the least, especially coming after "Insatiable" which was amazing. I'll keep going though.

<3 G

Have You Seen My Salt Shaker?

During my adventure in Geekdom, the roomies and I took a lunch break at Citywalk. After much (OK, almost no) debate we settled on Margaritaville. It was really, really dark and yes, Margaritaville, plays often (not constantly, but it'll still be stuck in your head. Upon sitting down I mentioned that I had never, in fact, had a margarita. Well, it was decided, this was the place to try one.

Oh, and we stole a bottle of hot sauce to make Firewhisky, but that's a story for another time.

Drink Responsibly ♥ G

**No sooner had I posted this, than my mother came home with this. Weird coincidence.

It's Good to Be Back

Location: Cloud 9
Reading: Kingdom Keepers III: Disney After Dark Ridley Pearson

So after a long hiatus and many technical difficulties, I am scrapbooking once again. So here it is - my first LO in ... 5 months? Something like that.


No time to chat. I've got pics to scrap!

If you like my LO's, or Digi-scrapping in general there're all kinds of tutorials, freebies and examples over at my first blog, Rain

♥ G

Infinitus Pics are Up!

Location: My Room
Reading: Insatiable Meg Cabot Infnitus pics are up. Rather than upload them one by one, I've put a slideshow to the right >>>.
Some were taken by myself, and some have been stolen from friend Facebooks. Enjoy :)

♥ G

Gen Returns to the Muggle World Pt. I

Location: My Room
Reading: Insatiable Meg Cabot

So it's been about 3 weeks since Infinitus and while I still miss it all terribly, I'm settling back into normal life (i.e averaging more than 3/4h of sleep a night and being in constant HP geek-out mode). It was ... an amazing experience. Far more than I was ever expecting. When I made this plan, it was all about me. I was going to do the discussions and lectures and exclusive park event for myself, and likely do these things solo. I was also going to put a concentrated effort into socialising with my roommates in order to avoid awkwardness. What I didn't expect was, what quickly became, six days of laughter, love and even some tears (mostly at the end). The 3 girls who were initially just nice people I could split the cost of the room with became (almost instantly) 3 of my best friends. I love them (and the other people I met) to death and cannot wait until I get to see them again in July.

One of the big incentives for me (apart from the park of course) was the Wrock. If you don't know, Wrock (or Wizard Rock) is an honest to god genre of music based on and inspired by Harry Potter. They had several shows over the course of the con and it was just and amazing atmosphere. I can't even finish this post because I'm distracted by the vids on YouTube. So here's some Wrock for you until I've gathered myself enough to actually write. :)


Night of Frivolity Ball
If you're wondering, that is the sound of 2500 HP Fans collectively loosing their shit.

Jena, one of my roomies, has a channel and she and Kristen both have excellent summary videos. Yes, that is me in my Gryffindor sweater at the beginning.
Jena's
Krysten's


If you want to see any of the vids I took, you can check out my channel (they're the only things up there).


As I said, more soon. ♥ G