"When I chirp shawty chirp back/... What you know about that"

An itsy bitsy brush with fame. Well fame in my book anyway:

Even though LOST is almost over this is one of my favorite blogs to read for answers. e knows her stuff and it explains it so well. I stumbled across it towards the middle of season five and have eagerly awaited her recaps after every episode ever since. You should also read her story about meeting Terry O'Quinn. Lucky! So e is awesome because she has met the cast, has a huge following on her blog (and other websites she contributes to) and she is writing a book that is going to be published later this year. An all around winner in my book.

Anyway, one question that e has always fixated on is who is was shooting at Sawyer, Juliet & Co when they were in the outrigger in season 5 and traveling through time. I found an interview after the episode "Across the Sea" where Darlton address this very question. I sent the interview along to e in the event that she is the type to read podcasts, interviews, and whatnot. I didn't expect a reply because like I said, her deadline is looming and she is focused on other things that spelling out everything for us fellow obsessed Losties.

Well she wrote back! She thanked me but said she does avoid that kind of stuff because of possible spoilers but she'll read it after the finale (even though she will know the answer by then). I know she's only a celebrity in my world but hey, I'll take what I can get!

Oh and right as I finished this post the "Life and Death" song came on my iTunes which is set on shuffle. Exciting! Michael Giacchino is a genius!

"And it's taken me this long/ But baby I've figured you out"

We are hurdling towards the SERIES finale of LOST. Ahhhh... what will I do with myself when it ends? How will I waste hours sifting through message boards and comments for one theory that has a glimmer of being right (only to be dashed an episode or two later)? What will I talk about with my friends for hours on end? I don't even want to think about it.

But what I am thinking about is how is it going to end. Just so in the event that my far fetched guess is right, I am writing it here so I can accept all the glory. This is my non-definite ending theory. (Meaning if it isn't going to end with one side ultimately winning-- if good doesn't prevail):

Let's recall the conversation between Jacob and the MIB (are we ever going to learn his name!?!) during season 5 where Jacob says "It only ends once, everything else is just progress". I think that Jack is going to become the new Jacob and it is going to end after X number of years with Jack bringing a new batch of people to the island... perhaps by plane crash or a wayward boat, whatever. But maybe it will end with a new person opening their eye a la Jack in the pilot and it's going to start all over. And everything that we have seen, these past six seasons, has been progress. I'm not saying I like my theory, I just had the inspiration after last week's episode.

So that will mean Jack is the new Jacob and FLocke will remain as the MIB. I threw out this theory to my fellow LOST-obsessed friend TW and he said he thought maybe Sawyer would be the new MIB. I think this can also be a solid theory because Sawyer has always been the one so desperate to get home and he and Jack have always been against each other. Admit it, it makes a little bit of sense.

So that's what I think. Anyone else care to share their theories? Only 3.5 hours left. All I know is I'm not emotionally prepared for this.

"And I never dreamed that I'd spend my days/ Staring at some tube emitting cathode rays/ I need my TV"

Where there's a will, there's a way.

I babysit for an adorable two year old boy (even if he does tell me I am "too big" to sit on his full size big boy bed to read him a story) most Tuesday nights. Only problem: Lost comes on at the same time or at the very least I miss the first twenty minutes and we all know when it comes to Lost that is like missing 45 minutes of crucial information in a normal television show. I know, I know what you're thinking: It's the 21st century, get TiVo. Au contraire: We have a TiVo but unfortunately it is one of the first editions or whatever so it only records one show at a time. An additional problem is that it's technically my sister AE's so she gets to call the shots about what it records. So she picks American Idol. Yeah cause there is a show you have to pay attention to every minute and has a fan base with thousands of sites and blogs dedicated to it to dissect each detail as it is premiering live. But she wins so that means I wait to watch it online several hours/days later (I know wah wah, rich person problems. But I'm addicted to this show okay!? I need to know!) I will not stand for it.

So to remedy this problem as AI continues to be two hours each week with only about 30 minutes of actual performances and 90 minutes of filler and commercials, I spent an hour today trying to figure out how to record on a VCR (sans any type of manual). I know, I'm so old school. I didn't have any luck with one television, the other is connected to the Tivo, one lacks a VHS player, so that left one final option. And I somehow figured out that a cable was missing, managed to track it down and connect the cable box and the VCR and ta da! I am going to be able to watch LOST and American Idol tomorrow. I am so proud of myself. I mean I can be technically savvy in some situations but situations where common sense prevails or when there is a handy step-by-step manual with illustrations and toll-free help lines if I get really confused. So it's a miracle I tell you! Orrrr it was my destiny to figure it all out (Team Man of Faith)!

"I just got lost/ ... Every door I ever tried was locked"

This is one of my new favorite LOST blogs. Except don't go to it if you want any information.

I'm a dork and I read about LOST for a couple hours each week (seriously, if I had put the effort into school that I do reading about LOST, I would have graduated with a 4.0. But Hemingway and Faulkner are no Cuse and Lindelof). I found out about this one through twitter (Cartlon Cuse's twitter actually....yep, I'm a dork): The Final Season of LOST Seen by Someone Who Has Never Seen An Episode of LOST

Holy crap. This blog cracks me up. The most ironic part is the guy is watching this season having never seen an episode and... we faithful viewers know about as much as he does. Sure we know that 108 is the sum of the numbers that Hurley heard from the crazy guy in the mental institution and he used those to win the lottery and then had bad luck and then his plane crashed and he saw the numbers on the hatch when he went back in time to 1977 and that was the same hatch that Desmond was in and he had to enter those very numbers in every *gasp* 108 minutes for two years before the hatch blew up and the sky turned purple and Desmond started seeing flashes of the future and he became a VIP (seriously, where is Desmond this season!?!?). But at the end of the day, especially with these flash sideways and this whole Jacob and Man-in-Black war that had taken over the plot, we all really have no idea what is going on. So if you want some laughs, maybe check it out. And you get golden nuggets like this, an insight from last week's episode "Lighthouse" (spoiler alert, obviously):

Back on the trail, Hurley asks Jack why he came back to the island. Huh? Jack wants to know why he did. Hurley says because Jacob told him to. Jack says he was broken and thought the island could fix him. The correct answer is that you got back to land, realized you had to work, pay taxes, deal with pollution, deal with people telling you about pollution, and had to spend a fortune to spend a week on an island almost identical to the one you were on. I’m completely clueless on how they got off, back on, and why they want to get back off again, but whatever.

Bwhahaha. LOVE IT.

And as for my thoughts on LOST this season (because I know you care what I think): I'm liking the flashsideways and how all of these characters are connected even after not being on the island together. That's sweet. But the on-island stuff... I am so confused. And I just don't see how the writers/producers are going to wrap this up nicely in the 10-12 hours remaining until the SERIES FINALE (I weep). I've accepted I'm not going to get all the little answers but just some universal answers beyond "Why are they on the island" will be nice. I just want a decent conclusion but I am beginning to fear I have set my expectations too high. But as long as it doesn't end with an autistic kid and a snowglobe or Don't Stop Believing being cut off by a black screen, I think I'll be good (and no, I did not watch St. Elsewhere or The Sopranos. Thank God cause I probably would have been irate).

"Make a scene/ Make a scream/ Like you're losing your mind/ And you'll always be next in line"

So while my sister is busy reading and telling me her thoughts (all good so far! And it's so funny cause I know this book backwards and forwards but no one else knows anything about it. And I know that's obvious but it's so nice to have someone to talk about it with now!) I've started working on my second idea. Too soon? Maybe. But I think it was my brother JP who asked if I had an idea for another book. And I realized... well... yes I do but it's definitely not as fleshed out as Square One was. So I've started working on it. Plus, I've heard about people who have gotten their second book published before their first and so maybe that could happen with this one!

I honestly don't even know how I came up with the idea. I just remember I was reading before going to bed one night and an idea popped into my head. So I scrambled to jot it down in a note on my iPhone and now I'm working on an outline. Well actually, I'm not even there yet. I'm trying to come up with characters first. Cause the characters in Square One were just givens: My family was my family. This girl is based on this person. This guy is a combination for this guy and that guy. In this new one.... I don't know who they are. Yet.

And it's funny cause I make little charts and profiles for each character to keep their facts and characteristics straight so I had a side-by-side list running down a page in my Idea Book about these two male characters. And it almost looked like I was making a pros/cons list about two guys. And this twenty-something year old guy saw me writing while he was waiting for his drink at Starbucks, I could tell he was standing over me and reading it. You can think I was imagining it but I pointedly starting flipping the cover open and shut as if I was fidgeting while thinking and I noticed it broke the guy's trance. Not cool, dude. Not cool. Just funny because he probably told his friend "That girl is in there making a list about which of two dudes to choose and is listing all their traits like that episode of Friends!" but that is not the case at all.

I'm excited about this idea though. It's definitely different from Square One. It is even sort of an homage to LOST Season 6 in ways (even though I came up with the idea before S6 started). There's a big stinking clue to all you LOST fans aka very cool people. And it's funny because with SO, the chunk of writing that I built everything around was the prologue. With this new one, it's actually a scene that will probably be towards the end. It's like I have these puzzle pieces of scenes that I am trying to fit together into one big picture. Just strange how the creative process works, cause I have no idea and I'm experiencing it (sort of... don't wanna brag).

"Lost and insecure/ You found me/ Lying on the floor/ Surround me/ Why'd you have to wait/ Where were you/ A little late/ You found me"

The final season of LOST premieres tonight and I honestly do not remember the last time I was THIS excited about something. I wasn't even this excited about this past Christmas and I live for that holiday. Since it's the last season (sob) we should be getting some answers. I just re-watched season five in the past week so I took some notes as I watched about what I need to know about. I've come to terms that not every little detail is going to get explained but I want some answers about:

Note Locke is the only one with his back turned. Significant? Probably.

Overall Mysteries:

-The significance of the numbers. 4 8 15 16 23 42. Is it just something to drive us viewers crazy? And whenever the producers needed to use a random number for an address or a flight number they already had six at their disposal? Was it just so Hurley would come to the island? WHAT DO THEY MEAN?

-The smoke monster. It's a security system. It judges people and decides if they can live. It makes clicking sounds and some people see white (I think only Locke) while others see black. Ben can summon it by pulling a plug in a drain (lame). And it can take the forms of other people. Is Smokey just the anti-Jacob? More on him later.

-Who are Adam and Eve? My money is now on Bernard and Rose. Minus the whole black and white stones deal, in the S5 finale, Bernard said "What does it matter if we're dead? As long as we are together?" I think this was sort of like in The Sixth Sense when the creepy little kid is saying how the people don't know they are dead and the camera is focused on Bruce Willis. The producers thought it was a dead (pun?) give away. I think this is also the case with B&R.

- I know the polar bears were turning the frozen donkey wheel but why polar bears? Just cause it was cold down there? Just to drive all of us crazy?

- What is up with the Black Rock? Why is it so important? Was it carrying Richard and he's been around ever since? Why is it in the middle of the island and carrying dynamite?

The Island:

-The "war". Who is it between? Are the Losties and Others going to team up against a new third party?

-If you're born on the island does that mean you have super powers? Ethan had superhuman strength/wouldn't die. Miles can talk to dead people. Maybe Daniel was too and that's why he is so brilliant?

-I think Eloise is the biggest villain on this show. She sent her own son to die. I knew it happened in the past so it needed to happen but really. I don't think this lady is at all good. And why does she leave the island? Why does she relinquish the power of being the leader? Or is she forced out cause she is pregs?

-Is Richard dead? Why doesn't he age? Why does he have such thick eyelashes giving him the appearance of eyeliner? Why has he been around forever yet he is always an advisor and never the leader? Cause the leader always dies/is banished? Why wouldn't he want a promotion?

-Is Ben good? Bad? Just in it for himself? Does he ever tell the truth?!

- Why did Naomi say there were "deceased RESIDING" on the island? Weird choice of words. Does that mean dead is not in fact dead?

- Was Kate flirting with Ben's dad, Roger? Did she want to be the mother of Ben's step-sibling? Gross.

- What was up with the brain washing room they had Karl in in the third season? What was the point of it?

- Who does Juliet look like? Ben's mom? The lady in the picture? Does this mean anything?

- Why was there a circle of ash around Jacob's cabin? To keep him in or others/Others out?

-What is in the guitar case Hurley is toting around these days?

-What the heck happened to Claire? Is she dead? Is she alive? Did someone take over her body? Why is she the only one to say they can't go back? Was that an evil force at work or the truth?

- What are the rules that Ben and Widmore are playing by? Why can't they kill each other? Is it like the Jacob and Anti-Jacob deal?

Who are you and why are you important:

-Christian Shepard, Jack's dad= good? bad? evil? awesome? WHO IS HE?!?

-Who is the economist? Is he in charge of the Ilana/Bram/third party that is now showing up?

- Did Locke's girlfriend Helen really die? Or was that fake just so Locke wouldn't give up on his mission to bring the Oceanic 6 back?

- Who is the "creative fellow" who invented the lamppost/found the island in the first place? Faraday? Richard? Someone we haven't met yet? Vincent for crying out?

- Why was Ilana in the hospital? What happened to her? Why do I just think of her as being Ana Lucia 2.0?

- Jack's grandfather, Ray, what's his deal? I find it hard to believe they introduced him solely to so Jack could get a pair of his dad's shoes. Grandpa Shepard a previous island inhabitant? I won't be surprised.

- What happened to Annie, Ben's little girlfriend? Besides the fact she has the best name ever, why is she important? Why do they keep bringing her up? Is she Charlotte's mom? Is Ben somehow the dad? Does he not know he is her dad? Is Annie Charlotte's mom and someone else is the dad? WHY IS SHE IMPORTANT?

- Are Eloise and Widmore in cahoots? And they had a baby together but clearly are no longer involved romantically or even friendly to one another. And he had Penny with some off-island chick. What's the deal with those two?

-What happened to baby Ji-Yeon? The poor kid gets abandoned by her mother and she's like three years old. Is she going to end up on the island? Is she special since she was conceived on the island and survived being born?

- Why does Daniel have a different last name than both his father and mother? Just a plot device? Ughhh.

- Why was Libby in the mental institution? Just because she was sad her husband died? Please. I need a real reason.

Special or Delusional:

-Walt. Why is he special? He killed all those birds (with his mind... when he got angry). He came back as a ghost-thing. Did they really just get rid of him cause he went through puberty and grew a few inches? Poor kid is acting in pizza roll commercials. Come on, throw the kid a bone in the last season.

- Why is Desmond special? He could see the future. He didn't get hit by the pendulum in the Lamppost station even though he was waltzing around not looking where it was going. He bounces around in time and in his mind. He didn't die when Ben shot him at close range... WHY IS HE SPECIAL (aside from his awesome accent and ruggedly handsome good looks)?!

-Is Locke special? Or was he just a carrying vessel for the Anti-Jacob? He has almost died like thirty times-- falls out of building, got shot several times, car crash, plane crash-- yet he continues to live. But he is the one who told Richard he was special. So is Richard only asking questions because he was told to do so and that in turn made Locke think he was special. So was he never really special at all?

Oceanic Flight 815:

- What happened to the kids from the tail section that got abducted by the Others in earlier seasons?

- What about Cindy the flight attendant? Was she an Other planted on the plane?

Farfetched Theories:

-This whole going back in time deal, what if just their brains went back in time? And whatever they thought/wanted/believed they were seeing they did?

-Another thing on Claire, let's just say this little bomb explosion thing works and they land safely at LAX. Maybe she gives him up for adoption and Kate adopts Baby Aaron. Just a little theory I came up with and I'm writing down in the event it is right.

-Baby Charlie: What if he somehow, since time pretty much means nothing now, grows up to be Charlie Pace? And what if Penny and Desmond die (God forbid) and he is adopted that's why he doesn't remember them as being his parents? Or maybe the creepy nurse that watches him while Penny is in the hospital room with Des is evil and kidnaps him. I just think it's strange they named him Charlie, okay?

Season Five Finale:

- Was Juliet pregnant at the end? She put her hand on her stomach and Bernard asked if she wanted tea. If she blew up everything maybe SHE is the reason people on the island can't have kids now and that's why she could never save the pregnant women.

- Sayid, Hurley, Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, Jin and Sun were ALL physically touched by Jacob at some point in their lives. Does that mean something? Oh and Sayid and Hurley were the only two touched AFTER returning from the island. Significant? When Jacob goes to see Ilana, he's wearing gloves? Does that mean she's not special?

- Is Juliet alive after destroying the bomb?

- No one had ever seen Jacob... except all of our 06 plus Jin, Sawyer, and Locke. Of course they didn't realize it at the time, but why is he popping up in the real world but not to his own "people"?

- The guy in black in the S5 finale, the anti-Jacob? Who is he? The devil? Is he bad? Do we just assume Jacob is good? Maybe this guy is good? Why does he want to kill Jacob so badly? WHO IS HE?!

- Jacob says he isn't dead and apparently dies at the end. Thanks producers for talking about this guy for like four seasons and killing him the episode we meet him. I know he is coming back somehow but COME ON! Give me something!

- WHO IS COMING? Why did Jacob say that? The losties are coming back to the present? The third party containing Lapidus, Bram and Ilana and Locke's dead body are coming? WHO?!?

-The white screen at the end of season five instead of the usual black: WTF? A change in power, a change in time, a change of events... I NEED TO KNOW!!!!

Probably means nothing but I am writing it down anyway:

- What is with all the purple and blue these people wore in season 5?!?! Rewatching it all at once, I mean Richard has like 42 purple long sleeve button ups. He was a metrosexual even in the 1970s! But seriously, was there a sale on purple clothes in Hawaii or something. I know the color is associated with royalty but is there any other significance? Richard, Eloise, Kate, Sun, Juliet, dead-Locke, Sayid, a lot of the others under dead-Locke's lead are ALL wearing purple. And Ben, Jack, Richard again wear a lot of blue striped shirts. I mean vary it up a little bit.

Like I said, I watched about eight episodes in a little more than 24 hours. I am ready for this season. But after almost crying about eighteen times and actually crying several more times (Why did they have to kill Daniel? He was the best one! Why did I hate Juliet for three seasons only to pray she wouldn't be sucked down into the abyss?) I just don't know if I am going to be emotionally prepared for this season. Seriously, I was depressed when Daniel died and I barely knew him. I hated Juliet and I was sobbing when she died. WHAT IF THEY KILL JACK? Or Desmond? Or Sawyer? Or god forbid, Hurley, the heart of the show? I take it back, I understand why Libby checked into a mental institution for grief cause that might be happening if they kill any of the characters I love which is pretty much all of them.

Okay, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof: BRING IT.

ETA: By now I've watched the premiere and maybe you noticed this post went through some changes. I changed nothing aside for organizing it into sections and highlighting key words and fixing typos (Okay fine, I added in the note about Ji-Yeon. But she wasn't mentioned in the premiere so it doesn't matter!). Several things I wrote were mentioned/highlighted/touched on in the premiere... guess it was just my destiny to write about them prior to the premiere. :)

"Getting to know you, getting to know and to love you"

Remember those "25 Random Things About You" lists/notes that were popping up like crazy on your Facebook newsfeed a few months ago? Well I never did one then. But something similar seems to be appropriate for a first blog post. So I present to you: Fifteen Random Things About Me.

1. Like the header says, my name is Annie and I just graduated from the University of Georgia on May 9th which coincided with my 22nd birthday. Quarter-life crisis? Almost. However, was UGA one of the best experiences of my life (with some of the worst moments thrown in)? Absolutely.

2. I come from a big family (what can I say? We're Italian). I am the youngest of five and have three in-laws thus far. We are growing quite rapidly and that brings me to my next point....

3. I have seven nieces under the age of seven. SEVEN. They are beautiful, precious, amazing girls and I love each one of them an extraordinary amount. They are also hilarious so don't be surprised if stories about them pop up on here.

4. Since I was an english major at UGA, it shouldn't be a surprise that I love to read. One of my favorites is "Something Borrowed" by Emily Giffin. I think I have read it four times in approximately a two year time span. My mom recently moved to a new neighborhood and we heard that one of our neighbors had written a book that was being made into a movie for the Hallmark channel. My sisters and I freaked thinking that it could be Emily Giffin since she lives in the Atlanta area but we have since been disappointed. Somehow we found out that wasn't the woman's name.... unless Emily Giffin is her pen name. Here's to hoping!

5. I am a little bit of a celebrity gossip guru and I don't know why. But when my friends have questions about the cast members of "The Hills" or my mom wants to know the latest scandal with "Jon and Kate", I am the one they ask. And I usually can deliver a recent update from a supposed credible "inside source" (aka whoever emailed it to US Weekly or Perez).

6. I am obsessed with the show LOST. I got into the game late (during the hiatus between the 3rd and 4th seasons) but I have more than made up for it. Between watching all three seasons during my three-week Christmas break junior year and scouring the internet after episodes simply to be amazed at what people pick up on that I completely missed, I can say that I absolutely adore this show. If you're a fan of LOST, you're a friend of mine and I won't mind speculating and discussing with you like I already do with numerous friends and family members.

7. I like making lists (obviously) and ranking things. I annoyed my roommate more than once by asking her to rank her top moments of college throughout our four years together.

8. I only cheer for UGA when it comes to college sports. Sometimes I'll root for the underdog, the team that will help our BCS ranking, or if I am watching a game, bored, and have to pick a team to root for in order to stay interested. I've cheered for UGA since the 4th grade and that's not changing anytime soon. That being said, meeting David Pollack the weekend of the UGA/Auburn game in 2007 was one of the highlights of my life.

9. Do you ever find you look at a certain time on a clock a lot? For me it is 12:34 (am and pm). I especially noticed it this past semester. Maybe that was the point in my entomology class that I'd get a little fidgety and check the time but I swear it was ALWAYS 12:34. And I've noticed it on the weekends and at night too. Just strange.

10. I am addicted to Reese's peanut butter cups. I am certain there is nothing better on this earth. My mom said she ate them a lot when she was pregnant with me so I am blaming it on genetics.

11. I think I could be very good friends with Taylor Swift. And John Mayer. I think we have a lot in common. If the two ever collaborate on a song: a) it might be the best (and most depressing) song ever. b) I might explode from excitement. So maybe... this shouldn't happen in order to prevent that from occuring.

12. Editing has always been a problem for me because I sort of, well, love it. I would spend almost as much time editing a five page english paper in college as I would actually writing it. But a disclaimer: that might not apply to this blog. I'm not getting a grade on this, the HOPE scholarship isn't dependent on it, and I think a lot faster than I type. So while I am a bit of perfectionist and it will probably bother me if I discover an error after I've posted something (for example, I've already edited this post about three times), I just ask that you don't jump on me if there are grammatical errors or comma splices.

13. I already said I was an english major but I was definitely the atypical english major. William Shakespeare doesn't send me into a tizzy, I don't get Faulkner at all, and I haven't read every single Jane Austen novel (but Sense and Sensibility is one of my favorites. Oh Edward...). I love to read but definitely more contemporary stuff and english was always my strong suit in school. So a love of reading and the ability to write a decent five page paper resulted in my Bachelor of the Arts in English from UGA. Thanks Franklin College, preciate it.

14. I am a little obsessed with being organized. It's not so much that everything has to be clean (though it doesn't hurt) but everything has a place and it should stay there. Once I got my own room in the 3rd grade when my messy sister moved out, everything in my room found a place and stayed there. I always straighten up before I go to bed. But this rule mainly applies to my room and living space since I'm sure my family would argue they cleaned up quite a few of my messes back in the day (like maybe last week).

15. iTunes and Target greatly profit from me. I should really be a shareholder and get some of that money back.

Well, there you have it. That list should give you an idea of what to come on this blog. Some family stories, a list here and there, reasons why UGA and Athens are amazing, and probably some LOST and other pop culture speculations and observations.