I miss YOU.

I miss my friends.

I miss my family.

I miss my dog.

I miss snow...

I miss Washington.

I. Miss. EVERYTHING.

I've been sitting here, clueless about what to write. And that's probably because I'm wallowing in my own pity party here in the sunny state of California. It might also be the fact that CARS is playing in the background and I HATE CARS (it's the ONLY pixar movie I can't stand AND they're making a second movie... Dumb). So basically I'm distracted.

I think it's mostly the friends thing. I mean, don't get me wrong, I've made friends since I've moved here. A bunch. I've made friends that invite me over and like having me around AND they like Axl... So that's a plus. I like all my new friends. And I know that if I keep hanging out with them they will become even better friends. But what I can't stop getting over is all the differences between the friends I have here and the friends I have at home.

For one thing. Almost all of the friends I have here are guys. Because the mas majority

of people attending Columbia College Hollywood are guys.

Almost all the friends I have at home are girls. I don't know why. It's not like there's a bigger population of girls back in Auburn than there is here in Northridge. I guess it's just because in middle school, all but one of my friends were girls and then when I moved to high school I just continued the trend.

Honestly, I don't prefer male friends over female friends. I guess I just wish I could be able to communicate more successfully with all my female friends back home and still have all my new guys friends to communicate with here.

I'm rammbling.

Another thing is that all the new guy friends I have made here have all the same interests as me. I can sit and have an hour long conversation about a director and his best films and then the next hour we'll move on to another director and the trend goes on and on.

Back home I don't have a specific thing I talk about with my friends. We just chatter on ab out drama and how boring Auburn is (Northridge is worse) and all the things we did over the years.

Both are equally fun.

Are you bored yet?

I'm sorry.

I'll move on to the story that made me start thinking about this.

I was sitting in line with some friends for the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part one (OH! As soon as I get a chance to go to the library I'm going to get the first book and start reading... I'll keep you updated) I ended up playing this weird card game with them were you can't refill your hand until your next turn. It. Drove. Me. Nuts.

Because of my OCD, I needed to refill my hand RIGHT AFTER I finished my turn, but I couldn't. So I would sit there and bounce, and swear, and ask people if they were done yet. They all thought I was hyper but in reality I was losing my mind.

Anyways. One of my new friends... Was just looking at me weird. Not getting it. I mean, she's as weird as I am but she just didn't get it. All my friends back home would have known that I can't concentrate on anything EXCEPT refilling my hand during a game like that.

Inside the theater they played twenty questions.

The same friend that didn't get it chose the person "Hobo" as the others guessed, another friend asked: "Would anyone here be considered the type of person you are talking about?" And she replied: Berlyn maybe. She said she was kidding but she inadvertantly called me a hobo. Maybe it was cause I asked her to buy popcorn, or drive her car, or used a free movie ticket to get my ticket. Regardless... It wasn't right and it was offensive.

Back home when I go to movies and ask my friends: "Hey, you should buy popcorn so I can eat some of it" they don't think, "God. berlyn's a hobo."

It's messed up. When I got home I laid in bed and thought about how I would have much rather seen the movie with my friends back home. How I missed them all because they would never really call me a hobo.

I told another friend here but I think he told the friend that called me a hobo because a few days later she had a small stuffed penguin as an "early christmas present". She knows something.

I mean, I know I'm not really one for "talking about my problems" but I do wish I had SOMEONE to talk to... Even if it was my mom. She listens pretty well.

AND KIM! I miss Kim so much. I can talk to Kim about pretty much anything and I don't feel like I'm being judged. She's very cool like that. I don't know if I'll be able to see Kim when I DO come up but I wish I could. I mean.... I'll probably cry like a baby but it will be good for me. I miss you Kimmy and I hope you are doing well....

The crying like a baby thing goes for pretty much anyone I do see... So... Prepare yourself.

SO in conclusion. I wish I could come home for the holidays. I WISH I could come home and see all my friends (mostly girls) and talk about my problems and cry with them and laugh with them. I want to come home and see everyone. Just for a little while so that I could refresh myself before I come back here.

Don't get me wrong. I don't feel this way about all the friends I have here. Just a few.

Anyways. I think I'm going to call this good and try to do something productive today. Maybe I'll work out and read inglorious basterds. Or go shopping for food.

Food would be nice.

I love you all.

Old Friends And New Friends :)

-Berlyn :)

I'm thankful for YOU. Yes, you.

Luke Danes: Shouldn't we give thanks first?
Jess Mariano: Thanks for what?
Luke Danes: Well, that we're not Native Americans who got their land stolen in exchange for smallpox infested blankets.

Lorelai Gilmore: Amen.

Thank you, Gilmore Girls, for your wonderful view on Thanksgiving.

When you think about it, though, that's what Thanksgiving is for the most part. Most people prepare for the Thanksgiving meal for hours (or even days), have family over, go around the table and name a few things they're thankful for, share a few laughs, eat a ton of food, and then go shopping at 4 am the next morning.

While I usually thank people multiple times when they do anything for me, I don't feel as though I come off as thankful often enough. And though I'm more aware of the positive and happy things that I'm thankful for, I am also thankful for my struggles and experiences that seem terrible at the time. Because they make me a better and stronger person.

But I'm not going to talk about the latter. I'm going to list some positive things I'm thankful for.

Caffeine.

Brand New.

My acceptable writing ability.

Sand.

Family.

Gilmore Girls.

90210.

Summer.

Snow.

Mascara.

Converse.

Blankets.

Elliott Smith.

California.

Rilo Kiley.

Hot cocoa.

Crafts to occupy me when I'm stressed.

The Fall of Troy.

Coffee.

Animals.

Berlyn.

Sun.

Secret Life.

Crisp air.

Apples.

Music.

Headbands.

Friends.

People who give me the opportunity to listen to them.

Organization.

The Sims.

Movie nights.

Learning and college.

Sour Patch Kids.

Understanding people.

Hugs.

Jesus.

Authors who write amazing books for me to read.

Surprises.

Kisses.

Hoodies.

My morals.

Jogging.

Socks.

Tights.

Shelter.

Swingsets.

Diet Coke.

The way I was brought up.

Water.

Times when I can relax.

Journals.

Laughing.

...Just to name a few.

And these are just the simple things.

Writing all of those down makes me feel happier, too. There's just something about acknowledging positivity that boosts your spirit.

Besides focusing on what I'm thankful for, Thanksgiving also makes way for.... BLACK FRIDAY.

Yes, I am one of those insane people who lines up at the crack of dawn to get a free snowglobe and a handful of deals for Christmas presents. With my mommy. It's absolutely chaotic but I actually really enjoy it (most of the time. When I'm not super antsy about huge crowds and manic mothers) because of the excitement level.

However, I definitely would NOT want to be a retail employee on Black Friday (sorry, Alice!). I think I would probably have a constant panic attack until I got trampled by an caffeine-crazed, doorbuster-fueled mob of customers.

Kind of weird how all that insanity is linked with Thanksgiving and Christmas, huh?

Well anyway, I'm kind of freaked out by all the sirens that just started and people are making me antsy (like how I'll be on Black Friday!) so I think I'm going to make this a short one and let you go. I'll write you a novel in two weeks, kay?

Let me know if any of you guys have fun or interesting Thanksgiving traditions, and also let me know what you're thankful for!

I'm thankful for all of you, loves.

Have a fantastic Thanksgiving.

-Kimber

P.S. I'm also thankful for this picture and the giggles it caused me.

Seriously guys!

I want to confess something to you all.

I've kept this a secret for a very long time and I want to come clean about it.

I'm black.

Now, I know you are all thinking:

"Berlyn, even though you may think you are black inside you are genetically white."

Well you're wrong. I was born black. Just like Michael Jackson.

Think about it.

Why do you all think I moved to Auburn in the seventh grade? Do you think it's because we needed a bigger house? Because you would be wrong. It's because my skin turned turned white and I got made fun of, so we moved.

Now you're all probably thinking:

"Fine, prove it. What disease did you have?"

Well, friends, I have a disease called Vitiligo where your skin becomes lighter in patches on your body. Look it up, it exists.

Go here: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitiligo)

Vitilgo affects many different parts of the body.

The hands, face, back, chest, stomach, feet and more. There are different levels of Vitiligo, I have Universal Vitiligo. This means that large portions of my body suffer from depigmantation.

Anyways. To cover the blotches, so I look normal, I wear a lot of make up, so my skin looks even lighter.

Now, some of you are probably thinking:

"I've met your mother. She's white. You're Biological brother is white. Your sisters are white. Your dad is white!"

This is the second part of my secret:

I'm adopted.

My biological mother and father are black, my biological grandmother suffered from the same disease as me. It skipped my parent's generation.

You see. I'm black, I just have white skin.

.....

Okay did I convince any of you? Come on be truthful. Tell me in the comments if I convinced you that I was black for even a milisecond.

Okay.

So I have decided to focus this blog on tricking people into thinking you are a different ethnicity than you actually are.

For those of you that were not convinced by my story... You have to find the right people or you have to be the most convincing person in the world.

This has worked for me before.

I did some inception on my newspaper friend Shayla like a ninja.

One week I mentioned to her that I was actually black and not white and that my mother was black and she could see for herself.

I laughed and thought she realized my joke.

However, a few weeks later she turns to me and asks:

"Hey are you really black?"

I laughed so hard. It was perfect. So it does work.

So I've split this blog into two parts. I don't mean to make this racist (See, I can't be racist, I can't even spell it) or anything it's just a different process for different skin colors.

So. To be as politically incorrect as possible:

WHITE PEOPLE ONLY

So.

There are two diseases (that I have found) that will work for this type of lie.

First is Vitiligo

Vitilgo (like I described above) is a genetic disorder that affects the pigment of the skin. It, often times, makes skin lighter.

It's more rare to see it effect the body in large portions, for the most part it affects the body in small sections like these hands.

Moving on, there is no cure for this disease but it does make you very sensitive to light.

They have some proceedures that may help but I'm not here to talk about success stories.

One notable person with this affliction is Michael Jackson (but I'm pretty sure he bleached his skin).

SO. To convince people you have Vitiligo you need the facts.

Do they know your parents? If they do make it seem like you have something very important to tell them and start with adoption. And then go into the fact that your parents are black. At first they won't believe you but you should start explaining that you have Universal Vitiligo meaning that most of your skin has changed pigments, though there are a few places with black blotches. When they ask to see just explain to them that the blotches are on your ass, breasts, or junk and you don't feel comfortable showing them.

Then throw facts at them. Seriously, go on Wikipedia, get some facts and attack.

Second is Albinism

Albinism is one of those disease that your are born with for no apparent reason. This disease makes the skin, eyes, and hair pigment lighter.

It makes the skin more sensitive to sunlight than normal skin.

There are different types of Albinism; one that affects hair, eyes, and skin and one that only effects the eyes.

It's mostly sex-linked so it mostly effects men, but there are cases of it effecting girls.

Albinism comes from genetics or mutations in DNA.

People of any race can be effected. Approximatly 1 in every 20,000 people have ablinism.

Animals are effected by Albinism as well.

Now, to convince people that you are albino is far more difficult than telling them your skin started changing color.

So. Now you don't have to convince people that you are adopted. Now you just have to convince them you were born this way.

You could lie about your hair and say that you died it or something.

The eyes are harder. You could attempt telling people you are special and were born with dark eyes but it's unlikly... So sell it.

SO.... Next Section:

DARK-SKINNED PEOPLE ONLY!!

This is way harder.

First of all. Did you know that pregnancy can make your skin darker? I didn't... I thought it was interesting. Though probably something you don't want to use as an explaination.

Ex: "I'm actually white."

"You're white?"

"Yeah. My pregnancy just made my skin darker."

"Wait... You're pregnant?!"

So.

First, the more unlikly, is Cyanosis.

Now, I say this is unlikly because it only changes skin color because the color of the blood.

So. This will probably work for those of you who are not that dark skinned but still darker than me.

This is common in heart problems. The blood either doesn't have enough activity or is not the color blue but a purple color instead.

(Blood is blue until it hits air people...)

SO in reality it makes you appear more blue or purple than dark.

So to convince people that you have this you would need to look up more information on heart conditions.

Or lie.

I would take the ide

a of the disease and say: I was born with a heart condition that makes my blood darker so it makes my skin appear darker, but my whole family is white. Weird huh?

I think it would work. Try it.

The second is: Hyperpigmentation

This is mostly cause from sun damage.

Which is why it is so lame.

I'm sure you can convince people that it was a birth defect.

It effects the face mostly but it also effects different parts of the body like the back, chest, hands, and more.

This is caused when the pigment Melanin begins to produce more color than needed because of a signal in the body telling it to do so (like the sun setting off a signal in your body that makes skin gradually darker).

Vitamin D also sets off the Melanin as well.

Anyways. To convince people you are white but your skin turned darker. You'll have to have a background story. So you start with something along the lines of: I started in point A but move to point B when my skin began to change darker. When people ask why talk about the DNA defect that was triggered by hanging out in the sun for too long.

Too much vitamin D you know?

Now back to being politically correct:

FOR EVERYONE OF ALL COLORS!!!

Anyways I just thought you all would enjoy to learn how to fool your friends into thinking that you are something you are not. I may just try it on all my new college buddies next time I go hang out with them all.

You should all try it and tell me your stories, the reactions you get. Comment?

Happy trickeries :)

- Berlyn

P.S. I was going to write more but I decided that I would only write about one thing that was on my mind this week.

I was going to go off into a rant about random things I remember. Like I remember scraching my step dad's car with the fake rose and blaming it on my brother (he got in so much trouble) when I was like seven... I also remember that when Daniel Radcliff got the news about being cast as harry potter he was in the bathtub.... I have no idea why I remember this stuff.

P.P.S. I love you all.

Roadtrippin' all day long

Sorry this post is a day late. See, Berlyn posted hers a day late last week and since I'm a follower and love her so much, I thought I would do the same. Not really... I was just busy on a road trip. So here I go!

One of the top things on my Things I Really Really Love list is road trips. My goodness, do I love them. The longer the road trip, the better (as long as I'm not driving... I hate driving so much...).

I'm actually on a super mini road trip right now. Half of the girls on the floor of my dorm packed bags for a Seattle/Edmonds/Kirkland adventure. I'm actually on our way back to WWU in Karissa's car with her, Rakia and Megan as we speak. We're listening to an amazing mix CD (road trip necessity number one) turned up quite loudly and lost in our own thoughts (well, I'm typing this, but I'm sure I'll be lost in my own thoughts right after I'm done). I'm feelings pretty content.

Every summer for several years I went on a two-day road trip with my brother and father to Southern California to visit my Aunt Kathy in Huntington Beach. Twelve hours one day, ten the other day. I'd wake up at 3:45 in the morning and be so full of excitement that I wasn't tired at all. It's comparable to a little kid waiting to go to Disneyland, except for the fact that this happened until I was a month shy of nineteen years old. Ice chest packed with Diet Coke and pretty nasty frappachinos, we were set to go by 5 am.

Now, we might have different views on roadtripping, but let me tell you what I think are the necessities for such an adventure:

Road trip necessities:

1. Extremely wide selection/variety of music. I'm a huge fan of mix CDs and playlists. I try to create a compilation that will please everybody in the car and still manages to have a good flow to it. Since I'm a perfectionist and also slightly neurotic, this takes me hours and sometimes even days or weeks. Southern Rock is a must for my California road trips but the vague genre of alternative is more fitting for the spring time Oregon trips. Music can make or break the experience in my opinion, so it's always a good idea to get a head start on the selections if possible.

2. Food. Do not forget the food. Even if the road trip is only two hours long, somebody is going to end up saying "OH MY GOSH I'M SO FREAKING HUNGRY!" and I would rather hand them a box of Cheez-its than listen to complaining. Water and caffeine is also a staple if the trip is long. Falling asleep at the wheel is probably not a good idea. Just sayin'. And I'm definitely one for staying awake in the passenger seat the entire trip. I don't want to miss out on anything, even if that anything is just sitting and staring out the window pondering the mysteries of life. On the way home from Eureka, CA this July, Ryan and I were traveling together (which was SO AWESOME by the way) and at some point Ryan realized just how tired he was. Since there was no more caffeine, it became my job to entertain Ryan and keep him alert so we wouldn't crash into a tree (that tree could have been a PERSON!! Oh, Tyra Banks...) or something. That was fun and all, but I'm sure Ryan would have rather sipped on a Monster energy drink than listen to me ramble on about nothing. Probably.

3. Something to do (if you're a passenger. If you're just driving, you should probably concentrate on driving. And singing if allowed.). For me, I usually pack a bag full of stuff to do during the car because I tend to get restless if I do the same thing for too long at a time. So I pack my journal with a couple pens and pencils, a notebook for doodling or notetaking and such, a good book or two (not a good idea if you get carsick... vomit scented car freshener does not exist for a reason), a camera, and an iPod if the whole mix CD thing doesn't work out in your favor. Harry Potter is my favorite to read during road trips. I also used to be quite the fan of bringing my Gameboy Color along for the ride. I've also played Battleship with Tasha during two separate road trips, spaced four years apart. Cards don't work well unless you have a fancy car with a table or something in it... Okay, moving on.

4. Uh, gas money and directions are probably a pretty good idea...

5. Good company and some sense of adventure. I'd rather walk to my destination than be shoved into a car with people I don't like. Enough said, I think.

There are many more things that a road trip can call for as well, such as a pillow for the sleepy backseat passenger who doesn't actually like road trips but just wants to go wherever you're going, sunglasses, phone charger, and probably more that I'm forgetting.

Basically, a road trip is much more than getting from point A to point B. It's an experience, and it's easy to make the experience a good one.

Any road trip stories or your own version of a list of necessities you'd like to share? Go ahead and post them!

-Kim

Oh, Hey... My name's Berlyn and I'm not really pregnant.

Well, friends.... As you may have noticed... It is not Saturday. BUT I honestly have to explainationas to why I did not do the blog yesterday so I'm just going to move on and start with this:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Yes, yes. It is good old Hallows Eve. And though none of the festivities have started yet (as it is 12:33 pm) I want to have a fun chat with all of you (my dear friends) about Halloween.

I feel the blog needs to celebrate all the A

merican Holidays... Because this is American

and here we celebrate the American holidays like Americans to be true Americans in America.

... Oh. My. God.

Anyways.

Halloween, according to another dear friend of mine (Wikipedia), was first celebrated in many old festivals. However, it is mostly derived from the Gaelic festival of SAMHAIN (I capitalized it because if I was standing in front of you I would have screamed it... Apparently). This festival celebrated the end of the harvest season. They belived that on October 31st the spirits in Middle Earth (Where spirits

and deceased reside) would break through the boundries and wreak havoc (like destroying crops... Hence the end of the harvest season... Why they CELEBRATED this... I have no idea...). This festival often had bonfires

and people would wear masks... Which is where dr

essing up came in.

And that is your history lesson for the day.

No lets talk about something that everyone loves...

Blood and guts!

I'm going to start with Harry Houdini.. The man

who could escape from anything. Were you aware he died on Halloween?

Eleven days before Halloween, Houdini told a student that he could withstain any blow above the waist. However, when the student began to hit Houdini he ended up rupturing his appendix... Which later led to Houd

ini's death.

... I find it Ironic... But then again I find almost everything ironic (because I'm a cynic).

Since I'm having trouble finding information on halloween deaths.... I'll just talk about creepy stuff that I know off the top of my head.

I used to be obsessed with old ghost shows so... This is how I know all of this junk.

The winchester mansion...

That lovely. GIGANTIC place....

The story on this house is that the woman's husband and daughter (I think...) died very close together and left the wife all alone. According to Mrs. Winchester spirits in the house told her that if she did not continue to build on to the house she would face the same fate. So for many years she would travel every night to the same room and speak to the spirits. And during all this time she had construction go on her house. This continued until her death and at that point construction just stopped.

Now the house is a tourist attraction. With it's stairways that lead no where and doors that could end in an awful fall this house is an amazing sight... Not to mention the spirits that are seen and heard around every corner.

Stairway to nowhere... Doorway to nowhere

Another place that I have heard about is, of course, the amittyville horror house where an entire family was murdered in the night by the oldest son because the voices in his head told him to do it. I know everyone knows about this story so I won't dwell on but, the new people that moved in were haunted by various things. Windows would open in the night, furniture would move about and there was always a feeling that something was there. Something they didn't want around. Which eventually lead to the new family leaveing the house. Leaving all of their belongings behind and never coming back. The Amittyvile Horror House is in the picture below........

Next. I'll talk about a little Hollywood. Black Dahlia was a young actress trying to make it in

Hollywood. She was young and beautiful, she was called Black dahlia because of the black flowers she would often wear in her hair. She was doing pretty well for a young actress when she was abducted and murdered.

One morning a mother was walking her baby past a road-side ditch when her attention was drawn to, what looked like, a dismantled maniken... Only to find out that it was not a maniken at all but, Black Dahlia's dismantled body.

Police said that Black Dahlia was drugged, tied up in a bath tub and cut to pieces while she was still very much awake.

They never did find the murderer.

Black Dahlia

Well... I think you have all had enough of that. Let's talk about a little Berlyn History.

When my brother and I were little there were always two costumes. Pumpkin and cat.

When I was two I dressed as a pumpkin, and then following that year I dressed up as a cat for a good few years. The pumpkin suit (so embarrassing but I look forward to the day when I can dress my babies up as fruits and vegetables) was a pumpkin-shaped jumpsuit that the body of a toddle would fit in. And then, to top it off... the pumpkin top would be tied to your head with a string.

The eventual death of this costume was when the string to the top fell off and my brother and I refused to wear it.

The cat costume was all-black clothing, cat ears, and a tail, with some makeup to bring the look to it's fullest.

The costume was eons more cool than the pumpkin. My brother was even a cat once. But then we grew out of it.

My broth eventually go a ZORO costume and I became a vampire. Let me tell you... My brother was the cutest little thing in a Zoro costume with a tiny fake mustache... Freakin adorable.

There was a lady bug costume somewhere in between but I don't have the faintest idea when it came into my life. Or when it left.

Then, we grew out of dressing up... Like most kids do... However, recently I have been longing for a reason to buy a Hit Girl costume... Or dress up in general. Next year, I plan on being hit girl. This year... However, I am Juno, again.

Which is alway fun because some people get it and others ask me how long until I give birth and totally ignore the giant jug of sunny D in my hand.

"Oh yeah... I'm eggo preggo and I just decided to bring this sunny D along for the ride..."

Moving on.

My favorite Horror movie is Silence of Lambs... If you have not seen silence of the lambs I recomend you rent it RIGHT NOW and watch it TONIGHT... It's a great movie with the MOST EPIC ESCAPE EVER... Trust me.

However, It's not so much scary as it is thrilling.

I think the movies that have scared me the most over the years were Paranormal Activity, The Ring, and Polterguist (granted I was thirteen at the time I watched it). I say they scare me the most because of the after affect... Not the moment in the movie.

For example. When I watched the Ring I was fine, it wasn't that scary.. Just thrilling. Then I went home and screamed because the TV was on static.

As for Paranormal Activity... I slept with the lights on.

I've seen a lot of scary movies, not many are good but they are fun to watch.

I used to go to and rent scary movies with my friend Jenny. When we saw the Grudge, which she really did not want to see, we left and were a little freaked out. I was fine after but I got a call from Jenny the next day which went a little like this:

"I hate you so much! I was in the shower this morning and I got so scared I mixed my shampoo and conditioner together in my palm and got out of the shower as fast as I could!"

Of course, I laughed.

Pretty. Damn. Hard.

I think The Grudge (though slightly stupid) scared a lot of people. I remember hearing my friends freak out about phone calls they would get with the noise from the grudge. They would flip. It was pretty fun to watch an entire generation freak each other out about a stupid movie.. Well in my opinion.

However, if you don't like scary movies... I reccomend Scream. Such a good movie. It's funny, creepy, and gory. If you haven't seen it you need to.

Or you could watch KillJoy. Which is the stupidest scary movie... The bad guy is a black clown.

Seriously. The last line is:

"That was some GOooooooooooD pussy!"

Followed by a scream.

Yes.

That's the truth.

I think what I love most about Halloween is that was traditionally a time for weirdos and normal people to come together and celebrate the same thing. Wether that be alchohol or candy or a scary movie at midnight (I guess it depends on the age). Halloween is a terrific thing.

I meat a girl recently named Rose, she is an international student from Quaid (I. Can't. Spell.) who was never aloud to celebrate Halloween. Her and her friends could never dress up and paty because they could be arrested. So she was so excited because she could finally dress up. I thought this was amazing. I mean, we all take Halloween for granted because in American you can do close to anything you want (sure our freedom is not FREEDOM but you can still celebrate all the holidays you want or follow any religion you want or love anyone you want).

We all "Grow out of" Halloween. But once you reach a certain age you miss it. You start to look at all the adult costumes, find those Halloween costume parties, put away money for that perfect outfit for next year. But you never will apprieciate it in the same way. I know plenty of girls who use Halloween as an excuse to be a slut. But Halloween is not for that. It is yet another way to celebrate your freedom. So celebrate :) Have fun... But be safe.

I hope you all enjoyed this late blog and I hope you all have a good halloween. Make your own costume and bring attention to yourself. Keep people guessing and don't let a good time pass you by.

Love you all.

(Again) Be safe.

Bye.

-Berlyn

P.S. If you haven't already, my friend Ryan and I made a Halloween video that won second place at the school's festival.

Here's the link :) Happy Halloween.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwn-CQQROL4

Get out your Tupperware 'cuz we be burglin' tonight!

I have a favorite new pastime.

Upon hearing that, you may think, "Hmm, what is it?"

Knitting?

No, that's my hallmate, Rakia.

Tennis?

With my hand-eye coordination?

Checkers?

Right...

Hiking?

Ooh, no, not yet. But I want to and hopefully will soon!

Give up? Kay.

I LOVE BURGLIN'.

Upon reading THAT, you may think, "Wait, burglin'? Like burgling? Like, stealing? Now, wait a second, that doesn't sound like Kim!" In which case you would be right. See, I don't go to stores and burgle. I would never shoplift. Ever. No, I'm talking about burglin' food out of the (all you can eat buffet style reason why freshmen gain fifteen pounds) dining hall.

It all started with warm cookie night. See, there are four meals offered per day during weekdays at Western (and maybe all or most colleges, I don't know): breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late night. Tuesdays and Thursdays are warm cookie night at late night. These cookies are ridiculously good tasting. I eat them and my insides smile. Everyone else seems to agree.

The only problem is, late night is still technically a meal, so it's still very pricey. It's like, what? Seven fifty a person? I just want a cookie!! So anyway, I started noticing that people signed up for unlimited meals would go to warm cookie night and stash some cookies in their purse and bring them back for friends.

Thought... why stop with cookies?

See, since I'm, well, me, the thought ended there.

But luckily enough, there are some masterminds in this hallway.

I looked on a few whiteboards and saw messages that read "burglin' tonight at ten."

I was confused but didn't think much about it... until I got to late night and saw Brēnna break out the Tupperware out of her purse. Taking pizza and cookies.

The practice of burglin has saved me already. I was so focused on studying Tuesday night that I skipped dinner and didn't even stop for late night. So Brēnna burgled some pizza for me. Oh yes yes yes yes yes I love burgled pizza.

So Brēnna thought we should do some organized crime in the form of burglin'. (Though it's really not organized crime. At least not according to my Crime and Justice textbook, which defines organized crime as "an illegal business that provides illegal goods or services to the public." One, we're not a business. Two, it's not illegal. Three, we don't give them to the public, just ourselves and to each other. So HA.) A group of us girls from my hall all went to warm cookie night and kept getting bowl after bowl of cookies to put in Ziploc bags and Tupperware containers. Grand total of FIFTY BURGLED COOKIES.

Now that's what I call a successful burgle trip. I really want one now. I bet they're all out by now though...

See, we have justification for this. We pay a ridiculous amount of money to eat here, and it is a buffet... you know, all you can eat... So why should it be all you can eat in that particular building? Yeah. So... yeah.

Also, there is a sign in the dining hall that says you can leave the dining hall with one piece of fruit. So I've been asking for a piece of fruit every meal (at least the ones I remember) and stashing it in my room. Don't need to buy fruit at the grocery store now! And I feel less bad about it than I do about the cookies... but when I eat those burgled cookies, the guilt goes away. All. I. Feel. Is. My. Heart. Melting.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet (like those delicious warm, melty cookies) so I don't give enough information out to get the cops aware of our burglin' ways ;)

Let me know if you have any ideas!

-Kim

P.S. KimBerlyn is in no way affiliated with any sort of mob, gang, or otherwise organized crime group. If you or a friend has a serious problem with actual burglary, find help.

Do you feel that?

I haven't eaten today.

Why? You ask.

Well. Because last night I decided it would be good for me, socially, to go to a party with friends and drink.

I'm not about to tell you that drinking is bad, because it's not, I mean, it's bad for your liver but you won't like be struck by lightning for doing it, (What's a sin is saying "like" and "like drinking with like my new friends so I can be like cool. Like duh.") what I'm about to tell you is that drinking for me is bad.

I get stomach aches and feel like I'm going to throw up the next day. I PRAY for the days when I can wake up and ONLY have a headache and sensitivity to light.

Moving on...

On one hand it's a good thing I get them, it encourages me not to drink as much as my new college friends, but on the other hand it leads to this not eating situation.

I'm not going to blame this whole thing on booze. What I will blame it on is the two things that took up most my day.

Thing one:

I got dressed and walked around CSUN with this kid a

nd a girl with a camera for about an hour and a half. Tried to reach oranges I could never reach. And tried to get squirrels to like me even though I had no food. Failure. Then we went to his friend's apartment where I got to pet a bunny and look at art and then I said a few things and... He killed me.

Thing two:

I left the apartment and went to my apartment to grab a few things, wipe the blood off of myself and change. Then I went to one apartment to meet up with everyone, then to another apartment where we wrapped Axl up like a mummy a

nd turned off the lights. When the lights were turned off I read lines to my partner in crime Ryan and also made noises with my feet while holding a light under my optimus prime t-shirt and turning the lights on and off. After that I went back up to the first apartment, helped Ryan figure some computer stuff out and then I came down here to write this.

Now you're probably wondering:

"Wait.... He killed you? Did you say wipe blood off of your body? Optimus prime... What?"

Well, friends, this is my future career in the works.

This, is why I haven't eaten today and why I probably will spend many days for the rest of my career not eating for days at a time. This will probably not be the first time I will sit in front of my computer late on a saturday night feeling like smegal from Lord of the Rings (The cup of noodles in my purse is definitly begining to look like an all powerful ring).

To be more up front: Thing one and thing two were two different shoots I did today.

Thing one was a movie written and directed by this sophomore I know through a few friends. His movie is more real. He asked me to be the girl in it. And in the movie he falls in love with me and kills me.

Thing two was the movie that I wrote and am currently co-directing with my friend Ryan. He, so far has been doing the acting direction and camera while I have been doing staging direction, line reading, noise making, and problem solving. Basically my job is to make his job easier. Other wise he would explode... I mean, who wouldn't in his situation?

Oh, and our script is a comedy about a girl who thinks her boyfriend was killed but really she's dumb and her boyfriend ran off with another girl.

Oh! And I wore a slutty outfit for the first half of it.

(That's where I made the joke to Ryan, as co-director: Next time we work on anything together I should just wear slutty outfits to every shoot.)

Both of these are being made for the Halloween Competition at my school.

And let me tell you... It's stressful but it's worth it.

Sitting in front of my laptop today, I realized I'm not made I've only eaten candy and three saltines today... I'm happy that I already have this feeling four weeks into film school. THIS feeling is going to stick with me for the rest of my career, THIS starvation, THIS exaustion, and THIS excitement with every completed shot.

Yes. THIS is my life as an aspiring screenwriter/director. And though some of you may be reading this thinking: I'm so glad I am studying to be this or that... AS LONG AS IT'S NOT WHAT SHE'S DOING!

... I think I've fallen in love.

I mean, the production for my film isn't even over and I can't wait to work on another independent piece.

Can't wait to write another script and have the director go (like Ryan did) "I love it!"

It's all very exciting.

So, friends, I just wanted to talk about that today.

Most of you readers are in college and I was wondering if you have gotten this feeling yet. If you have walked out of class and been like. THIS. THIS is what it will feel like to be....

Because sitting here in the zone... Starving and trying to keep my eyes open... I have found that feeling and excitement. I have gotten hooked.

Wether that's a good or a bad thing I don't know....

I'm sure that I will have many nights like this, many nights where I want to kill the actors, many nights where my ass and boobs hanging out of my clothes is the least of my worries, many nights where I end up trying to type this blog with shaking hands and a paraniod mind (I pretty sure my eyes look EXACTLY like those of a ferral hog).

But I'm also sure that I will have many night where I jump in the air after a cut because of it's perfections, many nights where I will leave with that feeling of acomplishment, many nights where I finish a shoot and have this urge to call my mother and tell her about everything, and I'm positivie I will have many nights where a twix bar will taste just like heaven and a cup of noodles is better than mall-asian food quality.

So, friends, tell me when you have this feeling. Call me up, even if you haven't eaten, haven't slept, haven't talked to a single person all day, or talked to too many all day.

Call me when you finished a huge task and now you feel like just going home.

Cause at some point you will realize... THIS is what she was talking about.

Because I'm right. Wanting to be a doctor is not taking anatomy classes and studying for classes. Wanting to be a doctor is when you've binged on coffee all night trying to figure out what is wrong with your hypothetical patient and then, just as you alarm for class goes off the next morning you put a finger in the air and yell out the diagnosis.

You know?

I mean. For me. Wanting to be a film maker was not sitting in classes like editing and principles of production and watching the special features on movies. Wanting to be a film maker was not eating all day because I had to help on two different shoots and somewhere in between running from place to place I ended up holding a flashlight under my shirt in a dark room banging my foot against the wall and quickly turning on the lights I realized even though I had slept till noon today... I was exausted but couldn't leave because I had made promises and have a deadline.

It was at that moment that I thought:

"This is film. This is what I want to do. This is what it will feel like to do this."

Well... I hope that made sense.

I'm going to go make my cup of noodles (Which I am pretty sure is glowing now...) and drink some lemonade while I watch Pleasantville. Because... There is nothing else I can do on the film tonight.

The actors have all gone out partying and the director is just as stressed as me.

-Berlyn