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: Getting Closer

     Last night I finally finished The Diviners, a book I had to read for my English independent study. It has taken me forever, but now I can finally add it to my list of finished novels and can begin to read something new. I have to start Wuthering Heights, since it our final novel study, but I'm also going to start another book. I need to complete the 50 Book Challenge, and I only have 6 more books to go. I'm so close, and the end of the year is so close, I am beginning to get nervous that I may not make it.

     I am really not in the mood to write a lot tonight, so I'm just going to put up the challenge picture and end it. The challenge for today is gluttony, excessive drinking or eating, which happens to be one of the seven deadly sins. I took a weird spin on this photo, and it came out very different. I don't know whether to call this vampirism, cannabilism, or zombification. All I know is, I don't taste very good, and won't be chewing on my fingers, or anyone else's for that matter, in the near future. I just didn't want to go with the usual food/drink image that seems to do with gluttony. I went outside the box with this one, and it may or not have worked.

     And that's all, folks! I really don't have much else to say. Spent my Saturday playing video games, because I am nerdy like that. Now I must get all of my work done tomorrow, but that's alright. So don't forget to be awesome!

Alive Again

     So clearly posting on Valentine's Day didn't happen, and neither did posting later in the week. I really meant to do it, but I basically slept through this entire week. I would go to school, sleep on the bus all the way there, and be tired all day. I would sleep on the bus all the way home, and once supper was done, I would fall asleep on the couch for around three hours. Then I'd get up for an hour or two to shower, do a little bit of homework, and make my lunch for the next day, and then I'd be back in bed for the night. I think it was because I was sick, because I didn't do anything that would make me that tired for so long.

     Even though Valentine's Day is long in the past, I am going to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day. If you are like me and don't like or celebrate this day, then Happy Single's Awareness Day. I handed out Valentine-o-grams with the other members of the Student's Council, and it went really well. We had to buy a second batch of candy because we sold so much.

     My mom got me a giant heart shaped pillow. It's fluffy and comfortable, and I've been using it to sleep at night. K also made a bunch of us special treats. They are basically balls of cake covered in chocolate. They were amazing.

     This weekend was a special weekend for me. My sister, niece, and brother-in-law were down to visit. I hadn't gotten to see them since New Year's. My niece 'J' talks a lot more now. She's going to be three soon, and I can't wait. We took her to see a couple of hockey games at the town arena. It was really fun.

     Even though it's technically Monday, I'm going to do the 50QC question from last week now. It's my blog, so what I say goes. "Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?" My answer is both. I am going to school and working hard, which is what I believe I should be doing. I've got goals for the future, and this is how I am going to accomplish them. On the other hand, there is probably more that I could be doing, or other things that are just as important. Sometimes I feel like I am just settling, but I guess that's life. You can win some and lose some, and that's just how you play the game.

     That's pretty much all I've got to say about this past week. I'm hoping this week will be better, and that I won't be as tired as I was last week. But I can only hope. Well, I can hope, and I can try to get to sleep a little earlier at night. That might help. Have a good week, and DFTBA.

Can't Escape

     I thought I could escape it, but clearly life just doesn't work for me that way. I am sick. I haven't been sick since September (I'm not counting the night I threw up and missed school, I think that was from traveling and fast food). I thought what I was feeling at the end of the week was just an overdose of stress and not enough sleep, but sure enough I woke up this morning with a true cold. Lucky me.

     I have attempted to do homework for the past hour, but it just isn't going well. I will struggle through the rest of it later, but for now I need some time to just zone out. That, and some more cold medicine. There is only so much math homework a sick girl can do before her head implodes.

     I'm hoping I'll feel better for tomorrow, because even though it is my most hated day of the year, I will have to go to school. There's quite a bit of things I have to do tomorrow that are pretty important. Well, important to me anyway. So stay healthy, get your homework done, and DFTBA.

Christmas in ... January?

     When my family and I celebrate Christmas, we do a lot of baking. Cookies, cake, banana bread, rice crispy squares, but we have never made a gingerbread house. After the new year, we were shopping and noticed that the left over gingerbread kits were really inexpensive. So we bought some. They wouldn't that good to eat, since the cookies were hard, but they would be fun to make. So today, instead of doing homework, I sat down at the kitchen table and got to work.
     For something that advertises "easy assembly," it was incredibly difficult. The icing was hard, which made everything impossible. But I did it. It took over an hour, and my fingers were very sticky the entire time, and the candies just did not want to stick to the sides. Here it is, in all of it's miniature glory.

     Now I will go and get some homework done. Maybe. Or I'll have a bite of gingerbread house. Have a good week, and DFTBA.

Again? Really?

     It's happened again. I'm sick. But this time I took a day off the rest. It's only a Friday, and not much was going to be happening in my classes, and I went yesterday against my better judgement. I was going to stay home yesterday, but decided not to. I ended up falling asleep in history, partly because I was exhausted and feeling horrible, and partly because the movie/documentary we were watching was really boring. So today I decided to stay home.
     I slept until noon, but only because the phone woke me up. I sat on the couch all afternoon, watching TV and movies, and catching up on YouTube. I must say, I am feeling much better. The only bad thing is that my feet keep falling asleep, my nose is raw from the tissue, and now I have to do homework. But it's going to be alright. I have all weekend.
     So have a good weekend, don't get sick, and DFTBA.

Halloween and November

Happy Halloween! Happy November first!! Happy I-finally-have-time-to-blog day!!!

     This blog comes in three parts. These parts are going to be written in a reverse order from my intro. Since November is going to a crazy month, I think that this will suit my first November post. November is a nice time of year. None of my close friends have birthdays, so I don't have to worry about remembering any of them. There aren't any major holidays to have to celebrate. And November means Nanowrimo!! But more about that later.
     Part 1: why I finally have time to blog, and why I didn't have time to blog before. This past week has been all about getting ready for Halloween, and also I had another history assignment to do. We are now studying the Greeks, so we had to make a scroll. I must say that I am really proud of mine. I made the paper look old by soaking it in coffee and then baking it in the oven. This not only means that it looks nice, but it also smells nice. The message that I wrote on my scroll was:

"If only we could see the endless string of consequences that result from our smallest actions. But we can't know better until knowing better is useless."

     I also put a sun, an owl, and an olive tree. The sun is a symbol for Apollo, the god of prophecy, and the owl and olive tree are symbols for Athena, the goddess of wisdom. I did those because my message is speaking of the wisdom of not wanting prophecy, or knowledge of the future. Of course, I did not think of that myself. It is a quote from the John Green novel Looking for Alaska. It is my favourite book ever.



      In an unrelated note to last week, I haven't been sleeping all that well, so I have been extremely tired. Which means I have been half asleep all week, and taking naps. Not good for blogging. Nope.



     Part 2: November the first means the beginning of Nanowrimo! Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month. During the month of November, the participants are to write a novel, consisting of at least 50,000 words. It's pretty exciting, since one of my life's goals is to write a novel. It'll be good practice, and it will show me if I have novel-writing potential, or if my dream is just a false hope. I'm hoping that it's not. But you never know. Anyway, if you decide to write, add me as a writing buddy. Of course, my user name is Dandelions-Fly.

     I have a good idea of what I am going to write, but don't ask me about it. Not until I am partway through. Just so that I don't talk about it, and then talk myself out of it or anything.

Part 3: Halloween! To start out, I want to say that I did go trick or treating. K and I went together, dressed in our death eater costumes. We were only out for about 40 minutes, but I've got enough candy for myself, and the stuff that I don't like for the rest of my family. I carved a pumpkin for at home, and also one with K, so that we could do our own when we were together. I only have a picture of the one I did for my house, because my battery died right before we did our pumpkins. Yes, I did the dark mark.

     We also made Halloween cupcakes. It was really fun. Ooh, extra large picture.

     Pet costumes are cute, right?



Patch didn't want to dress up.  :(

     Well, I hope you had a safe and Happy Halloween, and that you will forgive me if I don't post as often as usual, but only because of Nanowrimo. So DFTBA, and write, write, write my friends!!

Accio Hallowe'en!

     This week has been so extremely busy that it just killed me to start another one. I was insanely tired all day today, and I fell asleep on the couch after school today. It felt so nice to sleep, but then I had to wake up. Anyway, I didn't forget to post this weekend, I was just busy. I wrote a really bad post last night, but had to stop halfway through so that I could write my essay for my English class. I did the entire thing in two hours. Don't you just love procrastination? I do. Sarcasm too.
     So I finally finished my ancient histories project. It took me forever! I neglected a lot of other homework last week so that I could get it done and presented, which is why my other essay was left until Sunday night. The essay I wrote was kind of poorly done. Definitely not my best work, but after all the frustration of it, I was just glad to get it over. I also made my visuals really quickly, but I still like the way they turned out. I will get a picture of them up as soon as I get them back, because I forgot to take one before I handed it all in. I still think they are good, though.
     Even though I completed my English essay, I still haven't finished reading the book. It's Frankenstein, and I have to admit that it's a good book, but I really hate reading for classes. I prefer to read for the enjoyment of reading, instead of having to pick through the story, dissecting the plot, finding meaning, or trying to understand the minds of the characters. Here is a quote pertaining to my hatred of such things:

"Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. - BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR" 

 -Mark Twain


     Another thing that happened this week was Purple Day. The idea is to wear purple clothing in honour of six people who committed suicide for their sexuality. God I hate bullying. Anyway, since I don't have any purple clothing (not even a pair of socks. I'm not even kidding), I wore purple flower earrings and my purple bracelet that says 'useyourvoice.ca'. It's for the Children's Aid Society, but the message is still the same in both cases, and it was purple. I know that some people don't wear purple because they feel that it singles out a specific case, and doesn't focus on actually stopping this from happening, but to me, wearing purple is my support of trying to stop this from happening again.

     Well, Hallowe'en is coming upon us pretty fast again this year. I spent this weekend with K, making masks for our costumes. We are going to be Death Eaters. It involves black clothing, a black cape or cloak, and a mask. Our masks look amazing, and I can't wait to go our trick or treating. Yes, I am going trick or treating. I don't care that some people may think I am too old. I'm doing it. I'll also be wearing my costume to school. Here is a picture of my mask:

     Well, let's hope that I survive this week. So far it doesn't seem to be too bad, but things can always get worse. On the flip side, things can always get better. So enjoy the week my friends, survive, and DFTBA.

10/10/10

     It's pretty early, but it is now officially 10/10/10. It isn't really a big deal, just another day really. But this phenom will not happen again until 2110. Next year will be more epic, but this is still pretty amazing.      So, events happening on this day. So far, that I've heard of, there will be a lot of environmental awareness events and projects starting. Thank you google. I think that's pretty cool. 350.org has a list of every single registered event in the world. They even have one for the city near where I live, so they're pretty precise. You can find that here.

     Also, a book is being officially released today (tomorrow?). Kaleb Nation's Bran Hambric: The Specter Key is being released in store. He is hoping, and dreaming, that his book gets on the national best seller list. Preorders have been being made for more than a month now, including signed copies. If his book does appear on the list, he will make a visit to the city with the most preorders. Too bad I don't live in a city that loves books. Sigh. Anyway, he will have an epic (hopefully) YouTube video out in the morning, so you should check that out. And you can read the first three chapters of his book, and of the first book, Bram Hambric: The Farfield Curse, here. I really recommend at least giving them a shot. What's the harm?

     Another thing I know that is happening happens to be a Nerdfighter thing. There's going to be a gathering in Chicago, but since I can't be there, I'm not going to say anything about it. If you want to know more, you can look at this video. Why do all of my favourite people that I want to meet have to live outside of Canada?!?

     Anyway, I am posting this now, at like 2am, because I might be busy tomorrow. I still haven't completely made up my mind, so I'm doing it now just to be safe. Now, why does it seem that lately this blog has been about telling you about other people and other people's fun? Oh, that's right, because it has been. School has just been it's annoying self, grasping me in it's annoying-ness. My English teacher has been MIA for over a week, which means annoying filler work while she is gone. I mean, you can only have so many "class discussions" before someone should realize that there are only a select few that actually discuss. For others it's down time to do work from other classes, talk, listen to music, or play games on Ipods. I mean, is everyone else just blind to this kind of stuff but me?

     So here is a warning to anyone who is thinking of using physics as a filler class/report card boost. Don't. It's very difficult if you mean to use it like that. It needs to be taken seriously. Like, study and make sure you understand everything kind of seriousness. I know by unfortunate experience. I thought that it wouldn't be difficult, and that it would just be something to occupy that period. But it's hard. Like, maddeningly, frustratingly, hard. But I will get through it. I've got some amazing help. And google. Nothing helps like a bit of google. 

     I have spent this past week with late nights reading, annoying school days, and evenings ignoring everything. Homework, people, YouTube (which took a long time to catch up on), and sleep. I just basically sat around the house thinking, and planning, and never following through on those plans. But this weekend, this glorious long weekend, has already begun to piece back together the horrible puzzle that I had created. 

     So anyway, I will be sure to post something more me-like sometime this week. Before the weekend, I promise. So have a good 10/10/10 my friends, stay true to yourself, and DFTBA.  

P.S. - That poster I did last weekend that I blogged about? The Egyptian themed one? Yeah, 100%. I know. Awesome. XD 

Artistic Muse

     So this weekend I really wanted to blog. It was one of the things I was really looking forward too. But I told myself that I would not until I had all of my homework done. It's now Sunday night. The homework took too long. And I didn't even do all of it. I ignored the chemisty homework, like I always do.
     Anyway, in case you were wondering, the previous post and the change in my display picture are for a contest. I am hoping to win said contest. I want to win said contest very badly. The prize is just too good to be true. So please cross your fingers and hope that I win, please. It would be very much appreciated.
     This weekend I spent most of my time working on my history homework. The assignment was to make a poster and write on it using hieroglyphics. The message was supposed to be our final words or message to the world. I traced most of the symbols, but there are some that I free-handed. I am not an artist. I would fail if I couldn't trace. So, without further ado, here it is:

      All of the symbols going across say, "I'm not saying that everything is survivable. Just everything except the last thing is." The giant black symbol is an ankh, the Egyptian symbol for life. And the last bit, in the bottom right corner, is a cartouche, which in it has my name. The symbols going around it, starting from the top right hand and going around in a counter-clockwise motion, say, "Now comes the mystery."

          To be able to introdice my last piece of news, I must first do a bit of explaining. I have a condition called Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH). It basically means that I have high pressure in my head for no apparent reason. I have been diagnosed for just under a year. It does nothing to hinder my daily life, as long as I take my medication. Which sucks. But what can you do? Anyway, I was bored today, seeing as I was done my homework, except for the ignored chemistry, so I was googling things. At one point, I decided to google IIH. Then I clicked Images. I've never done an image search for it. All I figured I would get for images would be eyes, spinal taps, and random google crap. But what I found made me really excited. I found an awareness ribbon, and from that a website dedicated to finding a cure. Sounds cheesy, I know, but when I was first diagnosed I couldn't find much information about it.

     That has been the highlights of my weekend. The following week is more than likely going to be long and annoying, and homework filled, so I probably won't post until the weekend. But that's ok, because next weekend is Thanksgiving weekend, which means a long weekend. So have a good week, be artistic, and DFTBA my friends.