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

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

Expectations

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Movember

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

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

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

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

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

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

*cough cough* - And a Sad Ending

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

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

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

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

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

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

All the Little Fishies

     So sadly we did not get any comments. Boo. But whatever, we read it and that is what matters to me. Glad you are all doing well. I have had a pretty awesome week, mostly because I am actually doing things and mostly staying on top of reading and assignments. I have started going to the pool 2 or 3 times a week to get some well-needed exercise, and I really hope to be able to keep that up. Only downside is that I currently don't have a hat with me here, so it was pretty chilly on my walk home.

     The most exciting thing that happened this week was that I got fish! Yay fish! Mostly to keep me company and whatnot. A house-mate upgraded to a new tank, so I took his old one. I got two guppies, two neon tetras, and a snail. And of course I named them all. The guppies are Titan and Kavik, the tetras Brett and Iris, and the snail is Pierre. I have spent a good amount of time just staring into the tank and watching them. 

     You are very lucky Kayla. I have not been able to attend any meetings for the clubs I have joined, as they always happen during my evening classes. Hopefully I will get to one soon. I joined the English Students Association and a club for writing. You do not need any more television shows. Stop before you are totally overwhelmed with feels. 

     I am hopefully doing NaNoWriMo this year, Katie. The writing club has NaNo support, so I am hoping that it will push me towards doing something. Also I've been wanting to write every year since I learned about it, but haven't. I have an idea of what I would like to write about, I just have to flesh it out a bit more and hope for the best. Also, I hope to have enough time for it. 

     So clearly I vote for Canada for your exchange, Adam. Specifically, come to my school. I am pretty sure Lakehead has exchange programs with Ireland, and it would be cool if you did. Canada is cold, so I don't know if that is a plus or minus for you. Like, really cold. We also have beautiful nature and free health care, though I don't think you would get that. There are a lot of cool activities you could do here. And of course Canadian food. 

     Kate, I haven't watched an episode of Hank games in a long time, and I've only ever watched two episodes of Super Mario Brothers. I prefer to play games instead of watching them. Also haven't really been on YouTube in forever. As for posters, I have The Avengers, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and an Exploding TARDIS. I also have a map of the world and a map of Shakespeare's England, courtesy of Kayla. 

     Anyway, it's been a long week for me. Tried tea for the first time this evening, at an event in The Study (our university's coffee house), and it was not bad. Go forth and explore the world my friends! And don't forget to be awesome.
-Deidra

A Sigh of Relief

   After today, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. I have been working my butt off this past week to get all of the work on my independent study project for my English class done for today. I have worked about a total of at least 12 hours in the past couple days, and I never even ended up finished reading the second book. I can't say how good it felt to be able to hand in the rough drafts and whatnot today. It means at least a weekend free from working or thinking about it. FREEDOM!

   I have been thinking for a while on what I will do my Biology project on, though, since I have been so busy with this one. I have chosen symbiosis in nature, which is basically species who live together mutually and work off of each other. A cool example of this is the clown fish and sea anemones. The anemone provides the fish with protection, and the fish provides the anemone with a source of nutrition. Without each other, they would both likely die. I think it's a pretty interesting topic. At least one that I will not be bored looking into.

   Also this week I submitted my university applications. It was an easy process once I decided what programs I wanted. After I was done though, I don't know if I felt more or less relieved. I mean, I didn't have to worry anymore about doing them, or stressing about what choices to make. But all of sudden the reality that I am in my final year of high school, and in a few short months I will be leaving home to start this, was just all too scary. It was kind of a momentary panic as to what emotion I should be feeling. Makes me wonder what will happen when/if I get accepted.

   Kayla and I ended up watching Edward Scissorhands, which I must say was a really good movie. I laughed a lot, which means that it has to be good. We also made a cake. A NyanCat cake. It was awesome.
   Adam, the Father Ted clip was hilarious. Maybe over the Christmas Break I will watch some of the episodes on YouTube. They really seem like they are worth a look.
   Kate, you are so lucky that you have other Nerdfighers in your town. Other than Kayla, there are no other really nerdy people around here. Which is really notsome. Also, I laugh at the Internet Censorship idea. They can try, but I don't think it is quite possible. People will find a way around it.
   Kira, I am infinitely jealous of your five day weekend. We only got 3 days for our Thanksgiving. Also I had a ton of homework to do during that weekend, which didn't help the relaxation. I hope yours is relaxing though.

   I have a music recommendation for this week. It is Alice's Theme by Danny Elfman, from Alice in Wonderland. I have had the tune from this song stuck in my head all week, and as much as I love love love it, it has driven me crazy. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

   Hope your weeks have gone well and better than mine, and that your Thanksgivings (or regular Thursdays) have passed with pleasure. Don't forget to be awesome!
-Deidra