Last Monday

I'm disappointed this is ending, but at the same time I'm relieved.  The blog was getting monotonous to write.  When we started this collab, I was just about to enter my sophmore year of high school. Now I'm about to finish my junior year. I can't say much has changed for me.  A few of you I have become pretty good friends with, others I wish I knew better.

It's kind of weird saying goodbye.  I feel like the things I want to say have already been said in other posts here. Each one of you is amazing and cool. Good luck to everyone with high school, university, jobs, etc.

I know I don't need to tell you all this, but don't forget to be awesome.
The best of wishes,
Kate

Let's Not Do This

I'M GOING TO TYPE IN ALL CAPITALS. I MISS ALL OF YOU VERY MUCH AND AM SO SORRY THAT MY ASSHAT SELF HASN'T BEEN POSTING. Okay enough of that.

WHAT?! Okay sorry last time. Maybe. I feel weird about this because I don't want to stop blogging with you guys. I didn't think it would come to this kind of ending. Is this ending? God I don't know. Throughout our time together I was a pretty sane person. You guys got to know me before I started the absence thing. This year has honestly sucked, and for awhile I didn't have effort to do anything for anyone. It wasn't just the not talking to you, it was everything. There was no upside to life for me. I don't know what I would call it, but it was scary shit. (Pardon my language) I'm finally, I think, getting over that. Whatever it was. This has been a fantastic part of my life, and I'm going to be honest with you when I say that I genuinely care for love you.

Can we all have a proper goodbye? Share maybe our favorite thing about blogging as a whole, or what we've come out of this with. I feel a bit blindsided by it all because of my absence. What do you guys think? One last week where we all post kind of "The Best of A Week of Awesome". This is strange. Okay. Okay? 

~Katie

Well I guess this is it

I've noticed that most of us are not posting frequently any more (like myself) and the last post was made a few weeks ago. I think that maybe I should stop as well. My hearts not in this any and like Adam I'm really not into this as I once was. I don't enjoy it as much and I don't look forward to it like I used to. I've enjoyed posting here and it's been great to get to know you guys. But I think that it's time for me to stop. Scrolling through all the previous posts, it's good to see that my life has improved and changed a lot. In fact, things have changed for a lot of us. I've moved on from a lot of things. When we started I was in high school, now I've left and am about to attend university, before I started I didn't have a girl friend then I did have one and now I'm back to being single again. I think I'm just going to move on from this. It's been fun but I'm out of things to post here now and as I get busier and busier, I'm finding less time to post here. I'm leaving this blog, we've had a great run and I've really enjoyed doing this with you all. It's been great to see how we've all changed but I've got to let this go now.

Have a great life everyone. I wish you all the best

DFTBA

And have a great one. I'm never going to forget you guys

/Le sigh

There just isn't enough time in the day. I really wish I had time to do everything I want to on the internet, attend track practice and school, all while having time to study, practice my violin, and read. But apparently adding an extra two hours to the day wouldn't be that beneficial thanks to biology and whatnot.

I think I'm coming down with a cold.  My mom's been pretty sick and she doesn't cover her mouth when she coughs/sneezes.  That is one of my ultimate pet peeves.  I've been sneezing a lot with an itchy throat. Hopefully that's the extent of it.

I would make this a longer post but I have to get up early tomorrow.
Kate

Thoughts on stuff

Sorry I wasn't able to post last week, my father had his high school reunion and I got roped into helping him out. I still enjoyed it though, some of the performances they had were pretty good and it was good to see my father perform again. It's been a while since I've reviewed something. So I think I'll do both of those. There's a trailer for a new film coming out called Pacific Rim. It's supposed to be a sort of tribute to the Japanese giant robot movies, since the premise of the film is people in giant robots fighting monsters and that's a pretty common plot point for a lot of Japanese films. So it's either a rip off of those types of films or it's a tribute. I'm going to go for the latter since he's calling his film a poem to giant robots. I'm hoping it's good, it looks like one of those films with fantastic special effects that make you want to go see it from the trailers but then they turn out crap when you go to them, like Transformers 2 or G.I Joe. I hope it's good because I'm a big fan of giant robot films. So not strictly a review as such but mostly what I think that film will be like.

Anyway. I hope that you guys have a good week

DFTBA

Still Kicking

Who are  you? Where am I? You probably don't remember me, but I post on Saturdays. Well used to. Have no fear for I have returned! I want to give you a HUGE update, but I might not have time before midnight. So I promise you that I will be back tomorrow for a full explanation of my absence.

~Katie

I had to change the account password.

I'll email you guys the new password. (Kira i messaged you on tumblr cause I dont think i had your email in my contacts??? i dunno) Anyway yeah sorry, it was because it said there was suspicious activity and i had to change it to get back on.

Consensus

Hey, guys. Sorry I didn't post last week. I had a lot of work to do, and it completely slipped my mind. So in the past two weeks, my robotics team won a competition, I felt sentimental so I made graduating robotics seniors cards, and I had six tests. I'm really tired now.

Adam, I'm glad you enjoyed doing this blog for a while. I'll miss you! I know what you mean, though. I think we all do, really. I don't think I'll be able to do this for much longer, either - robotics plus IB is kind of drowning me. I don't have the time to devote to this. I rarely post as is.

I hope you all have awesome weeks!

Might Redo This Tomorrow

I have to get up early tomorrow thanks to state-wide testing, and I just spent most of the night prom dress shopping.  I did find a dress I like that looks good on me.

Yeah, I'll try to rewrite this post tomorrow.
Kate

Late post is late

Okay, okay. So it's already Sunday. Bad Kayla, I know. But to be fair I was just relaxing after having 3 midterms in the week so meh. Also I baked another apple pie and then I went to dinner and a movie with a friend, and then I would have come home and posted but the buses here are dumb and don't run by my house after 12 so I had to sleep over at my friends dorm since I didn't want to pay for a taxi. But  I'm home now so yay.

On the topic of what's happening with our blog I agree with the general consensus that it has kind of become more like a journal sort of thing. I will stick with it though for at least a while longer to see if we either change things up or just all move on to new things. And bye Adam, sad to see you go but glad to have the chance to get to know you through this blog. Good luck in all your future endeavors.

On brighter notes, I'm done all my midterms so no more tests until finals, yay. Also the movie I went to see last night was Jack the Giant Slayer, and that turned out better than I thought it would. My favourite character was Elmont the head of the Royal Guard because 1) he was really awesome and did all this cool stuff and 2) he was just fabulous looking (his hair was always perfect looking no matter what was happening basically). So yeah I urge you guys to go see that movie if you get the chance. 

DFTBA
Kayla

Had a midterm today, and have another tomorrow

For that reason, I'm not going to post until tomorrow. Just writing a little FYI so you guys know i didn't forget or something.
DFTBA
Kayla

It's the Final Countdown

     So I'm just going to say this up front, I agree with Adam and I don't think I am going to be continuing much longer. I will finish March and see how I feel after that. This has been a lot of fun, and you are all amazing people, but it feels more like a diary than anything else. Also, I post enough on tumblr and facebook for you all to know what is going on in my life. 

     I applied for a resident assistance position here at the school for next year. I have an interview tomorrow that I am super nervous about, but I really hope I get a job. 

     Campion, I wish I could send you all of the slushy snow we have right now to save you from the drought, because now that it is finally spring I want it gone. Also, I've never read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, nor seen the movie, though I would like to. Eventually, I guess.

     Kayla, I have been doing spring cleaning/moving out for a little while now. I have just slowly been moving things I don't use anymore back home so that it is easier to do when I officially move out, which will be in the end of April or early May if I get that job, since I will need to stay for some training.

     Adam, I am glad that you had fun while it lasted. I hope that your new endeavour leaves you as satisfied as this has, and that you meet many new amazing people. As for St. Patrick's Day, I can't say much about it. I spent that evening alone watching a movie and being moody. I don't drink (ever, never, ever), and I am under-age so can't be around my friends if they were, so there was really no festivities for me to be a part of.

     That's about it. Really tired and stressed right now. So much going on. Hope you are all well, don't forget to be awesome!
-Deidra 

I know what you mean Adam

I know what you mean Adam. I've been running out of stuff to talk about as well. Especially since I'm not really doing anything interesting right now. I've enjoyed doing this blog but sometimes I really don't know what to write about. I think that I might stop doing this blog someday but I'm still willing to keep going for a while longer. It is sad to see you go but I really do understand why you've decided to stop doing this. I wish you well with all of your endeavours in the future. We've done this blog for over a year and a half now. Hell, the first thing I did when I singed up to the ning was to sign up to this blog. That seems like so long ago now, it kind of was actually. We've talked about so much through the many, many posts that we've done on here. I hope that you've enjoyed your time writing this with us Adam because I sure as hell have.

When we first started this, I think that all of us were still in High School (correct me if I'm wrong). But now that majority of us have left and gone on to university. I do agree however that we need to find a way to spice things up and make this more interesting.

I hope that you have a good life Adam
DFTBA

March is Clearly Not the Month for Mondays

Finally I actually have time to do things.  Two Mondays ago I was trying to finish a story about a gladiator for my Ancient History class. Last Monday was the first full rehearsal for the high school's musical. The musical was so much fun, just like it was last year.  However this year I actually made a "friend" in the orchestra pit.  I put quotations marks because we probably don't fit the actual definition of friends but I wish we could hang out and see each other more.

I've been looking to read the Hitchhiker books and movie for away.  I've heard from others that the movie isn't the best, but I'll probably still like it all the same.

I understand the way you feel about writing these blog posts, Adam.  I kind of feel the same way though I'm not quite ready to leave yet.  I wish you luck in your future endeavours.

Seeing as I didn't post for two Mondays, I'm unsure of what really to say since I've been out of the conversation. DFTBA
Kate

Last Post

Hi guys, Kayla your post title was a bit of a coincidence because it's something I've had on my mind a while and I was planning to talk about now.
So I've been getting a bit bored with the blog recently, no offence to anyone at all but I feel when I'm writing that it's just a sort of diary and that I've run out of interesting things to say. I think it might be partly because we've gotten to know each other as well as we can through this medium. It's for this reason that this is going to be my last post on the blog.  I think I might enjoy more to get involved in other nerdfighter collaborations and try new things. It might give the blog a fresh breath of life to have someone new involved in it.
If you guys are interested, this is a link to a nerdfighter group which is pairing people up to be penpals, I've been paired up with a girl from Argentina and I'm really looking forward to it. I feel the same way about this new project as I did about this blog when we first started it.
 https://www.facebook.com/groups/114196122103753/?fref=ts
It's been really awesome getting to know you guys and I hope we can stay in contact in some ways.

On a different note, Happy Saint Patricks day everyone :D I don't know if you guys celebrate it where you are but I hope you had a nice day. It seems a bit to me that in Ireland st. paddys day is just an opportunity to feel proud and display some national pride whereas in America it seems like just sort of an excuse for people to drink. I was thinking today that the stereotype of irish people drinking might be down to people from other countries more than Ireland itself. But you know just my pondering :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and I'd love to stay in contact if people want to add me on facebook or anything, thanks for a lovely experience.
DFTBA
Adam

Are people just busy or getting bored of this? Maybe we need to spice things up somehow

Hmm quiet week in here. Hope you guys are doing well and are not too swamped with work or whatever. I have 3 midterms coming up next week which is not going to be pleasant at all. I did one this week too though and I think it went well actually. My sister and I are in the midst of a sort of spring cleaning thing of our apartment because she's been having bad allergies lately so we think there might be too much dust or something. I can't wait until it's warm enough for us to be able to just open all our windows and air the house out. I started watching Gravity Falls recently and that's been interesting. It's actually a pretty funny show, don't know why I didn't watch it before now. Yesterday I went to see a showing of the Canadian movie Pontypool. You might not have heard of it because it's not super famous as far as I can tell. It's a zombie movie of sorts, and it was pretty good. It's also a radio show and I think it's been done as plays too. There's supposedly a sequel in the works too. The same evening and the next day in my film class I got to meet the novelist/screenwriter of it, Tony Burgess, it was pretty interesting.
DFTBA
Kayla

My Internet went down again

Last night I had my post typed out and all ready to go but when I went to post it my internet went out. So that's why this post is late.

It hasn't rained in a long time. The country side has now tureen completely yellow and my country has now been declared a drought zone. So I'm hoping that it rains soon, the days are getting unbearably hot and dark storm clouds gather in the sky on a regular basis but nothing falls out of them. It's getting pretty worrying for us. Crops are dying and it's getting harder to feed livestock. So we've had nothing but blazing hot sun for the past flour months.

Me and the guys from my radio show want to do a podcast, so I'm setting up the equipment at my place. What we wanted to do with the show is something similar to what we do with our radio show but they were going to be significantly longer. I also got the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy from the video store yesterday. Despite the fact that its not that good of a film I still love it all the same. I've loved the movie ever since I first saw several years ago and it led to me reading the books it was based on. The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy is probably my favourite book of all time. The movie isn't as good as the book but I still love it all the same. It's Steven Fry as the narrator, Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent and Alan Rickman as Marvin the depressed android. That's just freaking awesome!

So I have to go and force myself to do something productive now

Have an awesome week guys
DFTBA

Empty Week

     It must have been quite a busy week for everyone. It wasn't so for me. I did some stuff, but I didn't have any assignments to do this week. I try and do everything over the weekend so that my weeks aren't so frustrating. It helps that I have Mondays mostly off.

     I did an open mic night on Monday evening. I read Any Weir's The Egg, because I didn't have any of my own work that I was comfortable reading just yet, and also because it's a brilliant short story. It was quite intimidating, because everyone else who performed that evening did music/dance. I hope that working at it like this will help my presentation skills, and one day maybe I can get up on stage without having a minor heart attack before and after, or having my voice shake the entire time. I am probably going to do another event in early April for the launch party of the school literary magazine, The Artery, which I once again have work published in.

     Kayla, we have been getting spam comments like that one for a while. At this point, I have no hope that anyone besides us seven read anything posted on here, let alone comment. 

     Have a good weekend and don't forget to be awesome!
-Deidra

Pies took Priority

Dang I got distracted making midnight apple pies that I forgot to post. On the plus side I remembered before I went to bed, and also now I have two delicious apple pies. On the down side this is going to be short.

Sadly not much has happened since my last post. Got my hair cut, I think this is possibly my favourite haircut I've ever gotten. I've been going to the gym lately, which is way good. I feel less out of shape than I thought I was, I figured I would die more on the treadmill and stuff. 

Aaaaand I really wish I had more to say but I guess that's it. Yay for having a boring life, or you know... not yay.

DFTBA
Kayla

PS - Haha my last post got some spam comment apparently??? I got all excited that someone said something finally, but alas it was not meant to be.

O.O

     Quick post because I am tired, don't have much to say, and don't really feel like writing. This week has gone by pretty fast, and as nice as that usually is it kind of isn't this week. My house is doing Relay for Life this weekend, and only a few of us are actually going out to participate, so it is going to be a really long Friday night. Also I get to decorate a Luminary (memorial bag-light) and I want to make it as an homage to fictional characters who had cancer. Nerdy, but I like the idea, mostly because I don't think anyone in my life has had cancer.

     Kayla, my favourite spoken word poet is Sarah Kay, most especially her poem If I Should Have a Daughter (it's only the first 4 minutes, but her talk is amazing). I wish I could do stuff like that. Maybe next year I will write something that can be expressed through spoken word and then I can perform it at an open mic night. 

     Kira, the vegetarianism is going well, and I don't think I will be going out of country in the next three weeks so that won't be a problem. My only problem so far was when I went out with friends to Applesbees. They do not have a really veggie friendly menu. But other than that it is going quite well, I am really proud of myself. Also, my 30 days will be up the day before my birthday, so I can go out and have some meat to celebrate both. 

     Have a good weekend all. Don't forget to be awesome.
-Deidra

I've started being constructive

Since I am now stuck at home for most of the day I've been trying to find better ways to remain constructive. One of which is working on my book. I've never written one before and this one will probably be not very good but I'm having a lot of fun writing it so that's got to count for something.

I've got this awful cold, I have no idea where I got it from, as per usual. Also I found out that my radio show takes place on the same day as Aprils Fools day. So I want to review Half Life 2 episode 3 and give a positive review of The Last Air Bender. I think it would be fun to switch it up a bit. Also on the show I've been trying to end every episode with don't forget to be awesome,they don't know what Nerdfighters are so I get away with that.

Sorry for making it short but my cold is really starting to play up.

Have an awesome week guys
DFTBA

Can it be? Two posts in two weeks

Hey, guys! You know how I said that I'd give a long post eventually? Yeah...well, today isn't that day. Quick comments, then I've got to go.

Kayla, I'm just dumb sometimes. The deaths of fictional characters just make me sad. So I be an idiot and watch sad Doctor Who.

Deidra, speaking as a long time vegetarian, people say it's a lot more difficult than it is. Finding good food in foreign countries is the only real trouble I've ever had, and in most of the places I've been, even that is fairly easy. England wasn't great, but it could have been worse. As for bagging our robot, you're right - we had to stick it in a bag for travel and to keep it away from us. The rule is that we have six weeks to build the robot. Putting it in a bag ensures that we stick to that. Otherwise it really isn't fair, because not all teams compete at the me competitions/ same times. If it wasn't in a bag, the people at later competitions would have an advantage.

I should really get going.

DFTBA,
-Kira

Off with her hair!

Yeah so I decided that my hair got too long again, so I booked an appointment to get it cut super short tomorrow. It's actually not super long (only an inch or two past my shoulders, but I dunno it was bothering me and stuff, and this way I won't have to deal with hair ties/clips anymore. Oh and I'll be able to grow out my side cut without it looking weird too.

I forget if I mentioned this already, but I'm going to be going to my first anime convention this May! It's Anime North in Toronto, I've heard good things about it so I think it'll be a lot of fun. And I'm going to be traveling and sharing a hotel room with some anime club people so at least I'll know someone there and won't be completely lost! And I decided I should cosplay to really get the full experience. I've decided to go as BMO from Adventure Time for sure. I might be doing a group cosplay too with some friends (Hetalia maybe, we're not sure), and I was also considering doing a kikwi from LOZ: Skyward Sword. It all depends on if I'm able to gather everything I need for the cosplays in time. I'm getting pretty excited about it even though it's months away still!

I've been listening to some spoken word poetry on youtube lately, and I've really enjoyed it. There's just something about it that's so powerful and emotional. It's really intense. If you want you can check out Pretty by Katie Makkai, IT by Kavindu Ade, and To This Day by Shane Koyczan. Those were some that I really enjoyed (the last one especially). Do you guys listen to any spoken word poetry? (Have any recommendations if you do?)

Kate I hate dreams where you think you've woken up, but it's still a dream. I did that once and I got ready and went to school before I woke up for real and it was mega confusing. Other than that I enjoy my dreams for the most part, they're usually pretty exciting and fun. Humm, I used to really like taking baths, but I haven't had one in forever now because you just sit there and the water slowly gets cold and it's a little boring sometimes and I don't like reading books because then you can't put your hands in the water which means my hands get cold compared to the rest of me, and if you use bubbles they don't last all that long, and that is why I take showers now.

Kira, that sounds like a really emotional time you're going through lol, probably would have been best to stay away from the sad Doctor Who scenes if you were already feeling bad. *shrugs* I do that all the time too though so I guess I'm one to talk.

DFTBA
Kayla

An okay week

I've had a decent I guess. Only bad thing that really happened to me was getting sad about how all my friends are now at university but I'm stuck at home. I'm pretty much over that now so it's not such a big deal, I'm really glad that I managed to get over that to be honest. I know it's cliche but I've found that remaining positive helps me to feel better about myself, go figure.

It's been almost ten years since I last went to my local library and got.some books it was good to get my library card again. Since the schools I've been at for the last few years have had their own library ice never really needed to go until I left school. Turns out we've had overdue library book fees on my old card for the past ten years, for a bunch of books that I don't even remember. I'm surprised that they never contacted us about it.

Anyway I have yard work to take care of and I'm supposed to meet up with my girlfriend today.

So have an awesome week guys
DFTBA

Hark, a Wanna-be Veggie!

     I am so done with this week, and I still have a ton of work left to do. I have an essay that is due tomorrow that I only currently have notes for. I am going to be doing a lot of writing between now and tomorrow afternoon. My professor said we could hand it in on nest week's class, with a late mark, but that is only a back-up plan for me. I really think I can get it all done today. Of course, it's on one of my least favourites novels, Wuthering Heights. Thankfully we studied it in my final year of high school so I didn't really have to reread it. 

     So I decided, out of no where, that I am going to be a vegetarian for a month. Thirty days without meat. My friend told me that I wouldn't make it, but after two days I have realized that I don't really eat all that much meat here anyway. I have grown to love hummus, and even tofu isn't all that bad. The only reason I decided to do this is to see how different things would be, how the veggie people eat. So far the only difference I have found is a) there are much fewer options in the cafeteria and b) the vegetarian eggs are so much better than the regular ones.

     Kayla, to be honest, I don't know what I want to do with my life. I mean, teaching is my best option right now, only because I'm not that great at a lot of things. I don't even know how well teaching will go for me, since I am really bad at talking in front of groups. It will take a lot of work. Also, teaching is literally the only thing I have ever thought of as a possible career for myself, so I am kind of limited. Also, name your darn marimo already! 

     Will Grayson Will Grayson is a really good book, Adam. It's not my favourite of John's novels, but I really liked the story. The double-narrator thing really appeals to me, mostly because I like to see things from different perspectives. It opens up so many possibilities for an English major, ha-ha.

     Kate, I have never experienced such wakeception before. I don't recall waking up in a dream like that. Although I have been waking up before my alarm a lot lately. I will wake up, and squint at my alarm clock, and realize that I still have over an hour to sleep. I really don't like that feeling. Your question reminds me of this song that Liam did an epic cover of. I used to not like a lot of things, like the idea of being vegetarian, wearing dresses and high heels (though I still don't like heels, but now I have a pair), but now I don't mind them. Same goes the other way, like I used to like watching things on TV and having it on for noise, now I can't stand it. I go through periods where I like to wake up early, and others where all I want to do is sleep. 

     Kira, what in the heck do you mean about bagging a robot? Are you like, putting it in a bag or a fancy case for travel? That is all I imagine, is you and a bunch of smart people who can make robots trying to put your robot in a bag. And then the whole time thing throws that off, because why would you have to have it in a bag at a specific time? 

     Now I am going to relax a bit, then go to class, and then come back and write that essay. I really don't want to but I have put quite a bit of effort into my notes and I don't want that to go to waste. Enjoy the weekend, as the weather for me promises to be really nice, and don't forget to be awesome, not that you guys ever do.

-Deidra

P.S- sorry for the lame title. It was, for some reason, the first thing that came to mind and I actually typed it in there and I mean, come one, once that happens it has to stay.

Not Dead Yet

Hey, guys, what's up? I'm still alive. I'm really sorry I couldn't post for so long. Life has been really hectic.

I had a lot of homework for one thing. There was one English assignment that I had, on Transcendentalists. We had to make a CD with songs that reflected their ideals. I used Nerdfighteria Island for one. It was enjoyable.

Last Tuesday, I was at robotics until past midnight, because we had to bag our robot at 11:59. We bagged it at 11:58. Believe it or not, that was earlier than we do it most years.

Yesterday, I picked my IB courses: history, English, physics, French, Theory of Knowledge, economics, math, and language culture. Most of those were not a choice. I think it'll be the next to years that kill me.

Today, I've been moaning over the fact that Damian Wayne is dead. My fangirl heart can't take it. I was practically crying over my homework. Then I had to watch the Doctor say goodbye to Martha (because I'm an idiot) which made it all the worse.

I'm glad you're enjoying Will Grayson, Will Grayson, Adam. I adored it.

I should go. I promise, I'll make a longer post soon. I know I always say that, but really. It'll happen eventually.
DFTBA
-Kira

Monday, Monday, Wanna Sleep In On Monday

Everyone seemed to have a pretty good Valentine's Day, and that's great.  

This morning I "experienced" waking up five different times.  The first three were dreams. One I woke up at 7:58 which met I was going to be late for school. One I woke up at 8:58, and then I woke up at 6:30, thankful that the previous thing was a dream.  The first time I actually woke up was about 5:20 according to my cell phone.  Then the next and final time I woke up was at 6:25, when my alarm went off.  When I was in eight grade, I loved school and was always excited to wake up each day.  Now I really dislike waking up.  Is there anything you all used to love but now dislike? And do you have any dreams like mine that are just really irritating?

Deidra and Kayla, National Honor's Society is pretty much an pretty much an organization for the "leaders" of the upperclassmen in high schools here. It's like a fancy honor roll. And Deidra, I totally agree with your statement on BBC Sherlock, but what you bought for only $8 is amazing.

I'm still cheering you on on your job hunt, Campion.  Hopefully you'll find work soon.

Adam, I thought Will Grayson Will Grayson was a fantastic book, and I could relate easily to the characters. I hope you continue to enjoy it. 

It's getting late and I have a history project that I need to be working on.

Kate

Not much happened this week.

So not much happened this week. I have a group project thats due in on Thursday so that's draining most of my time.

In more exciting news, Jenna Marbles is coming to our college this week so I'm really looking forward to that. She's a pretty well known Youtuber.

I've started reading Will Grayson Will Grayson, I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far.

Yeah, I don't much have much to say.

DFTBA
Adam

Why can't I hold all these books

Wow it's so weird that it's Friday again already. Which sucks cause that means I'll be going back to school soon. This break was so needed for stress relief... I don't want it to end...

My parents and Deidra visiting was nice. It was good to see everyone again and we did a whole bunch of stuff around town. Luckily the weather wasn't too too bad, it wasn't good either, but it could have been way worse. 

Oh yeah so I don't think I've really been talking about my thoughts on career plans on here for a while. I think the last time I did I said a vet or something. But basically I don't want to do that anymore. I'm still not 100% sure what I want to do or if I even want to stay with a biology major next year. It's something that  I think about a lot, but never manage to come to any solid conclusions. One idea that popped into my head recently was that maybe I could be a librarian. Sigh. I'm so jealous of people who know what they want to aim for and then just go for it (I'm partly looking at you Deidra).

On a brighter note, I found this little book shop downtown a while ago called Black Squirrel Books. I finally managed to go check it out yesterday and I really like it, I think I'll definitely have to go back sometime. And there's this little diner right beside it so I figure I can make an outing of it and get a meal as well. This trip I ended up getting 5 volumes of the manga Ranma 1/2 and 2 volumes of the manga Inuyasha there for $28 which is like a fricken miracle (checking on the prices on the back it would have cost me $97.30 plus tax to get all that brand new). And then I also found a neat looking novel about a girl who is a siren. I love me some mythical sea creatures, so I had to get it.

Oh man and I got my sewing machine finally!!! My parents brought it up with them. I've been kinda busy though so I still have to figure out how to work everything and get some thread. Then of course I have to sew something. If all goes well then I might even end up sewing part of whatever cosplay I decide to wear for Anime North in May. I'm thinking maybe something from Adventure Time.

I bought this Adventure Time game for DS a couple days ago too. I think I'm already almost done it, but it's fun. They should make more games for that show, the options for it are practically endless and I would probably buy them all.

Kate, yay for you watching ATLA, I love that show so much. Also I'm curious about this Honour's Society thing as well. What exactly is it all about.

Campion, basically everyone in the anime club here also looks down on One Piece and I've never really understood why. I actually really enjoyed that show when I was watching it. I think I got to something like 300 episodes before I finally had to take a break from it, but my sister has been watching it lately and it's been sparking my interest again. I'm glad you enjoy it too!

Deidra, ah god I know I just can't decide on a name for my marimo. Naming things is hard. And don't you worry your little tushy I'm watching Game of Thrones right now, I'll finish it at some point so long as I don't lose interest, which I doubt.

DFTBA
Kayla

I'm Holmes!

     I am back at home for reading week, so of course I was lazy almost all day and am only now getting around to writing my post. I am only here for two days, heading back to school on Saturday. It has been a great break so far. My time visiting Kayla was amazing, I am definitely going to have to go back to visit again soon. 

     We did quite a bit together considering I was only there for three days. For some highlights: I went to an anime club meeting (so not my thing but the crappy fanfic reading was interesting), then got to see the university. It really made me thankful I chose to go to Lakehead and not apply anywhere else. The campus is significantly larger and so many tall buildings. Also tunnels that are not tunnels. We went to the nature museum and I got to see something called a sea potato. She took me to a comic book store where I bought a TARDIS sweater, and wow is it ever comfortable. And of course beaver tails. My biggest accomplishment was not getting killed in that city (something I said pretty much every time we rushed across the street). 

     Kayla, you need to name your marimo and decorate the bowl. It looks very empty. Also watch more Game of Thrones, I want to talk about it. The next season is coming out on the same night as Doctor Who, on March 30 (also the day after my birthday, woo!). So hurry it up.


     Kate, what is the point of a National Honours Society? Is it just for pride or something? Or do you have jackets and secret meetings and discounts at smart people stores? 

     I went to the grocery store with my mum this evening and found a really awesome deal in the DVD bin. It is a version of the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 39 episodes and 4 full films, for only $8. If only the BBC would just get to work and we could have that much Cumberbatch/Holmes already. Anyway, I am excited to watch it.

     Enjoy the rest of your weeks,and don't forget to be awesome!
-Deidra

I can't believe what I've been missing out on

I've had a good week, better than most of my weeks actually. I try to go job hunting at least once a day now, I figure if I'm always looking and applying that I'm bound to get something eventually. My radio show is going pretty well, it's been airing for a few weeks and we have been getting some good feedback on it and we are really enjoying ourselves, I'm really glad that I decided to do it, it's been a lot of fun. Also, my friends absolutely hate the anime and manga One Piece. I don't mean they just dislike it, I mean they flat out vilify it, it's on the same level as Twighlight for these guys. Until recently, I hated it too but that's mostly because they hated it, I'd never even seen until recently. One day I decided to sit down and watch it and it was pretty good, I really liked it. In fact I've even started reading the manga (my local library has like 30 volumes of the stuff) and I'm really enjoying it. So now I'm trying to keep it a secret from my friends that I like it, not because I'm afraid of how they will react but because I'm really looking forward to their reactions, I'm hoping that I can build up a sufficient collection of the anime and manga so when I tell them their reactions will be all the more the priceless. It's a weird relationship that I have with my friends.

Also I was at a store called JB Hi-Fi, not sure if you guys have it, it's like an electronics store mixed with a DVD store. I was intending to buy a game... until I saw the box set of Cowboy Bebop DVD's, needless to say that's what I left with. I had never seen it before but I've had a lot of people recommending it to me so I decided to pick it up and it was pretty dam good. I'm really enjoying the show and I can see why it's usually on peoples list of favourite anime.

Also I got to spend Valentines day with my girlfriend. It was really nice, we walked around town and talked for a bit and we also went to this science fiction and fantasy art exhibit that they were having at the museum, some of the art they were show casing was pretty interesting. It was all Kiwi made art, some of it coming from WETA and others from freelance artists. We had a good time there, the museum was also where we had our first date together so it was pretty special to us.

Kayla, good job on your midterms, glad your still in one piece. Deidra, Being Humans a pretty good show, haven't seen a great deal of it but what I saw was pretty good. Kate, hope your application gets accepted and good luck with that. Adam, that is a really cool picture of Hank.

Hope you guys have an awesome week
DFTBA

It's President's Day

And I have no school, hence why I'm posting this a lot earlier than I usually do.  It's not even noon and I am bored.  I'm cat-sitting for my mom and the only thing I have really been doing is watching Netflix. Right now I'm watching Avatar: the Last Airbender.

Spring apparently is not so near.  It is snow right now and we are expecting a bad blizzard Thursday. That's unfortunate considering Track season starts next week.  Everyone was hoping to get the field event pits out, specifically the pole-vaulters as we have done the most off-season practising.

Last week I turned in the application that will be seen by the teachers at my school, and those teachers will decide if I, and other classmates, will be able to join the National Honor Society.  I'm not sure whether or not I'll get it.  Most people may have more out of school activities and work experience, but I have a lot of school activities and community service.  I hope I get in.  I don't know when we will find out who made it and who did not.

Well my dad and I are going to go shopping now.  I'd save this and add more to it later, but I probably couldn't think of anything else to write.
DFTBA
Kate

Lots of Valentine Treats

Hey hey hey everyone, I am slightly sleep deprived, but in a fairly good mood so I'm going to try to make this a good post to make up for my short one last week. 

I didn't die this past week which was good. I hate midterms. But hey, I get a whole week off school now so I guess I'll be fine. FREEEEDOOMMMMMM!

Phew ok got that out of my system now. Anyway update on my life I guess: basically been caught up with school lately, and semi planning for when Deidra gets here (tomorrow!). I never managed to get around to buying decorations for my marimo yet, it's been like 2 weeks lol. Also I haven't thought of a name for it. And I also need to get my side cut re-shaved, I'm thinking of just buying a razor to save money instead of always going to a hairdresser to get it done. But I don't know where to get one so I guess I'll just have to look around the mall.

Oh man and I haven't actually been on youtube for like weeks, not even to watch vlogbrothers videos, but I needed some background noise while studying/working on lab reports. So I watched all the vlogbrothers videos going back to where I had left off... and all the danisnotonfire videos.... and all the amazingphil videos. And then because I was being a horrible procrastinator last weekend I started watching Game of Thrones and this other show called Shameless. Both are pretty great so far. (Oh and like Katie said, Community started up again, score!) Haha, man I watch way to much tv...

So yeah Valentine's Day happened. Hope your guys' went well. Mine consisted of working on a chem lab, being alone in the apartment and then going on the internet when I should have been reading notes. Overall I think it went pretty good. And  today I went to the grocery store to get half price Valentine's Day stuff. I got cookies and a little cake. Because I am not fat at all (to be fair I plan on sharing with my sis and Deidra).

Adam that is a fantastic picture of Hank, I must say. Also glad you got your Visa, and hope that your week wasn't too stressful. And Campion, I hope your job search improves and you get some interviews. 

Oh yeah did you guys hear about that meteor that broke up over Russia. It hurt like over a thousand people from like shattered glass and stuff. That's pretty terrible. That would make a cool scar story though once they heal up (hopefully no one was hurt too extremely) like just "hey how'd you get that scar" "this? oh you know a meteor fell out of the sky and almost killed me with glass shards, no big deal."

Anyway I have to go now. I need to make a bunch of Oreo truffles for anime club tomorrow. And I have to clean and do laundry so my room/apartment is clean for when my parents and Deidra get here.

DFTBA
Kayla

P.S.- I got this fizzy grapefruit drink and this message was in the cap: Gi mi sponge fi go dry up sea. Anyone have a clue as to what it might mean?

February 14

     Happy February 14th everyone. Hope you get to spend it with those you love. My day started out suckish, but got progressively better. I  have to wake up for an 8:30 class that was just a really boring film. I ended up nodding off a few times, but I went back to bed as soon as class was over so that works. 

     I cannot wait for this week to be over. I had a midterm on Monday and a paper due Tuesday and nothing to do since then. It's gotten to be pretty boring. I went bowling with friends last night, for the first time since I've been here. I got second place both times. Tonight I am probably going to go over to a friend's to watch movies to escape all of the Valentine's stuff. Tomorrow is my last day for the substance use, personality, behaviour, and mood study that I am a part of. I hope I win the prize for volunteering, but even if not it was pretty cool. I started watching the show Being Human. Netflix has it, and it's a British show, so hopefully I will watch it all. It's pretty interesting. 

     Don't forget to be awesome. Happy Valentine's day. Yupp.
-Deidra

Today, I did stuff (I'm going for the record for the most unoriginal titles in a row)

Well my job search isn't going so well. Haven't been called in for an interview for a while so it's looking kind o crappy at the moment. It's getting especially hard since all my friends are off to university while my parents pressured me into staying home and finding work. Not really happy about that since I can't find any.

On a more positive note my girlfriend has moved back to my city and we can see each other for the first time since last November. So it should be fun seeing her again.

On a side note the new Power Rangers series recently came out, Power Rangers Megaforce and I've seen the first few episodes. I'm enjoying it a lot and its nice that they make a lot of call backs to the first Power Rangers series. The new person who recruits the rangers even uses the old cheesy line from the old show, "find and recruit five teenagers with attitude" which needless to say I got a big kick out of. Also it's the shows 20th anniversary and the show is supposed to have a reunion episode where they bring back all the old Power Rangers to fight in a big battle. I really hope that it looks as awesome as it sounds.

Anyway I need to go now
So have an awesome week guys
DFTBA

Tired of Winter

Thanks to the dryness of winter, my skin has gotten ridiculously bad. I've never had so many patches of dry skin in my life. Thankfully spring is just around the corner. The weather has been noticeably warming up, but chances are it won't last.  Track and Field season starts in two weeks and it needs to be warm for that!

My mother got me addicted (well... not quite "addicted") to Farmville again.  So I've been wasting time on that.

Near the end of my final class, all the lights except for two lights and the projector screen flickered off for a second. I couldn't help but think of Supernatural and getting some salt.  I asked around and the flicker happened throughout the school.  At conditioning a girl said that all of the traffic lights on the major road that goes through town were out, and police officers were their directing traffic.  I wonder what happened to knock out the power.

I'm glad you had fun seeing the Vlogbrothers and I hope you have fun in the US. Deidra, I hope you have better luck with your fish. I hope everyone stays happy and has a great week.

Kate

Awesome week

Hi, my week went quite well afterwards. My interview in the U.S. embassy was fine, I got my Visa to go over to San Francisco so I'm really excited about it now. I just have to pay off the rest of my flights, find a job and find a place to live.

John and Hank were amazing in Dublin, it was so cool to see them live. I got John and Hank to sign my books. Also Hank was wearing a horsehead.

 Your argument is invalid. :D

They put up a thoughts from places video for Dublin, I really enjoyed it. Something that's always struck me about Dublin is it's bizarre architecture. I thought Hank really captured what I had always wanted to put into words.

I was at a rugby match today, it was between Ireland and England, England won (sad face). It wasn't a great match but oh well, it was nice to be there.

I have a hectic week with a lot of assignments due, it's going to be tough to get everything finished and done to a good standard. So that's a bit nerveracking.

Nemo

I have had the worst/ best week depending on how you look at it.

It would be the worst week if you count yesterday, having nemo come through wasn't the best of times.   I probably got almost twenty inches of snow in my front yard. If you count it, there have been three major disasters in the recent months. That small earthquake that disrupted southern Rhode Island over the summer, hurricane Sandy, and now Nemo the blizzard. I lost power for two hours and it kept flickering on and off until about midnight. So from a weather perspective, awful.

However from my prospective, everything this week was absolute awesomesauce. I don't know if you guys are familiar with Soulpancake, or their segment with Kid President, but his Pep Talk video is everywhere! My sister's English teacher had the video emailed to them around the first week it released, and showed it to her class. THEN my nerdfighter of a History teacher showed it to my class. I was in the back going OH MY GOD I LOVE EVERYTHING KID PRESIDENT AAAHHHHH! So that was awesome. And because of nemo I earned a three day weekend because of the statewide emergency.

The only notsome thing was that my schools production of Twelfth Night was going to be today, and my favorite teacher who left before this year started was going to come and visit to see the play. However Community started it's new season Thursday and it was pretty awesome. You can tell the writers are new though. However its a spoof of the Hunger Games, so props.

Adam I'm sure everything went awesome and you had a good interview and an awesome time at the nerdfighter event! Campion I'm sure your boredom will end soon and life will give you lemons. Keep that expression in mind, knowing that you can supply sugar, otherwise your lemonade will be really sour. Deidra I hope the crush thing gets better, I'm kind of struggling with that too. Hang in there! Kayla I would love to go see Bill Nye the Science Guy, I'm extremely jealous! Kate and Kira I hope you guys had awesome weeks too!

I watched Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close last night on a charged laptop and it was really good. It came out forever ago, but if you have the time you should go and watch it! Very powerful. I have to write a short story for English and I don't know where to start. I'm mostly worried that I write something really awful. Okay well I'll see you next week!

~Katie

It's midterm season again.

Ok short post this week because my bio midterm is tomorrow and I should be studying right now. Sorry about missing my post last week, I was sick and went to be right after getting home from school and completely forgot. I'm all better now which is good, wouldn't want to be sick for the rest of my midterms. Hope everyone's doing well. I got tickets to see Bill Nye the Science Guy in March which is exciting. I also saw the movie Warm Bodies. It was pretty good, but way different from the book. Anyway got to go now. (I wish reading week would get here already.)
DFTBA
Kayla

Nope.

     I reached the point in my day where I did not want to do anything productive any more way too early in the day, and therefore completely forgot about my post. Not that I have very much to say. I am behind a bit in work, and have a paper due next week along with a midterm and lots of reading. And to top that off I am going through stupid personal crush-type things that are totally plugging up my mind. I mostly want to curl up in a ball and sleep though the next week, and then have Kayla comfort me over reading week. 

     And yeah. That's it. Too much going on internally for me to think of anything better. Continue to be awesome, mis amigos.
-Deidra

And then some more stuff happened

My life has become very boring lately. Mostly consisting of me trying to find work, not getting any, lying around the house and doing odd jobs for various family members in order to earn some money. On Tuesday I went out with my uncle to do some filming, he works for one of the local T.V channels and we were filming one a meeting between the members of one of the local tribes. I couldn't understand what the meaning was about (they spoke mostly in Maori, which I don't speak), I think that it may have been about the organisation of their tribe or something along those lines, I'm really not sure.

Also I've been spending a lot of my time helping out grandfather clean up and re paint his house. He and my grandmother are retiring soon and they want to move, so I'm helping them to do up their house so they can move. I've actually been enjoying myself helping them, it keeps me busy and helps me to earn a bit of money and I really enjoy spending time with them.

I'm helping him tomorrow, so I need to get some rest
Have an awesome week guys
DFTBA

Incredibly nervous

I'm really really nervous. This wednesday I have my interview at the U.S. embassy in Dublin. I feel like Chandler in Friends when he has to go for an interview. I'm just so worried that I'll say something stupid and they won't let me into the country. I know that's really unlikely as long as I have all my documents in order but THERE ARE SO MANY DOCUMENTS. I'm almost certain I'm going to forget or lose something. Ok, deep breaths. Smiley face.

On the bright side, in the evening after my interview I'm going to see John Green so that'll either make me feel better or make the day even more awesome.

Thanks for the tax information, it seems kinda strange to me that the price on shelf would be different to what you pay at the till. Like I don't really see what benefit there is to it. But I'm sure I'll adjust pretty quickly if and when I'm over there :)

My exams went surprisingly well, especially considering I was so sick for most of them. The first bit of this new semester has been pretty easy, it'll probably escalate a bit as time wears on but it's definitely less intense than last semester.

I left this post way too late so I'm going to go to bed.
DFTBA
Adam

Happy February

Hey all!

I didn't post last week because I had to babysit a friends daughter, and she came to my house to spend the night, because she's not much younger than me. Anyway it would have been weird if I just said "wait like an hour while I go do something..." However I am here now and that's all that matters.

This week was BEYOND stressful, I probably was in tears almost every day. That's right it was the end of the semester. I get my grade report next week, and the worst thing is if my grades go down from the last time. I don't know why every teacher gives projects or essays or tests on the last week instead of  spacing them out.

In English we've been working on essays, mine on the Piping Plover. The point of these essays was to talk about endangered species and what precautions are taking place to help these animals. The end of the semester was on Thursday, and the English teacher had the essay due 8 am when school started that day. I found this extremely annoying. The essay wasn't hard, but he stressed that "8:00 am or it would be late". Some peoples busses get to school at 8:00!

A Chemistry test and project on Friday so the teacher could input grades over the weekend. I didn't finish the test, so I'll have to continue that next week. The project was on trends on the periodic table, so it wasn't hard, I did electronegativity. The problem was that almost everyone was doing a paper project, so I thought I would do a 3-D one. I did it the night before, constructing the table from cut foam sponges and toothpicks. Mostly successful until I got to class and he said we had to present them. I didn't think he had mentioned that, and had a mini freakout silently, in my head. That was a disaster (actually it was okay because another girl did the same topic, so I said she could go first so that helped).

I took a math test. Meh.

I had a music recital on Tuesday. I don't know why, but every time I go up and try to play the piano for a group of people I forget everything I ever learned about the piano. That was our last recital for the piano before we start guitar, so of course to maintain consistency the same thing happened. I couldn't even find C. awful.

I think the only classes that didn't stress me out was ASL because our test was postponed. History because I love that teacher. And Gym (or Wellness as we call it) because I didn't have it this week.

Kate I have a feeling your mom will do just fine. I know how you feel with the stress though, my brother had open-heart surgery just before Thanksgiving last year. He's doing well now. Campion are we able to listen to the broadcasts online? That would be really cool! Deidra I don't know why Life doesn't want you to have fish. I've chinese fighting fish, they were good too!

Do you guys watch Ben's or ninebrassmonkeys Becoming YouTube series?

I've got a mountain of homework, so I'll see you guys next week!

~Katie

I Am Not A Murderer

     I think I have a problem with fish. Life just doesn't want me to succeed or something. My fish were doing great, looking awesome in the new tank. And then yesterday I come back from class and one of them is dead. I don't think he was very strong to begin with, as his tail was all ratty, but I really liked him. So my friend brought me to go get more, so now I have two sucker-fish, three guppies, and a snail. Woo! So we will see how this goes. I don't think I am going to get more fish until life decides to take all of these ones from me. Then I think I will get a beta fish. Apparently they are pretty hardy.

     So the Harry Potter marathon went as well as it could on a Friday night. First we went up to the library and took nerd-tastic pictures, since most people were dressed up. Then we started the movies. I made it through the first two and half, then left to go to bed. It's mostly because I really don't like the third movie. It's too long, and I am not a big fan of the whole let's-go-back-in-time plot. The rest of the nerdfighters ended up calling it quits after movie four, and are planning on finishing this Saturday. During the day, though, so that we can actually be awake. One of the best parts of the evening was that we ordered pizza, and they totally drew awesome stuff all over the boxes. I will put pictures at the bottom of the post. But all in all it was a jolly good time.

     Tomorrow I am going to the first of three questionnaires for a substance use research study. I thought it might be interesting to do, and to be able to say that I have been part of a psychology experiment. I may win a $100 gift card as well, which would be really cool.

     That's about it. Not much else going on. As always, don't forget to be awesome. 
-Deidra

Things thus far

So an amount of stuff has happened between now and last time I posted. My brother has gone back to school today, my friends find it weird that we haven't got school anymore, personally I don't feel any different, guess it still hasn't hit me that I don't have to go to high school anymore. Also my radio show starts airing on Monday, it's the first episode that we recorded (we've done about eight or nine episodes) so we're pretty excited about it going to air. We've also added another friend of mine to the show and it runs a lot better with three people, it's also fun to have him around because my other two friends are both bronies and I'm not, so it's fun to have them rip into me for not liking the show.

Also, I've started doing driving lessons with my parents because I've decided it's about time that I go and get my license, I should have gotten it a while ago but I need it before I go off to uni. This happened last year as well but it's odd reading your posts about how cold it is (even going ice skating) when it's the hottest summer we've ever had. In fact we are going through a drought right now and the hillsides have turned this weird yellowish green colour because of the lack of water.

So I've got to go help my grandfather paint his house tomorrow so have an awesome guys

DFTBA

Can't Focus

Friday morning my mother had gastric-bypass surgery, so yeah... that's giving me lots of anxiety.  I wish I could just skip ahead a year so I know that everything turns out okay.  She's doing well now, but it's just the start.

I'm making my way through the first Lord of the Rings book rather slowly.  If only I could read the series without actually having to spend the time it will take to read the trilogy.

I can't believe it's already the end of January.  On Wednesday  every junior in my school has to take a state writing exam.  I'm sure it will be easy, but it's going to be a waste of 90 minutes.  My American Lit teacher said that they only grade based on the traits of writing and how well you get your point across, so we can lie when it comes to statistics. Like we could say, "Over 75% of high school students in Fremont, Nebraska have an after-school job," without knowing if it was true.

Anyway...
Best Wishes
Kate

Ice Skating and Beavertails

My marimo finally came!! Ah I'm so excited, I forget if I posted about this, but I ordered one online a while ago and it finally came today. I put it in a bowl with some plastic jewel rock things for the bottom, but looking at it now it seems empty so I'll have to look around for some kind of decorations or figurines to put in there. When I do I'll post some pictures of it.

Oh and oh man the weather has been pretty freezing here all week. It's been like -30 degrees or colder every day. But that's good in a way because the canal was finally opened. So even though it's been so cold I've already been skating twice. My sister works part time at the Beavertail shack on the canal so she gets me free or discounted Beavertails whenever I go there, which is totally epic. She even let me have one that had pizza sauce, garlic seasoning, and cheese (which is not on the menu, only the employees get to have it) and wow that was probably the best Beavertail I've ever had.

I also started this thing called a memory jar. I meant to do it right at the beginning of the new year, but it got delayed by a bit obviously. Basically it's just this container I cut a hole in the top. Whenever something good happens I write it down on a piece of paper and throw it in the container. Then at the end of the year (if I've stuck with it that long) I can open it up and read about all the good things that happened in my life over the past year. I thought it was a neat idea.

Katie, I hope you're all better now since you sounded like you were on the mend in your last post. And no I haven't watched Carnegie Hall.

Adam, yeah here in Canada HST is added to the advertised price when you go to the till. It's like 13% so it does bump the price up by an awkward amount, usually I just make sure I have a couple bucks more than the price tag says before buying anything rather than trying to calculate things in my head. And my sister went all over on a bus tour. Some of her stops include: London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Pisa, Amsterdam, Prague, Venice, um maybe Munich, and then somewhere in Belgium and somewhere in Switzerland. She got some really nice pictures. Stopped by Platform 9 and 3/4. Went up some mountains in Switzerland. I think she said her favourite place was Berlin. She brought me back a crystal starfish necklace, a wooden clog piggy bank and literally over half a meter of chocolate.

Kate, I'm glad you're enjoying reading and practicing your music. 

Kira, I'm glad you're not dead. Also get a robot to throw a frisbee? Really? I can barely do that and I'm a person.... but then again I am challenged at certain things lol. Hope you're feeling better too.

Deidra, wow why is this the first I'm hearing about this car accident. I'm glad that everyone is ok. The fish look cute, I hope these ones do better now that they have the new tank. And have fun with your movie marathon. 

Campion, I know what you mean about the Azog storyline in the movie. I think they're focusing on it to make Thorin's story more dramatic or something, I dunno. I can't really remember all the details from the book (I should reread that sometime). I am interested in what they're going to do with the necromancer though. And I can't wait to see Mirkwood. And oh man if you do not go to Hobbiton when you live that close that's just insane. It would cost me like an arm and a leg to get there so you should go and if you do you should take some pictures to share with us. :)

DFTBA
Kayla

Away for the week and The Hobbit

My post is late this week because my family had suddenly decided to go away for the week so I didn't have time to post anything, also the place we were staying had no internet. Pretty much all of my mothers siblings, her parents and the majority of my cousins from my mothers side were all staying out there with us so it was pretty crowded. It was nice though seeing everyone, also it was really relaxing to go and stay out at the beach. I really enjoyed myself.

Something that I did manage to do while we were out there was see the hobbit and read the book. I enjoyed them both and it was interesting to the differences in the both of them. I wasn't a big fan of the changes that they made to the film though, like how Azoc (I think that's how you spell it) was the primary villain of the film when he was only briefly mentioned in the book. Not sure why they did that, it could have been done to add a consistent villain that they can have throughout the film, but I don't think that they needed that. Something I did like about the movie was Martin Freeman as Bilbo, I thought that he did a nice job and made a really likable Bilbo, I also liked how they did the game of riddles. Gollum was really creepy in that and it was fun to watch Bilbo try to outwit him. After reading the book I can see why they decided to make multiple films, but I think that two might have been better than three but I guess we will have to see. So all in all, I really loved the book and thought it was great, I liked the movie too but I did have a few problems with it.

I guess that I should actually visit Hobbiton sometime. It is down the road form me (about an hours drive) so I should really go there. I have been to a few places that the lord of the rings was shot in. I've been to the place where they shot Minis Stirith and Helmsdeep, its just a rock quarry now and in the films and I did manage to recognize some of the locations they were in. Also I had a friend who was one of the hobbiton extras and it's pretty cool to see one of your friends in a block buster film, even if it is for just a few seconds.

Anyway guys, hope you have an awesome week
DFTBA

In Which I Am Late But Oh So Nerdy

     And despite all of my planning and sudden remembrances, I neglected to post yesterday. So I am high jacking your Friday, Kayla. My family came up for appointments and to visit yesterday so it was a crazy day. My sister and mum got into an accident on the way up (they are fine, car wasn't so lucky though) so my dad had to come up to get them. It was a good visit though, getting to see all of them.

     I got my new fish tank though. Right on time, too, since my other fish died on Tuesday and Wednesday night (RIP Castor and Pollux). But I've got a few new fish though. An albino cory named Isaac (he's a sucker fish, to clean the tank) and two guppies named Argi (orange) and Callan (yellow). Good luck finding them in this poorly taken picture. I am going to get more next week, along with another snail, when the pet store that I get them at is restocked. Until then, these guys have the entire tank to themselves. I may also get a beta since I have an old-style fish bowl from a friend. 

     The Gatsby party was great (haha oops I made a funny). There were a good number of people and so many amazing costumes. I ended up finding a rather nice dress that also happens to be my residence house colours. Bonus. I was also coerced into buying heels, so now I own a pair of those. Also, I didn't die wearing them, although I did take them off to dance. It is very difficult to dance the Charleston in heels. The music was actually pretty good, being mostly 1920's stuff and some electro swing. And at one point the Monster Mash was played. I think the club even profited from the evening, since a lot of wine and raffle tickets were sold. I think I was the youngest one there, the only one not old enough to drink (19 here) as I was mistaken as someone who could and offered a glass of wine by a friend. 


     I spent the night with two nerdfighter friends, which made the night even better. It was funny, because one was dressed kind of like the eleventh doctor, and then there was another guy there who kind of looked like the tenth doctor. We talked to him, and turns out he was waiting for a girl who never showed up. We spent half the night joking that he was waiting for Rose Tyler and that she would never come, and the other half joking about 'adopting' the Doctor since he looked so distraught. There was also a guy who looked kind of like Snape, with the hair and everything, just a bit shorter, and he was talking to another guy who looked like Percy Weasley from behind. Come on, we are nerdfighters we are going to notice these things. 

     On other nerd-related news, we are having a Harry Potter marathon tonight. The nerdfighter group here, which we have dubbed LUNA (Lakehead University Nerdfighters Association). We believe we have better rights to it than the nurses association. Through our wonderful connections we were able to book a lecture theatre to view them, and are going to (try) to stay up all night watching them. Apparently it takes about 18 hours to watch them all, so wish me luck. I may have to resort to coffee. It wouldn't be too bad if I didn't have a volleyball game Saturday afternoon, and apparently a bunch of people from our house are leaving this weekend so I don't know how well it is going to go. But I am going to do it because Harry freaking Potter nerdfighter marathon!

     I was supposed to get together with LUNA to watch the Night of Awesome at Carnegie Hall but that just never ended up happening. I am going to watch the footage from it eventually, when I am not swamped with work and other fun/nerdy things. As for reading The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy, ha! You are too funny. Maybe over the summer. I just have way too much school-related reading to do, what with being an English major and all. But I seriously have about a dozen books here with me, sitting sadly on my bookshelf, that I cannot read because they will become too distracting from what really needs to be done.

     Anyway, sorry for being late. Enjoy your weekends, may they be as nerdtastic as mine shall be. As always, don't forget to be awesome, and everyone stop being sick already. =)
-Deidra

asdfghjkl

Okay, I'm really sorry that I missed two weeks. I forgot yesterday, so I'm posting this morning. It'll be really brief, but I'm not dead!

I've been really busy with robotics. This year's game is insane. Our robot has to throw Frisbees. Uh...fun?

I'm sick, so I've been drinking a ridiculous amount of tea. Today, as per usual, I was up and showered by 5:15. It has been about twenty five minutes since then, and I've already drunk three cups. Tea is my sustenance.

Got to go now. Have good weeks!
-Kira

I remembered with time to spare.

I forgot how great reading was, and I am already reading a lot more than I had been all last year. So far I've been averaging 100 pages on days I don't have school, and 50-60 on days I do. Sometimes I become distressed because there is so much I want to read and there just is not enough time to do so.

The first rehearsal for the musical's orchestra was yesterday, as I posted on Facebook and a few other places.  It went well and I have a better feel for how the songs go. The practice was really encouraging for me.

I wish you luck on your job search, Campion.  Hopefully you find on you enjoy.

(Hobbit Spoilers... maybe) Yes, in the book the eagles only go so far because the eagle king won't risk letting the birds go into the dangerous land of Mirkwood... or something like that.

I have yet to watch the Carnegie Hall video, Katie, but I hope to do so soon. By now the worst of your illness is over, or so I hope.  What did you think of the Name of the Star. I loved it and was completely unaware the sequel was coming out so soon.

Adam, there were a lot of times when reading the Hobbit, like when Gandalf would do something, I would think, "Well, isn't that convenient." It felt very much like you described - a get out of jail free card.

Also - I had to google VAT just to know what it was.  I know my state has a 7% sales tax, and most of the time I'll just round up a dollar and estimate the price.  I think a lot of people do it that way.  If I have to buy a few things and I know that I may not have enough money to pay for it, I just think it's 7 cents per dollar. Pretty much this equation:  (7 * $)/100 + $ = total.  I've always been good with numbers, so it isn't difficult for me, but sometimes I will whip out my cell phone or ipod and use the calculators on that just to make sure I have enough money.

So with that long math problem, I think I'll end the post.
Have a good week.
Kate

20/01/13

It's been a bit of a boring few weeks at home, waiting to get back to college and see my friends. Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

I went to see the Hobbit recently, I really liked it although I don't like how the eagles are just a "get out of jail free" card. I got the book of Stephen Fry in America, it's pretty cool, so far I've read Rhode Island and California.

Katie, I hope you feel better soon. It's really sucks having the flu.

Is it true that in America, the prices on the shelves don't include VAT? That would be really confusing, doesn't that mean when you go to the till that the prices are really awkward? 

Wherebouts was your sister in Europe Kayla? Anywhere cool or interesting? :)

Also, I would love to go to Gatsby themed party, that would be incredibly awesome.
Adam

I'm a Statistic Now

Posting early in the day to avoid not posting. There are many things I have to say, or at least at this moment there seems like a lot. Let's start with the rest of Sunday.

The rest of Sunday was spent with a dangerously high fever, coughs, and a splitting head ache. Monday was the same thing except school was in the mix. I actually felt so awful that I did no homework. The only thing I could do was lay in bed and watch Scrubs. Tuesday all the same symptoms apply but a new nose issue where every two minuets was spent with a tissue. I went to the doctors (not going to talk about that) to find out I have influenza type A. But I'm on medication and feeling better every day.

Really not a lot to say, just that I'm a part of a statistic now. Also that I finished The Name of the Star ad it was pretty good. The sequel comes out in February so I'll be reading that. Did you guys get a chance to watch Carnegie Hall?

Maybe more later as the day progresses!

~Katie

I'm gonna go skating finally!

Okay so I forgot to post again, but no biggie because it's only 12:45 right now so it's not that late. I am getting better lol. 

This week has been pretty good, I think I've started the semester too relaxed though, I need to make sure to keep on top of my readings, unlike last semester. 

The canal has finally opened for skating here, so I'm going tomorrow with some friends I met here and again on Sunday with some friends from back home who also go to school here in Ottawa. Hopefully it won't be too cold, but it will be cold enough so it doesn't melt again right away. Also my sister is going to be working at the Beavertail Shack on the canal both those days so she said she'd see if she could hook me up with a discount, score!

Today in my film class we were going through a brief history of film and we got to watch some of the first films made. It was really neat actually. I liked watching Le Voyage dans la Lune by George Melies. Partly because it was pretty imaginative, because it was so old and the hand colouring was cool to look at, and because I remember seeing that in Hugo whenever that movie came out.

I got a pen pal from Australia, which is pretty exciting. We met on tumblr and decided to write each other. It's been fun getting to know her through letters. We plan on sending each other drawings and other trinkets too when we can. 

I've been looking at some old story ideas I wrote throughout high school and I've been inspired to write them out, or at least expand on the idea some more so I have a better idea of how the story all pans out. It's bound to be a slow process, but it's fun and it's better than never doing anything with all the little idea blurbs I write down all the time.

(potential slight Hobbit spoilers in this paragraph) Deidra, there's reasons for why the eagles don't fly people everywhere they want to go. Pretty sure it explains it in the book, so maybe you should read those next. But yeah Radagast was the best, loved him, loved his animals, and it is now my dream to be pulled on a dogsled like him by epic rabbits. Don't ask me how, but it'll happen, just you wait.

Katie, hope you're feeling better. Kate, yes less internet is good so read more (a note I should also follow). Campion, congrats on passing high school, and just keep chugging, I'm sure you'll find a job eventually.

DFTBA
Kayla

Not a very good week

My week hasn't been the best. I just found out that I wasn't accepted for my job and every other application has been turned down thus far, so my job search is back to sqaure. But I'm still going to look for other jobs, so it's just going to take longer. Also I've been noticing that I get sick a lot, especially recently as I've been feeling off lately. I think that sitting at home doing nothing but play video games all day has affected my mood and self esteem and that I just need to follow through with my new years resolution with being more proactive and I just need to fins a way to keep myself busy, that will probably cheer me up.

On a happier note, I actually hung out with my friends a few days ago. I never usually hang out with people because I'm not a very sociable person but it felt good to actually be around people that aren't my siblings for a change. I've also completed the fourth recording for my radio and it's going very well, we've finally gotten to the point we're the reviews we do on the show aren't awkward and we feel comfortable talking while we record. So at least those things went well this week. Also my exam results for last year came back and it turns out that I passed everything, so I actually managed to pass high school. Which I'm proud of because I'm not the most academic person in the world.

All in all, I think that I need to just focus on the good things that happened this week and quite a few good things did happen. I'm going to continue looking for work and just trying to keep myself busy.

As always, have and awesome week
DFTBA

Possible Spoilers, Advance with Caution

     Short post partly because I don't have much to say, and partly because I am tired of typing away at my computer. I've been doing notes for about an hour now, which doesn't sound bad but I have a sore on my hand that is making life annoying right now. 

     I saw The Hobbit last Thursday night, and it was really good. Much better than the trilogy. I found there was more action to capture me. I heard someone say later that they thought the action took away from the plot, but I can't disagree more. I understand the plot because of the action. And once again, (spoilers maybe), I don't understand why they can't all just fly on giant magical eagles to their destination instead of walking and being attacked. Really Gandalf, you are a brilliant wizard use your head! More spoilers here, sorry. I think my favourite parts were with the Brown wizard, just because he was so funny. You can't catch me and my magical racing bunnies! And the part with the stick-bug still makes me and my friends crack up.

     I have a busy weekend ahead of me so I am trying hard to get as much work done as possible. My house has a volleyball game Saturday afternoon, and I am going to a Great Gatsby 1920's themed party that night. I don't think Sunday will suffice with the amount of work I have and the amount of procrastination that usually occurs on any given Sunday around here.

     That's about it. Longer than I originally anticipated but I mean, The Hobbit. Hopefully everyone gets a chance to see it and we can all nerd out about it. Have a good weekend, and don't forget to be awesome!
-Deidra

   

I've set an alarm so I remember to post.

Now I should always remember to post unless I'm busy of course.

Yesterday I finally saw the Hobbit with my best friend.  It felt rather long, but overall I enjoyed it.  That was probably the best highlight of the weekend. 

Getting the music for the musical was another highlight of my weekend. I don't know if I've said, but the musical we are doing is Brigadoon.  The music has a Scottish feel to it as that is where the play is set.  I've played through most of it, but a lot of the songs of high-pitched notes I've never played in an actual song before, so that's going to challenge me.  Not to mention that a lot of it is incredibly fast.

I'm so jealous you get to see John Green, Adam.  My fellow nerdfighter friends and I are hoping the vlogbrothers go on tour again and the places they missed on their other two tours.  

I'm currently in love with the website Goodreads.  I've only been active on it about two weeks and already it's making me read a lot more than I have been.  Hopefully I start reading as much as I did when I was a pre-teen. Though that would mean less internet time... but that's good, I guess.

The first week of school went well for me, and I'm pretty satisfied with the classes I have this quarter.  I'm in Spanish 4 right now, and that's my least favorite.  The teacher says she is going to make us work with people we don't know/haven't worked with, and like... I can't really learn that way. If I don't feel socially anxious around a person, I'm either friends with them, or I don't like them, and it's hard to work with someone you can't talk to.  Anyway... that's going to be bothersome later on in the class.

I think that's all I'll say for now. 

DFTBA

Kate

It's been a weird day

It has and I'll explain tomorrow... again.

The week went well, I procrastinated less and got work done on time. I think it was the head of the environmental department of the NFL came and talked to us on Friday about all the things the NFL does to go green. That was awesome, but it would have been better if I was more into sports.

I felt awful yesterday because all the habits I kicked during the week came back to visit. And I feel awful today because I have this weird sinus headache fever cough thing so I'm going to watch Scrubs and read for the rest of the day.

~Katie

Update and some book recomendations

Hey everyone hope the start of school's been going well for everyone that's starting the new semester. Today's the last day of the first week back for me and I think this semester is going to go better than the last. This semester I have calculus, cell biology, organic chemistry, geology, and a film studies class on the history and esthetics of film (really looking forward to this one since its a change from all the math and science). And none of my classes are earlier than 11:30 this semester which is sweet.

My sister's coming back from her three week trip to Europe tomorrow which will be awesome. The apartment is too quiet without her here.

So I ended up reading Warm Bodies over the break and it was actually a pretty good book. I definitely like the author's writing style. It'll be interesting to see what they've done with it for the movie (though I'll be honest I'm not a fan of how R is wearing a hoodie in the movie... like of all the things they might need to change from the book to the movie version, the wardrobe should not be it).

Just this evening I read the book Fifty Shames of Earl Grey, which is obviously a parody of Fifty Shades of Grey (which I've never read) and also Twilight. Let me tell you that was probably the funniest book I've ever read, I laughed through the whole thing. Highly recommend it if you're looking for some stupid humour.

Deidra I'm so happy you finally got to see the Hobbit, we must discuss it as soon as it's convenient. I've also begun to call Ottawa my home, which I have mixed feelings about to be honest. Hope you get your fish tank soon (I expect pictures when you do).

Campion I'm also working on procrastinating less and it seems to be going quite well so far so I hope it does for you too. I hope that you get the job you wanted. 

DFTBA
Kayla