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

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

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

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

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

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

~Katie

P.S. Easter colors, so pastel.

Siege of Sarajevo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DFTBA

Kayla

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

Stupid Interface is Stupid

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


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


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


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


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

Stuff, stuff and more stuff

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

Rambles From a Girl Who Got No Sleep

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

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


Kira

A New Experience

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


That's all for today.
DFTBA
Kate

Happyness

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

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

I'll talk about happy things :) 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DFTBA

Adam