The Raven Boys

     Once again, Maggie Stiefvater tortures me with the release date of a new book. From the small bits and pieces I've heard about it, I know it's going to be amazing. I mean, anyone who writes amazing novels like Lament, Shiver, and The Scorpio Races must be able to do it again. Aggh can't wait!

Green Thumb

     So it's been a while. I haven't had much to say until now, especially since January was mostly finishing classes and writing exams. Those went alright, considering I only had two of them and one was biology. (the other was English, which was terrible in the sense that exams are terrible, but I think I did okay.) In old news, my beginning-of-the-year horribleness, a.k.a chipmunk face, went away with the kind help of the medication after about two or three days, which was great. I still think it's some kind of jinx on 2012 for me.
     The main reason that I wanted to post was to brag about my awesome plant-growing skills. I took mine, K's, and another member's plants home for the exam period and the days off after, a total of 11 days. They were the only ones that were alive and showed promise, and I did not want them to die. So I took them and initiated what I have called Operation Plant Overhaul, to bring theirs back from near-death, and help mine grow more. The results are stunning.

     This is the plants the first day I took them home. I cleaned out all of the dead things, picked out the moldy earth, and started hoping.

Here is my plant, today, all leafy green and looking like a jungle. I was able to save the leaves, since they had been damaged a bit when my teacher left the lights on over them for an entire weekend.

K's plant, which had so much dead stuff in it when I first brought it home that I didn't think I would be able to save much. But I was successful in saving two of them, which have at least doubled in height. The one on the right was original bent completely over, and neither of them had much in terms of leaves.

The last plant is probably the one I spent most of my time worrying about. The stems were really tiny and flimsy, so I ended up burying them a bit to a point where they could stand-ish on their own. The leaves on this plant have really flourished, and even the little alien part (far right side) has grown.

     Now I have to take them back to school though, which will probably result in all of my hard work being ruined, since annoying kids like to poke them when they are in class. I wish I could keep them with me, but I can't.

     Anyway, I hope (as usual) to write more often, especially since a new semester is beginning and there shouldn't be much work for a while (I hope). Don't forget to be awesome!

This is a comparison of my plant from Christmas time. It's weird to think that it used to be that tiny. I am an amazing plant grower person, if I do say so myself.

Not with a Whimper, but with a Bang

     With a new year comes a new outlook. A fresh way of looking at the world. Being in Canada, a fresh coat of snow falls upon the ground within the first week, normally more than once. I write my exams and begin a new semester. There is usually a tendency to plaster on a positive, easy-going, this-year-is-going-to-be-the-best-year-ever feeling. In past years, I have gone along with this feeling. It's easy to get swept up in. Well, not this year. 2012 has begun with a sort of negative air to it, and it has nothing to do with any 'impending apocalypse'.

     My year started out in pain. Over a few days, this pain worsened, until yesterday it found me in the emergency room of the local hospital, where we waited rather patiently for over two and half hours. After waiting this extreme amount of time, I was told that the pain and swelling on the side of my face that I was experiencing was not the ear infection that I had expected it to be, but an infection in my salivary gland. You know, that thing that makes spit.

     Today I woke up looking like half a chipmunk. Eating has become one of the most painful experiences ever. I would rate it an 7.5/10 on my pain scale, with 10 being a spinal tap (nothing really get passed 8 anymore). Sleeping is rather annoying, as there is apparently no sleeping position in which my body is comfortable and my face doesn't want to fall off. I have been basically attached to my hot water bottle these past 2 days, as it is the only thing that brings me comfort. Dear god, how am I ever going to live through school tomorrow.

     I feel almost like this is some punishment for my complete and total disbelief in any sort of 2012 disaster. Life wants me to feel some sort of pain, since I refuse to feel at all panic-y and whatnot over the date.

     I have to bring my plant back to school tomorrow, and I kind of don't want to. It's grown so much more here than it ever did under the light in the classroom. When I brought it home, I seriously thought that I was going to end up killing it, since plants don't normally tend to last in my house. It had barely been green for more than a few days, while everyone elses were gaining height. Now though, I have super tall growths and new shoots. I am very proud of myself.

Above: The earliest picture of my plant babies when I brought them home.
Below: A picture I have just taken, to show juuust how good I am.

     So hopefully this year gets better, because if the highlight of my year is that I was able to successfully keep a plant alive for two weeks, then I don't know if I want to continue. I am feeling a tad bit better though. Don't forget to be awesome!

50 Book Challenge - 2011

     I figure if you are a book nerd like I am, you may be interested in knowing which books I read during the 50 Book Challenge of 2011. Sadly, I did not complete the challenge, but I got really really close. Here is the list I read, in chronological order.

1. Girl at Sea - Maureen Johnson
2. Wave - Eric Walters
3. The Scorch Trials - James Dashner
4. Entice - Carrie Jones
5. Radiance - Alyson Noel
6. Halo - Alexandra Adornetto
7. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
8. Beastly - Alex Flinn
9. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
10. Closer - Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams
11. Dash and Lily's Book of Dares - Rachel Cohn
12. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
13. The Poison Eaters - Holly Black
14. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
15. Frostbitten - Kelley Armstrong
16. Living with the Dead - Kelley Armstrong
17. Made to be Broken - Kelley Armstrong
18. No Humans Allowed - Kelley Armstrong
19. Personal Demon - Kelley Armstrong
20. An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
21. Wither - Lauren DeStefano
22. Blood Magic - Tessa Gratton
23. The Chaos - Rachel Ward
24. The Book of Awesome - Neil Pasricha
25. The Gathering - Kelley Armstrong
26. Tithe - Holly Black
27. Valiant - Holly Black
28. Clockwork Angel - Cassandra Clare
29. Possession - Elana Johnson
30. Enclave - Ann Aguirre
31. Forgotten - Cat Patrick
32. Forever - Maggie Stiefvater
33. Ironside - Holly Black
34. Ashes Ashes - Jo Treggiari
35. Plain Kate - Erin Bow
36. Zombies vs unicorns - Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier
37. The great gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
38. Stone angel - Margaret Laurence
39. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
40. Boy Proof - Cecil Castellucci
41. Matched - Ally Condie
42. Special Edward - Eric Walters
43. Othello - William Shakespeare
44. The Diviners - Margaret Laurence
45. The Death Cure - James Dashner
46. Sweetness in the Belly - Camilla Gibb

     I call this a near success, since I was so near to it that you could almost call it a success. Don't forget to be awesome!

BEDD: Out With The Old

     My last post of 2011. The year has been pretty amazing, with its own balance of rises and falls. Looking back, I wouldn't change a single moment of it. Each day that I have lived have brought me to this moment, and this moment is pretty decent. Sure, I want the clock to tick 12 o'clock, the dawn to bring a new day. In lieu of that moment, I am going to reflect upon some of the things I've done this year.

     Starting with the Big, Fun, Scary List of 2011. I honestly didn't look at this after I had written it until about mid-summer, and then only a couple of times after that, so I am not really sure how well I have done until now:

*survive 11th grade - I am happy to report that I did this, and I did it quite well. The marks that I achieved were mostly to my liking (stupid math and physics) and the times I spent in those classes have become nice memories.
*begin last year - Following the success of the prior, I have started gr. 12. I still don't think I have mentally accepted the fact that it is my final year, though, despite having applied to university and everything. Maybe that's the best thing for now.
*go to my first dance - Still have not done this, but it will happen. Not because I 100% want it, but because I will never be forgived if I don't go to prom at the end of the year. And the only other dance that I could have gone to was the Christmas formal; not my thing.
*get a radical haircut - SUCCESS! I don't think anything was more radical than cutting off my ponytail and adopting the short hair look. I don't think I will ever go back long, since this seems to be working for me.
*actually do NaNoWriMo 2011- I would like to say that I tried, that I started writing but life just got to me. Unfortunately, life got to me before NaNo did, and I made the decision to not procrastinate schoolwork by doing it. The bad thing about NaNo is that it is in November, one of the busiest school months. Plus I had English, which took up a lot of my time.
*read 50 books - Sooo close. I made it to 46 books by the end of today, and I know that if I hadn't had English I would have done it. I didn't read much during the last 3 months because of the stupid class. I mean, I read the required reading for it, but never had time to read my own novels.
*get my driver's license - Success was achieved in this one, as well as going to driver's ed (yet to complete that, bleh actual driving). Ultimatums do apparently work for me, when it gets to a certain point.
*get a job - I didn't get a job, on the premise that I am leaving soon and no one here is really hiring right now. I have been saving my money, though, and not spending anything from my allowance. It adds up pretty quickly.
*do more blogging - Things started good in the beginning of the year, but I think once I started writing on A Week of Awesome I kind of stopped writing here. The BEDD posts have really helped me to get back into blogging, and hopefully in the new year I will be more regular in my posts.
*try vlogging - I discovered that I am way to shy for this. I do not like the sound of my voice when it is recorded. Vlogging is not for me.
*do something completely selfless - There is really no way for me to guage this, but I have done some things this year that helped others. I watched StickAid 2011, staying up about 19 hours out of 24. I also aided my school in raising money to help the community Harvest Center; we ended up raising around $1,500. For a school of around 300 students, it was very heartwarming.
*lose weight - Not as much as I wanted, of course, but I did lose some. *happy dance* Better luck next year, I guess.

     As I said, I am really proud of the things I've done this year. I got back into writing for a bit, and drawing a lot more. I realized that I have a love and a talent for writing, but not a lot of time for it. As for drawing, well, I would say amateur. I discovered a new taste in music that I didn't think I would ever like, but has become a kind of sanctum for me, especially when I'm moody. I made new friends, who I hope to one day meet.

     A good year, not the first and certainly (hopefully) not the last. The future holds a lot, yet to be discovered. And I can't wait to see what it's all about. Don't forget to be awesome!

BEDD: Surprise!

     Lazy day today. Every day of the holidays is a lazy day, but today especially. We said goodbye to the family, and they departed in the afternoon. Then I spent the evening playing Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (because I'm oldschool like that) and drawing. I did end up doing some drawing last night as well, which kept me up late, therefore making today into the lazy day that it was. I might do some more, because I forgot how much I enjoy doing it.

     I really don't have a lot to say today. I have some ideas to flesh out for New Year's posts, but they are still really in the beginning stages. I may have to dig up some stuff to really be able to do them, but I have high hopes.

     Today's challenge is, of course, 'Surprise', which I really don't like because it's as bad as choose yourself or your choice. So I am just going to post a picture of the drawing that I worked on today, since it was a surprise to myself that I ended up doing it. And it turned out quite nice, much better than I had figured, especially since Midna's helmet thingy has so much detail. It and the other drawings I did are posted on my DeviantArt, and Midna already has a few favourites, which is a surprise to me. I guess she just has a fan base that I didn't know about.

     Of course, the one on the left is how it's supposed to look, and the right is my version. Longer legs and arms, but still recognizable. At least to me. And that's what matters. Don't forget to be awesome, and be ready for New Year's, it will (hopefully) be really good!

BEDD: Look into the Light...

     Today was a really boring day. I had so many intentions, so many things that I wanted to do and things to start and stuff. And then I didn't do any of them. I don't even know why. I woke up at noon, and then spent a good part of the afternoon reading some Marauders fanfic from the Shoebox Project, because it is brilliantly amazing. I love it because it is a story never told before. Like, there are tons of trio fanfics, and Weasley twin fanfics, but their stories have already been told. We have already seen them grow up, and learned the outcomes of their lives. With the Marauders, we only know the outcomes, so the whole 'how did they get their' is still a mystery. That, and I've always had a thing for Lupin. Quiet and smart, but with that mysterious dark side. *Sigh* Typical teenage girl thing, I think. And young him is just how I like them *wink*.

I didn't think the photos for today would turn out so good, because the challenge is Light, and I photographed the blue light bulb in my room. They miraculously became beautiful, and instead of only posting one as usual, I will show you the ones that turned out the best (so I can show off and because I can and because they look really cool). Not much to say about them, other than that it is a blue light bulb, in my room, that I tend to not use in favour of my bedside lamp. It doesn't really offer a lot of light, in terms of lighting the room.

     Now maybe I will go and do some of those things I intended to do earlier today. Or maybe I won't, and will read again instead. Or sleep. Or watch something. Listen to music. Possibly just lay here doing nothing. It's a world full of procrastination. Someone has to do it. Don't forget to be awesome!

BEDD: Uh-Oh

     So I clearly forgot to post yesterday, but that is because I started watching something and it ended after midnight, and I didn't realize that I had forgetten until my lights were out and I was almost asleep. And this post will be semi-late (ie. after midnight) because it will just have to be. I didn't think it was this late already. I thought I had at least an hour, but apparently that isn't so.

     I've also got to get used to typing on the new laptop, as it is much bigger than my old one and the keys are larger and farther from each other. This one doesn't have the French key setting like my old one, so I've also got to adjust to some key changes. Like the apostrophe, the question mark, and slashes. Those are the worst. I am liking that the speakers actually work, as the old ones were scratchy and useless. It's kinda nice being able to listen to music without headphones.

     These past two days have been really enjoyable. Yesterday we brought my niece out to the lake to try out her snowmachine that she got for Christmas. It was really adorable, and she picked it up really quickly. She can turn like a pro now (or at least as pro as you can get at 3 and a half). This morning we all went down to the arena to skate for a bit. I was a bit horrible, since I haven't skated in at least 2 years, but am glad to say that I didn't fall, not even once. Seventeen years old and that is a celebrated accomplishment. Yupp.

     I watched Neverland last night, which was a two-part special that was on the Space channel a few weeks ago but I missed. It is basically the story of how Peter ended up in Neverland, and the events that led to his becoming Peter Pan and being able to fly and hating Captain Hook. It was really good, much better than I had expected it to be. *Spoilers* It was a really cool concept too, that everyone was brought over from different historical times by a magical orb thingy. I had wondered why there were pirates and Indians, and why Peter and the Lost Boys seemed so different from everyone. I really liked the forest city that Dr. Flood made; I was so angry when it was destroyed. And the tree spirit city. I loved how they called them tree spirits instead of fairies or pixies. Anyway, it was a great show and I do recommend it.

     The photo challenge for yesterday was 'there's something odd about the picture...' which is a really strange yet interesting topic. Can you tell what is odd about this picture? Maybe it's the fact that my new computer is more than twice the size of my old one. Or maybe its the fact that I am just a supernerd and my backgrounds are all fandoms. The Marauders (Harry Potter) on one, and Jingle Bells written in Galifreyan (Doctor Who) on the other. Also, I need a new name for this laptop. My old one is named Sexy, after the TARDIS, because it is kind of like that blue, and the Doctor calls his TARDIS sexy when they are alone, as witnessed in the episode The Doctor's Wife. I don't know what name to give this one. It is white, and has this sort of golf-ball feel to it. It needs to be something nerdy though, in the spirit of nerdiness everywhere. Any ideas?

     Today's challenge is 'your favourite...?' I really could have gont any way with this, but since I want to show of my plant, I will show you my current favourite project. In our school's gardening club we are growing herbs, and I took mine home over the holidays so that my teacher advisor would not kill them. They have grown immensely over the week-ish that I have had them here, and I am so excited because I tend to be very bad with plants. But here they are, green and healthy and continuously growing. There are even a few shoots coming out, which makes me so happy because they weren't there on Wednesday when it left school. It means I'm doing something right.

     A bit late, but always worth it I hope. Don't forget to be awesome!!

BEDD: Merry Christmas!

     This day has been hectic and exciting and fun and all around crazy. I was woken up at 7:30 this morning to go upstairs to open up gifts. That is roughly the time that I am awake on a school morning. I guess that is the consequence of having a 3 and a half year old in the house. I think I actually miss the days when my sister woke me up at 9, and I thought that was too early to be awake for Christmas.

     The gift opening was fun, much more entertaining with my niece here. She has such a hilarious way of opening things, it's almost like she knows that Christmas wasn't made for the impation (ie. my sister). She would tear little strips of wrapping paper off of a gift, and then hold it up for everyone to see. And she did that for every single gift she had. And it was a pretty full Santa bag/stocking.

     My parents really surprised me though. I knew I was getting a new laptop for Christmas, to prepare me for univeristy and whatnot, so that they don't have to buy me everything come June when the time comes for me to get ready to leave. They were planning on buying a printer to go with my laptop for graduation, so that I wouldn't have to worry about running around to print assignments. I thought we were all done with gifts when my mom puts this huge, heavy box on my lap with this big smile on her face. I open it up (with some 'help' from my niece) and lo and behold, it's a printer. Not in a million years would I have guessed that. My honest guess what that it was a gag, since I had already gotten a laptop and everything.

     This next paragraph contains spoilers. I did get to watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special, The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe. I must say that it was not what I expected from the title. I refused to watch the trailer for it so as to be perfectly surprised for the episode. I really loved this episode, just because I loved the original foray into Narnia that occured in tLtWatW. I also loved the different spin on it, all Christmas-y and Whovian. Of course, the Doctor would trick out a house to make his guests feel welcome. Well, I know I'd stay there anyday. Despite the fact that the forest trees were kind of evil-ish, taking over Ceril's body, I liked them. It was neat seeing the spirits of trees sorta literally coming to life. The Queen looked more like a Princess though, in my opinion. I also have to admit that I cried in the end, when they were all returned, the forest souls were safe, and the husband was alive again. I think I'm just a sucker for a good Doctor Who ending, though.

     I love that today's challenge is colour. The true embodiment of colour today, Christmas Day, has to be the Christmas tree. So of course, I went and photographed the lights in the tree. It was slightly out of focus, but I think that made the picture look even better.

   

     I hope that everyone has had a very merry Christmas Day, and that it was safe and happy and enjoyable. All in all, I think mine has been the best so far, just because of the people who were here to celebrate with me and the new memories and traditions I have begun. Hopefully I will continue bloggig for years to come, and will be able to continue this as a tradition as well. Don't forget to be awesome!!

BEDD: So Nice To Relax

     I don't think sleeping in has ever felt so good. Weekends are alright, but they always feel rushed, like if I sleep too much on a Saturday I won't feel satisfied on Sunday, which will mean a late night and a horrible Monday. Or I'll have too much work to do and not enough time to relax and get it done. Which is why this feels so amazing. I got to have my sleep in ritual of waking up and falling back to sleep repeatedly in order to have different dreams.

     I also got some extremely last minute gift wrapping done today, which was difficult because some of them were really oddly shaped. All I say is don't criticize the wrap job or I will return the gifts. It was also difficult to get them all to fit underneath the tree. Since we have some family staying over for Christmas, there are a lot more gifts under there than there usually are. It's a madhouse, I'm telling you. Tomorrow will be crazier, because there will be cousins and such over for dinner.

     The photo challenges for today and yesterday both took on the same subject, but with their own thematic twists. Yesterday's word was motion, which took a lot of thought. I am not very good at photography, as evidenced by my failed attempts to capture the picture, and so this one is courtesy of my sister, who has a much better camera than I do and much more amazing skills. It is my ring, spinning in circles. Each time I tried, my camera would capture a single shot of it, with no motion whatsoever, or I would fail the entire process of taking it. I like that it sort of makes my ring look gold, which is completely false.

     Today's challenge was shadow, and I really enjoyed this one. It allowed me to take a picture that I have never really thought of taking before, but is really overdone. I don't care, because I love how it came out. It's also kind of an oxymoron, because I love my ring, the shadow, and the photograph, but I am really not enjoying the book. 10 points if you can guess which one it is.

     Also, my day in a nutshell right here. Talking with my sister, just randomly chatting along, and llamas enter the conversation. So I say 'obamallama', just because it rhymes and sounds hilarious. It makes her laugh, and I jokingly tell her to Google it, see if I have any competition with my word. Sure enough, there's fracking stuffed obamallamas. Our new joke: they will kill you in your sleep. Don't forget to be awesome.

BEDD: Freedom Tastes an Awful Lot Like Gingerbread

     Freedom has never felt so good. I am so exhausted, yet I have literally done nothing all day. Got to sleep in an extra fifteen minutes, which might not sound like much but it felt absolutely amazing. Ate pancakes and sausages when I got to school, and then spent period one lazing on the couches in the library. Period two included a movie, and more lazing around, this time on the top of the a science lab desk.Lunch went by rather quickly, with nothing really interesting happening. Period three was a nice surprise, just a quick note that I didn't write very well. No essay, which I guess I could have foreseen, since it's so near to Christmas, and my teacher isn't that horrible. Walked around the school most of period four, then played games on the smart board in the math class since their lesson was done. Then it was off the assembly, which was actually not half bad considering there was basically zero student participation. We had some classes from the elementary school present some stuff, which was both adorable and annoying, since I hate Christmas music. Then there were videos from the communications class that were (all but one) un-Christmas-y, a strange skit from some of the grade 9s, and a hilarious song number from a few of the staff. All in all it was an alright day. I spent the entire time at school wrapped up in my blanket, so it made the day even more cozy and comforting. And now though, I am so extremely tired. I even slept a bit on the couch this evening, and that didn't seem to help. Maybe it's just all the mayhem of the week collapsing in on me now that it's all over. Either way, I am going to go to bed now, and leave the photo for tomorrow, since I don't feel like getting up to take it. Good night! And don't forget to be awesome! (yay for one long paragraph)

BEDD: So Close I Can Taste It

     One more day. One more day. One more day. That is the only thing keeping me sane right now. If tomorrow wasn't going to be an easy-ish day, I would contemplate taking an early vacation. Well, that and the fact that I have to hand in a very important biology assignment.

     Today was a fun day, though. We ended up watcing Despicable Me in Biology, since we were just supposed to work on our take-home assignment anyway. So I just enjoyed the movie and left the work for home, where it was meant to be done. We will most likely finish it tomorrow, since classes are short and no one wants to begin anything new before the break.

     Today we also celebrated my friend's birthday, which was really fun. We decorated his locker, and had our cupcakes at lunch, and generally bugged him about being the birthday boy most of the day. Another awesome thing is that the photo challenge for today is 'highlight of the day,' so I took a picture of the decorated locker.

     Since I still have some things to do before I go to bed, I will leave this post short. Only a few more hours of torture until sweet freedom. In the meantime, don't forget to be awesome!

BEDD: Cupcake

     Today was an okay sort of day. I didn't do much in terms of school work, but since it's getting soo much closer each day, I couldn't care less. After school, K and I made some cupcakes for our friend's birthday tomorrow. It is the first year that we get to celebrate his birthday all together, since we are usually out of school at this time. The only bad thing is he and K have a physics test, so we will have to do the celebrating at lunch. Oh well, no morning cupcakes for me I guess.

     Yesterday, while I was being bored and looking around the Internet since I didn't really  have any homework, I came across a really awesome '12 Days of Nerdmas' on a Tumblr page. Unfortunately, I couldn't trace it back to the original post, but I am going to put it on here and say that it beats mine in awesome by a lot.

On the twelfth day of Nerdmas, nerdfighters gave to me,

Twelve Hanks a humping,

Eleven peeps for eating,

Ten faults in stars,

Nine in your pants jokes,

Eight giraffes in love,

Seven hanklerfishies,

Six yetis hiding,

Five pizza Johns,

Four corndogs,

Three French llamas,

Two Brothers Green,

and an online community.

     Of course, my favourite from this list is a toss-up between seven hanklerfishies, because I absolutely love the hankerlfish, and two brothers Green, because I love the Green brothers and the reference to the Brother's Grimm. Nine is a bit wordy in my opinion, but all in all it is a Nerdfighter wonderland of awesome.

     Today's challenge just happened to coincide with my day's activities. The word for the day was 'sweet', which went hand-in-hand with the cupcakes that were baked. Unfortunately, genius I am forgot my camera, so the photo is courtesy of K today. They are delicious, but you can't have any because they are too special. The green icing has nothing to do with the holidays, either.



     Hopefully tomorrow will go by very quickly, and then there will only be one more day left until break. Until then, don't forget to be awesome!

BEDD: Strange

     Today has been a blech sort of day. School was a mish-mash of good and horrible, which didn't help the day at all. The last week always seems to drag on, and this year it seems like that feeling is mutliplied by a million. I really, really, really just want the holidays to be here already.

     The word for today's challenge is stranger, and I went kind of, well, strange with it. I didn't really feel like taking pictures, so I just clicked around my room. I came away with two shots that I really liked. The first is the stuffed monkey that is magneted to my bedside lamp. It's kind of a stranger to anyone who sees it, but to me it just wouldn't be right if he wans't there. I think what makes this one 'stranger' is the angle that I randomly managed to get. I don't know if you would instantly guess lamp if you didn't know. The second is a snippet of my wall of stuff. It's just a strange assortment of things that I like, random pictures from the Internet. I have a few drawings up there, and even an old Itunes card stuck in there. Both represent the strange-ness of my room in the perspective of a stranger. To me, of course, they are just normal, everyday things. So yeah. Don't forget to be awesome, you strangers.

    

BEDD: 'Tis the Season... Finally

     I was planning on posting early today, but then I got caught up in the Internet, then taking pictures, and now I am right back to my more regular posting time. But whatever, I guess this is just when the universe wants me to write. Don't want to mess with the universe; bad, bad things happen.

     So, one day down, and four to go before the holidays. I am getting rather excited for them, especially when I woke up this morning and just did not want to get out of bed. It is getting increasingly difficult to want to go to bed at a decent hour each night, and to pull myself out each morning. It wouldn't be so bad if there were more interesting things to look forward too, but it's just regular school as usual. We aren't even having our Christmas concert this year, since none of the drama classes are willing to perform. That has always been my favourite part of the final week of school, too.

     Saturday's photo challenge was a close-up, and I finally got a more seasonal picture with this one. I found an old snowflake charm that I had in my jewelry box, and took a close-up of it. It turned out alright, kind of blurred, but the shadow behind it makes it look nice. I was thinking of wearing it, but I prefer my pocketwatch over it anyday. Plus, I've gotten used to the weight from it, and the snowflake was just too light.

     Yesterday's challenge was backlighting, which I am not really a fan of. I didn't really put much into this one, seeing as how the lighting in my room is horrible no matter where it's coming from. So a bit of nostalgia in this picture, my Game Boy Colour in all its glory. I still play it from time to time, and prefer it over any of the newer game systems. Especially when playing Pokémon. Double nostalgia right there.



     Today's challenge prompt was time, and instead of taking a picture of a clock or something like that (since I've done the timepiece already), I was a bit more creative. I found an old cap off a Jones soda from my collection which had a quote/fortune/saying on it that was relative to the challenge topic. It says Donate your time, which I think is a really good thing to do and to remember. Especially around the holidays, we focus a lot about ourselves and our close families, but forget that there are others out there.



     I have a few special post ideas planned for some days this month, and am looking into more things. I figure if I am posting every day, then why not make some of those days more interesting. Especially on the days that I don't really have much to say. I am hoping to do some writing over the break, maybe also a bit of drawing if I get really bored or procrastinatey. Until then, don't forget to be awesome!

BEDD: Sigh

     There is only one more week of school to go before the Christmas holidays, and already I am wishing it were less than that. I really just want the holidays to start now, so that I don't have to think about a week's worth of work, or get up early for another week. The only good thing about it is that it means going back a week later after the New Year. Usually we return to school two or three days after, but this year its more than a week after. Which is great, because I tend to stay up really late the few days after New Year's.

     Some of my friends have already been accepted to some of their universities, and its making me really anxious about my admissions. I mean, the deadlines aren't even over, and replies don't usually come until after second semester has started, but knowing that some people are already being accepted worries me. I am excited for them, but I just wish I would hear some good news for me. Its really been bothering me.

     I know I said I would post pictures in this post, but I am really tired from travelling, and I don't want to stay up too late. So I will postpone them again, and hopefully I will write earlier tomorrow. In fact, I'll write myself a note to remind myself to post earlier. Anywho, don't forget to be awesome! Good night.

BEDD: The Nutcracker

    Today has been a really long day. I travelled into the city with K and her family, and we went to see the Nutcracker ballet. It was super amazingly awesome. I have never seen anything like it before. The backdrops were beautiful, with screens that backlit to change the scenes. I thought that was really cool.

     The dances were amazing as well. I still don't know which one was my favourite. The Dew Drop Fairy's was really nice, with the waltzing flowers. Very intricate. I also liked the Sugar Plum Fairy's dance, it was nice. I especially liked the music for that one. And now I have it stuck in my head. The Prince's first dance with Clara, right after he is transformed from being the Nutcracker, was also a really good one. Very romantic. I think that one might just come out as the top of my three favourites.

     I forgot my camera at home, so I will post the photo challenge tomorrow as a double. This day has been long but fun, and now I am tired. Don't forget to be awesome!

BEDD: Messy

     I am usually an extremely clean person. Everything in my room has a place, and I like everything to be in that place. I'm really OCD about it. Usually, my room is perfectly neat and tidy, nothing on the floor except my backpack (because my cat likes to sleep on it), and all of my shelves generally tidy. On occasion, I will become really lazy, or get super busy, and my room will end up looking like a huge mess (at least to my standards). That is what it is like now.

     Since I am going to be going away the rest of the weekend, I need to clean my room. Also, I believe my mother wants to wash my floors or something annoying like that, so I can't really leave anything lying around. She tends to not be very good at putting my things back in the right places. Or at least, where I believe they should be. So on top of finishing homework, which I rocrastinated all evening, I must pack and clean up. At least this is done.

     I liked the photo challenge for today, mainly because it involved a lot less creativity that usual. 'A Picture of a Picture'. How much easier can it be. So I photographed one of my favourite pictures that is stuck to my wall. It is the cover of a card that I received years ago, I don't even know who from or why anymore (would help if I opened it I'm sure). Anyway, I love it for its simplicity. I mean, when I was a kid, I was far too scared of falling to ever do that. I guess all you need to do is believe. And now I look at it every single day, and try to remember that as I go through the day, my life, whatever. Darn childhood, gotta go messing things up all the time.

     Anywho, I've still got some work to do before I tackle the rest of that list, so short post will be short again. I do have to say though, posting more frequently (though not ever day) has felt good. To see so many more posts is a great feeling of accomplishment. There are now as many posts in December as there were in 2010. It gives me a bit more hope for the new year. Don't forget to be awesome!

BEDD: GAAH Christmas

     Even though it only comes once a year, I have some very mixed feelings about Christmas. I mean, I like it and all, with family celebrating and being together, having a good time. Seeing people's excited faces when that gift that I thought about forever has made their day the best. But, I cannot stand Christmas music or Christmas shopping.

     There is just something about hearing the same music over and over and over every single year that bothers me. And the tunes are so annoying, and it's made even worse when singers and such try to remix them. Just leave it be. It's terrible enough as it is. I think my animosity towards Christmas music stems from childhood Christmas concerts, and being forced onto a stage each year to sing some wretched song with the rest of my classmates. Terrible idea. Twenty or so tonedeaf children singing something completely unoriginal.

     As for Christmas shopping, I just hate shopping in general. Add hundreds more intense, stupid, crazy shoppers into the stores, and you have put me into a nightmare. I am the kind of person who just wants to go in, get what I need (which I usually have already decided on), and get out. With Christmas shopping, you have to work around the idiots who cannot do this, who just walk around, browsing like there's no tomorrow. Honestly, sometimes I just wanted to run them over with aa shopping cart.

     Thankfully, today's photo challenge was freestyle, which ran on my attitude for the day. So I just went to the nerdy side, and took a photo of my 'Stone Angels.' Sometimes scary monsters can be adorable. There really isn't much to explain, other than these little guys sit on my bookshelf. I've had them for as long as I can remember. Freestyle, what else is there. Sleep. Don't forget to be awesome.

BEDD: Bad Blogger

     I've been kind of a bad blogger the past couple of days, what with the homework and procrastination and whatnot, and I'm going to be sort of a bad blogger today, too. I'm just going to post the three picture challenges that I missed, since I have to catch up on sleep and get up early tomorrow morning.

     Monday's challenge was reflection, so I took out my mirror again and actually got a shot that I really love. There is just so much going on that I didn't notice when I took it that it amazes me. Looking at it for surface value, you get the reflection of my drawings in their frames in the mirror, which was the original premise for the photo. I like it because I actually managed to get them both in their, and you can (hopefully) tell what they are supposed to be. If you look deeper, though, you can see the reflection of my hand in the right mirror frame taking the picture. That just amazed me. Also, my pocketwatch necklace made its way into this photo, which added a nice element of colour and contrast to it. The bronze/gold against the silvery colour of the mirror looks cool.

     Tuesday's challenge was 'Fool's Perspective', which took me a while to figure out something creative. I ended up photographing my doodle of infinity cirlces, which I drew last year during classes whenever I was bored. This represents a fool's perspective to me because to anyone who doesn't know or understand, it's just a bunch of circles in a bunch of triangles. But really, it's math. And math that I like, because it's an artsy math. I got the idea from a YouTube video done by Vi Hart. Technically, you can fit an infinite amount of circles into any triangle, except the pencil lead is too thick and math is too crazy.



     Today's challenge is called On the Floor, and this is about the most interesting this that resides on the floor of my home. It is a 'bear skin' rug which my sister used to have in her room, but is now in the rec room because her room is full of stuff. I think it is an adorable picture, and a good view as well. There were no lights on downstairs, and I think that just the flash from my camera was enough to make the picture really work. It illuminated the bear, which is the only part that was really needed.

     Hopefully I will be able to get back on track with all of this now. Who knows. Life can be annoying like that. Anywho, I'm going to bed now, so don't forget to be awesome!