The Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award

Thank you to Annika Elipton at Writing Beyond the Moon and Aayla Rain at Fangirl & Farmgirl for this award!

Rules:

1. Post seven random things about yourself.
2. Award this to 10 other bloggers!


Random things about me:

1. I like sticky notes
2. I enjoy putting on accents
3. I work on parodying entire musicals for fun
4. Obi-Wan is my BFFF (best fictional friend forever)
5. Flip flops are my favorite type of footwear
6. I like to think that some humans are evolving into hobbits and I am one of them
7. Singing almost always lightens my mood




I will tag...


1. Alyianna at Scribbles of a Catholic Teen
2. Jamie at Through Two Blue Eyes
3. Rebecca at Just me...
4. Shaak Ti at God's Jedi Girl
5. Atina at Atina the Jedi
6. Jedi Knight Autumn at An Autumn Day


And anyone else who has not gotten it yet!


Have a great weekend my friends, and may the Lord be with you!




P.S. Thank you to those who gave me the Dragon Appreciation Award and sorry I never got around to posting it!

SOPA, PIPA, and Pirates of the Caribbean

The proposition of some members of the United States Congress to combat internet piracy by censoring certain websites has caused an uproar among many frequent users of the internet, but some argue that these measures will help prevent theft and the sale of illegal goods.  In order to avoid any political confrontations, In Western Lands (hereafter known as In Western Lands, Western Lands, IWL, and The Page with Words on It) has decided to publicly and temporarily claim neutrality, and declares that any statements made by employees of In Western Lands (including, but not limited to, Arda) do not in any way reflect the thoughts or opinions of In Western Lands.  Although such a stand has been taken, The Page With Words on It still wishes to present you with a balanced and politically correct report featuring the opinions of individuals on all sides of the debate.

Sparrow opposes the anti-piracy bill.

PORT ROYAL - In Western Lands stopped to chat with Commodore James Norrington and Lord Cutler Beckett.  Both have spent a considerable amount of time trying to rid the seas of pirates, and they agree that similar action must be taken on the internet.

"Vile and dissolute creatures, the lot of them," said Norrington, speaking of those who upload copyrighted material onto the internet.  "I intend to see to it that any man who breaks the law in such a fashion gets what he deserves."

Lord Beckett agrees, and he believes that although there will be opposition, the bill still has a good chance of passing.  "The pirates know they face extinction.  All that remains is where they make their final stand."

Predictably, those who would be in danger of being shut down are strongly against the bill.  We asked a worried Joshamee Gibbs his thoughts on what SOPA would mean for him.

"It's bad," he said.  "Bad for every mother's son who calls himself a pirate."

With Gibbs was his associate, Captain Jack Sparrow.  Captain Sparrow is also against SOPA, saying that it would take away from the freedom of the those who use the internet.

"It's not just URLs, and flash, and HTML, that's what a website needs, but what a website is, what the internet really is, is freedom."

While Captain Sparrow would prefer that the bill does not pass, he says that it wouldn't be a completely negative outcome for him.  He is already developing software to keep from being censored, and once all the other offending sites are shut down, he will be able to gain everyone's buisness.

"I rather like that idea," Sparrow said.  "Captain Jack Sparrow: The Last Internet Pirate."

Unfortunately, our interview of Captain Sparrow was cut short by the sudden entrance of Commodore Norrington who attempted to arrest the captain.  The two ran from the room before any more questions could be asked.

Not all have such strong opinions.  Captain Hector Barbossa stated that he would not give an opinion until after Congress votes on the anti-piracy bill, an action that was recently postponed.  When asked why he would wait, Barbossa only said, "Where's the harm in joining the winning side?"

Mr. Cotton is another man undecided as to his position, or so we inferred.  His parrot spoke for him, telling us, "Shiver me timbers!"  Gibbs told IWL that it means, "I like grilled cheese."  We are not convinced, but finally concluded that such a statement shows a lack of opinion on the matter.

Nevertheless, many do have strong opinions on SOPA and IWL encourages its readers to be cordial to those who may have opinions different from their own, unlike Sparrow and Norrington, who ran through the room even as Cotton's parrot was speaking.  While Norrington was chasing Sparrow with his sword drawn, Sparrow was calling behind him, "This is the day you will always remember as the day that you almost caught, Captain Jack Sparrow!"

Article on FoxNews.com used as a reference.  The thoughts and opinions expressed do not necessary reflect the opinions of In Western Lands or its employees.  Pirates of the Caribbean is owned by Disney and IWL lays no claim to the characters and quotes taken from the films.  This article is a work of fiction and any resemblance to people, places, or parrots, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.  Please don't sue us.

Happy New Year!

2011 is officially over and a new year has begun!  It's been a pretty good year - several times of stress, but changes for the better and many joys that were made sweeter coming after difficult times.

This year I...

Joined The Lakehouse forum - Definitely a highlight of this year.  It's been wonderful to meet so many awesome girls and talk, get support, and have fun with them.

Got into Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright - I've enjoyed these so much.  My brother likes them as well and we've had a lot of fun with them together, including dressing up as Professor Layton characters for Halloween and listening to the Phoenix Wright musical songs together.  PL also got me into fanfiction.

Confirmation - I was confirmed in the Catholic Church this year!  When we're confirmed we take a saint's name (they would be like a guide or role model); mine is Therese, after St. Thérèse of Lisieux.  She has always been an inspiration to me.

Script Frenzy - I wrote a 100 page script in April!

Musical - This spring I was in a musical.  It was a really good experience; I learned a lot, improved myself, and made some new friends.  And it was a ton of fun!

Starting this blog - It's been a lot of fun to write, and it's been great to get to know friends better and meet some awesome people!

Spanish - This fall I took an online course through a community college, and got credit for high school and college.  This was really hard but a great accomplishment.

Christmas Concert - I was in a big Christmas Concert this fall!  It was very cool.

And all the times I spent with family and friends, whether in person or over email, chats, etc.  Those were the best times.


This year, 2012, I plan on...

Seeing The Phantom Menace in 3D - This will be the first Star Wars movie (besides The Clone Wars) that I've seen in a theater!  Should be fun.

Getting a drivers license.

Participating in another musical.

Graduating from high school.

Attending Celebration VI and meeting a bunch of Lakehouse girls!

Starting college - gulp.

Seeing The Hobbit! (it's actually coming out!).


Some other things I hope to do are...

Make a fanfiction.net account and write more.

Do Script Frenzy in April.

Get better at music, writing, and my recent interest of drawing.

Make a Jedi costume for Celebration VI.

Read more...and not just fanfiction.


It seems like this is going to be a big, life-changing year.  Learning to drive may be boring and difficult, starting college will be scary, but I'm excited as well.  And there are a lot of good things to look forward to as well.  Thank you all for being a part of my life this year, and I wish you all the best for the next!  May the Lord be with you!