First post in a long time

Sorry I haven't posted in, you know, forever. I can't even remember when I last posted but I'm guessing it was before my Christmas exams. My exams weren't amazing, I was very ill for most of them and that definitely affected how I did. I was a bit disappointed but I'm sure it'll all work out alright.

In other news, JOHN GREEN IS COMING TO IRELAND FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY AND I HAVE TICKETS!!!!!!! I'm so insanely excited, it's going to be amazing, tickets were only 12 euros and that includes a signed copy of the fault in our stars. I can't believe that he's actually going to be here. He's also going to Wales, Scotland and England methinks.

In christmas news I got a new phone, I was desperately in need of one, I had to remove my old one from my pocket piece by piece and then reassemble it. It's a sony experia tipo, I've never owned anything touchscreen before so it's quite awesome. I also got some comics and The Hobbit which I'm reading at the moment.Speaking of the hobbit, I'm going to see it in the cinema with my friends tomorrow, should be good fun.

Anyway, my eyes are going funny from looking at the computer screen :)
DFTBA
Adam

Happy New Year's Eve

I still have not gotten the grade on my research paper, so that's still giving me a bit of anxiety. This is the first time that my school district has ended the first term before Christmas break.  Last year we had a week and a half for break; this year we have two weeks and a half. That's nice.

I got a few awesome gifts for Christmas, including a Harry Potter music book, Doctor Who hoody, the Avengers DVD, and some blue High Top Chuck Taylors. I also got the new special of Doctor Who.  And, yeah, I would at least like an explanation of what happened to the inside of the TARDIS (please and thank you, Moffat).

I absolutely love Chuck Taylors. I have black, purple, and blue pairs, and my get a different color from my boyfriend. If I hadn't just dropped my Ipod Touch, giving the screen cracks for a second time, I would go out and buy myself a pair with my Christmas money, but instead I plan on replacing the Ipod.

As for New Year's Resolutions - I want to actually spend more time on my homework, stop procrastinating, and jog more on my own. I also want to go see the Hobbit. I can't believe I haven't yet.

Next term/semester will be great.  I'll have 3/4 of my classes with my best friend - that's including lunch. Physics, Spanish 4, and World history will all be easy enough, I hope.  Orchestra will be the same as ever, with the added bonus of having to practice and practice for my solo at Districts Music Contest.  I should be getting the musical for the musical we are doing this year, Brigadoon. It will be another fun year in the pit for me.

DFTBA
Kate

I will have to split and run

Back to post, busy but still willing, able, and alive!

I'm Back!

Ok so I was supposed to post yesterday, but my sense of what day it is is completely out of wack because of the holidays. So I'm posting now. I missed posting so many times... sorry about that, it was partly school and a bunch of other things I won't get into. I'll try to start posting regularly from now on. 

Sooooooooo lots of stuff has happened for you guys and for me since I last posted. On account of my bad memory and limited time right now I'll just write out what I can remember.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year to everyone! Hope you're enjoying your breaks as much as I am.  I was so happy I got to see Deidra again for the break. She got me this epic Harry Potter themed tea cup that she painted herself, and a book about mermaids which is awesome cause I love mermaids and selkies but I can never find enough books about them. As for New Years resolutions, I think the main on for me is to spend less time online and improve my grades.

I got to see the first part of The Hobbit twice already in theatres. It was pretty gosh darn great and after seeing it the second time I think I have most of the Dwarves names straight in my head... probably. Radagast the Brown was probably my favourite character, but Bilbo was good and I also liked Bofur and the there's Gandalf of course.

And I really want to keep typing but it's my mom's birthday today so we're going into town to celebrate, like right now lol.

So see you all later, I'll be back next Friday if I remember what day it is again.
DFTBA
Kayla

Merry Christmas to you all! (yes its a bit late but better late then never)

I had a really good Christmas this year. We had the family over (just my fathers side because our family is to massive to have both sides over at once) and I was surprised that I actually enjoyed myself. Since most of my cousins on my fathers side are much older than I am, I've always felt lonely at gatherings of his family. So I've never been able to fit in with them and all their children are much younger than me, so I never fit in with them either. But I had a really good time with them at Christmas, admittedly I didn't talk to them very much, but I enjoyed their company all the same. My only really complaint about the day was that their children were all really noisy and that it was really hot. But beyond that it was pretty good.

My job search has been going well, I've got an interview for one next week, I'm hoping that it all goes well and I end up getting it. It's only a small job at Mc Donald's, which might seem crappy to some people but I've never had a job before and actually having my own money for a change is really exciting for me. Okay, I would rather have a job at a Library or a bookstore or something but I guess that you just take what you can get.

Well I hope that you guys had a good Christmas and that you have a happy new year

DFTBA

Expectations

     Aaaand just on time. While being a relaxing break, it has been quite a busy one. Last Thursday I was away from home all day on account of spending the day and night with Kayla and our friend Heather, and I blanked on posting. Guess my mind was hoping for an apocalypse. That was a joke. Glad we are all alive and not facing zombies or aliens or something ridiculous like that.

     Christmas was a-MA-zing! Spent a relaxing Eve watching Misfits and then going out with the family to look at the lights around town. They were a bit disappointed, but I really liked it. Living on campus doesn't really let you absorb that Christmas-time tradition. I ended up staying awake until 4:30, sending messages to all of my tumblr followers and many facebook friends. And then my mind was just everywhere and wouldn't let me sleep.

     I got exactly what I had asked for, including some things that surprised me. I have a gift certificate to get a new, bigger fish tank and new fish. My younger sister got me some t-shirts off of dftba.com, and my older sister got me pajamas and fuzzy socks. Kayla, my best friend in the world, got me not one but two beautiful pocket watches. And then, what really made it the best Christmas ever was finding out that my older sister is pregnant again! I am so excited, I am going to be an aunt again. She is due next August, which is the only downside because that means I have to wait so long.

     And now to spend the rest of the break relaxing. Which means more sleep, movies, and tv shows. I saw The Perks of Being a Wallflower last night, and it was really good. I hope to see The Hobbit once I return to Thunder Bay. I started watching the show Misfits and am already more than halfway through the third (of four) season. 

     And I will try to talk about it without spoilers, but I might slip up. About the Doctor Who Christmas special. I have many mixed feelings about it. The actual plot of the special was kind of meh, it really got lost among all the new changes and the companion plot. I felt that the instant relationship between the Doctor and Clara was too quick, and was all too similar to that of Amy. And the TARDIS, my baby, what happened there? I wrote a tumblr post about my feelings of it, but suffice it to say I really don't like it. 

     Well, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and that you have eaten enough turkey and stuffing to last for another 364 days. My toes are freezing and I am itching to watch another movie because aaahhh freedom and time. Enjoy the rest of your holidays and don't forget to be awesome.
-Deidra

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Today has been nice. It snowed yesterday for the first time this year, so we cleared it off the driveway this morning.  The rest of the day, I sat around reading with a mug of hot chocolate. It was delicious.

My week has been pretty boring. I did some homework, read, played some Arkham City, and watched Young Justice reruns. Whenever I have time to do things, I don't. Thus, nothing ever gets done.

I've been obsessing over Young Justice lately. All the hiatuses are killing me slowly. Any of you guys a fan? We still have a couple of weeks until we can watch a new episode, and I'm really freaking out. I don't think it's healthy to love a cartoon so much. But come on - Nightwing.

My friends and I had a Secret Santa gift exchange. That was fun. I got a Tim Hortons gift card. I gave my person a Tardis mug and a Sonic Screwdriver. She was delighted.

Now that I have spoken about my week - New Year's resolutions, anyone? I won't be posting until after New Year's, so I'm going to ask now. I would have to say mine are to pull up my grades, stop obsessing over Batman, and stop procrastinating.

I should be going now, so again, merry Christmas and have a happy New Year!

-Kira

Puff Levels Have Been High

I would like to confirm that I'm not dead, I have only been absent as many other things have been out bouncing around in my mind.

I unfortunately have to be quick with this post, and I promise a longer one next week.

First off, I never balance NaNo and school very well.  My grades all dropped, but not severely.  I usually write during class instead of taking notes, and I only do some of my homework.

Finals were last week and I am stressed about my grades right now.  I really need an A in my American Lit class and I am right on the edge.  As long as I get an A on my research paper I will be okay.

Sorry, but that's all I can write for now.
DFTBA and Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year
Kate

Tis the season

I really love the Christmas. I find it's always a nice season, theres just something about it that I enjoy a lot. Things like putting up the tree, the decorations, the many (many) Christmas specials on T.V and the general Christmassy feeling in the atmosphere. I really like the Christmas season.

Something that people usually associate with Christmas is the cold and the snow but we don't get any of that since it's in the middle of summer but a lot of our television and movies come from America. So when we think of Christmas it's usually a mixture of Winter and Summer imagery. Speaking of which my family is supposed to be going to the beach this Christmas, so that should be pretty fun.

Since me and my girlfriend are both broke, we both decided to make stuff for each other. She is a musician and I'm an artist. She's going to write me a song and I'm painting her a picture. I'm painting a picture of the two of us as anime characters since she is a really big fan of anime.

Anyway it's getting late and I really have to get to bed

Merry Christmas everyone

DFTBA

So...Midterms

This right here is my attitude towards my math midterm:

I mean, how bad can it be? It definitely can't reach the level of horror that was my chemistry exam. I took that this morning. I don't know, but I'm pretty sure I failed the whole thing. Maybe my math one will be like my physics - so easy, I'm worried I screwed the whole thing up.

Katie, this may be extremely late, but happy birthday! Campion, nice to hear your show is going well. Good luck finding a job.

Random book recommendation: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. It's strange, but really good. A friend gave it to me for my birthday to continue our tradition of giving each other strange books. I gave her Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Well, I'm off to finish homework. Have a good week, everyone.
-Kira

Home.

     So I am home for the holidays now. Wrote my last exam on Tuesday morning. Very easy, I must say. Mostly because I actually studied. I think in total I spent 8 to 10 hours. Most of that was spent reading the six chapters, but that is only because I had never read them before. And then the rest was going over notes and rewriting the important things so that I would remember them.

     And now that I am home I am insanely bored. My parent's both work during the day, and my sister has school until next Friday. None of my friends from around here are home yet, so I can't even go and visit people. I spent my first day wrapping my Christmas gifts, and of course I hurt myself doing so. I was working on the floor in the living room, and I got up to grab a pen. I forgot that I had left the tape dispenser right beside me and when I put my hand down to push myself up I sliced the side of my hand on the metal cutting thingy. It wasn't deep or anything, and it's mostly healed now, but I mean really. Only I would hurt myself trying to bring Christmas cheer to my loved ones.

     That pretty much sums up the excitement of the past week. I did get an early gift from my family, a This Star Won't Go Out bracelet and Nerdfighter crest pin, which was really cool. Happy belated birthday Katie, sounds like it was a good one. Good luck on employment, Campion, and glad to hear that your show is going well. And as always, don't forget to be awesome.
-Deidra

My week

At the moment I'm very proud of the most generic title that I have ever come up with. I wasn't able to post last week because my internet was down, one of the problems with living out in the country is that our internet out here is terrible. My week itself was alright, I already have two shows recorded for my radio show, not sure if it will be any good but it was fun to record and we are putting quite a bit of effort into it so I hope that it turns out well. The first two films we reviewed were Scott Pilgrim vs The World and Brave. The first two games that we reviewed were Halo 4 and Spyro the dragon. Fortunately the show is pre recorded, since in the first recording we had to re record the various segments several times. And then it took several more hours to get the thing edited. The second session went much better though, it only took us two hours to get the whole show recorded and edited.

I've also been looking for work, applying for various jobs and just trying to find something that will give me an income. I haven't found anything solid yet but hopefully I will soon.

Anyway, I hope that you guys have an awesome week
DFTBA

Typing This While Typing A Report

Sorry I didn't post last week. It was my birthday, so my friends took me out to dinner.

Really, really don't have time right now. I have a report to write. Just stopped in to answer Adam's question about San Fransisco - my favourite part was Alcatraz and just spending some time in the city. It's a really nice place. Sorry, no time to elaborate.

Generic reference to scarcity of posts

Hi, sorry I didn't post last week, I had a nice long post written but I forgot to save it and then my computer crashed which was just lovely :) Anyway, I was off all last week for a study week. I have two exams this week, one tomorrow and one on Thursday. I'm a bit nervous but I know I've studied so it should be grand.

Happy Birthday Katie!!!!! :D

So I got everything arranged for my summer trip to San Francisco, all that's left is to do my interview at the U.S. embassy which I've been told is fairly straightforward. I think it's just a formality really.
I'm so excited for it. I've never been outside Europe before so it'll be really awesome. Even just the experience of living in a foreign country with my friends is going to be pretty epic. We've started making a list of things we want to do when we're over there, otherwise we might miss something. We've got things like golden gate bridge, alacatraz and other San Fran touristy things. Going to see a baseball game, Comicon, eating at Macdonalds (probably just the once :P). I can't remember who said they had been to San Fran before but whoever it was, anything you did there that you really enjoyed?

Beyond that, I'm just trying to get in the Christmas spirit, have to do all my Christmas shopping yet.

DFTBA
Adam

A Special Day

Hi! 

I didn't mean to miss last weeks post, it just happened. I had a very busy week last week. The Intensive went well, and I think I have a greater understanding of poetry. I really like the three poems I picked to recite (if I do) for the competition. I'm wishy-washy on whether or not I want to participate in the competition because many of my classmates are either more experienced or better at speaking. In general. Even though I find it very unlikely that I'll win the school-wide competition I might just do it to  say that I did it.

Monday was normal, Tuesday I was sick, Wednesday I went on fieldwork to Connecticut, and Friday was my last day as a fifteen-year-old. Exciting. I really loved Wednesday because we went on fieldwork (which is a field trip, but more work involved) to Connecticut and visited the Pequot Museum. The reason I loved it so much was because I have a lot of fond memories. In elementary school (from kindergarden to fifth grade where I went) we would visit the Pequot Museum every year. I haven't been since then, but everything is the same and I love that. Every detail of that place is tucked away in my memory.

I can't say my last day of being fifteen was anything special. It was the most normal day I could have ever had. I ran late in the morning (putting on my shoes while waiting for the bus), took a nap and listened to music on the first bus, listened to music on the second bus (my battery on my iPod was extremely low so I was doing everything to make it last until we got to school. It almost didn't make it!),  went to classes, did some homework I didn't finish at lunch, talked about weird/ gross stuff at lunch, sat in the corner for the last class of the day, and made someone feel extremely awkward. Extremely normal.

I told my mom I wanted nothing for my birthday but to lay around and watch t.v. and spend the day with them. We did just that. On top of her and my sister and grandmother still getting me gifts. It was nice, but I was serious about the no gift part. I didn't do any homework and am logging on to the computer for the fist time today. I feel very relaxed. The things I got?

1. Pete Townshend's Autobiography Who I Am. I'm not normally a fan of autobiographies unless it is some dead historical figure, but I was really excited about reading his because I really love The Who.
2. Cupcakes from my favorite gluten free, dairy free, egg free, nut free bakery.
3. A fifteen dollar gift check to the local book store, which can potentially but me two books If I chose carefully.
4. New fuzzy slipper socks.
5. And bag of candy.

Deidra I hope that you do continue to write and read more of your poetry. I wish I could do the same!

Kate congratulations on your NaNo novel! My friend almost finished hers, but she had to drop out on the last 3 days to finish work. She was so close too!

I think that's basically all I have to say. So have an awesome Sunday and next week!

~Katie

Sore Hands

     Fear not, I did not die. At least not yet. I missed my post last Thursday because it was such a busy day. I had an early class, the first for that entire week. Then I was supposed to meet with my professor to prepare for a seminar the next day, but he never showed up. Then more class, studying, and a final for my education class. It was very easy but by the time I was finally back in my room with nothing left to do, it was past midnight. Suffice to say, I had no heart to write.

     And since then I have been up to so many things. Friday I did another open mic night, and read a poem I had written for the occasion. Easier than the first time, but still frightening. I hope to continue going out and participating in them so that one day I can read something and not have my voice shake so much. Also it is good practice for teaching. 

     Saturday was the Secret Santa exchange in my house and also winter formal. I received a book, Jodi Picoult's Lone Wolf. It looks promising, so I am going to enjoy that over winter break. Formal was really fun. It was a fancy dinner and then an all ages night at the Outpost, which is the campus pub. My house got all dressed up and went to dinner, where we learned that we won House of the Month for the second month in a row. It was amazing. I live in a quiet residence and they have the stereotype of having nerds who never go out and do events. So winning it for the second time is really good for us. The theme was Fairy Tales, and we were seated at the Aristocats table. All of the tables were themed from Disney movies. It looked really nice. I stole a pink bow from the table and wore it around my neck. Then, when a couple of the girls and myself went out to the Outpost to dance I wore it along with my "bow ties are cool" shirt.

     Today I wrote my first university exam, and I must say it was fairly easy. It was for my literature before 1750 course, and was comprised of five short answer questions and an essay. I ended up writing a nine page essay, and then using another nine pages for the questions. By the time I left my hand was so cramped up and sore. It wasn't as stressing or intimidating as I think it's supposed to be. We write them in the gymnasium just like I did in high school, just with a lot more people. I only have two exams for this term (the perks of being an English major) and my second one isn't until Tuesday, so I've got a lot of downtime. Then I get to go home.

     Congratulations Campion on being finished with high school! Let me tell you that you will not miss it. University and college are better in so many ways, the first being that there are a lot fewer stupid people. Since you have to pay to be there, most people are pretty serious about it. Another perk is that you can create your own schedule, to some degree. So, if you want to sleep in you just have to schedule it like that. Good luck on your job hunt!

     Kate, I would really like to know how you can balance school and NaNoWriMo, let alone finish it. I really wanted to do it this year, but it turned out that November was my busiest month, with a lot of assignments, tests, and presentations. I do want to write more often, and am thinking of setting aside a certain time during next semester to do it. Also, try not to hate English so much. It's not as bad as you think. 

     Try not to get too bogged down with work and studying, and take breaks to have some fun. Good luck to all with whatever end of the year things you are facing. Next time I post I will be home sweet home. Have a good weekend, don't forget to be awesome!
-Deidra

Improvement

A huge amount of stress has been lifted.  All of my grades are where they should be, at last, and should be good for the end of the quarter as long as I don't do poorly from here on out.  NaNo is over and I managed to finish with 50,024 words. The choir director asked me to be in the school's musical pit again this year, and I am very excited for that.  Really the only thing that is bothering me right now is a muscle I pulled in the upper back of my leg.

It's getting to be the end of the semester/term and that means finals are coming up. I am a bit nervous for nearly everyone of my finals.  Trigonometry and Psychology should be okay, but I will have to study a bit for those.  In Orchestra we have a playing final, and the party is challenging, but practicing will help a lot.

The subject I am worried for most is American Lit.  I did horribly on the quarter final, and now our teacher is gone for the rest of our class.  At the beginning of the year he found out (and he told us right away) that his wife had a brain tumor.  She started Chemotherapy a while back.  The stress that added to his life made him feel like he was not up for teaching, which I think is completely understandable.  He might be back for next semester's class, but he had meant to retire at the end of the year anyway.

From the looks of our blog it looks like a lot of you are pretty busy with school and other work.  I hope things will get better for you.

Kate

I've finished High School forever

Well after five years I've finally finished high school. I honestly thought that I would fell more satisfaction or relief that it's finally over and that the stress of it all would go away but it really hasn't. I guess that's because I have to deal with the rest of the crap that life has for me. Like going to university (which is more difficult than high school), getting a job, have to get my own place, paying bills and all that other fun stuff.

Well I'm just glad that my exams are over at least. The last one that I had was yesterday, it was my media exam and it went pretty well. I should have passed and now I have to wait until next year to get all my results back.

Tomorrow I start looking for a job so I can help pay for university. I've never had a job before so it should be interesting.

I don't really have a lot to write about this week

So have an awesome week guys

DFTBA

Ugh...English

I have approximately seven minutes to type something and post it. I can't think of anything to write about. Thus, I shall forget about trying to think of something, say goodbye, tell you all to have a good week, and go do my English homework. Have I mentioned I hate the English language, English homework, and everything to do with the word English? I'm exaggerating. Still.

This Time

I swear Sunday I'll be back to write. I lost track of time tonight.

It's been a pretty crazy couple of weeks. I did get to go on the school trip, and I did find the money. We went to Plymouth Massachusetts to visit Plimouth Plantation and talked with the Native people and Colonist. I was offered to stay there by one of the colonist and I would have said yes. It was so much fun. Then we went to Concord Massachusetts and visited a museum, Walden Pond, and the grave site of Thoreau and some other historically famous guys. Overall it was a great trip, but very tiring. I love going out of state to visit places. 

The weekend after that trip I was really tired, and I had to take on my sisters chores because she sprained her ankle and hasn't been able to walk since. There has been too much pressure these past few weeks. I don't know why but I haven't been in a schooling mode. I find myself not wanting to go or do work more than I want to go. I've been hoping it would pass.

I don't remember much of anything relating to the past couple of weeks. The Who did a show in Boston on the 16th, the day after I left Massachusetts. 

We're starting up our intensive's next week. Link to my Newport post. It's the same thing with a different area of focus. Wow I used to swear a bunch. Glad I dropped that habit. That was scary. Anyway I don't know if you have ever heard of Poetry Out Loud but that is the topic this week. It doesn't require writing poetry, which is good. I'm not a fan of poetry. I wanted to do this Intensive because the instructor said it would help with public speaking, memorization, and presentation. All of which I don't excel. Also the instructor scares me, so I thought spending a week with him would help cure that. It's also free.

I don't intend on actually competing, because that scares me more than the teacher. I just want to get to a comfortable stage. I'm not sure I'm ready to go from zero to ten in a week. Side note have you ever had a teacher that intimidated/intimidates you? The thought of spending a week with this teacher is killing me softly.

There were questions I believe. Adam there are plenty of places where I live to see the stars, but no one to go with. I don't have friends here. Because of where I go to school my friends live in towns all across Rhode Island. None of them close enough to go to the beach (5 minute drive from my house), the park (5 minute drive from my house), or the small village thing (about 10-15 minute drive from my house). Plenty of places with no one to share it with. Besides I don't exactly go anywhere.

Campion I'm afraid I'm a little too into television, which is probably why I don't go star gazing often. As far as cartoons go...

1. Freakazoid
2. Animaniacs 
3. Invader Zim
4. Captain Planet
5. Hamtaro

Overall these shows are some of my favorites, but I watched a lot of television. This isn't even half of what I watched as a kid. I'm surprised my brain hasn't turned to goo.

Diedra sorry to hear about your snail. It died a noble death, and will be missed dearly. And congratulations on being published! That is really huge and really AWESOME!

I left all my Thanksgiving break homework until today, I better get started. Have awesome weeks guys.

~Katie

I have almost nothing to write about

I was busy studying when I suddenly realized that I needed to make my post. Kira I really know how you feel. When I had no time at all to write, I had so much to write about and now that I've got this free time I have nothing to write about.

Yesterday I had to go back to school yesterday for an assessment at my film class. It was the last time I ever go there and it was sad to realize that I would probably never go back there. I've spent a lot of time over the past five years there, I made some of my best friends there and making films was a lot of fun, so it was depressing to know that I wasn't going back.

Beyond that I'm just trying to prepare for my final exam, which I don't have until next week and it's a fairly easy exam so it should be alright. Beyond that I really don't have a lot to write about this week.

Have an awesome week guys
DFTBA

So Many Notes...

     I really wish that title could mean something cool, like music notes or love notes or notes with secrets scribbled in a hurry. But no, it means school notes. I have so many to do because I did no homework over the weekend or during the week. I need to get so much done in a small amount of time because I have lots of plans for this weekend and a lot of work to do. Next week, I have my history midterm, my education final, and an English seminar. 

    Really not much for me to say. I have totally messed up my sleep cycle. Yesterday I came back from class at around 11 and ended up sleeping until 2 in the afternoon. I missed an amazing lunch (they had a make your cupcake bar), and then I have no idea what to do with the rest of the afternoon. Which means I didn't do any work. 

     My snail did end up being dead. Very sad. But I will get another after Christmas. We are also doing a Secret Santa in our house. Quite exciting. Must get my Christmas shopping finished this weekend. Yeah, not much to say, and I keep looking over at the pile of work I have to do. So, as usual, don't forget to be awesome! Have a good weekend. Meow.
- Deidra

Still Alive

It's an interesting thing, but whenever I have time to post, I have absolutely nothing to post about. I've finished all my homework, and I don't have school for the rest of the week anyway. I've been sitting around watching Smallville. I don't even know why I enjoy it.

A couple weeks ago, someone asked about cartoons. The only two I've ever really watched are Pokemon and Young Justice. I love both a ridiculous amount.

Adam, the sky around where I live is sometimes super clear so I can see lots of stars. Other times, I can't see any. Hugely variable.

Deidra, congrats on getting something published. Sorry about your snail, though, if he's dead. For biology last year, my friend had to create an ecosystem. Her snails ate her fish. I joined her in the funeral.

Huh. I have all the time in the world, but nothing to write about. Thus, this shall be cut short. Au revoir!

-Kira

Another Day, Another Week

School is causing about 80% of the stress in my life right now, and I'm about three times more stressed than I usually am. Trigonometry is just getting really difficult and we are being forced to learn so much in such a short time.  We have about 10 different equations to have memorised by tomorrow (and variations of those 10), and I already feel like I will do poorly.  We are also taking a chapter test tomorrow and I am not looking forward to that at all.

I keep pushing my AP Psychology study guide off; I'll be stuck doing half of it this weekend.  Normally I wouldn't push it off, but I have been focusing on my other classes and NaNo.

I am extremely relieved at how the instrumental concert went on Tuesday.  I didn't think I did as well as I could have, but when we listened to the concert tape the next day, it sounded nearly perfect.

On Thursday, I went to this Anti-Defamation League Prejudice Elimination Workshop.  It was hosted at a university in Omaha.  In the class/group I was in, a girl was standing next to me, saw "DFTBA" written on my converse and asked me, "Do you read John Green books?"  I replied, "Indeed I do."  I had found another Nerdfighter... or she found me.

That's all I feel like writing right now, plus I have a bunch of other things to do - gotta love work.
Kate

An Unexpected Journey

Oh wow you guys I'm so excited!!! I finally got my tickets for the premiere of The Hobbit. I have been waiting so long for this movie to come out, if only I didn't have to wait another month, and if only they hadn't split it into three movies (which means more waiting). But oh well, at least it's finally coming out. 

I think I've been staying up too late because yesterday I got really tired at like 8pm so I figured I'd go for a nap. And that failed epically. I ended up sleeping for over 12 hours til I had to get up for school today. But I guess it was good since I needed the rest and now I feel much less tired. 

Today in my biology lecture a banana being chased by a gorilla came running through the class. It was quite random I must say and similar things have happened earlier in the year. Gotta love university. 

Adam, on account of me being a hermit and not going out much at night I can't really remember if I can see the stars well here in Ottawa. I could see them super well back home I know that for sure. 

And suddenly not in the mood to write anymore so that's it for this post.

DFTBA
Kayla

First exam is over at least

Just finished my first exam, really happy about that because I only have two exams this year (because the majority of my subjects are art subjects so I've already handed them in), so I'm already halfway through my exams luckily. The one that I just had was my English exam, it's usually easy for me since English is one of my best subjects but always tiring to do. We are always given four essays to write in about three hours, that's usually never enough time and the majority of people don't even get all four essays done, spending all their time on just the other three. This was one of the few times I actually got all four papers completed, the last one that I did probably wasn't very good but I'm confident on the other three. The only other exam that I have left to do is my media studies which is in another two weeks.

It's strange because that's another exam that I've studied quite a bit for and I'm nearly done with school for the year and yet the last thing that I have to do before I can leave is two weeks away. It's kind of frustrating but at least it gives me a lot of time to study.

Well I should probably get back to my work now.

Have an awesome week guys
DFTBA

I Choose You

    Since I have an assignment to do tonight I am going to post now. The assignment will only take me maybe an hour tops, but I like to procrastinate and relax and hang out in the evenings. And I have to leave for class at 5:15 so this is probably going to be short.

     Adam, I live pretty far north in Ontario, far from cities. Thunder Bay doesn't put out much pollution so I can almost always see the stars. I really need to just take one night/evening to go out and enjoy them. It is something that I really do love to do.

     Not much has went on for me this week. I handed in my formal paper for my literature class, which was the biggest pressure that I was facing. Five pages on love sonnets. Not my favourite topic, but I think I did pretty well. The semester is closing down pretty quickly, and exams will be soon. Thankfully I only have two. And one is technically a midterm, since it is a full year course. I do have some more assignments, a seminar, and a test or two before then. All in time. Bleh.

     This weekend is going to be a good one, I think. Saturday my house plays soccer, and we are hoping to make it into the finals with this one. We have a good chance too, I believe. Thankfully it doesn't just depend of wins and points, but also heavily relies on team spirit and getting people to go out and even just cheer. My house is good at that. We always cheer. 

     On Sunday we are going out to breakfast with everyone to the Hoito, which is a Finnish restaurant here that has amazing food. I am very excited. Then I am going to participate in a Pokemon Stadium tournament, which I am even more excited for. I played for the first time last night, and it's really fun. I'm hoping to win at least one battle. All of this means that I have to have my homework and studying under check. C'est la vie.

     Anyway, must go and get ready for class. Also, I am fairly certain my snail is dead. He hasn't moved from one spot in three or four days. Boo. I am sad about that. Pierre was an awesome snail. Well, don't forget to be awesome and have a good weekend!
-Deidra

Short and to the Point

The weather here has been ridiculous.  Just Saturday and early Sunday it was 26 degrees C and today was -1 degrees.  Tomorrow I have our school's fall band and orchestra concert.


My high school's graduations look like the picture below, except black and gold for our school's colours.   It is a pretty normal ceremony.  I think if it is raining the ceremony is moved to the local college's gym.

I have never paid much attention to the theme songs of cartoons, and besides for spongebob, I rarely watch cartoons any more. My favourite is and will always be the original Pokemon theme.  

Congratulations on getting something published, Deidra!

I can usually see a decent amount of stars at night in my town, but not a whole lot.  If I counted I might be able to make it to 50, but I have never tried.  I have always wished I could go far out into the country away from the city to gaze up and see the stars.

I want to keep this post short and brief so I can get back to work on NaNo.  I can't wait until November is over.  

DFTBA

Kate

Short post

Hi everyone, I'm going to be honest that I'm way too lazy to reread everyones posts. Plus I'm really tired tonight.

The sky was really clear where I live last night and  I could see a ridiculous number of stars and the milky way, it was really beautiful. Can you guys see stars where you are or is there light pollution?

Yeah, I guess this is a short post.

DFTBA
Adam

What A Week

oearljrakjnragdjkndrgkjdrk;r;kriojwt4iojjwriojattijoat.jknkatm,.h.cxjkndsfg sjka ddjkretjkearjjnkwJNRER.

I thought I lost my permission slip for next weeks class trip, and panicked. I found it. Then saw how much the trip is and now I'm dead. $30.00 dollars (you can convert that) just to go to Massachusetts. I only have around $10.00.

I need to go panic for a bit. I'm going to post this, and hopefully get back to it tonight. If not tomorrow. fhdeduiedgsuhiseguhidgeu;hguihi

Basically all kinds of nostalgia.

I forgot to post last week, probably because I was super tired after staying up late the night before to finish a report that I had procrastinated on for quite some time. But no matter.

I can't really remember much that I've been doing the past two weeks really. The only thing that stands out is that I started taking French lessons on the weekend, tomorrow will be my second one. I'm just at the beginner level, but this class focuses more on speaking than all of my elementary and high school classes did so I feel like it's right for me. Hopefully, I'll be able to hold some simple conversation by the end of the course.

So I didn't end up doing Nano this year. Kind of predictable because even though I was considering it, I didn't really put any thought into what I might write about. Plus school and stuff.

I really want to learn how to knit or crochet. Not sure why exactly. I used to know how to crochet when I was younger, but I've forgotten how. Lucky for me, my sister knows how to do basic knitting and my chem lab partner knows how to both knit and crochet so I asked them both to teach me.

Kate, I had a lot of toys that I really loved and I never liked to choose one over another because I thought their feelings would be hurt. Buuuuut, one that stands out in my mind is a fat little duck that my parents bought for me from a store that is now out of business. I named him Chubby. He's adorable. (Honorable mention will go to a small pink blob thing with a stumpy arms and legs, a cute smile, and a little tuft of hair on top. His name was Mr. Wiggles because if you pulled the string on his back he wiggled around. I know, I'm so creative.)

Kira, try not to worry too much about school things. Even if I get bogged down with work and tests I try not to stress about things because that won't make it any better. So I just take little breaks and do as best I can (which is admittedly not that good at times, but whatever).

Wooooow, Campion what a long post. It's good to hear from you again though. Good luck with your final exams and good job on finishing high school. Also I hope your radio show goes well, it sounds like it will be a lot of fun. My grad was the same as Deidra's so not much else to say about it really, other than the fact that yes there were a lot of awards given out, but they were spread out quite nicely among the group so I think nearly everyone got at least one. I myself got several. :) As for my cartoon theme songs I'll list a couple. 

• Pokemon (duh this one's iconic)
• Yu-gi-oh (It's time to d-d-d-d-d-d-d-duel!!!)
• Arthur (this theme has such nice lyrics)
• Magic School Bus (I wanna ride on the magic school bus too)
• Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat (I would seriously just belt this one out as it played)
• Thomas the Tank Engine (I'll probably never forget this tune)
• Rolie Polie Olie (another catchy one)
• Dragon Tales (and another catchy one, though I guess all of them are)

So yeah all these shows had theme songs that stuck in my head the most from when I was little, I probably know most of the lyrics to them still. And my favourite cartoon show... hmm.... I'm tempted to say The Magic School Bus. That's probably what got me interested in science when I was little. As for right now, I dunno I watch some animes, but I think I'll have to say Adventure Time.

And yeah. I'm doing ok right now I guess. I'll be doing better by the end of tomorrow because my second bio midterm will be done with and my next midterm for another class isn't until the 26th. I'm actually feeling better about school because I dropped a physics class so I'm a little less busy than before. And I've managed to make some time to do some actual reading, like of a novel not a text book, which I haven't done since before school started. 

I have to start thinking about Christmas now though, need to figure out what I want for myself and what I should get for others. It's hard finding the right gifts for people. And at times I find it equally hard to figure out what I'd like to receive. I think I'm going to send Christmas cards out this year for the first time since I'm away from home and my high school friends.

DFTBA
Kayla

Time is Wibbly-Wobbly

     It really is. It feels like it was only yesterday that I was rushing to get my post finished. Apparently it has been a week. And a lot has happened since that last post, which is probably why it hasn't felt all that long. 

     To start with, the meeting was absolutely not what I had thought. The resident advisor for my house had to resign. We can't know why. It was really sad. We had a pizza party on Saturday night to say goodbye. She is still living on campus but can't hang out with any of us until the next semester. I made a banner for her with our house logo on it and got everyone to sign it. Then on Tuesday I helped her pack up her things. Other people tried to help, but it was mostly me. The new advisor is moving in today. I am not excited. 

     On Saturday evening I also went to a movie night with a bunch of nerdfighters who go to my university. It was a little scary, meeting new people and whatnot. Only a few showed up, and we are meeting again this Saturday. We ended up not even watching a movie, but instead a bunch of Doctor Who. It was really fun and I ended up staying out until 2:30am. No regrets.

     I also had a lot of homework over the weekend and the past week and had to do a presentation in my education class on Tuesday. That was nerve wracking. Thankfully I had a partner. I think we did really well. It was on the qualification evaluations council of Ontario, and basically they are the ones who tell teachers the range of which they can be paid. It was an interesting topic.

     Katie, I really hope you are feeling better. Being sick is one of the worst things ever. I was sick for the longest time after coming to university, and I am dreading my regular winter sickness. Kate, congratulations on actually doing NaNoWriMo. I hope you can finish, and if you do I would love to read what you have written. Also, I hope you were successful with your essay. I adopt an extremely formal attitude when it comes to writing essays, so not being offensive has never been a problem for me. Kira, I have heard of Gordon Korman. When my sister was a bit younger, that was one of her favourite authors. I swear she read the Island trilogy a dozen times. She read it to me one summer. 

     Welcome back Campion! Glad to hear that you are finally done with school! At least for a little while. Good luck on your exams, too. Your radio program sounds really interesting, wish I could hear it. I hope you come up with a rocking name for it, too. My graduation was a lot different from yours. First, the ceremony was just for those who were graduating, who had completed the requirements for graduation. The ceremony itself was long and arduous. Lots of awards to give out and speeches to be made. I think your testimonial is equivalent to our diplomas. They allow us to get into post-secondary schools and help us in getting jobs. We had to wear graduation gowns and caps, which wasn't bad but they were really hot. I think you should have worn your suit. Not only to look awesome at your ceremony, but also to look awesome going to buy Halo 4. And thank you for the explanation, it was completely necessary. I am not a really big gamer, and I would have had no idea what you were talking about. And I think I must agree, Pokemon has the best theme song ever. I actually have that and the Pokerap on my playlist. It was my favourite show when I was younger, and now my favourite animated show is Phineas and Ferb (don't judge me). My favourite non-animated show is of course Doctor Who. 

     In other news, I am going to get my hair cut tomorrow. Back to short hair for me. I can't stand my hair at its current length, which is nearly to my shoulders. I hate having to straighten it all the time. A house-mate of mine joked about getting a mohawk too, and even though he was joking I am really contemplating it. 

     One last piece of amazing news. A few weeks ago I submitted some of my writing to the campus English Students Association, for the English magazine that they publish twice a year. And guess what, all three of my pieces got accepted! I am going to be published, and I am so excited. I also got invited to the launch party open-mic night to read them, and I really want to but I am so so shy. So we will see how that goes. 

     And that's about it for me. A crazy week in all. I hope you are all well, and to answer your other question Campion I am doing great. Really couldn't be better (okay, I guess it could be, but couldn't it always?). Don't forget to be awesome!
-Deidra

Well, I'm back (I use this title a lot)

I'm really sorry for not posting for a while but I had several big projects that I needed to hand in and I just finished school a few days ago and now I'm just trying to get through my last two exams. I'm sorry for not being able to post in a while but most of my stuff for the year is over and the majority of the stress I was under is gone so now I can go back to posting. I didn't die, wasn't kidnapped and I haven't quit, I have just been incredibly busy. And in the last month or so a lot has happened.

First of all I mentioned a while ago that my town has a community radio station that I volunteer at. Well they offered me and my friend our own show and we decided to do it. I'm not sure as to weather or not it will be good but it should be a lot of fun. We were planning to do a review show where we review one game and one film. We wanted to have a mixture of obscure and mainstream films, both good and bad. So it should be a lot of fun, the first things that we were going to review are Scott Pilgrim vs The World and Halo 4. We chose these two for the first review because they were both fairly well known and fairly recent, with the next review being about Chrono Trigger and Strings, which are more obscure. I hope that the show goes well, don't have a name for it yet...

Speaking of Halo 4. It was released a few days ago, on my final day of school no less. It was nice to have it come out on that day and to play it with my friends since we are all leaving school. Halo 4 had a worldwide release date of the 6th of November, since the release date was worldwide due to our time zone New Zealand got it first. One of the few advantages of living at the bottom of the world, the shipping may be overpriced (very, very overpriced) but at least we get some things much earlier than other countries. I think we got Halo 4, 18 hours before the Americans did.

Well I finally finished High School, thirteen years ago I started school and now it all seems to coming to an end (I still have university to worry about but that's for another day). It's going to be weird come February and realize that I don't have school. It's sad to have to say goodbye to my friends, I've never been able to socialize well with other people. I usually quiet and don't say much and even when I am with people that I can talk to I've never been able to be myself around. I can honestly say that this year is without a doubt my best year of school. I had a great group of friends that I really felt like I could be myself around because they were just as strange (in fact even more so) that I was. I'm really going to miss them since most of us won't even be going to the same university. I never really liked goodbyes.

I'm curious as to how your schools did graduation? For me, we all went to a local theater to have our prize giving (the school awards all the smart and talented people with lots of awards and the focus is placed on them rather the people leaving school that year. And it's always the same who win those awards anyway), we go there because our school hall can't fit the three senior years. They have a section where they bring each of the Year 13 students (people in their final year) up on stage, giving a short statement about their time at school which we got to write ourselves (I was very tempted to write, "I want to be the very best, like no one ever was", but I think most people would have missed the joke) they handed us our testimonials (documents that would help us get jobs or get into university) the audience clapped for us and we go back to our seats. Not really a big thing but at least we got something I suppose. We had the choice of going in our ordinary school uniform, the schools dress uniform, or a black suit. I didn't want to wear my suit because it was a hot day and I wasn't going to buy the dress uniform just for this one occasion so I went with my regular uniform and it was the last time I was going to wear it so it seemed more fitting. In hindsight I should have worm my suit because I went to go pick up Halo 4 after the ceremony and rocking up to the shop in a suit to buy Halo would have been a great thing indeed. But what were your graduations like? I'm just curious if more of a focus was put onto the people leaving school rather than the people who had excelled that year.

Also, yesterday me and a friend of mine decided to check out a game called Postal 2. We had heard how violent and offensive it was and it was even banned in several countries, including mine. So we just had to play it. And I can honestly see why it was banned. It had to be one of the most violent and offensive things I have ever played. Take the game Mortal Combat for instance. The sheer amount of violence and gore makes it cross the line from offensive into hilarious because of how ridiculous it all is. It crosses the line once from decent into offensive and a second time into stupidly funny. But Postal 2 crosses it a third into, kind of funny but also kind of disturbing territory. It features such things as beating cats to death with a shovel and sticking it on the end of your gun as a silencer, beating Gary Colemen to death with a sledge hammer and chopping an innocent bystander in half with a chainsaw, dousing him in gasoline, setting him on fire and urinating on his corpse to put out the fire. To be honest some of the over the top violent humor can be funny but sometimes it takes it too far. The game itself is a first person shooter taking place in the sandbox world (meaning free roam world for those of you who know, unless you all already knew that in which case this explanation was pretty redundant) in the town of paradise and you play as a man named "The Postal Dude". The game play itself is actually fairly good, the controls are tight and smooth, shooting works well, the graphics look great for the time that this game was made in (1997) and the voice acting is pretty good. My main problems with it is the dark humor and some technical problems. Namely the many loading screens and the game has a tendency to crash. There are five levels in the game, each representing a day of the week. In each level you are given a list of simple chores to preform throughout the day, such as buying milk or dropping off a book at the library or chasing in a paycheck. But despite how simple these may seem, there is usually some.... other bits to the mission. For example when you go to work to pick up your paycheck, you find that the Postal Dude works at the video game company that produced the game and that their is a group of protesters outside the main office protesting violent videogames. When you go inside to pick up your paycheck, the protesters decide to stop violent videogames buy storming inside the company office and killing everyone in sight with the various guns that they have. I'll admit that I found that a little funny and ironic. Another example is that when your trying to get a petition for a winy congressmen to play a violent videogame an Alqueda terrorist comes out of nowhere and tries to blow you up, or when you try to return your book anti-book protesters try to burn down the library that your in. Trust me, this game has a lot of stuff like this. Overall, if your really into dark humor and are not easily offended..... actually if you are not offended at all (trust me if something offends you it's bound to be in this game) then this would probably be one of the those so bad it's good games and it's funny and entertaining provided you play it with a few friends and you try not to be offended by it. Otherwise you should just avoid the game altogether. I might end of finishing the game, maybe.

You know what I probably would have done a few weeks ago if I had the time to do it? A top five list. I've always loved animation, ever since I was little I have always watched cartoons from Disney to Saturday morning cartoons to anime, I love em all. And one of my favorite parts of them is the opening theme songs, the songs that would be stuck in your head for years to come and that would get you pumped to watch the next episode. For me, the icing on the cake for a great show is a great theme song, this is my Top 5 favorite cartoon theme songs. As always, this is just my opinion so if you don't like the ones I picked or you have have different ones then don't worry about it, in fact let me know cos I'm curious if what songs are your favorite. And this list is restricted to just children's shows.

6. Transformers
So I'm starting off this list by cheating a bit. This is more of an honorable mention. This is an iconic theme for an iconic series. Fortunately for me they did air this in New Zealand when I was a kid, so I guess I'm lucky in that regard. Makes me wonder why they didn't use this iconic theme in the new movies . It was on the soundtrack but not the actual film, why!? It doesn't make a great deal of sense. But my all time theme is the Transformers Cybertron, it's a nice re imagining of the original and it sounds awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUTtYQCvjOI

5. Yu-Gi-Oh
I remember back when I was ten, everyone was into Yu-Gi-Oh, everyone was bringing their decks to school and playing against each other, it got to the point where our principal had to ban them. And we all loved the card game because of the show. I still love the show despite how silly it can be and I've watched the other series (5D's is my favorite) but the original has the best theme for me. Mostly because of the bit where the big orchestral instruments come in. An epic theme for a silly yet eipc show
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c7qDIXpCOM

4. Justice League
When this show first came out, I didn't really like it. I thought it was dumb because I was going through a phase where I thought that super heroes were lame and stupid (glad that phase is over). After going back a few months ago to check out the show, I was greeted by this beautiful theme. It really captures the epic superhero feel of the show. And what can I say, I'm a sucker for a good orchestral theme.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaM1FKhrODc

3. Samurai Jack
Not a lot I can say about Samurai Jack. Beyond it being a show that I recommend to everyone and to compliment this great show, they gave it a great theme.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMAgQf4ZJXY

2. Megas XLR
This theme ranks at number 2 for two reasons (1 great rock tune (2 it explores one of the themes that few shows would dare to talk about, Giant Robots are awesome. It's funny, it's catchy and a lot of fun to listen. Really helps to set the mood of the show, which is namely about Giant Robots beating the crap out of each other and it's a glorious show. It's too bad that this song was so short because it's fantastic. But for what we got, it sure is amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuYeHPFR3f0

1. Pokemon
Ah Pokemon, the one thing from my childhood that I will probably go to my grave adoring. My final words will most likely be, "I tried to be the very best, like no one ever was". The series was what started my love for the franchise and it all started from this very song. One that I've known the words to since I was three. This is a theme that really got you excited to watch the show, it means the most to me out of all the songs on this list and I promise that not every list I make will have Pokemon at number one. I just love this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuYeHPFR3f0

Before I go, a few questions. How have you guys been? What have you been doing? I haven't been around in a while so I'm a little out of the loop while I try to go back through the posts that I missed but just let me know how you guys are doing right now. Also, what's your favorite cartoon show? If you don't like cartoon's, then your favorite T.V show.

Well hope that makes up for all the time that I missed, managed to cover everything that I missed in the last month or so. Well I should be heading off to bed now.

Goodnight everyone and have an awesome week
DFTBA

Nerves

I am ridiculously nervous today. For just about everything.

I'm terrified about my physics test that my teacher still hasn't graded. I'm worried about my lit essay that's due tomorrow. Scared about my chemistry project and my physics lab. I'm practically twitching over the election results.

Okay, I need a lighter topic than everything that I'm nervous about. Today, I got to go to a Gordon Korman event in a local library, if any of you know who that is. He was one of my childhood favourite authors. That was awesome, and I got a signed book.

I'm twitching too much to type. I'm out.

DFTBA,
Kira

Terrified For Tomorrow

For some reason, this election seems far more important than the last one, though this may because I'm more politically aware or everyone on Tumblr and internet "celebrities" are really pushing people to vote.  I really do not want Romney to win, I don't agree with him 90% of the time. Plus Obama seems to be more in tune with the American public.

I have written 7740 words for NaNoWriMo.  I'm kind of regretting starting, because now I know I will force myself to finish.  I still need to write 600 more words today.

I also want to write and finish this two page essay I have to write for AP Psychology.  It's far easier to write an essay for that class than it is to write one in American Lit.  The topics we had to choose from were "Do you think gay marriage should be legalized? Why/Why not?" and "Should gay couples be allowed to adopt? Why/Why not?" The essay is due Friday, but I want to get a good start on it so I can get a bunch of good arguments in without being offensive.  Not Being Offensive is my biggest goal for this paper.

I hope you guys aren't getting to stressed out with work.  I would write more, but I've already got a lot of writing ahead of me tonight (not to mention this month).

DFTBA
Kate

Whoops

I may have forgotten yesterday was Saturday. I'm going to keep this pretty short, things to do. 

To recap this week was short and boring. I lost power for almost two days and stepped on something and got a cut in my foot. School opened again on Thursday and it was slow. I didn't finish my essay that was due on Thursday and got reprimanded for it. I got really nervous before my piano performance and screwed up some notes. The only class that went well was Geometry. I fell ill Friday morning and stayed home. So I thought yesterday was Sunday. I have an essay to finish/edit and some Chemistry. Also school photo's came back. Mine was really something horrible. My mom likes it though, so it stays. My brother's at RI Comic Con right now. I didn't get the money saved in time to go.

Not the best week. However I'm sure I can dig through my brain and find something fun to tell you. I'm doing NaNo. I watched Star Trek on Friday. I gained some followers on Tumblr/Twitter. I saw The Avengers finally. I started re-watchig Kim Possible. And that's about it.

Kate I was quite the Barbie doll child when I was five. I wouldn't say they were my favorite toys, because I don;t really have one. I used to play with whatever was laying around the house. Half the time the stuff wasn't even mine. I played card games a lot. If I had to choose I would say this rubber glove that I had filled with water and gave a face. It was something my friends and I thought would be cool. I played with that too much. It lasted around a year before popping. I named it Steve. I was an odd child.

Deidra I hope your new fish bring many memories, and that you get the tank upgrade! I should go do some work. I tried a pattern this time. Mixing it up.

~Katie

Happy Movember

     Hello again friends! I really don't feel like posting tonight, mostly because my day has been so up and down in terms of mood. I had an early class that was just worthless. Bad mood. Then I came back to nap until lunch. Very good. Then I had history class. Bad mood because it was a dull lecture (though probably the first actually dull lecture in that class). Then I met up with my partner and we got our project sorted, and more or less completed. Good mood. Then I found out we have a house meeting tonight and I think we are going to get into trouble. I didn't do anything, it's probably to address the under-age students who came home drunk last night. So, bad mood. But on the plus side, I am not going to class tomorrow, as I am instead going to an author lecture which should be interesting. 

     I am probably not going to do NaNo this year, as per usual. I do think that I am going to do more writing though. There have been a few times where I thought of something and wanted to jump into writing. Sadly it was always in the middle of doing something else. Oddly enough, it has mostly been poetry that I have wanted to write. Something exciting though. There is going to be another open mic night in the campus coffee house, and I think I am going to read something. It's rather intimidating, but I really want to do it. I think I want to write something new for it though. All of my favourite pieces that I've written just don't seem right for the occasion. 

     So Hallowe'en (yes I spell it that way, leave me be foolish mortals). I ended up not doing my original jelly fish idea. Mostly because I ended up helping a bunch of others with their costumes, but also because I found something else to be. I ended up dressing up as the lynx, the mascot of my residence house. I had the cape that we made in the first few days, my sports pinnie, my hand painted flag, and a sparkly silver cat mask. It was fun. We went trick or treating through the residences, and then there was a dance type thing. It was fun. That was on Sunday. On the actual All Hallows Eve I stayed home and played Mario Kart and Cribbage with some friends. Adam, I want to see pictures of your Eleventh Doctor costume. Please :)

     Kate, my favourite childhood toy was a doll that I name Sylvie. I used to play with her all the time, and take her everywhere. My Mom had to fix rips all the time, and the only reason that I stopped playing with it was because it became unfixable. Now it sits on top of my dresser at home. My Mom was dead convinced that I was going to bring it with me to university, and I was going to, but I just couldn't bring myself to move her from where she has been since we moved into that house. 

     So it ended up that all four of my original fish died from fish sickness. Two the night of that post, one right before I went to get new fish, and the last one I really thought was fine. Until that night when I found it dead at the bottom of the tank. But I have two new fish, and the snail still lives. I have asked my parents for a bigger and better fish tank for Christmas. What can I say, I am a simple person. It can only go up to a certain size for me to be able to keep it in residence. 

     Anyway, I have to go now. House meeting and whatnot. So have a good weekend and don't forget to be awesome! 
-Deidra 

Kind of Long Post

Sorry I didn't post last week. I'm not sure if the fact that hardly anyone posted makes me feel better or worse about not posting. Maybe it's both.

Tomorrow is Hallowe'en, and I'm really excited. I'm going to be answering the door dressed as the Joker. Or, I guess, a witch if I get lazy, which I probably will. Maybe Abigail from the Crucible. Sorry, that was a terrible joke. Don't mind me. The Joker would be awesome, but the costume would require a lot of effort, and clowns are freaky. It is also Lily and James Potter's death anniversary tomorrow. And that of Nearly Headless Nick. That is sad.

Kate, I was never big on toys as a kid, but my favourite, favourite, has to be a stuffed elephant I have. It's super soft and super cuddly, and it sits right on top of my battered copy of Peter Pan on my bookshelf. I have had both of those for years and they both mean a lot to me, despite the fact Peter Pan has to be one of the most disturbing books ever. This is coming from a girl who curls up with a Stephen King novel and a mug of hot chocolate on a regular basis.

Kayla, every year I tell myself I'm going to do NaNo and every year, I back out. I'd love to try someday, but it always seems like work gets in the way. I'm a sophomore in high school, so work probably shouldn't be an excuse, but it is.

Sorry, Deidra. We're not all dead! I'm a hypocrite. I get kind of concerned when any of you misses a post, but I miss them all the time. I guess that's not exactly hypocrisy, but it's kind of ironic. I don't know what I'm saying any more. Also, I am sorry about your fish.

Adam, it's funny you say that you're going as Eleven, because a friend of mine dressed up as Ten for a spirit event at school a while ago. He even had a Sonic Screwdriver. I ended up hooking my iPod up to a speaker and playing Doctor Who music whenever he walked down the hall. I think he tried to be annoyed, but it didn't work very well.

This week I have emulated Katie in a way greater than usual - I'm using multiple colours, obviously. I like it. It looks pretty. And less ostentatious than a couple of weeks ago, when I tried the same thing. I think that time I just used colours that were too harsh.

I should get going. Enjoy your weeks and never forget to be awesome.
-Kira

Not A Very Spooktacular Monday

I always feel like I should start my post off with an excuse every time I miss a week,, but I know that is not what you guys necessarily want to read, so I won't.  But I will tell you about last Monday.

Last Monday was my last volleyball game Ever.  I am not doing it next year, and intramurals aren't really my thing, so I won't be doing any in college.  The only time I can really see myself doing anything volleyball like is just passing the ball and messing around with friends.

The PSAT is the Preliminary SAT, and the SAT is the Scholastic Assessment Test.  The SAT is a required test for most universities and colleges on the coast, but most midwestern colleges prefer the ACT (American College Test).  There's also the PLAN test, which all the sophomores had to take last year, which is like a practice ACT. I scored high on that last year, and it predicts my ACT score to be 32-34, which is really high (and I doubt I'll get that high of a score the first time I take it). The ACT and SAT are graded differently, too.

I haven't dressed up for Halloween in a long time.  My shyness held me back as a kid. If I wasn't to old and if I had the money to make/buy the costume, I would love to dress up as Link from the Legend of Zelda. The way my bangs/fringe fall when they aren't tucked behind me ears look a lot alike Link's hair, so all I would have to do is dye my hair blonde and get the green cap to hide the rest of my hair.

I'm pretty sure I'll be doing NaNo this year.  Hopefully the story line I have written will last the 50,000 words. I think one of the reasons why I managed to be successful last year was my competitiveness.  I'm not necessarily competitive in sports, but I am definitely competitive when it comes to academics and challenges (like NaNo) that I set for myself.  For me it is almost like trying to do well on a test like the PSAT.  I know if I don't finish or I score lower

On one hand Katie, your lucky for getting out of school, but then on the other hand, you aren't very lucky.  It seems as if everyone on the coast is talking about Hurricane Sandy, and everyone here in the Midwest is just going around business as usual.  That's one reason living here is good.  We don't have to worry about hurricanes, though I do live in Tornado valley.

My cats just pulled out one of my favorite toys from my childhood, my woody doll. I think it was actually my brother's and I stole it from him at a young enough age that it just stayed mine (that also happened with my favorite blanket). Woody had always been my favorite toy, I think I would still consider him to be my favorite. He means a lot to me and acted as a security doll to me when I was a kid.  What are all of your favorite toys?

Happy Halloween and I hope school work isn't bogging you down too much.
Kate

Working on my costume.

Hi, sorry I didn't get a chance to post last week, was very busy with college work and just didn't get the time. So hope everyone's well :)

There's not much news with me, college work is growing to ridiculous proportions. Just when I think I couldn't have more work, I actually get more work. I'm still going to get out a little this week, think I might implode otherwise. Jack White is coming to give a talk in UCD so I'm uber-excited about that. I'm a huge fan and it'll be amazing to get to see him talking about his career.

Deidra, I think halloween is celebrated in most countries, I think it originates from Ireland/Scotland/Wales or this general area, or at least that's the propaganda we were fed in school :P I'm going to a friends party halloween night, going to dress up as the 11th doctor. I wanted to go as the 10th but coats are expensive. So far I have my trousers, shirt and shoes. I know a shop where I can get suspenders and a bow-tie pretty cheap. Now I just need to figure out how to get a fez. Hopefully I'll think of something, maybe I can make one myself.

Other than that, things are quiet here. Started reading Faster by James Gleik, it's good, it's about humans obsession with time and how we measure it. It's kind of a factual/physicsy type book. Since I'm going to be in San Francisco this summer I'm pondering buying a vidcon ticket. I need to make up my mind soon, it'll be sold out soon.

That's all for me.
DFTBA
Adam

READ ME!

I'm going to a Halloween party tonight (in an hour or so) hopefully I can be back in time to post more words.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hurray lateness. I hope you guys to come back and read this bit. I want to clarify that I do not have a life outside the internet. It just so happens that stuff outside the internet has happened and I was there. Three major things happened.

• Halloween Dance Friday the 19th
• PSAT's Saturday the 20th
• Friends Halloween party the 27th

The Halloween dance was okay. Not even a forth of the student body showed up (we only have 160 kids in our school). I went as Fandom Tumblr, but realized upon arriving I spelt Tumblr with an "er". So the rest of the night was just me wearing normal clothes with a cape. I got home that night around eleven and continued to stay up until midnight.

Bad planning on my part because the PSAT's were the next morning at eight am. I think I did okay on it though. I 'm hoping I did well enough I can take them again next year. I then continued that day with two hours of The Amanda Show and a nap progressing from 3pm-12am, an hour of the Kenan and Kel Show, the slept until 1am-9am. That was why I didn't post.

This past Saturday I went to my friends Halloween party which was good. We played a game called Bunco, ate several carrot sticks and played the world's most inconsistent game of Truth or Dare. Our best dare was to sing Gangnam Style. It was horribly racist. I went as a chicken super hero. 

Everything else seems irrelevant. Hurricane Sandy is due to knock out power in my area soon. I really don't want flooding, it's such a pain. As you can tell school was cancelled today, and most likely Tuesday too. It's great because I still have homework I don't want to do. And a piano performance I need to practice... Without a piano. I don't own a piano, or the sheet music. I got this cool looking chap stick called "eos" the night of the school dance.

It's very nice. Also gluten free and mostly organic. 

One last thing. Our Geometry unit is based around Navigation this year. So the teacher wanted us to find boats to plan out courses and other things. It could be anything. We had a budget of 1 million (fake) dollars to spend. I found an actual for sale replica of The Black Pearl. My teacher told me after class that I won the nonexistent prize for creativity.

http://www.blueoceantackle.com/pirate_ship_for_sale.htm

I should do the rest of my internet homework so I don't have to worry about it.

~Katie

P.S. I think my U.S. History teacher is a Nerdfighter!

I'm feeling extremely apathetic.

Wow, only Deidra's post between this and my last post... hope everyone's ok and just really busy. 

All I have to say is that this week has been so relaxing and I really needed it. Only bad thing is now I have to get back into the mood to do school work which is not enjoyable at all. I feel like I should have gone for an art degree instead but at the same time I'm glad I chose science. I just wish it had a little less of a workload. 

I'm supposed to be going to a Halloween-ish themed anime club meeting tomorrow but I haven't even really got my costume together yet so I don't know if that's going to happen. I'll go either way though. Otherwise I'll just dress up for Wednesday and watch some horror stuff that night. I've been getting into the mood already by watching Masters of Horror and this one movie called Eddie the Sleepwalking Cannibal.

Anyone doing NaNo this year? I'm thinking about it, but even if I start the chances I'll stick with it to the end are very slim.

I finally saw Prometheus just yesterday. I actually liked it, but there was a really gross surgery scene that I had to look away for. I think David was my favourite character in that, but maybe it was just because Michael Fassbender played him. Nah I liked the whole AI thing he had going on, it was good.

I made chocolate chip cookies yesterday too, they were delicious. I should make them more often since they're so easy and good and quick. Somehow I don't think that'll happen though. 

And I feel like I was going to say more but I've forgotten it apparently so I'll leave it at that.

Hope to hear from you guys.
DFTBA
Kayla

And The Blog Is Dead ...

     ....... Is anyone out there? I was totally shocked to find that pretty much no one posted since last Thursday, and Kayla only got hers finished because she was here with me and I reminded her. Well then.

     Anywho, this is a bit late because I've had a really busy day and I remembered at like, 10 o'clock while I was eating a late dinner. Then I went and played Wii, then got ready for bed. It was only once I was cozy in my bed that I remembered again.

     So, Hallowe'en activities. Tonight I went to the Haunted Fort at Old Fort William here in Thunder Bay. Basically it is a walk-through story type thing that is meant to be scary. The story: A doctor goes crazy, gets killed, is revived because he is somehow immortal, chops off the hand of his killer, and rampages the town. The group has to find his blackened heart and destroy it in his presence. It was fun. I ended up doing a bunch of the interactive things because I love these types of things. I carried the severed hand from the beginning to the madman killer guy. Then I carried a rose from the children's ward to the doctor's not-really-a-funeral funeral. Then I flipped the switch to electrocute a guy. It was pretty awesome. Not all too scary, but still really fun. I love the Fort, I kind of would like to work there someday. 

     This weekend I am going to make candy apples with the house, attend an open mic night and maybe read some of my stuff, cheer on my house soccer team and maybe play a bit, create my costume, get new fish, and go trick or treating through the residence. I am thoroughly excited. I love Hallowe'en. I am super pumped. My costume is going to be a jellyfish made out of recyclable materials and an umbrella because I get a house point for being eco-friendly. Yay house point. 

    I hope you all have an amazing weekend and an awesome Hallowe'en. And if you don't celebrate it in Ireland or New Zealand (I don't remember from last year) then I encourage you to at least watch a scary movie. Adios! Don't forget to be awesome!
-Deidra

Posting Late from Back Home

I'm writing this from the airport in Toronto because I have a bit of a layover before my final flight out to Thunder Bay. I'm so glad that my school has this fall study break, it's one of the only universities that has one in Canada. My midterms went so-so I think I failed one and maybe just barely passed another. Bio was the only one I think I did any good on. But enough about school. I'm on break now so let's see if I can talk about something more interesting.

Basically I'm going home this weekend to visit with Deidra and have a late Thanksgiving dinner with my family since I didn't go home on that weekend. I can't wait to see Deidra again, catch up on things and hang out a bit. It'll be nice after all the new stuff and boring school work. As for my family, it will be nice to see them again, but I just have this feeling my mom is going to take one look at me and immediately start going on about how I need to eat more and exercise more and sleep more and it's just going to be annoying.

And yeah so this was supposed to be posted yesterday but my flight got delayed and I was really tired when I got home so I forgot until just now... Um as for book recommendations I really liked Zombies Vs. Unicorns, The Book Thief, The Darkest Powers series, Storm Thief, Goose Girl, Battle Royale, etc. 

DFTBA
Kayla

*cough cough* - And a Sad Ending

     Deidra is not doing so good. There are two ways that sentence works: health-wise and school-wise. Starting with school, I have been procrastinating a bit too much and ended up having to skip the pool yesterday in order to do homework. This is from doing little to no homework over the weekend. So yeah, no more doing that. Health-wise, I have been basically sick since I moved in. Ranging from sniffles to coughing to sore throat and all that good stuff. Now it has simmered down to just a cough and sore throat in the morning and a slight difficulty breathing at night. I made an appointment with health services for tomorrow, so hopefully that goes well. As long as I'm not dying or anything.

     Kayla, I promise that your study week will not be all studying. I will make at least some of it awesome. You can come and visit the awesome-ness that is my dorm and room, and all of the insane people that I live with. Get to see what you are missing out on while living in that lonely apartment with your sister. 

     Katie, I have done a concept map as an assignment once during high school. It was for my philosophy course and it sucked. I personally don't find them useful as an organizer, and didn't see the point in doing it as an assignment. I would much have preferred doing questions or something.

     Adam, I will be insanely jealous if you get to go to Comic-con. I hope you get to go, though. It would be an amazing experience. I have no doubt that you will do good with the interview. Just relax, take deep breaths, and think about what they are asking you.

     Katie, good luck on your PSAT. And maybe either Kira or you can answer this, but what is the difference between studying for a PSAT and an SAT? Isn't the first just a practice of the second? Wouldn't the practice just be a little less difficult than the actual test? 

     Anyway, that's all from me for this week. It feels like it was yesterday that I last posted. Weird how time works sometimes. Don't forget to be awesome!
-Deidra
Afternote: Now I am sad. I just found Titan, my favourite fish, dead at the bottom of the tank. :'(