Comics: I came for the art, I stayed for the Batman

I am feeling somewhat like a miserable pile of failure and worthlessness right now. Usually such depression stems from being too tired, but man, it never feels like that when it's actually happened.

Since arriving back at Utah I have: accomplished pretty much nothing but stare in terror at university as I realize that actually I might get kicked out, and seen I'm pretty sure more spiders in the two days since I arrived than I have in like 4 years now in Rexburg. Both of these facts alone are depressing, and I think they have combined with not enough sleep to make me feel like a waste of breathable air. This happens occasionally. It is never fun. I am also sick, probably because I've been on stress overload. That's another thing that's never fun.

Anyway, so I went to Walmart to buy some orange juice because I'm feeling sick. Stopped to browse the pony dolls, which I'm probably going to give up and admit that I'm officially collecting any day now. They had the big Rarity and Pinkie Pie, which I debated for a moment before realizing that buying them when I'd already spent this much on ponies this month would only make me feel like more of a tool, and therefore was probably not advisable. Anyway, as I was walking up to the register after that, I noticed that they'd been stocking school supplies up in the seasonal section. Idly, I stopped and skimmed some notebooks - and my heart lept when right there, at the very front of a box that was closest to me, was a DC comics notebook. Why, I thought, perhaps my purchase of two folders and two notebooks last year made a difference in the grand scheme after all! Perhaps DC has even started making more designs than they had last year! Perhaps there will be Batman!

You can imagine my crushing disappointment (isn't that a great phrase, crushing disappointment?) when they appeared to have lessened the number of designs, not increased, and lessened the products that said designs were associated with. From several boxes of notebooks away, the faces of Marvel's Avengers stared at me, mockingly.

DC's two contributions to notebook and journal designs - at least at Walmart - this year appear to be as follows: One plain blue notebook emblazoned with the iconic Superman S shield, and one notebook featuring a headshot of Robin and the words 'Designated Wing Man'. Admittedly this second made me laugh, but really, DC? That's all?

For those of you not in the know, the two major companies for comics are Marvel and DC. Marvel created guys like the Hulk, Spider-man, Iron Man, Captain America - those guys. DC, which is a much older company, has some of the big names, like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman. Marvel, for some reason, is much much more prolific in the merchandise it creates. DC hardly seems to make any - which is... weird, because as they hold the rights to some of the most iconic figures like ever, you'd think they'd capitalize on that. But no, for some reason not. I'm not sure why; whenever I find something that I feel I'll use and can afford I totally buy it. For example, I am currently the proud owner of a Batman purse, and it's a pretty nice purse too! It can fit everything I need and then some, and has straps large enough to encircle my shoulder.

But I digress.

Anyway, I guess that's all I have to say about that - although I was mildly amused or offended, or possibly both, that DC and Mario and suchlike of the 'vintage' notebooks (DC why do you do this to me really, that's all?) were designated as 'boys' notebooks, while the vintage 'girls' notebooks were largely Sesame Street and Peanuts - as well as a Miss Piggy one that I wouldn't mind owning, but really guys.

What about those of us who are girls who like Transformers, or the boys out there who enjoy Peanuts? Why are you typecasting us so?

A lot of how things sound is just how you word them

I find myself wanting to use the word "adventure" when I describe things to someone. Calling something an adventure, after all, sound much more exciting and exotic than just saying something you did, and therefore perhaps gives the illusion that you are leading a wild life full of romance and buried treasure, or perhaps international spy drama (or even a combination of all three). My life at the moment contains none of these things, but perhaps if I make it sound as though it did, it might be shamed into actually living up to the expectations that I am placing on it.

Although really, now that I think of it, all that would be terribly exhausting anyway, and perhaps dangerous. I suppose there's nothing wrong with leading the quiet life - most people do, after all - but I think I'd still like to have an adventure now and then. Thankfully we have books, and you can still go adventuring from any number of more convenient positions than deepest Africa or the alps or the high seas. It's a good thing too, all those places are hard to get at.

I've gone off on a tangent now, haven't I?

I've been home one day, and pretty much nothing is unpacked. My collection of my little pony dolls (I cannot believe that I am buying my little pony dolls any more than I can believe that absolutely no one except my mother seems to care in the slightest either way - I mean I brought them to class with me a few times to see how long it'd take someone to comment on them and NO ONE DID) are mostly staring down at me, accompanied by a new Princess Celestia/Princess Luna set that I walked over to Target and bought, and listed on ebay (as this set is not even supposed to be released yet and I got it, so rare item, woohoo!). I have been nervously refreshing my ebay page to see if anyone bids on it (it is my first auction), despite knowing this is ridiculous, as it's been listed for like 2 hours now and the auction ends in 7 days. And besides, I told myself sternly after like the 8th time of doing this, if nobody does bid on it then oh well, you have a Luna figure (Luna is the best pony) and a Celestia figure for use as customization bait. If someone does bid on it I'll probably want to buy another one anyway, so I force myself to sit back and close the window.

I always do this though. Not with ebay, or with pony auctions, but with anything that requires me to wait to find the result.

There was a fireworks show that I went down to earlier, which was wildly impressive and must have cost I-don't-know-how-much-but-a-LOT. It looked like a professionally organized city-run fireworks show, rather than just some guy in the neighborhood setting off fireworks that he bought - which was what it was. I love the fireworks that look like old gold, and the blue ones, and the ones that sparkle with little white sparks like stars. There were a lot of every kind of anything, and it was all very impressive, as for the first year (I think) in I'm-not-sure the big fireworks that shoot up and explode in the sky that you always see in the professional shows are legal here.

I'd put a clever title here, but those are for creative people and I guess that right now I'm not one of them

I've had a few people tell me that I should keep a blog - well I do already, sort of. But most of those are specialized or I never post there anyway (or when I do I am overcome by rambling about My Little Pony and Batman Beyond and other comic books and cartoons and such things - something I shall endeavor to refrain from repeating in this blog).

The big difference, maybe, is that those blogs are for everyone, including people I don't really know (or don't know at all) and I'm hoping I can keep this one more as a way to keep up with friends and family. It changes what you talk about. I'm bad at emails, I can be bad at talking to people in general, curling up in my room with my too-much-stuff which every day I keep telling myself I need to sort through and which somehow I never manage to, but here (hopefully) is a chance for me to keep things a little more updated. And hey who knows, maybe a chance to get a little more organized at the same time. We'll see about that.

I am currently watching this great 70s movie called What's Up Doc, forlornly contemplating cleaning my room and finishing my exams, wondering how on earth I'll organize everything and realizing that my bamboo is still in a broken vase, as I haven't managed to really find another one that I like that seems reasonably priced and seems like it'd fit the bamboo properly. I'm moving home soon, as the semester is almost done.

Okay, I need to get things done.

My problem really is that I'm a coward, and hiding frequently seems so much easier than dealing with things - but don't worry, mom, I'm sure one of these days I'll manage to figure out that it really isn't. Really figure out, that is, in a way that changes one when one realizes it, instead of just knowing and doing nothing different. That kind of knowledge is not particularly useful, after all, and does not seem properly gained.

Two of my roommates have moved out already, though it wasn't that long ago. It still feels odd to have them gone (hi Jana and Clarice btw, if you ever read this) and equally strange to have some boy moving his stuff into this apartment, as they are switching this building next semester.

I really should stop writing; I have things to do. Well, I suppose I can write more later. There's not a terrible lot to write right now anyway, so perhaps it's just as well.