Happy New Years!

So, its been less than a year this time around, but now its a new year.

I'm still working at PetSmart, am a Senior PetsHotel Associate now (had actually already been promoted at the time of my last post, which was a couple days after my first anniversary with the company). We are wrapping up our busy season now that Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years are over. Everyone is coming to pick up their dogs and soon we'll be kind of empty, but at least our regular day campers will be back again.

I don't really have much to say, just thought I would update the few followers that may still be reading this. I'm considering starting a new blog, don't really know what it'll be about, but I need some kind of outlet for regular writing. I had started a blog about dogs, but that didn't last long at all. I dunno, maybe I'll start one under my fanfiction penname and post things regarding stories or something there, either that or I'll just start yet another tumblr to do that (I already have two).

Anyway, don't have much else to update you guys.

Hope 2014 is a great year for everyone.

Time Sure Flies

Wow, I can't believe it has been over two years since I last posted on here. So many things have changed (yet so many things have stayed the same as well). I am no longer at the newspaper but am now working at PetSmart. I know, retail, but I really love my job because I get to work with animals on a daily basis. Its amazing getting to know some of our regular customers and their dogs and be recognized by them all the time. One day, one of our regular dogs ran right up to me and the owner was like, he never does that with anyone.

I'm still writing, when I can find the time and inspiration. I really think the inspiration is the hardest to find at the moment. While I love my job, it leaves me very tired at the end of the day and my creative juices stop flowing. I've also gotten a few scathing reviews on one of my recent fanfiction updates, which has basically just buried my muse for that story. I mean, yes, I understand I'm going to get bad reviews, but I feel like these people are blasting things before even knowing where I am going with a certain plot point. Oh well, maybe one day I'll return to the story and finish it, but I don't think it will be as good as I originally thought it would be, mainly because I feel like just hurrying up and finished the story.

Anyway, it'll probably be another several months to a couple years before I update this again. Right now I'm just messing around with some old websites I made when I had regular access to Dreamweaver and had to fix a link to this blog.

Who knows, maybe I'll update tomorrow ... doubtful.

It's Finally Over ...

... school that is.

Yep, you're reading right. I have finally graduated college. I am now a proud University of Maryland alum. I'm still having trouble accepting the fact that come the end of August, I won't be heading back to campus for classes. I don't have a full-time job yet, but am looking everywhere I can. I am still interning at the Washington Blade and actually had a very exciting interview this afternoon. Once the story is available online, I will definitely post a link here.

A Major Glee and Pretty Little Liars Blog (Spoiler Alert After Jump)

Two of my favorite shows right now are Glee and Pretty Little Liars.  Why are they my favorites? Well, there are several different reasons, but this week's episodes for both shows just gave me even more reason to love them.  Both shows had amazing episodes this week that had to deal with the teenage lesbian storylines.  If you missed either episode, you might not want to read on, there's gonna be some major spoilage in this blog.

I watch a lot of TV, probably too much, and I'll admit, there are many shows that I never watched until they had any kind of lesbian storyline, for example, Grey's Anatomy. I had no interest in that show until after Callie and Erica's first kiss, since then I've been hooked.  The last time I watched a show with as good teenage lesbian storyline was the Jesse and Katie storyline on Once and Again (while I loved South of Nowhere, I did not like how the storyline was treated throughout, so I'm not counting it).

Now for the spoilers.

Being a LGBT Studies student and working for an LGBT paper, this story caught my attention.

Two Mothers are Better Than One

This article is kind of old, almost a year, but its interesting because I hadn't read about the study mentioned in it anywhere else, not even at my own paper. I'd really like to see the actual study and not just an opinion piece based on the study.

Another Year, Another .... something

Hey people!

I'm going to give this blogging thing a try again and I'm going to begin with a quick update on my life.

I am still interning at the Washington Blade, doing more features like the one in my previous post.  It has been a great experience so far and I'm sure it'll continue to be one for as long as they are willing to keep me on. How many people can say they got to interview real celebrities on their very first internship?

Anyway, I'm about a month into my final semester of college (its about damn time).  I'm taking 13 credits (one is my internship).  Three of my other classes are journalism (Media Law, Women in the Media and Photojournalism) and then I have one English class, Women and Comedy.  So far, I have enjoyed my classes, I just hope I'm still feeling that way at the end of the semester.

I know I often post about shows that I'm watching, so here's my current shows (many of which overlap which means I have to catch up on a couple of them):

Pretty Little Liars (ABC Fam); Top Gear (BBC America); Glee (Fox); NCIS (CBS); White Collar (USA); Hot in Cleveland (TV Land); Bones (Fox); CSI (CBS); Grey's Anatomy (ABC); The Mentalist; Big Bang Theory

I have a few other shows I am watching, but they are on hiatus right now.

I've been doing a log of reading too.  I've read over 25 book since August 2010. I realize that might not seem like lot, but since I graduated high school, I haven't been doing much reading for pleasure (its all been for classes). I'm working on the Rizzoli and Isles series, the Temperence Brennan series, the Dexter series and the Pretty Little Liars series (all of which have inspired television shows).

I don't really know what else is worth mentioning.  A lot of this you all probably don't even care about, but oh well.

Hope to blog something tomorrow.

J Schools

Forever Young

Last week, I interviewed lesbian DJ, Tracy Young, for my internship at the Washington Blade.  She performed at local club Cobalt on Friday.

Here's the article.

Forever Young

Photo from TracyYoung.com

Help Wanted/Needed

Hello Friends!

I need some help with a project I am working on for school.

So, I am taking a class which is about autobiographics in the age of Facebook.  As a final/semester project, I am doing a multimedia autobiography.  I got the idea after reading parts of iDracula, a retelling of Dracula in modern times using emails, texts, voice mails and more.

In Recent News ...

Recently, there has been a lot of news of LGBT teenagers committing suicide after being bullied or harrassed.

One teen, Tyler Clementi, committed suicide after his roommate and a female next door, set up a webcam in his dorm room after he asked to have the room, and broadcast him making out with another male.  A couple days later, Clementi posted on his Facebook that he was going to commit suicide and then jumped off the GW Bridge.

Conference Calls with Bravo Personalities

My internship this summer has been amazing, and it'll only continue to be amazing as I get to stay there throughout the school year.  I've been pretty lucky with my assignments.  As I posted earlier, I got to interview Amy Ray from the Indigo Girls and now I've interviewed people from various shows on Bravo.

Pretty Little Liars

So, last week I visited my best friend in Atlanta.  We had a great time.  I hadn't seen her in over a year, since we went to see the Beat Freaks at Monster's of HipHop in Orlando.
Anyway, we spent most of the week just catching up on things and hanging out.  We also watched TV and a couple movies.  Yes, my fair readers, my friend got me hooked on yet another show. Thankfully, this obsession isn't too bad, since the show actually just had its mid-season finale and won't be back until January or something like that.  Anyway, this new show was Pretty Little Liars (yes, I realize that is obvious from the blog title, but ya know, just in case).

The Big News

So, earlier this week, I posted about doing my first celebrity interview, well, here it is! Lilith Fair is coming to the DC area next week and I got to interview Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls!

Click below to read!

Indigo Girls rejoin Lilith Fair for local stop

An Amazing Experience

Well, I just had a first.

No more than maybe 10 minutes ago, I conducted my first celebrity interview. A real celebrity, even in the mainstream media.

I was nervous as hell as I waited for my phone to ring, but the person was so laid back and made it easy for me to ask questions, but not have to do most of the talking. I'm sure this comes from their experience of being interviewed, but it was awesome nonetheless.

Now, I just have to take this interview and write a story. I almost want to keep it to myself. This is a first and it almost feels wrong to share it, but I will. Mainly because I'm being paid to, but also because I've made so many friends curious now by my tweets leading up to the interview.

I kinda wish I was going to be in town next week for the reason for the interview, but then I wouldn't be going to Atlanta, which is the better of the two.

On Friday I will post more details as well as a link to the story.

An Update

Having such a great time at my internship. I'm writing a lot, had three bylines this week, plus the weekly calendar of events.

I'm glad I didn't give up on journalism. I was seriously considering it this past semester. I didn't think I could hack it as a real journalist, but it seems I can. I haven't gotten much feedback on my stories, some issues with the paper mean I've been having to work from home, but soon, when we get a new office, I will have more of a chance to meet with my editors about my stories but also get a chance to watch some of the behind the scenes, hopefully. I'd really like to be able to sit with our layout guy and watch him set up the paper. I took a layout class, but have never seen a real paper laid out.

On my personal writing front, I haven't done much. I found an old fanfiction I wrote, its Buffy and was started before the series ended, which tells you how old it is. Anyway, I was reading over it the other day and WOW did I suck back in the day, lol. Apparently I didn't understand the concept of tenses or not using a character's name in every single sentence. One problem that has nothing to do with my writing skills when I wrote it, I seem to have hated it so much, I deleted the file (or it just got lost in one of many computer changes). So now I am working on retyping it, making some changes and hopefully improving it along the way. I actually remember some of the ideas I had for it, so I think I might attempt to finish it. Of course, I'm saying this and I have almost 100 unfinished fanfics. I think my problem is when I start writing a story, even when I mean for it to be short, it always ends up being really long, almost uber length.

I wish I knew someone in creative writing who would read my stuff and give me some feedback. My friends read my stuff, and their opinions matter, but they're not professionals. They all like my work, but I don't know if they would tell me the truth if my work sucked. Oh well, once the new semester starts, I will be taking a creative writing class and will definitely be getting some constructive criticism. I just hope the professor at least sees potential in my writing.

I guess I should just stop dwelling on this. There's a reason why I'm in journalism and not a creative writing program. I'm more likely to find success in journalism than I would in creative writing. Also, there's not as much pressure of hoping people like my work. In journalism, I just need to keep my editor happy, if an article makes someone mad, and there are no errors in it, then I'm doing my job right.

Alrighty, well, I know my blog has now become kind of boring. I'll try to get an entertainment post in here every once in a while, maybe I'll be able to work a weekly entertainment themed post.

Anyway, if I do start posting weekly, there is one week I'll probably miss, the first week of August, because I will be on vaca in ATL visiting my best friend and her mom.

Keep cool!

OH! Btw, not long after I applied for the internship at DC Agenda, the paper was able to buy back the name Washington Blade.

Oh yea, and that's the internship I'm currently at. :0)

A Change of Pace

Wow, I am actually updating this blog. I don't think its been quite as long as the last time, but still, a couple months.

I am busy this summer. I have an amazing internship that I've dreamed about having since freshman year of college. I attended Capital Pride, with my internship, and it was an awesome experience. I actually got to WALK in the parade. I also worked our booth at the street festival, but I have done that before at Atlanta Pride for Curve. It was still fun especially since it did not involve taking money from people. I also got to see Chely Wright perform. I've been a huge fan of hers ever since "Single White Female" was released and seeing her perform it live was nothing short of spectacular. I have two bylines already and will have plenty more before the summer is over.

Now, this blog use to be all about entertainment (and myself if I remembered to update) but I think I'm going to change things up a little bit. This blog will now be about two different things.

1. My internship this summer

and

2. My writing

Now, some of you may be thinking that the two are the same thing, but I don't mean my journalistic writing. No. I mean my creative writing. I have a shorty story that I wrote back in high school and am working on a novel length project that I started the summer after I graduated high school. I also have several other projects and will be taking a creative writing class in the fall.

I probably will still post an occasional entertainment entry, just because I love following entertainment. But maybe with these new subjects, I'll be more likely to update on a more regular basis.

Thanks for sticking with me!

PS

Check out the amazing dance crew, The Beat Freaks, as well as LXD and other dancers, in Justin Bieber's new music video, Somebody to Love.

Umm ... Wow

Okay, so, its been almost a year since I last posted on here. For those still subscribed to the feed, I apologize. I just haven't had much LGBT related to post about, and I was wanting to keep it in that topic, with the exception of weekly crushes, which are only semi-LGBT related.

I temporarily was considering switching out of journalism and into Early Childhood Education, I've actually been taking education classes all semester, but it just isn't for me. I've made some amazing friends and I've loved working at my placements, especially the preschool, but it would mean two extra years of school (which i am so sick of) and a VERY stressful final year.

All this means ... well, I'm not sure what it means. I do know that I am currently getting my resume updated to apply for a writing internship at DC Agenda, the new LGBT newspaper in Washington, DC. I'm doubting that I will get it, but I have to try. I always wanted to intern at the Washington Blade, which got shut down earlier this year and the staff created DC Agenda.

Anyway, that's my update. I'll try to be better about updating. I'm considering doing some retro reviews. We'll see.

Until next time ...

School Year Has Started

So, a new semester has started and I have a very busy schedule. I am taking 18 credits, which consists of 6 classes, 4 of which are journalism and 2 are LGBT Studies. Insane right? It only gets worse. One of the journalism classes requires me to go out into the real world to write some stupid ass stories for class, they'll never get published, and they'll never even have a chance at getting published oh and on top of that, I have to get 10 articles published. That's still not all. On top of all of this, I am working at least 10 hours a week, not counting the hour I "volunteer" for, basically just me being in the office helping out and not getting paid for it. Plus I have a two hour commute, one way, that costs me $8 a day. I'm an admin for a fan site that, let's just say needs a lot of help and I'm not able to do much about it, and I will most likely be helping out with a paper on campus just so I can get those 10 clips.

I repeat, insane right?

Anyway, I'm saying all this, not to make excuses to my past suckiness at updating, but to make excuses for my future suckiness. :0) I'm gonna try my best to update at least once a week. All my journalism classes take place in computer labs, and I typically get to them early enough that I can at least get a little work in on a post.

But considering how many days ago I actually started writing THIS entry, we'll see if that actually works.

Anyway, hope everyone had a good summer, I know mine was mostly busy with a few awesome moments, one of which I may blog about, or maybe not, we'll see.

Hope to be blogging again soon!

J School

Wednesday Hottie

How bad is it that I tend to update more often when I am out of town then when I am home now?

Anyway, I am on spring break and took a road trip down to good ole ATL (for those of you who don't know what that means, I'm in Atlanta, Georgia). My best friend decided she would get me hooked on a new obsession. That new obsession is known as The Beat Freaks.


Who are the Beat Freaks you ask? Well, they are a all-girl all-style dance crew from MTV's America's Best Dance Crew (yea, you know that channel that use to play music videos?).

Here is one of their best performances:


All the girls are pretty stunning, I mean, BGirl Shorty has red hair (and you all know how I feel about red hair), but I thought a blog about ALL the girls (there were seven on the show, but the whole crew is eight women) would just be WAY TOO LONG (especially since my BFF [best friend forever, but also Beat Freak Fan] said she'd help and she knows EVERYTHING about these girls). So, my friend texted me and informed me which girl should be this week's Wednesday Hottie.

So, without further ado, this week's Wednesday Hottie is ... Maryss from Paris.

Obviously from her name, Maryss is from Paris and she has an awesome accent. She also speaks several different languages, French (obviously), Spanish, Tagalog, and seemingly many others.

Maryss is a big fan of Michael Jackson. She has said that she would love to meet him, but according to her MySpace, "if I could choreograph and dance for him...that will do too."

The illusion routine was dedicated to Maryss's brother, who passed away three years ago after a car accident. She had promised him she would bring him to New York for his 18th bithday, but unfortunately, he did not make it. I was in tears just watching her talk about her brother.

Wednesday Hottie

Yes! I am back with Wednesday Hottie! Finally! So, I know its been forever since I've posted a Wednesday hottie, and I'm not even going to try to give an excuse as to why. I've spent the last twenty minutes trying to decide who I was going to make this years first Wednesday Hottie. I was looking at all the people who I've picked since I started this, and I realized I'm missing some serious people. It is now time to rectify that situation. This week's Hottie is ....

Jorja Fox
Jorja is an actress, producer, humanitarian, activist and environmentalist.

Best known for her role as Sara Sidle on CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigations, Jorja smiled her way into my heart with that cute little gap tooth smile. Sidle was not supposed to be a regular, but the audience seemed to like her. A lot of viewers complained about Sidle and her relationship with Grissom, but anyone who has had to suffer a crush on a person and felt like the feelings were not returned, well, they knew what she was going through.

Raised on a narrow barrier island, Jorja attended Holy trinity Episcopal Academy, Hoover Junior High in Indialantic, Florida, and later, Melbourne High School.

While growing up she took modeling classes, did some drama work in high school, and volunteered as a candy striper in a local hospital. At 16, Fox won a modeling contest at a local mall; midway through her senior year (1985) she left high school and moved back to her birthplace of New York to pursue an modeling career. During her time as a model, Jorja was roommates with Paula Ciccone, Madonna's younger sister. She took night classes at the American Academy of Dramatic Acting and also attended the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute.

Jorja also stared on NBC's top-rated series ER as resident intern Dr. Maggie Doyle prior to her segue as Secret Service Agent Gina Toscano on Aaron Sorkin's Emmy Award-winning drama THE WEST WING. Additional credits include guest turns on LAW AND ORDER and the historic "coming out" episode of Ellen (she hits on Ellen's friend).



Her film credits include the independent features "Memento," "Tiara Tango" and "Down with the Joneses."

As the co-founder of Honeypot Productions, an independent avant garde theater company, she has mounted a number of plays, including Dear Bernard, which ran in LA in the summer of 2004. Jorja also writes for the troupe, including the play Loving Stanley. Another of the founding members is Heather Grody of Gush (also known as Murmurs), whom Fox met in 1991 at the AAoDA.

There are all kinds of questions regarding Jorja's sexuality, but she's never said whether she's gay or straight. I personally think she's at least bi. There are just too many signs (which I admit are all based on stereotypes, but yea).

Other Information:
Birth Name: Jorja-An Fox
Nicknames: Jorja, Jorj, Jorjan, Horha (the Spanish pronounciation of her name, used by her "CSI Miami" friend Emily Procter)
Date of Birth: 07/07/1968
Place of Birth: New York City, NY (raised in Melbourne Beach, FL)
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Brown
Height: 5'9"
Family: Parents immigrated from Montreal, mother Marilyn (Belgian-Canadian, b. 1927, d. 1996), father Mark (Irish-Canadian, b. 1924), older brother Jeff (b. 1957).
Pets: Ali (dog, female, Boxer), Rumplestiltskin (cat), and Sid Poitier (cat, male, formerly named Sid Vicious)
Notes: Flower shaped tattoo on left ankle, is a liberal Democrat.

Edit: So, I am a horrible person and forgot to put a credit line, then, when I did add it, hit save instead of publish. All of the factual information came from Jorja Fox Online. Only opinion is mine.

The OSCARS!

So, I stayed up really late watching the Oscars last night ... and it wasn't really worth it. For one thing, I was not happy with the Academy's decision to postpone the awarding of Best Supporting Actor to much later in the telecast than normal (for those of you who may not know, normally both Supporting awards are given first thing), just because they knew everyone was going to want to watch to see if Heath Ledger was going to win (and while this will probably anger many people, I do not think he should have won, he was good as the Joker, that is for sure, but I do not believe he was Oscar worthy). Also, while I have not seen Slumdog Millinare, I do not understand how it culd win Best Picture, but not have a single acting nomination.

There were some good points though.

Hugh Jackman - My mother and I just could not understand why he was selected as the host, until the opening number. Jackman did a great job for his first hosting gig.

Anne Hathaway - I love Anne Hathaway. I loved her in the Princess Diaries and thought she was even more amazing in The Devil Wears Prada and I cannot wait to see Rachel Getting Married. I've always thought she was strong for everything she went through with her ex-boyfriend, but I now admire her ever more for her wonderful singing skills.

Here's the opening number:


Penelope Cruz - won Best Supporting Actress for Vicky Cristina Barcelona in which she played a bisexual woman

Hugh Jackman - Yes, I am listing him again. Not only was his opening number pretty good, the second musical number, all about musicals, was probably the best of the night.

Beyonce - Wow, I busted out laughing as soon as the first few notes of "At Last" played and when she actually sang those two words, I just couldn't help but think, 'Oh, no she didn't!' while my mother said, "She's got nerve."

Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens ... well, maybe just Zac Efron - Watching the arrivals, I could not understand why these two were there. I knew HSM was not nominated for anything, but this musical number made a lot of sense (and my best friend LOVES Zefron, so I figured I would include him for her).

The Musical:


Dustin Lance Black - won Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, for Milk, the story of Harvey Milk, the first gay elected official who was assainated. He speech was touching and I'm glad he won.

His Speech:


Kate Winslet - won Best Actress in a Leading Role for The Reader. I really wanted Anne Hathaway to win, but Winslet winning was just as good, especially, because of her speech. Her speech included the cutest moment of the Oscars I believe.

Her Speech:


Sean Penn - won Best Actor in a Leading Role for Milk (DeNiro's introduction was probably the best all night, I tired to find a good quality video of it, but there was not one). Penn's speech, which I just saw in a promo for an upcoming Hannity segment (and I highly doubt Hannity is going to say anything good about Penn) was amazing. Hopefully, the people he mentions, will feel the shame he said they should (aparently there were people protesting the Oscars).

His Speech: