I'm Pro at Procrastinating

I'm supposed to be doing homework right now.  Even though it's easy, I'm just too lazy to do it.

Today was a pretty good day for me. Chemistry was especially good.  My lab partner and I, surprisingly, did perfectly on our lab.  We were the only ones to get a perfect 1:1 ratio of the mols of Copper and Iron.  Then, when our teacher was handing back test, he said "Congratulations to Kate for being the first person in 16 years to get all 4 of the bonus correct."  All the bonus was was balancing equations, and I just had enough patience figure them out.

For me, school gets out on the 18th.  We have 13 days left until summer.  I'm already excited for my junior year.

I don't have much more to say except congrats on third place Deidra and Kayla.

As usual, have a good week and don't forget to be awesome.
Kate

Short Post

Hi, I really have nothing to say this week. I'm very tired.
I was at a rugby game yesterday, it was the semi final of the  European Club championship and my local team Ulster won again so they're in the final. Which is exciting.
I'm also finished Paper towns, it was okay, I was a little disappointed with the ending but I don't know what I really expected.
I'm starting into my exams this week. So that'll be stressful.
Anyway, I hope you all have a good week.
DFTBA
Adam

I just really wanted to talk about the blog

Hey and all.As has been previously mentioned I such at remembering things. I ended up finishing all my homework I said I have, but now there is more to be done as usual. One assignment has peeked my interest greatly.We started reading The Omnivore's Dilemma as apart of our new unit of farming and soils and such. My teacher wanted to make reading this book fun, because to be honest it's not exactly a page turner. So his brilliant, and I do mean brilliant, idea was for us all to start blogs. We can't do anything we want, because he has certain tasks for us to complete, but overall I've had a bunch of fun with it. It's practically all I've done all day. If you guys want to check it out it's here: http://katierose42.edublogs.org/.My school has learning targets, which are targets we have to meet in every class each trimester. If we don't meet every one it brings down our grades. So this week I've been trying to remediate those targets to raise my grades. One class I wasn't doing to well in was math. So all I've been doing for lucy this past week is remediating them. He gave me a small quiz yesterday, and I still made a silly mistake on one of the tree targets I was trying to fix. So I have to go back Wednesday to try again.
That has pretty much been my week and part of next week is exams tests and remediations. Mental note to self is to stop failing things. After spending so much time on the school assignment blog I'm not particularly in a write-y kind of mood. Congrats Kate on the District Music Contest! Also to Deidra and Kayla for third in Envirothon. I hope my school places higher than fifth this year. I'm still wicked nervous for it.I started reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman. The only other book I've read by him is Coraline when I was younger so reading one of his other pieces of for is really exciting for me. After I'm going to read Neverwhere.I can't think of anything overly exciting that happened. I guess that's all I have to say. Oh wait Kayla, is Ink fit this description? A lost soul named Ink snatches an 8-year-old girl into the world of dreams. There, he hopes to use her soul to join the ranks of the evil Incubi. If so then I'll watch it later on this week or tonight. Not sure.
~Katie.

Life Happens

So I'm a little disappointed right now. I was supposed to be going to Ottawa for this weekend and the beginning of next week. I was going to be moving some of my stuff into my apartment and visiting my sister, but a bunch of stuff came up and unfortunately I won't be able to go. On the bright side at least this way I won't be missing anything important at school. But I still wish I could have gone.

Like Deidra said, we went to the Envirothon on Friday and Saturday. I had more fun on it then I thought I would. Everyone there was really cool and just as unprepared as we were for the testing so that was a bit of a relief. It was a good ice breaker, talking about how we hadn't studied at all. The campfire was a lot of fun too. We just hung around talking and making smores for a while. After a while we then moved into the kitchen building instead and told each other really terrible jokes while drinking tea. The contest was also much easier than I had expected. Most of the stuff I already had a basic knowledge of from over the years. It's a shame I won't be able to do it again next year.

Katie, I forget if I mentioned this before, but every spring I do a major cleaning of my bedroom. I go through everything, get rid of a lot of stuff and reorganize everything. I also usually move my furniture around at this time too. I think I do it just to have a change of atmosphere in my room, it gets boring if it always looks the same.

I just watched this movie tonight called Ink (2009). One of my friends recommended it and he was right, it's really good. You guys should definitely check it out if you can, it has a great message and a very unique story about dreams and how people go through their lives. It was just fantastic.

Anyway it's getting late and I can't really think of anything else to say so DFTBA!

Kayla

So. Frakking. Close.

     What a week this has been. I have been on and off exhausted, and most definitely not getting enough sleep. Late nights have amounted to long evening naps, which I don't mind because they feel nice, but tend to mean that I don't much work done. I need to figure out some sort of balance.


     Last Friday, we took a school trip into Thunder Bay to participate in the Envirothon. It was an overnight trip, my first ever overnight school trip. The first day we were there, we took a hike through the forest surrounding the lodge we were staying at. It was nice at first, as there was still snow on the trails and it was all quiet. Then the trail just didn't end, and walking became more and more annoying. When we finally reached a sign that showed how far left, we were only 2/3 the way through. It ended up being a 3km hike (around 1.8 miles). It was probably the worst part of the trip, because about halfway through it I must have pulled a muscle, and was limping and dying of exhaustion. Then there was a camp fire that night, which I have nothing to say about because I was antisocial and went back to my cabin to read and sleep early after a half hour.


     The next day was when we had all of the activities. As a team, we had to write 4 tests half an hour in length (soils, wildlife, forestry, and aquatics). They all went pretty well, we felt confident in all but the aquatics test. After that we had to prepare and present something about low impact development. I found it to be kind of boring and annoying, as I hate presenting stuff. 


     As some of you already know from Facebook, it was the first time our school participated in this event. My team did not do very much preparation for it, only two people having read anything from the introduction package. Anyway, in the end we came in THIRD PLACE out of six teams overall. Which was amazing. Until we learned that we were 0.22% away from being in second place. Which would have been so so amazing, since second place gets to go to provincials (first place team was unable to go for reasons). All in all, it was a fun experience, and it makes me sad that I am graduating and won't be able to do it again. 


     Now to quickly address some things from your posts. I have been living in this house (and subsequently this room) for nearly three years, and I have rearranged the furniture twice. The first time was because I got a new bed frame, so things had to be moved. And I did it again recently, getting rid of the frame because it took up a lot of space. I am not particularly a fan of moving things around. Once I find a comfortable arrangement, I stick to it. Must have something to do with my OCD tendencies of keeping my things in order.
     Congratulations Kate on both the District Music Competition and the track meet. I was kind of blown away at your pole vaulting abilities. It looks to be a very difficult thing to do, and I know it is something that I could never do, mostly because of my fear of getting hurt, but also because I fail at stuff like that.


     That's it from me for this week. I am doing well in all of my classes (reports came in, I have an 85% average right now). I am doing good mentally this week. I hope your weekends are fantastic! Don't forgt to be awesome!
-Deidra

Okay, so I'm a terrible person...

Sorry about not posting for the past two weeks. I've been busy. Really busy. But I have a bit of time and no homework, so I'm going to write for a bit.

Have any of you ever heard of 3rd Degree, and/or Terry He, Don Lee, or Brian Kang? I'd be very surprised if you have, especially Adam and Campion. Thought I'd ask anyway because I've been hugely into Terry's music lately. I mean, it's not like it's even that great, I just really love it. If that makes any sense.

Deidra, I'm sorry you've had a rough week. Hope this one's better. On Pottermore, as I may have mentioned, I'm a Gryffindor, and I still find that strange...add me, if you want - Ashlumos100. I guess we're all going places for school, because I'm on a bus for hours to go to Missouri tomorrow morning.

Campion, that sounds like it was a lot of fun. Though that position looks rather uncomfortable.

Kate, the Ridiculously Photogenic Guy is not a particularly funny meme to me...it's just there. Kind of bland.

Adam, I hope you enjoy Paper Towns. Unlike a few of us, I actually liked the end. I mean, I wanted more, but I feel it would have been unrealistic...I don't know.

Have any of you ever read Life of Pi? A friend recommended it to me, and I'm about halfway through. It's pretty good so far. No spoilers, please! And thus concludes the post because I really have nothing left to say. Enjoy your weeks, guys
-Kira

You All Deserve a Good Week

My first home track meet is tomorrow and I'm excited for it.  I really think I have a chance to place if I vault like I did on Friday.  Unfortunately, there was a varsity track meet today so we didn't have practice, so I don't get a pre-meet day.  

This past week was District Music Contest.  Districts is like our State competition for music ensembles, such as band, orchestra, and choirs, except you don't get a place like 1st, 2nd, or 3rd.  Instead, you perform to be rated.  The ratings are 1-5, 1 being the superior, 2 being the excellence rating, and 3-5 really not good.

This time of year always gets stressful.  The orchestra performed Wednesday and we received a 2 rating.  I am proud of what we scored, but I was still a bit disappointed consider last year we got 1's from each of the three judges.  Saturday was small groups/solos day.  I participated in a violin trio, which I was proud to earn a 2 with.  

Now that we are done with DMC, the orchestra is preparing for our final concert.  As a whole, we voted to keep our favorite song and learn two new ones.  The songs our conductor picked for us to learn are a Sound of Music medley and a Beatles medley.  If you don't know, I was a huge fangirl of the Beatles for about a year, and I'm still a huge fan.  Tomorrow we get the new music and I'm so excited to play.

Saturday, a few hours after I returned home from Districts, my brother had flew in from Virginia as a surprise.  I haven't seen him since the beginning of the year and it was a wonderful surprise.  We played Mario Kart and, by some miracle, I beat my brother 144 points to 124.  That has never happened before.  My brother tried to use the excuse "I haven't played in the longest time," but I countered with "The last time I played was with you."

I know I'm not the best person to explain what the ridiculously photogenic guy meme is or how it came about.  This is it:

I have to agree with Deidra.  The whole thing has calmed down already.  It reminds me of the "Took and arrow to the knee" meme that only lasted a few days.

Kate

In Which I Can't Stop Talking

Start time: 8:15

Getting myself to focus on writing in general is hard. However doing this is a bit easier. Unlike writing an essay I don't have to narrow myself to one topic, I can just write. Though sticking to one topic may seem like the easier thing to do it isn't really. Not in my mind. I tend to bounce all over the place and repeat points. That's why when I write an essay or paper it usually has to go through five drafts in order for it to be less jumpy.

Anyway that was just something to get mind into the swing of things. It's been a real slow week, and I haven't done a lot to be completely honest. Since Monday I (including the aid of my sister and mother) have beed trying to complete the task that is reorganizing and rearranging my room. I have trouble with keeping something in the same order for long periods of time.

When my sister and I first moved into the largest room (located in the basement) I was in the seventh grade by the time they got everything in it's new place. I was really happy with the way it looked, and was for quite some time. However as time passed I slowly began shifting things. Now three years has come and almost passed and I finally convinced them to rearrange things.

I'm not completely sure why I like moving things around after a certain amount of time, but I just get uncomfortable almost if everything looks the same. That's probably why I went to charter schools instead of my own towns school. The three different schools I've been to have moved locations a lot over the years. In fact the school I go to now is still looking for a permanent location.

Enough about my crazy head, more about normal-ish things. As I mentioned before this week has been a vacation and I return on Monday. And as usual there was homework assigned that I haven't completed. I wanted to get it done before Sunday, but I'll be lucky if I get it all done by the beginning of first period on Monday. I might do a little of it tonight, but the chances of that are slim to none.

Kate, I am not familiar I don't think with the meme if someone could explain it that would be lovely. Deidra I'm sorry you had such an off week. I hope it's gotten a bit better I hate when I feel like that. Also congrats on being a Slytherin! Kayla and Deidra I hope Envirothon went well, my competition thing isn't until May 18th. If you could explain what it was like a little that would be awesome. Campion your trip sounded like so much fun! I don't think I could handle being floor manager listening to all those people would make me even more insane.

Adam I hope you enjoy Paper Towns, and I agree with Kate the ending felt a bit off to me. Like I wanted more to come out of it. Speaking of books We end The Catcher in the Rye when we return and I have to say rereading this book on assignment has made me hate it a bit. That always happens when I read books for school. Analyzing books and finding character flaws, symbolism and all that jazz takes the pleasure out of it for me. I mean if I wanted to read more in depth for a book I would. He wants us to find certain words and identify ones we don't know and I CAN'T! It takes so much out of me to actually put in that effort.

Instead of complaining I meant to talk about something completely different. Ever since we started reading Catcher I've been on a huge 50's kick. I've always Liked 50's music but I just haven't been able to listen to anything else for the past couple of months. It was just like the time when I got really in to The Who. I bought a bunch of their CD's, put them on my iPod and found myself listening to only that. I don't know how much longer it'll last, but I don't mind if it never goes away (also like The Who).

Also this annoys me greatly: http://techland.time.com/2012/04/19/5-reasons-the-cispa-cybersecurity-bill-should-be-tossed/ So i think that's about all my brain can focus on...OH WAIT. I saw the Hunger Games on Friday. When the movie was over and my friend left i found a shady area of pavement (sidewalk) and just layed down until my brother came to pick me up. Apparently people stare at you when you take a nap on the sidewalk. Who knew? Okay that's all, I swear.

End Time: 9:09

~Katie

Got to Go!

Ok so this is going to be really short since I don't have much time, and just barely remembered it was Friday today. I'm going to some lodge in Thunder Bay for two days for the Envirothon competition. And there won't be any internet, and potentially not even electricity (I'm not sure, but that's what it sounded like). Besides that everything has been going pretty well. We'll be getting our midterm marks soon which is good because I need to know how well (or badly) I'm doing in my math classes. Oh yeah, and I went on Pottermore too and I'm in Ravenclaw. Yay! Campion, that sounded like a fun trip. Adam, I'll be sure to check those films when I can. Sorry if I missed anything, I'll get it next week.
DFTBA
Kayla

Slytherin Pride

     What a week. I am not joking or exaggerating when I say that this week has been rough on me. And it was/is an extremely short week for me. We had ended up getting a snow day on Monday, since it had snowed a whole lot on Sunday night (like, 3 or 4 feet). So I got to stay home and procrastinate an extra day. And I am going on a school trip for the Envirothon challenge thingy tomorrow. I have no idea what that's going to be like. But it will be the first time that I go some place overnight for a school thing. I'm pumped.


     So this week. I don't 100% understand why it was so rough on me. Tuesday I came home and was kind of depressed. I mean, nothing was able to cheer me up, not even Tumblr. I think the only reason I didn't end that day completely upset was because of John's video, and the fact that I had 'the people in the airport think that I'm crazy' stuck in my mind all evening. Really, it amazes me how something like that can make me feel. Then on Wednesday I was angry, mainly because of a stupid discussion my mom tried having with me. Through text. Honestly, don't ever try to have a serious discussion with anyone like that. It does not help the situation. I was also pretty tired this week. I ended up napping most of Wednesday night, and I went to bed early. This resulted in the good part of my week. I woke up today, and for the first time in a long long long time, I wasn't tired or falling asleep in class. 


     Also, I joined Pottermore. What an experience that was. I got my wand, Redwood with dragon heart string,  which is really cool. Then I moved on to sorting. And I got sorted into Slytherin. I can honestly say that I was not happy with it initially. I almost cried. Throughout all of my Harry Potter years, I have never once considered Slytherin for my house. I think that I always stereotyped it, which is why I didn't like it. But after reading the welcome message (and the messages for the other houses) I don't think there is a better house for me. Slytherins are protective, cunning, play to win, and are destined for greatness (I have a slight ego, shh). I can relate most to the protectiveness part of the welcome. I am extremely protective of my friends. Also, Slytherin has the best common room. In the dungeons (I like cold places), a view of the lake (and the giant squid!), silver lamplight with a greenish glow from the lake. I am embracing this. Slytherin pride!


     On the superstition front, I find myself to be so only slightly. I mostly do it for jokes. Like knocking on wood to keep with luck. I don't particularly believe that it helps. It's just fun to do sometimes. My belief  is that if you want more luck, take more chances. 
     I also did a Tumblr question thingy (y'all stole it from me =P), so if you are interested in reading about the crazy mess that is me > link. It was interesting reading your answers, Kate and Katie. I liked answering them myself, it was a nice change from posting it blank and never getting asked them.
     I haven't actually listened to 'Hey There, John Watson' yet, but I hope to get the chance. Maybe tonight, if I have time. I have seen the photogenic guy meme on Tumblr a bit. I think it's just another fad that will fade as time goes on. 
     Campion, it looks like you had a lot of fun on your trip. I think it was a good experience, especially if you want to go into film and whatnot after high school. I think I am too shy to do anything like that. I have being in front of a camera, video or photo. Also, while I like to be in charge, I don't think I would be cut out for something like that. And I laughed at the picture of you lying in the stairwell. It looked both comfortable and not comfortable. 


     Well, as usual, I hope you all had fantastic weeks. Despite the bleh moments of mine, it was still a pretty good week. I think my writing mood has returned, finally, seeing as this post is pretty lengthy and not about me complaining about not wanting to write. Anywho, don't forget to be awesome! 
-Deidra 
P.S - this for reasons.

Well, I'm back from my trip

Well, after my week long absence I'm back! I was gone for a week because I was attending a course in a different city and we didn't have internet up there so I wasn't able to make my post. The course was an introductory course for a film school that me and some of my friends wanted to attend next year. Also, since we were in a different city, the four of us that were there stayed together in the same motel. So it was just like we were flating together, we each took turns cooking, doing the dishes and we made sure that we all made it to the course on time. So it was kind of like going to university of week.

                           Me and my flatmates (that's me and the far right). Wow this is an awkward photo

The course itself was fun, even though some of the things that we were taught there were things that I had learned in my film class at school three years ago. I found the camera and editing work kind of dull but the studio work that we did, was awesome. That has this huge studio, with these old T.V cameras that they let us use (they had better ones but we were just there on a course so got to use the crappy ones) and the walls and floor were painted this weird green colour for some reason. Probably as a massive green screen or something.

                                       The studio we worked in

On the last day, we did this news type show. It was all shot live, the point of the show was to give us a feel for what an actual live television show would be like. We were each given separate jobs, some people did the presenting, others were interviewed and some people worked the cameras.  The job that I was given was the floor manager. I was in charge of telling everyone in the studio what the people in the control room wanted. It was probably one of the more stressful jobs. I could hear everything that the people in the control room were saying, so it was difficult to concentrate on what was happening in the control room and in the studio at the same time. Also, the people in the control room were other students on the course like myself, so often they didn't know what they were doing. So at the start I would end up giving orders to the people around me while the people in the control didn't know what they were doing and I was still trying to get used to my job as well. Once we all got used to our jobs though it was pretty fun, even though it was kind of tiring.

I think that what enjoyed most, was living with my friends for a week, even though all that we did for a majority of the time was watch T.V. Hell, we didn't even watch anything good, most of the time it was just really crappy shows that we would usually never watch (mostly from the discovery channel for some reason). We spent most of our T.V watching time just riffing on bad T.V shows (if you don' know what riffing is, it's watching a movie or T.V shows and making fun of it as you watch), one of our favorite shows to make fun of was "Man Vs Wild". It got to the point where we were actually looking foreword to watching "Justin Bieber Never Say Never", I honestly never thought that I would enjoy that movie, but we found a way. We even had our own strange seating arrangement, two people would watch from the couch (even though it could sit three), one person would watch from the chair next to the couch and the last person would watching from the stairs. Oh yeah, our motel had an upstairs, it was friggin awesome! You could even watch T.V from them!

                                          Where my friends were watching T.V from one night......

                                        Where I was watching T.V from that night

                                        Worked surprisingly well

So anyway, I had a good time and we all enjoyed ourselves. I'm planning to that film school and I can't wait for uni next year. It was a good week and we all really enjoyed ourselves.

So anyway, have an awesome guys

DFTBA

Hello Nerdfighters, It's Monday

Deidra, I've known about Shrock for a little over 3 weeks, and I think it's pretty amazing. I can't find the link to it, but my favorite I've come across is called "Hey There, John Watson."  Congrats on being sorted in Pottermore. I think you'll make an excellent Slytherin student.


I'm not really superstitious anymore, Kayla.  I used to believe in those chain things, but I've grew up and started ignoring them (and spoiler alert, I haven't died).  I don't believe in good luck charms either.  The definition of luck is "Success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one's own actions," so I do believe in luck.  Like... playing Spin the Bottle would really rely on luck.


Like Katie, I also filled out that 200 question thing: http://dft.ba/-2sqj There's that link if you want to check it out.


Adam, I hope you enjoy Paper Towns, though I have to say I hated the ending, but not in a bad way... if that makes sense. I think it does.  


Due to his popularity and the AMA he did today, I was wondering what you guys thought of the Ridiculously Photogenic Guy.  Are you familiar with the meme?


I'm going to end this now because my laptop is running out of power.


DFTBA
Kate

I'm mentioning the Irish thing a lot lately, aren't I?

Hi people.
I'm glad you guys seemed to like my post last week. :) I enjoyed writing it.
Em, Kayla, I watched the Boondock Saints and to be honest I thought it was an interesting plot but I really didn't enjoy. Mainly because bad Irish accents cut right through me. None of the actors in film are irish as far as I know. There seems to be a perception in Hollywood that if an american actor has Irish ancestry then they can "tap into their roots" (whatever that means). There are loads of perfectly good Irish actors like Cillian Murphy (the guy who gets incepted in inception), Colin Farrell,  and Liam Neeson (guy from A-Team) who all get cast in non-Irish roles, it's a bit annoying. I suppose if you want to watch a film with good Irish accents, I could recommend some films actually made by Irish film companies which are really good. Once (won an oscar), The Guard (nominated for golden globe), The Wind that shakes the Barley, Michael Collins. So yeah, I think they're worth watching. Sorry, if I'm kinda plugging the whole Irish thing a bit lately. :P
Anyway, not much else new in my life, I've got an insane amount of work to do this week cos it's the last week before exams. Reading Paper Towns, NO SPOILERS PLEASE :)
With the superstitious question, I don't really know, I have mild OCD and it's hard to differentiate between the two sometimes. I definitely don't believe that it'll actually make a difference anyway.
so, yeah, I'm off to bed.
Nighty nigh
Adam

Almost forgot a title

So I pretty much wasted time doing this: http://ihaveopinionstoo.tumblr.com/post/21125921181
And if you want to go read that you could because I'm sure you'll get more me out of that than this.


One thing that happens quite often is me being sick. It's not always with a fever or stomach issues. LIke this past Friday (or yesterday if you prefer) I had gotten what we believe is poison sumac again. So now my face is all red and itchy and it sucks.


Upon my new skin nothing more has really come of this week. Or better yet nothing that has stuck out in my brain that reads as sufficient of telling you. I must admit it is late and thee is about 20 minuets left of Saturday to write this.


 Though being sick sucks I did find something that doesn't. That is the wonderfulness that is Merlin. Not only did it have Eve Myles from Torchwood in the first episode, but Anthony Head from Buffy the Vampire Slyer. Extra bonus points because of what happens in season six of Buffy. No spoilers if you ever end up watching it.


Adam let me just say that that is the best map ever and that I never knew Ireland came in four parts. Kate I hope your portrait ends up being what you want it to be. I know that when I took art classes that was my least favorite assignment. 


Deidra I myself am not a fan of anime either. However my friend Jerry has been trying to get me to watch the fist episode of Death Note all year. I might end up doing it but I'm not sure I could handle it. Whenever I try to watch anime shows with my sister I always end up leaving the room. Something about them just makes me laugh. Like I'm seven again watching Pokemon, Yu Gi Oh!, or Digimon on a Saturday morning. 


And last but not least Superstitions. No I don't really care for knocking on would or crossing my fingers. I may do them out of habit because of you know being raised around these things but I don't believe that they actually help or serve a purpose. I think it's just us as humans being silly.


That's pretty much all I can do before Saturday is over.


~Katie

Friday the 13th

So not much to talk about this week seeing as, like Deidra already mentioned, I've been super busy trying to finish up everything for our yearbook. And its finally done, thank god. I'm so happy I won't have to worry about that any more. Three years of it was enough. 

For the past few days in art we've been working on some glass mosaics and I think I got a little piece of glass stuck in my finger. It kinda hurts if I press against it on accident. It doesn't look infected or anything though so I think I'll just wait and keep an eye on it. Hopefully it will just come out on its own or I'll have to get a doctor to look at it. 

Since it's Friday the 13th my question will be: are any of you guys superstitious? I tend to do things that seem superstitious, but I don't fully believe in them. Like crossing my fingers for luck and knocking on wood to prevent something from happening that you said out loud. On the other hand I also have this rule when I'm catching Pokemon that I can't look at the screen while the ball is bouncing (and I also button mash a bit), and when something electronic doesn't work (ex/the internet router) I talk to it nicely, then get pissed, then pretend that I don't care and use reverse psychology, and usually by that time it's working again. (I know, I'm weird)

Adam, thanks for the quick geography lesson. I never realized that Ireland was split into provinces, but I just hadn't really thought about it before. (It's probably because Ireland is so small compared to Canada I just figured that it wouldn't be split up any more) And about the Irish accent, have you ever seen The Boondock Saints? If so (or if you've seen any clips on youtube), what do you think of the accents on there, because I think that's what I think of whenever someone says they have an Irish accent.

DFTBA

Kayla

PS - Deidra, I have a sneaky suspicion that you will not stop at just Deathnote, but I suppose only time will tell =P

It's already Thursday?

     I have a feeling that this post will end up being all over the place, for the simple fact that my mind is incoherent today and I don't really know what I'm going to write about. I don't particularly like going into a post blind like this, but it needs to be written and I don't want to wait any longer.


     This week was short because we get Monday off. I really don't know why, but I like it. A four day weekend is always appreciated. Anyway, even though this week was short, it was super busy. Found out late on Monday night that all of the content for our yearbook had to be in on Friday, which sucked because I hadn't been working on it or getting stuff for the pages I had to do. Thankfully I got the majority of them finished, and my final one will be completed tomorrow. After all of the stress that it causes me, it will be amazing to sit back Friday after school knowing that I won't ever have to worry about it again.


     I figure you all know what Trock and Wrock are. I found out this week that there is also something called Shrock, which is songs about Sherlock. I wish I had known about this before, because what I've listened to so far on Tumblr has been actually really good.


     Another thing that I have gotten into is Death Note. I've never really been much of an anime/manga fan, but this is actually pretty good. I was kind of addicted to it after watching the first or second episode. Not going to lie. Apparently though, the final five episodes are either not good/ruin everything/or will ruin me. I'm hoping it is none of those, since I really like it. And no, this is not going to be some gateway into me liking anime. It is not.


     I really don't know what else to say. I feel like my recent posts haven't been very good. It's just that by the time Thursday rolls around, I am pretty exhausted from the week and just want it to be the weekend. I'm not going to write anymore, I'm just not in a writing mood today I guess. Have a good weekend, and don't forget to be awesome!
-Deidra
P.S- this is me right now/all week. Not coherent at all.

Titlelessness

I'm lacking all motivation right now.  I tried to work on the portrait I've been drawing, but I got to frustrated to continue.  I was hoping I'd be able to go help a past teacher do some science demos, but my dad doesn't want me to miss school.  And finally, I did so well pole-vaulting at my Tuesday track meet that Coach decide to move me to a different pole, and, apparently, I'm like my brother when it come to using a new pole, it doesn't look good.  Really I think I was just getting to worried about my plant and that's why I was doing horrible at practice, but it's enough to scare me for tomorrow.  I hope I do well.
All these things aren't helping the motivation.  The only thing I'm kind of looking forward to is that I might see a different past teacher at the meet tomorrow. I hope.

To answer the question about the injuries: I do have a pretty visible scar on my mid-thigh.  It's just looks like a cut.  One of my cats, Dakota, tried to jump in my lap while I was sitting in a awkward position and she fell. Her claws left a few bloody lines on my leg.

I kind of feel like leaving this post at that.  It's short, but oh well.

Have an awesome week
Kate

I am so very happy today.

Ok, in simple words I am DELIGHTED. Some of you may sigh when I give the reason for this unbelievable jump-up-and-down punch-the-air happiness but I don't care, I have a semi-legitimate reason to be happy and I'm going to go with it.
First a basic Irish geography lesson.
This is a map of Ireland. The country is divided into four provinces, Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connacht.
These provinces are subdivided into 32 counties as shown below.
Northern Ireland is made up of six of the counties in Ulster with the remaining 26 forming the republic of Ireland.
I live in Cavan, one of the three counties In Ulster which are not in northern Ireland. (It's the southernmost county in the purple part.)

Anyway, this is a story about rugby. There are four professional rugby teams in Ireland, the four provinces. this is a little bit controversial because the professional teams in England and France etc are in each city. But to be honest, the population of an Irish province is similar to one of their cities. (around one million).
So I support Ulster.

In recent years the European Cup has been dominated by Munster and Leinster. Which is great for Ireland, especially cos we're one of the smallest countries. But Ulster and to a greater extent Connacht have been somewhat overlooked and ignored by media because they're not as good. (Also they're the least populous of the four and have the least media power but you know, whatever.)
Anyway, yesterday in the final eight of the European Cup Ulster were playing away to Munster (who have the best home record in European Cup history) and we won. Against all odds, we won. In the first 20 mins we went 19-0 ahead. And even though Munster threw everything they had at it, we held on to win 22-16. It was special. So the final four match against Edinburgh is at the end of the month in Dublin, I really want to be there.

I know that was probably a boring post to most but yeah... it mattered to me I guess.

DFTBA
Adam

P.s. Kate I was thinking about that thing you said about your friend learning an Irish accent. I've heard of other people who really wanted to do that, it seems a bit weird to me. :P I was just interested to know how she's 'learning' it. Cos the accents around Ireland vary so drastically that there isn't just one definitive 'Irish' accent. And I'm yet to hear a good Irish accent in a foreign film.....
Best:Colin Farrell (obviously) Worst:Tom Cruise by a mile

Had to show this, brilliant. My favourite comedian :)

The almost week. As in I almost did stuff, but then didn't

This new layout confuses me, I'm not quite sure I'm on board with it. I'm having one of those off weeks in which I can't seem to do anything. I've had a mountain of homework all week and this weekend that I haven't managed to complete one piece of. For some odd reason I just haven't been up to doing much, not that I usually want to do a lot in the first place. This post is the most I've actually been able to do. There's like some sort of mental block that's keeping me from doing stuff I know I have to do.

That pretty much sums up the weird spell of laziness I've had this week. Thinking about it I don't think I've picked up a book in ages. Someone direct me to the nearest hospital, I must be deathly ill if I haven't tried reading a book for fun. I told my mom I'd be like two minuets on the computer and I've been on for almost an hour. Vacation can't come soon enough, school is just becoming unpleasant again.

I went on the Ning in like the first time in ages and discovered that they require that you put your zip code. Not that I care too much that people know what town I live in, but it's still the internet and anyone can see that. I don't know, I found it a bit weird that they would go from  not requiring it to requiring it. Side note: I just found the BEST radio station on my iTunes.

So because I haven't had an eventful week there isn't really much to tell you about. My friend liked her gift, even though I only ended up playing happy birthday. I've gotten so distracted while writing this. About the injury stories. The only time I can really recall, Kira, is when I was about seven or eight and I was at a yard sale. I was trying out a new pair of roller skates and fell on a porcelain doll. I had to get stitches, but I hated needles, so I had to get the liquid stitches. You can still see the scar if you look close at my calf.

I can't think of anything else to say. So I guess it's time to say good-bye once again. 

~Katie

P.S. Easter colors, so pastel.

Siege of Sarajevo

On the way to Thunder Bay for the Easter long weekend (Happy early Easter by the way) I happened to turn the radio on to a channel that was talking about the Siege of Sarajevo. Today happens to be the 20th anniversary of said siege, which was the longest siege of a capitol city in the history of modern warfare. This all happened either before I was born or when I was still just a baby, but hearing about it still touched me. In memorial the city is holding an event called the Sarajevo Red Line, in which they are lining up 11,541 red chairs to represent the men, women, and children that lost their lives. The one thing that caught my attention the most was the fact that Sarajevo was a city that had a lot of culture and artistic values. And even when there was bombing and shooting happening all around them they managed to hold on to that because it mattered to them. Take this picture for example: 

This man is Vedran Smailovic who became known as the Cellist of Sarajevo because he would go around the city and just choose a spot to sit and play his cello even if there were buildings being blown up right beside him. And the thing is, people would still stop and listen to him, they wouldn't just be running for cover. They weren't really safe anywhere in their home city so they still went out to see musicians and dancers and singers because they weren't going to let the fighting stop them from enjoying themselves. I don't exactly know where I was going with this, but it just seemed so... so inspirational or something and I wanted to share it with you guys.

In other lighter news, I'm in Thunder Bay right now and my sister has come back for the long weekend which is cool. Only bad thing was that we had to bring my cat with us and she hates traveling so that was a drag. I kind of feel sorry for always having to drive with her since she hates it so much, but if we can't get a sitter than there really isn't anything we can do. 

Katie, I remember playing medic when I was little, we would always get more than one person to pretend to be the doctor and touch the people who had fallen down at the same time so that the other team didn't know who was the real one. I don't agree with the adults reading only adult books thing, I think that just because it's targeted at a specific age group doesn't mean that other ages can't read it and appreciate it. In fact, if they really were at a higher intelligence level and whatnot then you would think that by reading them, they would get more out of it than the average teen reader. Which wouldn't be a bad thing at all. Also, I'm not quite sure what to think about the whole Y generation thing. The article I skimmed seemed to make a lot of sense from my personal experience (ie/ less prejudice, more technology use, spend more money, etc), but I obviously have a very narrow view of what our generation as a whole is like and some of the things I could argue against as well. Basically it's hard to generalize a whole generation like that because there will always be people who don't fit in to what they say.

Adam, glad you seem to be in such high spirits, I hope this past week has gone just as well. 

Kate, I hope you get/have already got your book back. I'd hate for something like that to happen.

Kira, yeah that murder thing was true, there's an article about it somewhere online, but that was only based off of the fact that there were 5 murders in one year and the city is fairly small. Also don't worry about grades or anything, I'm sure you'll do fine. I can honestly say that I have never really put 100% effort into my work and I've been getting marks usually from high 80s to high 90s (never got a final mark less than an 83). It often makes me wonder what marks I would have if I actually tried a bit more. I've never really hurt myself really badly before, I think I was a very cautious child. The only scars that I have are on my hands and they all have lame stories behind them. I have two from cutting myself from cooking and one from burning myself while making grilled cheese. You know the little metal bit on the umbrella that you have to push to close the umbrella? Yeah, my worst scar comes from me getting my finger caught in that. Besides that I scraped up my knees really badly from tripping in a gravel driveway (lol) and I got three stitches once because I got a really bad sliver in my leg and they thought a piece of wood was still in me so they had to go look for it, but they didn't even find anything.

Campion, I hope you have fun at the taster course. And I can relate about the friends thing. None of my friends are going to the same university as me which sucks majorly.

DFTBA

Kayla

PS - We're finally going to be getting rid of the Canadian penny, so that's cool I guess. 

Stupid Interface is Stupid

     I really don't feel like writing today. I mean, really really really don't feel like writing. Actually, I haven't felt like doing all that much this week. I haven't done much at school, which makes my motivation level zero. Plus I had a really terrible day on Tuesday. I don't think that this extra-long weekend could have come at a better time.


     Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes and the internet cupcakes. It really was the best birthday I've had. I still need to take pictures of the t-shirts Kayla made me (I told you I have zero motivation) (also I'm currently wearing the Sherlock one, they are super comfortable). 


     Katie, I think that YA article was terribly written. Just because a book is written with a target group of young adults doesn't mean that they are strictly for that demographic. I mean, teens read and enjoy the classics. Adults still enjoy novels and books written for younger kids. People should be able to read whatever they want, without any such criticism. That's about all I have to say on that subject.


     I have had a lot of injuries over the years, Kira. I'm kind of danger-prone. When I was three, I broke my leg sliding down a slide onto a trampoline, following the example of my older sister and cousin. Then in second or third grade I broke my arm after I slipped off the monkey bars on the playground. This happening right after I warned a friend that they were really slippery. Then a few years after that I broke my ankle over the summer, I think I slipped in the boat or something. As for scars, my hands and arms are full of them from playing with my cat. And on my knees from racking out on my bike as a kid.


     On an unrelated note, our blog has gotten just over 6000 page views. So yeah, random fact for y'all. I think that's all I'm going to say for this week. Hope you guys had better weeks than I did. Don't forget to be awesome!
-Deidra

Stuff, stuff and more stuff

Today was my last day of school for the term and for that I am especially grateful since this term was a particularly stressful one. Admittedly I have several assignments to work on over the holidays but I guess that I will just have to deal with that. Most of my holidays will be filled with video games, movies, Internet videos and homework, not the most exciting of holidays but it suits me just fine (except for the homework bit). So now that schools done for a for weeks a realize that my last year of school is a quarter of the way through and while I am excited to be leaving next year, I'm also incredibly sad because most of friends aren't going to the same university that I want to go to, well technically it's not a university it's a film school but it's the same thing, I've known most of my friends since my first year of high school, some even further back and I know that I'm going to miss them a lot. Some of my friends are going though so a least I won't leave them all behind. Speaking of going to uni next year, me and a few of my friends are going up to the school that I wanted to go to next year for a taster course. It's over a three day period, so me and my friends are going to stay in a motel down the road from the school, it should be a lot of fun with the four of us hanging out in the big city together and maki g films together since that something that we all love to do (it's the same city I got lost in last time, go figure). Also, I'm going to be up there Monday through Thursday, so I really don't know if I'll be able to get my post next week. I could do it from the motel but I don't have a laptop or anything so we'll see how things go. Recently I've been getting into Final Fantasy and I've noticed something about the series, mostly its fondness for giving it's characters ridiculous weapons. For example, one guy has a sword that's almost as big as he is and he isn't big and strong or anything, in fact he's quite scrawny, another guy carries a gun blade (which a sword with a gun built into it), a talking cat that rides a robotic moogle (it's like this troll, gremlin, thing, that resembles an adipose from Doctor Who) and a guy who fights his enemy's, with a volley ball. Yeah a volley ball and he's actually one of the strongest fighters in the game, go figure. Anyway, this got me thinking. I take an art design class in school and one of the things that we can do in the class is character design and I wanted to do something that was kind of a parody of final fantasy (and rpg games in general). So I came up with a group of charactermthat carry around some of the most ridiculous weapons that I could think of. Like someone who fights using a stool and another guy who fights with a door and another guy who fights with a ridiculously large pair of scissors with guns built into them (cos hey, why not?). Not really sure if my teacher would let me do that but at coming up with the idea amused me. Kayla, in answer to your question, my favorite Avatar the last airbender character would probably be Zuko. Mostly be cause I found him really interesting, well that and he's awesome. If not him then either Toph or Iroh. Also, I have not seen any Legend Of Kora episodes, their always slow to air them in New Zealand. I was just gonna wait for them on TV but I think that I will just have to watch them. So anyway, have an awesome week guys DFTBA

Rambles From a Girl Who Got No Sleep

First things first...HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, DEIDRA! I'm glad you enjoyed it so much. Now, I must give you a virtual cupcake like you have for all of us. It's really awesome that you had an awesome birthday for an awesome person that never FTBA. Okay, I'm slap happy. That was really stupid. But happy birthday!

I do not like this new Blogger layout, but I'm going to suck it up and deal with it so I can finish this post and go to work. I'm on break from school, so that's REALLY nice. As I typed this...I realized I have very small hands. Like, little kid hands. I always make fun of my friend for having little hands, but mine are just as small.


Campion, I'm glad you found your way back all right. I have a horrible sense of direction, too, and I feel kind of dumb asking for directions, but never exactly embarrassed. Just..."Oh, my God, how can I be so stupid?". I got lost in Ottawa once. That was awkward, seeing as it isn't even that big of a city. Even worse, I got lost in Swiftcurrent, which must have 500 people at most. On an unrelated side note that relates to something else you said, people spell it colour everywhere in the world except in the United States. They take out the U's from a lot of words. Such as favourite.


Deidra, I'm glad you've gotten university all settled. Same goes to you, Kayla. Makes me feel like these four years are going to just fly by...now I'm worried. I always worry about not getting good enough grades, and not getting in to university, and ending up living in a cardboard box on a street corner.


Kayla, I have never heard of a pizza cone. Ha...funny that I'm writing about that just as I'm eating a slice of pizza...okay, no, not really. Thunder Bay is the murder capital of Canada? NEVER would have guessed that. Cinnamon sugar beaver tails are the best. 


Kate, I think a beaver tail is something that you kind of have to eat before appreciating it. It's sounds kind of disgusting, until you try it. So, if you're ever in Ottawa, try one. 


Okay, I don't know if I have anything else to say. Er...Okay, a question de la semaine. Okay, this one is kind of random, stemming from me looking at a scar on my foot. Do any of you have any stories behind any injuries? Mine - again, about the scar on my foot - is that I, in a fit of frustration, did something very stupid. That stupid thing? I kicked a bed...that was in the process of being assembled. So when my foot came down, already throbbing, I stepped on a screw. Not fun.


So, I don't want to keep rambling anymore, so DFTBA,


Kira

A New Experience

Friday morning I walked to school with my friend. As we walked my arms became more and more itchy.  I assumed it was due to the cold weather and dry skin, but when I got to my locker in school, I realized I had a dosens of what looked like bug bites on my arms surrounded by redness.  My  friend told me I need to go to the nurse.  With permission from my father, the nurse gave me a Benadryl. I was told that it was probably an allergic reaction which is a thing that never happened to me before.  It took about and hour for the bumps and redness to leave my skin.


I've been reading the Hunger Games trilogy, and yesterday my dad bought me the third book.  I took it to class and, stupidly, left it there under my desk.  I managed to go back to the room during the next passing period to look for it, but it was gone and my teacher said he hadn't seen it.  I assume it was stolen since it is a popular book, but I'd hate to think the worst.


Tomorrow is my first track meet of the season.  When we were practicing today, I was able to vault over a 7 foot bar, which is better than I ever did last year.  This little bit of improvement is very encouraging for me. I just hope I can keep it up for tomorrow.


Thanks to Kira's description of a beaver tail, I want to try one now, but I thought they did look a bit weird when I looked them up on Google.


Campion, I thought the US was the only country that spelled "color" they way we do. We have a lot of spelling differences in the US though.


Deidra, I though part 1 of your post was adorable.  I'm glad you had a great birthday, and congrats on being accepted to a university!


I, too, LOVE Avatar: The Last Airbender.  The sad thing is that I never enjoyed it until it wasn't airing anymore. My favorite two characters were Sokka and Zuko.  I've seen the first episode of Korra, but I haven't had a lot of time to sit back and enjoy the other ones.  And, Kayla, I have never heard of Pizza Cones in my life.


Katie, I pretty much agree with everything you said about Lady Godiva.  I did enjoy the song enough to buy it and a few of the remixes.  I had to write an essay on Catcher about what Holden's red hunting cap symbolized.  That was one of the more painful in-class essays I had to do.
We had a game like the one you described that we played a lot in elementary school.  It was called Doctor Spy.  The doctor would go around to those players sitting on the ground and pull them back behind a certain line.  The spy could cross the line in the middle of the gym and get people out that way.  We did happen to play it once this year in my Personal Fitness class and, yes, I did enjoy being "the doctor."  My whovian friend and I laughed at that.


I'm still confused a bit about this new layout too, Adam. Earlier today a friend told me she wanted to learn how to speak in a Irish accent. She's pretty good already but she kept saying how (apparently) "orange" is said funny in the Irish accent.  I don't know where I'm going with this, but I had thought of you when she was rambling.


That's all for today.
DFTBA
Kate

Happyness

Ok, so I'm still a bit confused with this new blogger layout. I fear change. :P

I had a really really ridiculously bad week, but I'm not going to talk about that.

I'll talk about happy things :) 

First of all Happy Birthday Deidra, last year my family celebrated my birthday two months late because they forgot to buy me a cake at my actual birthday which was more funny than anything. I'm really delighted that you had such a good birthday. It sounded awesome. 

It was my sisters birthday on Friday, she went out with all her friends to see the Hunger Games. She got an Ed Sheeran cd as well, so I ripped it to my ipod which is awesome, I love that guy so much.

I'm going to a party at a friends house tomorrow night so that should be really good, almost all my friends from college are going.

I've gotten really into watching 30 rock lately. I had never seen it before until recently and now I have this huge backlog of episodes to watch, it's epic :D  

I'm almost finished War of the Worlds, I'll probably finish it when I go to bed tonight. I'm starting into Of Mice and Men after that. 

It's amazing weather in Ireland at the moment, so I'm going to try and make the most of that while it lasts.

Anyway, I can't think of anything more to say so I'll go to bed. :)

DFTBA

Adam