Forever Young Adult » My So-Called Life

An Open Letter to the Other Erin C—–

erin — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 01:13:36 +0000

I never thought I had a common name. Oh, Erin’s a common enough name, I suppose – a few years after I was born my first name even made it to the Top Ten Baby Girl Names in America list (I can only presume this was due to some sort of wellspring of Irish pride in the mid-80s, though it maybe had to do with the popularity of Joanie Loves Chachi). But the whole combo – Erin plus a standard English middle name and a not so standard British last name made popular by one famous actor and a few dead Scottish generals – it seemed weird that anyone would have my name.

Until I moved to Austin, that is, and met my nemesis . . . The Other Erin. The Other Erin, who had my EXACT NAME, lived on a street not twelve miles from me (this isn’t exactly an impressively small distance in Austin) and we constantly got confused. Our IDs at the Student Union were mixed up. She often accidentally rented movies on my account at I Luv Video (until I instituted a counter strike by renting both Mary Kate and Ashley Olson movies and some gross Barely Legal porn on her account . . . and then didn’t return them) and I often received snail mail addressed to her.

That, of course, was before email became popular. When gmail was still invite-only, I stupidly signed up for an address using my full name. And ever since, I’ve received email meant for the other Erin C. Sometimes I respond and tell the sender they have the wrong girl, but most of the time I just ignore it. Still and all, it’s probably best that I let the Other Erin C know what’s going on in her life:

Dear Other Erin C,

First of all, call your mother. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, because she writes to you in Spanish, but I take it you’re going on a cruise? Anyway, your father bought a new pair of shoes and something else I couldn’t translate (a carousel? That doesn’t seem right) but he’s refusing to call your uncle, who I guess bought the tickets for the cruise? Anyway, you should probably call her back since you haven’t answered any of your emails (sorry!), and she isn’t sure whether she should just tell your dad to get rid of the carousel (?) or tell your uncle to take someone else on the cruise.

Maybe you never call your mother because you’re busy at work. Congratulations on your real estate team being named the top winners of the conference, or whatever! Your team leader seems really proud of you! Anyway, it turns out that if you guys dig deep, she’s pretty sure that you can triumph during the next quarter. Also the company Christmas party is tonight, and you’re picking her up at 8 pm. Don’t be late!

Also, hey, your neighbor just had a baby! It’s kind of a super ugly baby. though? Like, almost all newborns are ugly (and why shouldn’t they be? We certainly wouldn’t expect full-grown humans to crawl through a small tissue-and-blood cavern and then emerge pristine and perfectly coifed.), but this is one fucking ugly baby, yo. That said, you really need to go visit this baby in the hospital, because fourteen of the other twenty people cc’d on the email have already. I know, because they’ve replied all to the original email and offered up praise of the ugly baby.

P.S.? Maybe look at getting new friends. It’s not good to surround yourself with people who lie about a baby’s general beauty like that.

Speaking of friends, how was your friend Sarah’s bachelorette party at Howl At the Moon in San Antonio? Did you guys have shots, WOOOOOO? I checked out the evite and it looked like it was going to be the party of the decade. If you measure your decades by episodes of Bridezillas, that is. I hope you guys had an amazing time and that you remembered to bring both penis lollipops and a penis crown for the bride, as per instructions from the Maid of Honor.

Well, that’s all for now, Other Erin C. I hope your cruise goes off without a hitch and that your uncle and dad stop arguing over the carousel (?). Call your mother. If you aren’t going to email her back, niña, then she’ll just take your cousin Justine on the cruise instead.

Love,

The Original Erin C

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all!

Poshdeluxe — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 18:26:56 +0000

To our fellow YAngelists, LadyNerds and TEABS survivors: we wish you a wonderful, tasty-business-filled, cocktail-fueled Thanksgiving. We are so thankful for you! And for badass YA authors! And for champ cans! (We are ALWAYS thankful for champ cans.)

Love you guys! Gobble gobble!

FYA and the Drafthouse: A Love Story

erin — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:30:53 +0000

Happy Breaking Dawn pt 1 Midnight Release Day, cats and kittens! Has everyone readied themselves for cecarean dentata by sharpening their canines and steeling their stomachs against gore and bad acting? I surely hope so. For those of you who are braving the crowds of Twilight fans lined up to watch the movie at midnight, I salute you. But if you were in Austin or San Antonio right now, you could be saluting yourself - with the FYA Twilight Saga Drinking Game!

The Alamo Drafthouse, which is commonly known as the greatest theatre in America, is having a Twilight marathon today in advance of the midnight release of Breaking Dawn pt 1, and in order to facilitate the enjoyment of what could possibly be the greatest bad movies of all time, they’ve decided to treat their patrons to our drinking game rules! Imagine! Eight solid hours of drinking everytime Bella fidgets with her hair!

People at the Twi-a-thon will all be provided Drafthouse-printed cards with all of our drinking game rules, not to mention a menu full of delicious beverages (alcoholic or not) with which to actually play the game. I expect that by the time the Midnight Release rolls around, half of the theatre will actually be passed out. Frankly, I assume those people will have a better movie going experience than most.

I went to my first event at the Alamo Drafthouse almost 14 years ago on one of the 1 dollar Monday Movie nights and instantly fell for the place. Food! Beer! (er, had I been legal to drink at the time, of course. I made up for the lack over the years.) Movies! Yes, please!

Over the years, the Drafthouse has grown even more awesome – not only do they show first-run movies and marathons like Twilight, they bring back older movies to show, present Girlie Night, run by our very own poshdeluxe, and have awesome events like Rolling Roadshow (showing movies in thematic locations, like airing Jaws while everyone is floating on tubes in the lake) or musical singalongs (next week Posh will have a LadyNerd post about the Buffy singalong we went to this weekend)!

And some of the Drafthouse employees are no stranger to FYA, either – when George isn’t providing us with witty bon mots about the Salvatore brothers’ romantic liasons, he’s on the Creative team at the company and when Henri isn’t busy insulting Peeta, his days are full of figuring out ever more ways to incorporate confetti canons into events as the Drafthouse’s Chief Creative Officer and airing stupid bitches’ voicemails for the world to hear.

So if you ever find yourself in Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Denver or Winchester, VA, defintely check out the Drafthouse! And keep an eye out for other Drafthouse events with FYA participation . . . like perhaps a full-scale Nerf War Hunger Games in honor of the movie premiere.

And tune in to FYA tomorrow for Jenny and Posh’s drinking game rules for Breaking Dawn pt 1! Happy vampire-baby-being-chewed-out-of-a-lady day!

Texas Book Festival 2011: Cocktail riches and YA dreams

Poshdeluxe — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:46:36 +0000

Ok, so you know how I said that this year’s Texas Book Festival might be the best one yet? Well, not that you were disagreeing with me or anything, but I TOLD YOU SO. Seriously, you guys, it pretty much melted our faces with awesome. From the fancy pants parties to the flagrant YAngelism to the panel with Libba Bray and Sarah Dessen (!), the 2011 festival will go down in history as one of FYA’s greatest ~~swimfan~~ moments. Join me as I recap the living shizz out of it!

Friday night, Jenny and I were honored to attend a party for Children’s & YA authors at someone’s super nice house in Austin. Bonus: there was queso! We didn’t take any pictures, because we were trying to play it cool (keyword: trying), but we got to chat with the fabulous Libba Bray and meet James Dashner (who is super nice!!!) and E. Lockhart, who WE DID NOT REALIZE WAS E. LOCKHART. Look, ok, it was dark! (We were outside.) And she said her name was Emily! So Jenny and I are just chatting away with her, totally oblivious to the fact that we were talking with THE WOMAN WHO CREATED FRANKIE BANKS. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT. Fortunately, we saw her again later so we could properly get our swimfan on. P.S. She’s totally cool and really nice!

On Saturday, I woke up bright and early to attend one of the morning panels. PSYCHE. I *meant* to wake up early to attend one of the morning panels, but… yeah. That didn’t work out. The point is, I eventually made it to the festival! Because I am a capable adult!

All of the panels and sessions actually take place inside of the Texas capitol, as well as in surrounding buildings and a few tents pitched on Congress Avenue (which is closed to cars, obvs). Some of the tents are filled with books, like this one:

And the best part is that if you purchase a book, the proceeds benefit public libraries in Texas! In other words, this festival is a huge enabler for book addiction. HUGE.

I met up with my friends Leslie and Erica for the Literary Death Match, which is held each year in the gorgeous, historic Paramount Theater. Just being in this place makes me wish I owned a pair of opera glasses.

I took some video of the event, but it didn’t really come out well, so I’ll just share the highlights and send you over to look at photos on the official page. The basic structure of the event goes like this: four authors each have seven minutes to read an excerpt of their work. Three judges, also writers, evaluate them on literary merit, performance and intangibles. The judges then select two finalists to compete in the second round, which changes with each show. Last year, it involved musical chairs. This year, the hosts brought up 17 people from the audience to hold up photos of famous authors who wrote books with a number in the title. The two finalists then went back and forth, choosing pictures (not always being able to identify the author) and gaining a score based on the sum of the numbers in the titles. And the thing to keep in mind, if it’s not already obvious, is that this whole thing is the opposite of serious.

Libba Bray was a contestant, and she totally rocked it! However, she ultimately lost out to Martha Foose Hall, who, in all fairness, is incredibly Southern and adorbs, PLUS she gave the judges fudge. And not even the Supreme Court can be impartial when homemade fudge is involved. Thankfully, these judges were way more entertaining than the third branch of our government: Adam Mansbach (totally rad), Chuck Palahniuk (totally a dick) and Lisa Loeb. Yep, you read that right, LISA LOEB WAS THERE. Because she wrote a children’s book. And because also, as it turns out, she’s really cute and funny!

Next up on le schedule was a panel with Libba Bray and Sarah Dessen, aka GREATEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE THUS FAR. I was serving as the moderator, which meant that I tried to stay out of the way so the audience could soak up as much Sarah & Libba awesomeness as possible. It also meant that I got to hang out with Libba and Sarah for a bit before the session began, and in the least shocking internet reveal ever, I can tell you that they are both incredibly charming and super duper nice. We even took a picture together! WHICH I WILL FRAME AND KEEP FOREVER.

The panel was basically Sarah and Libba talking to each other, so obvs it was the most entertaining panel of the entire festival. This video won’t really do it justice, but here’s a few of the highlights:

Seriously, HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE THEM? SO MUCH.

Afterwards, I offered to give Sarah, a fellow Friday Night Lights fan, a tour of some of the Dillon landmarks around Austin, and she got really excited… until she realized she had no free time before her early morning flight. So now I’ve got a rain check for a date with Sarah Dessen at the Alamo Freeze! WHAT! To quote David After the Dentist: IS THIS REAL LIFE?

Once I’d finally stopped sweating profusely with nervousness, Erin and I attended an author cocktail party in someone’s uber posh house downtown. Check this place out:

Oh, and that’s James Dashner on the stairs! Hi James!

This party was so swankeroo, waiters would come up to you and refill yr wine glass BEFORE IT WAS EVEN EMPTY. That’s my kind of social etiquette.

Speaking of etiquette, Erin took a picture of the bathroom in this house because it was AMAZING (a walk in shower… that leads to a hot tub… that’s on a balcony) but I won’t post it here, because I’d like to be invited back next year. Needless to say, Posh Deluxe has DISCOVERED HER ROOTS.

That night, we headed to the Texas State Cemetery for a spooktacular event with all of the YA authors at the festival. Erin and I came prepared, of course. Cos that’s how LadyNerds roll.

Ok, maybe a LadyNerd would’ve remembered to bring her flask, which looks classier than ginger ale bottles half-filled with whiskey, but whatever. It was night time at a cemetery! We were kicking it high school!

After making our way through the graves, we scored a spot on a blanket with Jenny and fellow Austin book clubbers Erica and Holly. Thanks for adding another layer of separation between us and the coffins underground, ladies!

It was certainly one of the most atmospheric book events I’ve ever attended, complete with the authors playing rounds of Hideous Corpse.

See if you can spot any of yr fave authors in this (incredibly dark) video:

Once the event ended, the authors scattered throughout the cemetery so fans could hang out and talk with them before heading home. A graveyard hasn’t been this exciting since Spike performed Rest In Peace!

Jenny, Erin and I held our own after-party at a bar down the street, where we toasted to the amazingness that is the YA community. We’re incredibly lucky to be a part of it, and we can’t wait to see how next year’s festival will manage to top this one. In fact, the only way I think that’s possible is if one of us actually moves into that fancy pants house and then invites all of our fave authors for a slumber party where there’s endless supplies of queso and waiters to refill our wine glasses. Yeah, let’s make THAT happen.

munchkinpiece theatre presents: the unicorn club

erin — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:32:00 +0000

Hello, FYA! Welcome to another installment of Munchkinpiece Theatre, in which the fruit of my womb gives her decided opinion on Young Adult books, mostly based on the cover and the back summary, because YA books aren’t as cool as her Junie B Jones books, I guess, and therefore she declines to actually read them.

This Munchkinpiece Theatre video features: my very messy bedroom, a selection of a whole lot of books I have since stacked, in order, in my TBRR pile (To Be Read and Reviewed), and the last video I took of the Munchkin before she decided she wanted to “be more grown up” and asked the hair stylist to lop most of her hair off. Ah, the passing of youth!

So there you have it, folks. If you’re nice to the Munchkin, you can be in her club. I hear she’ll even let you play with her “Nonstop Nonstop Nonstop Glamor!” Malibu Barbie Camper Van! And I will bake you cookies, so it’s really a win/win.

AND! As a special bonus! GUESS WHAT TOMORROW IS? Yeah, that’s right. Those stupid blonde twins are BACK. With a vengeance! Which almost matches the vengeance with which my liver is dying, what with all the drinking I had to do to dull the pain. Liz, Jess and I will see you tomorrow!

ATBF: What’s the steampunk version of a margarita?

Poshdeluxe — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:06:32 +0000

There’s a lot of great things about living in Austin. The queso! The margaritas! The lack of winter! The acceptance of jorts as formal wear! And on Saturday, I got to enjoy another one of the perks: the Austin Teen Book Festival. Presented by the Austin Public Library Friends Foundation, it’s an all day event that brings YA authors from around the country to meet and talk with teenage readers and, uh, the occasional adult swimfan. Such as yrs truly.

The night before the festival, FYA was lucky enough to present a screening of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist at our local badass theater, the Alamo Drafthouse. And get this: DAVID LEVITHAN WAS THERE! And he watched the movie with us! And then he answered questions! Because he’s the best guy ever!

I was honored to introduce the film and moderate the Q&A, but I was so busy BEING EXCITED that I didn’t get any pictures or video. I didn’t even take notes, because I didn’t want David to think I was texting while I was sitting next to him on the stage. So you’ll just have to trust me when I say that he is absolutely marvelous and super nice. And also, he thinks it’s hilarious that the yellow Yugo ended up being such a pain for the filmmakers (they had to find, buy and paint three of them) when it all started as a joke between him and Rachel Cohn.

Also, he said that no one has approached him or John Green to make a film adaptation for Will Grayson, Will Grayson, which is like WHAT THE WHAT. Who *wouldn’t* want to make a movie in which we could see Tiny Cooper IN LIVING COLOR? David did mention that there’s some interest in Dash & Lily, so that’s cool, but COME ON, HOLLYWOOD, GET IT TOGETHER. We need to see Tiny Cooper, and we need to see him NOW.

The next day at the festival, David answered a question about the movie, so you can watch this and pretend like it’s from our screening:

The panel was called “Real Life Is Messy” and consisted of the following authors: David Levithan, Coe Booth, John Corey Whaley, Melissa Walker, Geoff Herbach, with Varian Johnson moderating. It was definitely my favorite panel of the day, and not just because I want to be besties with David. All of the authors were funny and warm (particularly Coe Booth), and even though it was their third panel session of the day, they seemed glad to be there.

They also addressed the Twilight effect (video here) and the popularity of The Hunger Games (video here), and through it all, they did nothing to dispel my desire to make it rain BFF charms all over that conference room. It’s a strange feeling when you know you’re spazzing out more than the 15-year-old girl sitting next to you. JK, I FEEL THAT WAY ALL OF THE TIME.

Due to some sound issues, I didn’t get video of any other panels, but it was AWESOME to see the huge crowd of teens there. I know this is crazy, but YA isn’t just for adults, you guys.

In honor of keynote speaker Scott Westerfeld, the theme of the festival was steampunk. Check out this creature straight out of Leviathan!

Ok, seriously, how adorable is it to see a teenage girl posing with something OUT OF A BOOK? Not a Justin Bieber cut-out, but a book. I know I sound like an old lady here but VIVA LITERATURE.

Some people even dressed up!

The only thing that prevented this from turning full on RenFest was a lack of turkey legs and a sense of decency.

I was glad to see so many actual YAs at the festival, but I was also glad to be an A, especially when it came to lunch time, aka MARGARITA BREAK. I met up with some fellow Austin FYA Book Club members as well as a few ladies who were in town from San Antonio (and members of the FYA Book Club there!). We ate, we drank and we spazzed about books as only well-trained YAngelists can.

It was a fabulous day to be an FYAer and live in Austin, TX. In fact, I think we should start our own YAngelist Convention, complete with author panels, dance parties and champ can & queso concession stands. HOLLA! We’ll start working on it, and you start visualizing yourself here:

Yeah, you got the easy end of the deal. SEE Y’ALL SOON…

Exposed! Secrets of discovering the best worst books

Meghan — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 17:00:26 +0000

Good morning, class! I hope you all remembered to bring your signed field trip permission slips, because today we’re going to step outside the lab and do some science in real life! I’m sure you guys wonder ALL THE TIME how we glamorous Ladies of FYA manage to find such amazing books, in between sipping cocktails, flipping our shiny hair and walking around being awesome. And while it’s true that many books come to us, we do want to make sure we’re bringing you the best of all possible YA literature, so that means a little work on our parts (as long as it doesn’t mess up our manicures). It proooobably comes as no surprise that I have a constitutional inability to pass up a used bookstore, which is one of my all-time FAVORITE PLACES to find both amazing things like the entire run of The Princess Diaries (although, srsly, who’d sell that shizz for gas money?! Princess Mia is totally worth more than being able to get to work) AND some of the most amazingly awful things ever. This summer, I hit up a bookstore in my parents’ town, and when I saw it had books I probably donated back in 1989, I knew I’d hit a treasure trove and HAD to document it for posterity and your erudition.

I think the bookstore owner wanted to kill me. But I cleaned up the mess!

Sit back and get ready to SCORE SOME WINS. Happy shopping!

So there you have it, folks! The highly scientific used book store shopping process — title, tagline, cover, summary, and a random excerpt. And lucky for you guys, The Young and the Soapy came home with me (along with a zillion Babysitter’s Club books), so look for a review soon. To tide you over until I read and review it, here’s an excerpt from the randomly chosen page 110:

“Oh, I’ll have the seafood salad.”
“I’ll have the same.”
He waits a second to see if we’re going to order anything else. Mother waves him away. “That’s all. Good-bye.” She turns to me. “I’m going over to say hello.” She starts to get up from the table.
“Mother, are you crazy? Anyway, she’s busy. She’s on a date.”
“Yes, with Martin Sonnheim. Funny, she’s so attractive now.”
I grab her arm. “Please, maybe they want some privacy—”
“Oh, come on, Kathy. Why don’t we show them your beautiful new dress.”

RIVETING STUFF. And in other good news, I also scored this gem:

I think the cover deserves a 2 out of 5, but the tagline, “Camp Ma-Sha-Na — ‘Boating! Swimming! Tennis! Paradise on Earth’ — but the camp brochure said nothing about Black Magic!” scores a solid 4.

AND I got this one for Erin.

I know, you CAN’T WAIT for her to review it, and now she has to!

munchkinpiece theatre presents: Sweethearts

erin — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:42:55 +0000

What ho, FYAers! It’s time once again for Munchkinpiece Theatre! This week the munchkin will be offering her thoughts on one of the greatest books ever reviewed here at FYA, Sweethearts by Sara Zarr.

I know! I’m excited too!

Before the video, the munchkin asked that I provide her audience with some basic facts about herself, so that you could “get to know [her] and maybe be [her] friend.” So I’ve compiled a list after the cut, just in case you find yourself in the market for a new bestie who’s only seven.

True Facts!

the munchkin is now a second-grader! She thought her first grade teacher might just move to second grade and teach her again, on account of how the munchkin “was really her favorite, but I wasn’t supposed to tell people.” Sadly for the munchkin, this did not happen.
the munchkin’s favorite food is bacon, and she will eat it with every meal if allowed. Bacon, much like dessert, is actually withheld as an end-of-meal treat if she finishes the rest of her food. Some of the munchkin’s mom’s friends have taken to carrying around a little baggy of bacon in their pockets, in case they encounter the munchkin. So, in some ways, the munchkin is exactly like your golden retriever.
The munchkin’s favorite tv show is 10 Things I Hate About You, the dvds for which she has worn out upon repeated viewings. At least once a week, she asks that I call my “friends” at ABC Family and request that they bring back the show. On an older child this may be taken as sarcasm but I think she actually believes I have friends at ABC Family.
the munchkin’s favorite colors are pink and purple and her favorite singer is Taylor Swift, and these facts plus her desire to carry twelve purses everywhere she goes lead me to realize that I have limited influence over this child.

On to the show! What will the Munchkin think of Cameron Quick?

There you have it, folks. Pick up Sweethearts, because I say Cameron Quick is very handsome.

Sophomore year ruled the school!

Poshdeluxe — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:15:27 +0000

Hey y’all! It’s no big deal or anything, but on July 15, this website finished its sophomore year! Ok, I’m kidding, it’s like a mega huge deal, because WE’RE OFFICIALLY JUNIORS NOW! And maybe we’ll finally be able to sneak into the senior commons! And the hot upperclassmen boys will stop mistaking us for freshmen! (As if!)

Even though we’re excited about being older and like, more mature and maybe even moving up a cup size (fingers crossed), it’s been a pretty great year. We made so many new friends! And shared so many good times! We’ll definitely treasure these memories forever, and since that’s exactly why yearbooks were invented (We still have ours from last year!), we decided to give you a peak into the notes we left for the awesome (and not so awesome) people who roamed the halls with us this year.

Hey Mockingjay Midnight Release! Remember that AWESOME party we had for your big day? Man, it took me forever to get to your party, but once I got there, it was totally worth it! What was your favorite part? I think mine was the Real Life Hunger Games that we played with Nerf guns and arrows. Or maybe mixing those Effies for everyone. Or daring Henri to drink a Haymitch and then coming up with our Ultimate Battle for reading Mockingjay. It was SO super fun to hang out with all the other FYAers and make awesome tshirts. I really hope we can do it again sometime! Um, but not for your own big day. Maybe for a better book’s?

K.I.T.!!! Have a crazy, cool summer!
Erin

WHAT UP MEG CABOT! Girl, you LIGHT UP MY LIFE. Seriously, when you chose *us* out of all the other bloggers in the caf to sit with you at lunch, I couldn’t believe it. I mean, hello, you’re THE coolest girl in school! And now we’re friends and you say hi to us in the halls and btw I totally voted for you, like, a billion times for prom queen. (Don’t tell anyone on Student Council, LOL.) But for realsies, you are totally our role model, and you’ve inspired us so much with your amazing books and sassy personality and dessert ordering skills. NEVER CHANGE!
U R
2 Sweet
2 B
+ ______
4 Gotten

Posh

No H! Hless! Girl, I am SOOOOO glad we got to know you this year. It’s totally awesome to have another Meg(h)an representing — what what! One day we will TAKE OVER THE WORLD. With your love of cray cray dystopias and awesome Aussie lit (see what I almost did there? but restrained myself?), and encyclopedic knowledge of Harry Potter you’re totally like a sister from another mister!! LOVE yr long shiny hair!! Stay sweet! LYLAS!!

FYA4EVA!!
Meghan

Dear Unknown Computer Virus,
So here we were, just minding our own business, when you decided to show up in March, out of nowhere. It was SO AWESOME that you tried to infect our readers computers. And it was SO AWESOME that those with web filters couldn’t access you for two whole months. That even included our own FYA writers from accessing the website from work. So THANKS FOR THAT. And oh, in case you couldn’t tell, I AM BEING SARCASTIC. So thank you for going to hell and feel free to stay there as long as you like (read: FOREVER).

Love (NOT),
Megan

Dear Lionsgate Legal Department,

My mom says I have to sign EVERYBODY’S yearbook, even when they’re TOTALLY LAME, like you are. I bet if my mom knew half the stuff you tried to pull on me this year, she wouldn’t make me be “inclusive of others, even if they have unfortunate faces.” Ugh. I mean, you threatened to SUE me! And then when I was all, “bish, please,” you were like, “I’ll hire a private investigator to TRACK YOU DOWN and make you cry on youtube!” Whatevs. Look, I totally hope you DON’T have a good summer and that, actually, you move schools and, like, have to change your whole identity, or something, because you suck. But, whatever. I hope your dumb movie works out okay. If that totally not-real script that we read and then didn’t distribute to anyone on the internet is any indication of our future, you’re going to need it.

Stay sweet!
Erin

BEA!!!! Holla!! I was so STOKED we hooked up in N-Y-C BABY! Remember all the awesome book peeps we met at the Javitz and the cocktail panels? And Erin reading from “Modelland”? LMAO!! OMG, drinking with Natalie Standiford, Bennett Madison and mother-effing A.S. King was totally the most awesome EVER. Crack pie at Momofuku! Looking HOT in our airbrushed t-shirts (unicorns 4EVS)! Hearing Meg Cabot and Libba Bray! I’ll never forget the Port Authority bowling alley. I don’t know how we’ll top it next year, but you KNOW it’s on like Tron, this time in Technicolor!

HAGS!!!
Meghan

Sarah Dessen, girl, I have so much to say to you, and I know it won’t all fit on this yearbook page, so I’ll try to keep it short and sweet. I still can’t believe that we just met this year, because I feel like I’ve known you for FOREVER. I mean, I’d heard about you, and how amazing you are, but it wasn’t until you handed me that woopie pie that I knew I was in the presence of greatness. OMG I’m sorry this is so cheesy but I can’t help it! I love you! You’re a superstar! And I’m sure life will take us on different paths, but in the words of Simple Minds, don’t you forget about me.

<3 <3 <3
Posh

HEY, Slumber Party! I mean, we’ve only been talking about having you 4EVS!!! I can’t believe this is the year we finally made our dreams come true!!!! Remember the rum punch? And the chocolatey/peanut buttery things? SO YUM. And, OMG, can you BELIEVE the Catalano/Krakow debate? Fun times! Stay sweet this summer, Slumber Party, and maybe next year, we can recreate the memories!!!! You tube, anyone? LOL! Leila+Katie+Rebecca+Jocelyn+Lenore+Carla+Sarah+Erin+Jenny=4EVR&EVR!!!!

LYLAS!!!!
Jenny

OMG, A. S. King and Brian Katcher!!!!! When I read you guys’ stuff in our freshman year, I was totally, like, so moved, and thought, ‘why aren’t these two winning awards, and famous, and rich?’ And just one year later, Please Ignore Vera Dietz is the Michael L. Printz Honor Book for 2011, and Almost Perfect wins ALA’s 2011 Stonewall Award for Young Adult/Children’s Literature (for GLBT themed books)!!!!! I feel like, I totally called it, and also so proud of you guys! Like I had anything to do with it! LOL! Seriously, getting to see that happen was definitely one of the best parts of the year! Here’s to getting the rich and famous part next year!

Holla!
Jenny

Dear FYA Pen Pal Club,
This year I put you together with the hope that all sad people who only get bills and catalogs in the mail could have something to look forward too. So I made a promise…pen pals for all! Except that it took me forever and I day. But I did it! So even though people may just be receiving there first letter, I’m going to be an unreasonable optimist and call it a success! At least, until someone goes and shows up at their pen pal’s house, unannounced. But as long as no one does that, I say success!

Love
Megan

And of course, we saved our biggest, most glitter-penned note for YOU, our readers and kickass fellow YAngelists. WE LOVE YOU GUYS LIKE FOREVER AND A DAY, and we want to say THANK YOU for making this year so completely fabulous. Without you, sophomore year would have seriously, seriously sucked ass. U R AMAZING.

Posh, Erin, Jenny, Meghan & Megan

In Which I Finally Get Accepted Into Hogwarts

Megan no h — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 17:20:30 +0000

And it only cost me a hundred dollars! Which, I suppose makes it the wizarding equivalent to those degrees you pay for and get in your cat’s name. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Guys, I went to Universal Studio’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!! I was in St. Petersburg, FL for a wedding and was all “Hey, Orlando’s only two hours away, HOGWARTS IS WITHIN MY GRASP!” So I went! And let me tell you…it was awesome.

For those of you who don’t know, Wizarding World has been open just over a year. It’s not its own theme part but one of the “islands” in Universal’s Islands of Adventure. It’s fairly small and only has three rides. None of this is to say it isn’t awesome, but it’s only a half a day or day trip.

Welcome to snowy Hogsmeade, located in sunny Florida!

When you first walk into the Wizarding World, the snow-tipped roofs of Hogsmeade make you feel like you’ve walked right onto a movie set. Right away you see a replica Hogwarts Express. The store fronts are a mix between faux stores (with very detailed and interesting items in their windows) and live shops that you can go inside and purchase from.

I've been on the real Hogwarts Express too. Just sayin'

There is a Zonko’s, filled with all sorts of weird joke toys and items that almost look like set pieces. They even had plush pygmy puffs for sale, which I went back to several times until I finally convinced myself that I do not need to own more stuffed things. Next door is Honeydukes, where they sell almost every candy imaginable, including all your favorites from the books like chocolate frogs, Bertie Botts, cauldron cakes, pineapple cubes and more.

EAT ALL OF THE CANDY

One of the best parts of the park is the Three Broomsticks, which is a working restaurant. The restaurant is enormous and everything they serve is actually what you would expect from a wizarding pub – chicken, turkey legs, ribs, shepard’s pie. The staff at the Three Broomsticks are all dressed in costume and, actually, all the park staff are dressed up, in different types of outfits that fit the theme of whichever area or store they work in.

I looked for Madam Rosemerta, but didn't find her.

Plus, something else interesting is that they don’t sell any branded food in the Wizarding World. All the candy is Honeydukes brand. If you want something to drink, you can get butterbeer, pumpkin juice, cider, lemonade but you won’t find a Coke for sale. It’s details like this that show me the park’s creators really took their job seriously and were definitely going for as immersive an experience as possible.

This turkey...tastes...magical.

Other Hogsmeade stores included an owl post office where they actually have a person whose entire job is to stamp the postcards and stationary you buy with a Hogsmeade owl stamp. There is Dervish and Banges, where you can find all sorts of shirts and clothing (including high quality scarves, ties and full robes) and other cool merchandise.

The fake owl shit is a lovely touch.

There is Ollivander’s Wand Shop (which is in Diagon Alley, not Hogsmeade, but whatever) where you can purchase high quality replica wands. I believe they put on a wand testing/purchasing show, but I didn’t see it because the line was unreal. And because I’m sure they would have picked a stupid child to be the one to go through the wand testing even though no child could appreciate it much as I could. Just sayin’.

This store does not belong here.

At this point, I know what you’re all thinking. BUT MEGAN, HOW WAS THE BUTTERBEER? I’m happy to report, IT IS DELICIOUS. It comes in two varieties, regular and frozen, which is like a delicious butterbeer slushie. Maybe it’s bold to say it’s the greatest thing I’ve ever tasted, but I’m in the mood to make bold statements.

Random, but cool, was a little show they put on where some ladies dressed up as students from Beauxbatons and danced with ribbons and guys dressed up as students from Durmstrang did dance fighting with staffs.

Of the park’s three rides, two were awesome and one downright blew chunks. The Flight of the Hippogriff is a repurposed rickety-ass little roller coaster that jerks you around and lasts about 25 seconds. Don’t even bother with this one, since a half hour line is not worth it. The Dragon Challenge is another repuposed coaster, but it is badass. It’s a dueling inverted coaster and you’re either in the Hungarian Horntail coaster or the Chinese Fireball coaster. Plus, there was literally no line for it (maybe all the children are too short to ride?) which gives it even more points.

The Ford Anglia.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is the main attraction of the park, which takes place inside the replica Hogwarts. The line is crazy long for this one, but most of it takes you through a tour of the inside of Hogwarts, thus making the line part of the ride. Before you get inside, you start out inside one of Hogwarts’ greenhouses, which has plants that are real, but look like they could have jumped right out of the pages of a Herbology textbook. Once you move inside the castle, there are all sorts of cool statues and interesting paintings. You see the Mirror of Erised, the house jewels, the sorting hat, among other things. Many of the rooms included talking paintings. You go through Dumbledore’s office (there’s even a pensieve!) where a video of Dumbledore plays. A video of Harry, Ron and Hermione plays in the Defense Against The Dark Arts classroom.

Mother. Lovin'. Hogwarts.

For the ride itself, you sit in an enchanted bench that brings you through a narrative where Harry tries to sneak you into a quidditch match, but gets you into all sorts of trouble. The bench moves you between video sets and real life sets that include a quidditch match, the forbidden forest (Aragog actually spits on you), the whomping willow, dementors, and the chamber of secrets. It certainly isn’t a scary ride, but very cool and a must for everyone to experience once.

Overall, the whole thing? Super awesome and so much to eat, buy and look at. Definitely a must for a huge Harry Potter fan.