TEAM ZOMBIES

I would like to start this by giving my younger brother Matthew all the credit for the new profile picture I have. He didn’t just take that one. No, that is one of many that he took. Every time he took a picture I would be very fussy with it. “My shoes weren’t straight” “The light was too bright” “My socks weren’t high enough” “The NERD logo on my shirt wasn’t clear” Thanks for dealing with it Matt, I doubt you will even read this.


In other news, I have been reading a book called Zombies VS Unicorns. The concept originally began in February 2007 when Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier began having a heated discussion over which is better, Zombies or Unicorns. This book is a collection of short stories by various authors all of whom have an opinion on the matter. Every second story is a Zombie story while the rest are Unicorn stories, each one an attempt to convince the reader which creature is best.

So far I’ve enjoyed the Zombie stories most, though there was a Unicorn story (purity test by Naomi Novik) that was absolutely hilarious, mostly because it kind of inadvertently made fun of unicorn legends. When I first started reading I wasn’t sure which side I was on. I was torn because while I love Zombie games, Zombie stories and Zombie movies, Unicorns are magic horses with deadly weapons on their heads.

While playing Left 4 Dead 2, I realised I had been a zombie supporter from the start. Sure Unicorns are cool and Robot Unicorn Attack is an epic game, but they are just not as awesome as Zombies and Left 4 dead is also an epic game.

This is my opinion and I am sticking to it. Listen to this though, you might find it interesting. When I first saw the film Zombie Land I was eating a massive bowl of Froot Loops. Now whenever I watch it I think of Froot Loops. A bowl of Froot Loops is practically a bowl of sugary rainbows. Unicorns are often associated with rainbows. My mind was blown when I realised this. I can tell you don’t care either way.

RachOddSocks

You can get extreme caffeine high from six or so glasses of Pepsi max. Who knew?

The thing about the holidays that can be kind of annoying at times is the fact that I don’t have to go to bed early because I don’t have to wake up at a reasonable hour. Sure it is greatly missed when the holidays end, but when I don’t wake up until 12 in the afternoon, I can’t help but feel guilty for wasting the day away. Also when it is that late in the afternoon it is no longer socially acceptable to eat Froot Loops. I still do of course; No one should be told when or when not to eat Froot Loops.


Today, after waking up at about 12 for the second day in a row, I decided to go for a walk. I went to my mum’s house, helped clean stuff up a bit, and then we watched a few episodes of Castle. I had this massive bottle of Pepsi with me and a glass. So as my mother and I watched the awesome crime show, speculating about the crimes, saying things like “I bet you it was that guy” or “I so didn’t see that coming” or “I remember watching this episode on TV. Don’t remember who did it though yay!” As we watched I poured myself glass after glass of Pepsi Max, laughing along with the witty banter and clever one liner’s. That show is much better than I make it sound, I assure you.

Anyway by the time we had watched about three episodes, I had drunk many a glass of Pepsi max. Sure there isn’t sugar in Pepsi Max, but there is definitely caffeine. As I was leaving mum’s house the caffeine was very much coursing through me and hyping me up. The effects have worn of now, but I do recall texting long messages as I walked so I wouldn’t have to make awkward eye contact with the passer-by. Being hyped up on caffeine at the time, they turned out pretty interesting. Here they are.

Text Number 1

I drank too much Pepsi max now the caffeine is getting to me. I’m shaking a little. This text is difficult to type because my fingers are wanting to text faster than my brain wants to. . . .Say things? I don’t even know anymore. I better walk off this caffeine high before something crazy happens like I turn into Astro Boy or something. I don’t know why Astro Boy I’m just texting while I walk so I don’t have to look at people in cars as they silently judge me with their licences and destinations and agendas. I suppose I do have a destination and an agenda but I don’t have a licence or a life. I just saw a guy riding a bike with a fluffy looking trailer attached to it. You know the kind for small dogs. I don’t think he has a dog though it was holding his shopping.

Well that was the first long text I wrote and saved in my phone. If this were a sham-wow commercial, this would be the part where I’d say “But wait, there’s more!”

Text number two

It isn’t fun walking past people on the sidewalk and making awkward glances here and there so I’m going to keep texting to myself. I usually send these texts to people but these ones are getting quite long. Sometimes when waiting for a lift on a bench outside the shops you can’t help but feel like everyone glancing at you as they pass is thinking you have no life so you are sitting there waiting for one to show up and greet you. Feels kind of the same now only I’m walking so they are thinking that I am hoping to stumble upon a life as I wander. If I text as I walk they might believe that I do have a life and that it is texting me now about something so important my reply has to be extremely long. Imagine if you saw me walking and texting right now. If you were to watch me for long enough and actually be curious about what I am doing, you would probably think I was sending an extremely important text. Or maybe I’m texting a cop saying there is a weirdo watching me as I text walk.

That’s right everybody, I am a freak. Still, it gave me something to blog, didn’t it?

RachOddSocks

This keyboard is annoying

My dad's laptop is pretty cool, I guess. It is kind of old though so it inevitably has some quirks that come with age. Typing on it is like using a typewriter, by which I mean if I don't smash at every key like I have a personal vendetta against it, my words miss out on a few letters.

Another annoying quirk was just demonstrated to me before I started this sentence, believe it or not. When this laptop is unplugged it freaks out. It isn't an instantaneous freak out. At first the background changes to a default image. When it happens, I have a feeling this is what goes on in it's head:

"Oh dear my life support system has been shut down. It's cool it's cool. I can handle this, I'm sure. It won't be forever, right? I can handle it. Yeah I can do it. . . . Maybe they don't know that it's happened. I should warn them, I mean, let them know. Yeah I'll change the back ground they will notice that."

Then when I don't do anything about this whole unplugged thing, it starts to lose it a bit:

"Hello! Can you here me?! My plug is not powering me right now! Running on battery here, this is not a drill! HELP! I'll just make the screen go black for  second to alert you to this. Oh dear. . . . I need a lie down."

And that is when it shuts down completely and I am forced to plug it back in.

Unfortunately my dad's Internet only likes to work for this laptop, thus forcing me to use it and put my trusty George the Laptop away. Which is why this post is taking me for ever. It is also why my posting has lessened in frequency. In fact, the post before this one was typed on George the Laptop then moved via USB to this unnamed old laptop and posted onto OddSocks. I think I might stick to that method as typing on this one is bothering me a little.

Anyway, the main purpose of this post is. . . . For it to be posted at 11:11 on the 11th day of the 1st month in 2011! That's 11/1/11 at 11:11. Or, if you are Alyssa 'I live in America' Karounos, 1/11/11 at 11:11. Why do we have the day and month opposite? Anyway, make a wish!

RachOddSocks

Look Bek, this one has you in it!

“It’s never the differences between people that surprise us. It’s the things that, against all odds, we have in common.”
That is one of my favourite Jodi Picoult quotes. Everyone is different in so many ways it is just plain incredible that we can possibly have anything in common with each other.

How is it that there are different musicians loved by the thousands world wide? How can a single book sell copies to a million different people? How can a television series be adored by a good portion of the population?
Every single one of us is unique, and yet we can like the same things and have the same interests as other people. The chances of agreeing on absolutely every single subject are slim though. While I have friends that have a lot in common with me, there will be differences.

For instance, my friend Bek and I love almost all the same kinds of music. We used to have very different playlists but as the years have gone on, and our file sharing has frequented, our playlists have almost merged into two indistinguishable clouds of rhythm and melody. I am pretty sure she still has way more music than I do (disadvantage of not owning an iPod. Discman for the win) but we still rarely listen to the other's music without saying at least once “I love this song!”
Bek and I may have music interests that appear to have been separated at birth, but if our music interests were twins they would be fraternal twins. By which I mean they are not identical. There is still the issue of Duffy.
Bek very much likes the Welsh musician, while I find her voice annoying. It doesn’t matter that we have this difference in opinion, I’m sure it isn’t the only one music wise, even though I did get over my brief Taylor Swift phase. And we certainly have differences in opinion in other situations.

The point is, while we don’t both love Duffy and I don’t usually play Lady Gaga willingly while she absolutely does, we both love Paramore and have spent many a sleep over rocking out to Fall Out Boy.
It isn’t odd that we have tastes that differ, what is odd is that we have so many that don’t. We don’t just share the same favourite music, but books too, and the same love for simple things like popping bubble wrap. It isn’t the things we disagree on that make us friends. We don’t bond over my contempt for Lady Gaga, nor do we converse often about Bek’s lack of enthusiasm for the works of Derek Landy. We talk about Paramore and Harry Potter because those are among the things we have in common.

Because it isn’t amazing that I’m more into crime mystery stories than she is. It isn’t wondrous that she really likes wasabi and I can’t handle the stuff. It is hardly even note worthy that she can walk in heels with grace as I stumble and trip.
But it is amazing that we both say “That is so awesome!” when seeing a book called ‘Zombies VS Unicorns’. It is a wonder how the two of us, in the clutter of people on this planet, can meet and have a great time eating garlic bread. And it truly is amazing that, despite every difference between us, when we saw nuns out side Paddy’s Market in Sydney the first thing we both thought was “Take a picture”.
Because, despite our differences Bek Day, you and I have an awful lot in common.

Life's too short to correctly pair your socks

I realised that my first post of the year didn't much acknowledge the fact that it was the first post of the year. I know I used the phrase 'New Year's Day' at least once, but the post didn't have much to do with it. I thought I might just make up for it now.

Over 2010 a lot of things have happened and a lot of things have changed.

There are ordinary things:

I now fit size nine shoes.
I am convinced that The Cure is a band that I desperately need to hear more of.
I have eaten sushi.
I have purchased a flippin' sweet jacket that I wouldn't have been daring enough to get in, say, 2009.
I have learned how to correctly spell necessary on the first try.

Then there are the more odd things I have done in 2010. I realised that there are a few quirky things that I never would have done in 2009 for fear of what people would think of me. Life is more fun when you get over other people's opinions and do things like:

Dress as a space cowboy.
Wear a sailor hat in public.
Wear rainbow striped gumboots on a formal occasion.
Write an entire story using mainly song lyrics.
Write "I wish I had a Harry Potter shirt" on a T-Shirt and wear it in public.
Sing. Constantly. I didn't realise how often I sing until it was pointed out to me. I'm OK with this.


I know that if a ran into someone I had known in primary school while I was wearing my sailor hat, they wouldn't recognise me. I had never done anything like that in primary school, I was so worried about what people will think. I am so glad I got over that. Even when everyone is at school, everyone wearing the same uniform, doing the same thing, you never know what they are all thinking. You never know who decided not to correctly pair their socks that day either. Just saying.

formal feet

RachOddSocks

Writing stuff at 3 am is always fun.

Watching Fight Club, I always sympathise with Edward Norton's character at the beginning, at least when he is talking about insomnia. When you can't sleep but really want to, it is horrible. I've never had it as bad as the Fight Club guy, but insomnia doesn't need to last a week to be unpleasant. A single sleepless night can make you feel like the world has gone out of sync.

You aren't quite awake as you stumble through the hours. Your eyes look but don't completely register the images they capture; you look without seeing. People talk to you and you hear them, but when you try to listen not much stays with you. You suffer through the hours, eyes half open, finding that every single light just wants you to know how fragile and sore eyes can really get.

Every moment of silence is spent with no thought at all. The moments in which no one speaks to you and you don't have to concentrate on anything, those are the moments you are awake but not there. Saying you are sleeping with your eyes open isn't quite correct, because it is more like you are on stand-by mode. Nothing registers in your mind at all because you don't even realise you are awake. Your body knows it, but your mind isn't entirely convinced.

I once fell asleep at around 1 am, only to awaken at around 4 am. Try as I might I was unable to fall asleep.

I couldn't help but think over and over in my mind "I have to go to school in a few hours whether I sleep again or not."

I did not sleep again, I just lay there, watching the sky go from black, to gray to blue. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, the sun was warm but not burning. It was a beautiful day, and that is all I remember of it. I recall feeling cheated because I was destined to zombie walk through such a lovely day.

I'm not sure if I even wrote any notes that day for any lessons. I don't even know what lessons I had, I just remember that I had both History and Geography at some point because I took the opportunities to look like I was listening intently to what the teacher was saying. Even when I am doing a sleep deprived zombie walk I can still give our History/Geography teacher a decent Yes-Miss-I-have-an-intense-interest-in-this-subject-and-I-am-learning-more-from-you-talking-then-I-ever-would-from-writing-anything face. Keep that face on and the lecture/bookwork ratio will shift.

That day was a blur; people talking to me, my responses hardly intelligible, teachers talking at me, words dancing and swaying on the page of a book as if they would rather slide around the white sheet of paper then allow me to read them. In every classroom I would stare at the hands of the clock on the wall as they ticked , seemingly slower and slower. The second hand would move so slowly it looked like it wanted to go backwards.

By the end of the day when I had finally gotten home, I collapsed on my bed and realised all at once why I had to zombie walk through the day. All day since I got out of bed without finishing my sleeping, I had just been awaiting the moment when I could catch up. Sleep was no longer out of reach like it had been at 4 am, because it had been waiting all day for me to arrive. This time it was ready to be my means to an end. And how I loved it.

No I am not suffering insomnia now, it is New Year's Day. People stay up late on New Year's for some reason. I can get away with that in the holidays.