I hope everyone had a fabulous post-holiday weekend! It definitely feels like January now... These frigid temperatures are set to stay with us up here in the north east for awhile, so I'm trying not to skimp on heat. That being said, I have spent a great deal of time indoors as of late and I am not ashamed of it.
Whilst inside, I have been paying close attention to the drama that has risen out of YouTube lately dealing with Grace Helbig. For those of you who don't know, Grace is a YouTube personality and classy individual who, until recently, uploaded video blogs to her main channel "DailyGrace" on the MyDamnChannel network. Since her contract with them seems to have expired, Grace has chosen to start over on her own channel, thus preserving her content, (since MyDamnChannel wouldn't let her keep her old content on the "DailyGrace" channel siting copyright issues). It seems as though Grace and MyDamnChannel had a falling out of sorts, however everyone seems to be happy now and Grace has her new channel from which to control her own content.
This is all well and good, but when you move channels and go from over two million subscribers to less than 500,000, it takes a bit of wind out of your sails. Grace has not asked any of her original subscribers to switch, however the Internet has taken it upon itself to educate the masses and let them know what's going on. Grace's many friends through YouTube, including author John Green, Mamrie and Hannah Hart, her brother Tim, and many more came together to draw awareness to this change. The amount of YouTuber support throughout this ordeal has proven to be very beneficial for Grace and extremely uplifting. I've never seen this type of support before from an online community and it was great to get to watch all these people support Grace in her endeavors. She still has a long way to go, but if she stays true to herself she should be just fine, if not better than before.
As you may know, I've been following the YouTube community closely since the beginning of last year, (it feels weird to say that...). I have 52 subscriptions and watch a few vloggers religiously every day, including Grace. Seeing as my viewership has varied over the course of a year, I plan on experimenting and exploring with new channels and people this year, including Grace's new channel, in order to track her progress. It's been an exciting year for YouTube and I can't wait for what this year brings, including the YouTube documentary Vlogumentary, which is set to come out this year. If you want to know what's happening in the YouTube or online community as a whole, check out Tubefilter, "the curator of online video," including news, reviews and more.
In other news, because of the new year, my husband and I have decided to implement some new rules and goals for our lives this year. One of them being the "no spend" rule for January. This idea came from my wonderful mother-in-law, who practices this rule as well. All you have to do is not spend any money you don't need to spend. Obviously bills and groceries are necessary, but going out to eat, going to the movies, shopping for clothes, etc. are off limits until February. That way we have money to save for more important things. It also teaches us to appreciate the things we have and enjoy ourselves from home, which I have no problem with.
That's it for today. I'm in the middle of a Star Wars marathon with a cup of coffee and I plan on continuing throughout the day. I've also started reading Divergent, so if you have any questions for me about the book, or anything about reading in general, I will be answering them on Thursday through my Twitter account with the hash-tag "#LaxDivergent" Tweet me your questions, comments and predictions! (if you are reading it with me for the first time) Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.
PS: For your viewing pleasure:
Jimmy Fallon Late Night with Justin Timberlake: "History of Rap"
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had fun gorging themselves on Chinese food and binge drinking with friends. Now that the holiday season is officially over, we can now move our focus to the wonderful aspects of winter vacation. Usually this means nothing to adults, but to those select few who do still appreciate winter there are still fun times to be had.
I know I speak for a lot of people when I say snow SUCKS sometimes. For those who haven't had the pleasure of living in a cold-weather climate, driving in it can be extremely dangerous, especially for those people who think they're invincible with four-wheel drive. Schools close, kids emerge and begin construction on their various snow homes and winter weaponry. You can usually see adults shoveling, or more likely snow-blowing their way out of their driveways. As a kid, I was always enlisted to aid my father in shoveling the driveway in order to learn how to do it properly. My sister and I had tiny shovels and we'd start a path from the porch to the driveway and go on from there, (usually in no particular direction). It's a fond memory I have of winter and I plan on teaching my children the same way, (or rather Tom will, seeing as I'm awful at shoveling nowadays and can't seem to stay outside for longer than ten consecutive minutes...).
I have something called "Raynaud's Phenomenon,"in which my extremities lose circulation rapidly in the colder weather. Because of this, my hands and feet will feel a burning sensation whenever it gets too cold outside. This prevents me from grabbing my steering wheel, shoveling, cleaning off my car, etc. Basically just going outside hurts and it's very inconvenient, but I've managed for this long. I'm hoping that, in the future, I will find some gloves that will work to keep my hands warm, but so far, no luck. I'm lucky enough to have a husband who will selflessly clear snow after a hard day's work.
Needless to say winter hasn't always been my favorite time of year due to my medical problems. However, I do enjoy sledding/tubing, skiing and ice skating. My dad used to take us sledding in certain places, as I supposed a lot of people have done. In fact, I think my dad is the reason I enjoy all of these things, seeing as he took us outside the most. I owe him a lot for my love of winter sports and for teaching me to not be afraid or hindered by my medical issues. I love him more for that.
As for now, I enjoy staying indoors, curled up on the couch in my sweatpants with a movie or a good book. Speaking of that, I am officially starting my reading for the month of January. I will only be reading one book seeing as I have less than a month and I need to stop once my spring semester starts up again. I will be reading Divergent by Veronica Roth to start that series. Eventually I would like to read all of them, but until I have the time I will start with the first installment. As I have stated before, on Thursdays I will be talking about my progress in the book as well as my feelings and inferences as well. I am excited to start reading again for leisure:)
Enjoy your snow days if you have them. I will be hanging out in my apartment for the next 48 hours avoiding the outside world as best I can. I see a nice mug of hot cocoa and some home made mac and cheese in my near future, so I will leave you to your various engagements in winter merriment. Tell me about your favorite parts of winter in the comments below! I will be continuing my Harry Potter Marathon. Until next time, I remain your faithful correspondent.
