Why Leap Year might ruin my life

Yeah. I just used a picture of 101 Dalmatians for my 101st post. Because I'm original and stuff.

Crap now I have the need to actually be original for my 101st post. Hmm. Maybe I'll draw you a picture later or something. 

Annnnnd on to other topics. 

So I've decided that I have three primary personalities. There is the "I will do everything before noon and then save the world from cancer with my 5.0 on the 4.0 GPA system!" personality. 

Then there is the "I will express myself through all the art mediums ever thought of and I can play guitar and have really cool discussions about life and who needs arbitrary grading systems?" personality. And finally, I have the "blinking is hard work. Why don't I just sit lay melt into a puddle of failure on the couch for a few more days" personality. 

That last one seems to be taking over my life lately, which is why I'm blogging about it. So I can feel less guilty about the fact that I saw a movie yesterday and did no homework even though it is threatening to eat me alive at this point. 

Kind of like this, only it would look more like a shark made out of homework and you'd be crying because you're actively being eating alive.

I seem to be stuck in a "personality three" rut, with slight variations involving wanting to cut my hair because in theory changing my appearance will force change into my gelatinous form, and being seriously tempted to eat an entire 6 dozen batch of cookie dough in one sitting. 

Which brings us to my new theory about life. It seems to me that everyone has a stupid month. It's that one time of year when everything feels like crap and you want to do something drastic to change your boring life, but nothing cool is happening and it's all boring, so what's the point? Then you lay on your couch wondering why you have no self control after you eat another piece of cheesecake. 

It doesn't always have to be the same month every year, but it usually is. Regardless, everyone hits that crappy phase of the year when you have no motivation and the tiniest of grievances sends you into a downward spiral of sadness and unmotivated sulking. February is definitely my month of suck. 

And it's laaaaaaaame. 

In light of this, I am going to assemble a list of awesome things that I must complete everyday before I set my nose to the grindstone of sharks made out of homework. 

Yay lists! (Personality #1 is pleased with lists)

Today: I am going to draw a picture of me punching a bear and post it on the internet because I can. 

Tomorrow: Clean out my iTunes. 

Tomorrow part 2: The first one sounds kind of like work to my sludge brain so I'm also going to eat a honey and banana sammich. 

Friday: Find a new song on YouTube to loop until someone stabs me for making their ears bleed. 

Saturday: Watch Phineas and Ferb

Sunday: Finally put my dinosaur computer to rest. Yes brain, I know this sounds like work, but it will make you feel better. I promise.

Fiiiiine you can also watch three random YouTube videos.

Monday: Go to bed before midnight. 

Tuesday: Make cookies and don't over cook them.

Poop! This year is leap year too. Why must I live through another day of crappy month? (I just said poop in a post. Classy, very classy.)

Wednesday: Buy a jar of nutella and proceed to eat with spoon. I know you're broke, but this last day of February caught you by surprise, but you lived like a freaking champ. 

Well that's that. Updates here as I embark on this quest of not sucking.

What are your guilty pleasures that you use to cope with suckiness?

In which I report on things and decide to prioritize my priorities

Instead of doing the cleaning that I really should be doing, I just read over my BFS list (for those of you who are new or don't remember what that is, click on the link. No seriously, you won't understand most of this post otherwise.)

And it was both exciting and frightening. Mostly frightening. 

It was exciting because I've actually done some stuff of the resolution part of the list (aka the icky stuff.) 

I got on top of my school stuff. This is going well enough that I consider this item crossed off. Other than that, I haven't really finished anything exactly. I've improved in everything but a better sleep schedule (good sleep or good grades I suppose), but I still have a lot of work to do on these.

Now, the BFS part (aka the fun stuff) is not going so well.
Seriously, I can't honestly say that I've done anything on this list. I've read half the books I wanted to. I haven't even started my afgan or my novel (On that note, NaNo is getting alarmingly close). Etc etc.

I do feel kinda bad that I haven't gotten to these things, but I'm actually not guilt tripping myself about it like I usually do. I feel like my priorities have changed a bit during the past few months.
Actually my new priority is to prioritize. Last school year I had a lot of time on my hands, so I could just about everything I wanted to. This year is a bit different. My free time, what little I have, must be budgeted carefully.
The things on my list aren't really important any more. My new goals are to actually do the simple things. I want to crochet. I don't need to make an entire afgan this year. I just want to write. I don't need to finish a novel. I want to make time to read. I don't need to read a certain number of books.

And there you have it. My long over-due update on the BFS list.

In other news, I have a Shakira song stuck in my head on loop, and if I don't get something else instead soon, I think I will be forced to stab myself in the head with a spork.

Hmm. Well that went well.

You know, I've noticed an interesting pattern. Whenever I say in a post I'm going to be posting more often, I disappear for a while week month or more.

Now, I'm not going to claim I was too busy, cause there were definitely times during the last two months or more when I could've posted. And it's not like I suddenly didn't like blogging anymore either.

The truth is, it's not only the blog that kinda died for no apparent reason. My whole life kinda went 'bleh'. And I had no idea why! For the longest time I could not put my finger on why I wasn't the happiest and why I was getting so lazy with all my hobbies.

Well, about three weeks ago I figured it out (which of course was the time school decided to punch me in the stomach, pin my hands behind my back, sit on me, and laugh at my attempt to have a life).

The simplest way of putting it would to be to say I was bored, but that's not the real problem. I got lazy about life. I wanted good experiences and fun stuff to come my way all by themselves, and when they didn't (ha, life isn't that nice) I got pessimistic and thought things were hard. When in truth, I was just sitting around being a bum.

I'm not really sure what made me snap out of it, but I did. And then I yelled at myself. And then got in an argument with myself. And then I wasn't speaking to myself for a while. And then I wondered if I was insane, and decided to just get over it already.

So now I'm getting my rear back in gear, which means I'm crafting, writing, tripping over my own feet, mocking myself, making snarky comments, and most importantly for my followers, I'm blogging again. Now, notice I'm not saying I'm going to post more often, cause that never goes well. But I'm over my weird semi-mid-life/summer crisis thing I had going that was, in a word, lame.

To celebrate this, I redid the blog again. Out with the old ya know. Isn't it shiny?

On yet another note, I promise to stop being a lame follower, and read all your guys' amazing stuff again. And leave comments.
Uh, though I think this time I won't post a comment on every old post. Cause that would kinda eat my soul. And I don't think that'd be a fun experience.

Which brings me to the part I've been dreading about this post. I've decided that I follow too many blogs for me to keep up with. GAH! There's too much awesome! It's overwhelming.
So, I have to stop following some blogs. At first I thought it'd be easy 'I know! I'll just stop following the blogs that haven't updated for like 9 months'
But then I realized that wouldn't change how much ends up in my feed on a day to day basis. So, I have to stop following some really good blogs that update all the time. Erg! I don't want to do it, but if there's too much then I just get kinda scared of how much I have to read, and then I don't even get started on any of it.
Grrrr. I don't want to step on any toes, but I just can't read it all.
Hope no one gets offended or anything. Cause if I followed you in the first place, you're awesome.

Anyway! Have a virtual cookie to celebrate the revival of this curse upon sanity.

yum

 And here's some cookies that will probably eat your soul or something, cause I'm a loving, wonderful person, who never does anything even remotely evil *snickers*

Seriously, run

Easter dinner, TWICE!

Today was a wonderful lazy Sunday. Well, mostly. I did have to get up purty early, but that already seems ages ago, so I won't go into it.

Most of my siblings, and their Significant Others, and some with their kids came up to visit. (Which comes to 15 people now. Yikes! and that's not even counting my sister and family out east o_O)

We had an Easter dinner. Yeah, I know that Easter is next week, but we wanted to have a semi peaceful celebration this week, versus next week with all the cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents etc. which will be absolute mayhem. Fun, but still mayhem.

As we all talked and laughed (and had wonderful conversations about Doctor Who. Ok fine, maybe that was just me and Shiny...) I sat back and looked at all the great people I've got in my family. Sure, we have squabbles just like the next family (for example, little bro sat on my busted toe. Screamed at him. He got mad >_<), but they're all still great people. So, shout out to awesome family! Whoo!

It was when I watched my nieces and nephew especially that I got to thinking about my future. Where will I be in ten years? Will I have a family? Not that I'm super worried about this, or what have you, just something fun to think about occasionally.

Somewhat along this line, I decided to write a letter to myself in a year. I did this once upon a time, but I was too little to write anything more than what I had for lunch that day, and about the fight my sister and I got in. I think it will be cool to see how I change in a year. (no, I'm not doing a full ten, or even five year one. I can't even imagine myself that far ahead o_O)

*nods* so yeah. Today was a good day for relaxing, and thinking about things. Some deep, some silly. Sorry for the somewhat randomness for today, but I am full of cake, and ham, and other wonderful things, which impedes my ability to make sense. Who needs sense anyway? And I'm sleepy :) Yay rambles!!!

Oh, a sort of PS on the end here. This was a sort of somber post (uh, not really somber, just not funny :P) so I shall post the most hilarious thing ever. Ok fine, maybe not the funniest thing ever, but you get what I mean. The lovely Spot inspired me with a comment the other day.

DISCLAIMER!!!!
My sister found this little shorty story/essay thing on the interwebs a long time ago, and I have no idea who wrote it. So, I hereby claim NO CREDIT what so ever for this awesome creation. I'm just spreading the awesomeness.


This is called Steve The Sheep, a story any writer will identify with :P

Ah, a blank page in a fresh notebook, truly the greatest of things to a writer. As you look at a blank page, with its perfectly straight blue lines, its three cylindrical holes and crisp white paper; your mind is filled with thousands of ideas, each one wanting to smear itself all over that vast blank page. You try and decide which idea gets to grace the page with its presence, but as your poised pen prepares to touch down onto the literary canvas...silence. It seems as though those thousands of ideas swimming in your head have clogged the narrow exit, leaving your page un-satisfactorily blank. You clench your fists in a fit of frustration, promptly exploding your pen over the page and yourself.
Now you find yourself with an ink stained paper ball, which you find incredibly amusing. You play with it a while, tossing it in the air, rolling it along your desk and attempting un-successfully to shoot it into the waste paper basket. This amusement will not last long however, as you are drawn to the siren song of your new blank page. You are enthralled by it;its lines bluer, straighter, its holes mathematically perfect and its paper white than untouched snow.
You fetch a new pen, stronger than the last. You begin again, choosing the first topic that comes to your brain, most likely based on what you ate for lunch. You write and write and write, works flying out of you, one after another after another, not necessarily making sentences, but words at least. This is about the time your mind begins to wander, lost in a literary daze, and you discover that you have doodled a small sheep in the top corner of your page, and the sheep has a little smiley face, and he's all fluffy and white and he's with his little sheepy friends and he's eating some grass and he's got the cutest little lady bug on his nose and...you are faced with your second and third paper balls, the third of course from the full page version of Steve the Sheep you drew after crumpling up the first one.
The pages are flying now, one after the other, idea after idea rejected by your ever tiring brain. Your collection of paper balls has lost all of its humorous nostalgia. Frantically you try and get and idea straight in you confused mind. This is when you realize that you've been talking to yourself out loud for the past half hour, and decide it's time for a glass of pop to revitalize your weary mind. Seven glasses and twelve paper balls later, you have finally discovered an idea so brilliant, so original, so marvelous, that you cannot express your joy. You jump, you dance, and you cheer...then realize that all the people in the library are staring. So you compose yourself, and sit back in your cubical, slightly red faced, and touch your pen to the page, ready to begin your masterpiece. You smile to yourself, proud of the story that will soon decorate the wast emptiness of your page. You breath in, and realize...you can't remember what you were going to write about.
Jittery, angry, sleep deprived and hovering on that narrow wire between sanity and the blank paper, the loud yelling begins. You begin to use your mountain of paper balls as projectiles, fending off the ever increasing group of police called on your behalf. You are now in the situation every writer faces at one point in his or her life: barricaded in a library using an ink encrusted cubical as a shield, holding some poor, frightened librarian by the hair, a paper ball pressed to her temple as a the cops attempt to talk you down from your hysteria, while you scream "BALLS!" at the top of you lungs.
Just as your brain is about to implode, you are suddenly pulled from the precipice of insanity by an epiphany. That tiny cracked light bulb inside your head shines with brilliant, thought enriched light. As you are being tackled to the ground by a large officer named Bubba and bound into a straight jacket, you realize what should have been obvious all along...this would make a great story.

Isn't that just the awesomest thing?
Ahem, anyway.
*waves* well, that's it for tonight!

An odd ramble about evil plans, and a watchamer

For the first order of business, I'd like to explain why I did not post yesterday.
So, at approx. 12:00 I set out on my usual blog stuff (meaning answering comments and then posting) My computer was running slowly, but nothing too bad. I still had time to post, and everything looked cheery.
Then, BAM, my computer or internet or both or something went ka-put and it took somewhere around 30 seconds to select one email, and hit delete.
At that point I cried uncle to the evil whatever-it-was and went to bed.

For the second order of business, I'd like to apologize to everyone who has been waiting for me to reply to comments. I love when you guys comment, and I love replying, and I usually keep up, but this week has been....ishy. So here I am, all caught up as far as I know. Thanks for bearing with me.

And for the third order of business, the actual post! Woo!

So, one day I was playing with my blog settings, like one does when one is procrastinating, and I found that the loverly little html code was having some issues, and not doing what I wanted it to. Naturally, I googled it, and tried various tutorials until I got the gadget to do what it was supposed to do.
It was then I had realized I had spent two hours tutorial hunting and gadget fixing, simply because I didn't know what I was doing. But I enjoyed it once I figured it out! (I bet you all know what's coming next. Ok, actually probably not. Well, you might)
I found a new hobby! I've decided to finally look into html coding watchamer. Woo! (and yes watchamer is a technical term. See? My coding career, with all it's exactness-by-a-single-letter-or-it-gets-messed-up is getting off to a great start)

But, more important than my getting another hobby, is that it got be thinking about my other hobbies, which got me thinking about my BFS list I started a while ago, and I was thinking of how I should revamp that, and maybe do some resolutions....

A trip through my random mind later (and yes I totally went through a debate with myself over ice cream before arriving at this conclusion) I decided to get excited over life again! You see, I depend on the weather for my mood to much. In the winter I mostly drudge along, managing to not die from the homework, and blog. But today (actually two days ago now. I think this post has a conspiracy against it) I decided to just say 'well la to that *sticks tongue out*'
So, I've gotten a plan to get on top of my homeworks here, I'm going to revamp my BFS list, and my plans for it (after I get a breather from the homework :P) and I've finally started working out. You know, sit ups, crunches, push ups, that sort of thing. And with the weather getting warmer I'll be able to start pounding pavement soon.

So over all, life is good over here. Except the sore part, but such is life I suppose :P

I'll prolly talk more about my newly refurbished evil plans some more, but for now, I think that's good (also, I think I've used the () a bit much today, wouldn't you agree?)

Musings for a Sunday night

Today has been relatively boring, as far as funny stories go. Uh, actually, as far as anything goes.

But, today I have been thinking about stuff I'm grateful for, like sleep.

I'm grateful to have a loving family. Srsly, they rock. Especially my sisters (no offense parents and brothers :P) we all get along now, even though our ages span a purty big gap. And most of my favorite memories have been with these guys (and yes Rebekah, this is you to :D)

I'm grateful for the internet and computers. Because my friends are in it ^_^
also, because I've learned this week that writing fiction by hand isn't the most pleasant thing I've ever done.

I'm grateful for Chocolate. 'Nuff said.

I'm grateful that I have March break for all of next week (March break you ask? yeah, we get a spring break to. I have no idea where March break came from)

I'm grateful for Sunday afternoons. Because only on a Sunday can you get away with an impromptu 3 1/2 hour nap. Yeah, today I got 7 hours of sleep, which is a very decent amount of sleep. But I was still so tired this afternoon, I had to crash. And crash I did. Seriously, the only reason I woke up when I did was my mom woke me up to eat dinner (it being like 8:30.) I would have just kept on sleeping. AND I DON'T EVEN TAKE NAPS! Like, ever! it was weird.

I'm grateful for sunshine. It lifts me up so much, plus it's warm, which I am a sucker for.

I am grateful that my sister is moving to Alaska for the summer. Sure I'm going to miss her like *insert overly used comparison*. Sure I'm going to be bored with out her some times. BUT this gives me a bigger chance to be awesome all by myself. Because whether I like it or not, we're both growing up. And she's going to get married (O_o)
At first when I thought about summer (yeah, I know it's still March. What's your point? I can dream!), I thought it was going to be rather dull, but then I realized that it's not really dull, just less busy. Right now, I sometimes feel as if I'm being pulled this way and that, going to one thing after another. Finishing up that stupid English paper etc. In the summer, I won't have that.
Currently, my plans consist of pounding pavement, and actually getting some abs. Do you know where to buy those? I looked at Wal-mart, but they don't carry them. *cough* joking aside, I recently went with my friend to her track meet, for lack of anything else to do, and I discovered just out of shape I am >_<
And I'll be getting some good writing time in. I'm looking forward to this a lot, because I'm having a hard time getting large chunks of time to devote to it. It's a little bit here, and a little bit there.
I'll also be crafting, which shall be great fun. But other wise, I'm free, which is the best way to bring out creativity.

and I'm grateful for blogging. I've connected with some awesome people in the blogosphere! I love it because it gives an opportunity to become friends with people without distance as a restriction.

And now my friends, I shall spend the next hour browsing the internet, because those who get that much sleep in the after noon, don't get tired till late :P

Get your crazy pants on!

Today was an interesting day. I'll skip some of the stories of mini golf, go carts (which I dominated in by the way) because I'm tired. They were fun and all, but the coolest part earns priority.

After I got home from my adventures, I was pretty worn out. So I changed into these Neon (yes, it's capitalized) blue sweat pants. Because they are the most comfortable pants I own. I washed my face, and put on my facial maskish stuff (which happens to be an orangey color)
I was soooo not going out any more today.

HA!

It being 9:30, I thought I was safe. But no. My family hadn't eaten yet. So we all went out to eat. With me in my ensemble. oh yes, it rocked.

But the best part was when we went to the grocery store afterwards. Because we walked right through a group of uber 'cool' preppy teens. The looks on their faces, as they could barely stop from gaping, was pure hilarity.

As I walked by, with them staring in disbelief, I came to the realization of how little other's opinions matter. Don't get me wrong, I like complements as much as the next person, but they should be treated as bonus points (did I really just compare life to a video game?) If I'm not cool with me, than 7 bajillion other people loving me wouldn't make a dang difference in my happiness.

But this isn't quite the point I was getting at. I am quite pleased with who I am. Yeah, I've still got flaws that drive me up the wall, but over all, it's good.

The point I'm getting to is that even if you're happy with yourself, but you hide it around other people, you're going to be pretty unhappy. That will just earn you friends that aren't like the real you. Though it may be scary, let your true colors show!

It's like a business. If your front window says, 'hair styling', but when you get in, it's a watch shop, that's not going to work out too well.

While we may be few, and hard to find, there are other weird people out there! and by weird, I mean non-conformists. Think of how much more pleasant life would be if all of us weirdos broad casted this. We could find each other, and become friends. We'd find people who are like minded, and not have to deal with the teasing in the same way.

So don't hide! You are interesting, and have something to give the world. You can't do that by wearing all the cool clothes, and acting how society thinks is normal. Variety is the spice of life! Give something different!

Let your true colors show! Wave your banner around! And get your crazy pants on!

Craptastic week

OK! So you know how I said my week was going to explode? That was an understatement. This past week has been the worst week I've had in a very long time. It was a week of bad hair days, sleeping through alarms, tripping over stuff, people being jerks at school, etc. But I'll save you from the gritty details.

Monday
You know how I said something about a ballroom performance? Well that day I learned that I was going to be 'benched' so to speak. merf.

Tuesday
I took a final. B-. oh joy. It wasn't so great for my beautiful, shiny 4.0

Wednesday
oh geez, I don't even remember any more. It wasn't pretty though :(

Thursday
This day was a real jewel. I woke up with what I imagine a hangover would feel like. And I fell out of bed and almost brained myself on the wall. Plus ten minutes to get ready. I also got to spend approx. 7 hours with people who don't like me at all, and the feeling is mutual. My bestie who was supposed to be there wasn't.

Friday
Crap. I can't remember this one either.

and those were just the highlights.
You know those days where you feel like you get absolutely nothing done, and it would have been better to just stay in bed? That was this week. I am so relieved that it's over. Ugh.
So I'm joining in with Notquiteawake, in saying February is the start of my new year. I'm coming at it with fresh excitement, new ideas, and a general policy of being awesome.

I think I might finally get a handle on this whole 'posting regularly' thing.
and I'm going to do so much crafty, and writing, and creative stuff it shall be awesome.

On the note of awesome things...
My loverly sister introduced me to Doctor Who. And I am in love.
Yeah, I know, a little behind the times, but better late than never. I cannot tell you how awesome it is. Without it, I probably would've rebelled against the totally unfair Universe, which is never pretty.
so yeah, sorry for the bleh post, but I really needed to get that off my chest.

On the Ninth Day of Christmas...

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

*drum roll* Natalie*! Yay!

Natalie is another of my sisters! (NOTE: in case anyone is confused, it goes Natalie, Renee, Anne, then me)

She is amazing! She has a very funny sense of humor, and it is great fun to talk to her on the phone. On the phone? Yes, sadly, she lives more than a few states away. *sad face* But, we still manage to have a fun time together, despite the distance. She and I talk about anything from the adventures of owning cats, to how my epic fantasy novel is going. Or the amusing difference in weather. Or whatever strikes our fancy. ^_^ She's a good mentor and great for life advice when I need it. Thanks a bunch!

Merry Christmas!

New to the 12 Days of Christmas? Read the post under that name to read all about it! Thanks peeps!

*once again, the name is changed.

On the Seventh Day of Christmas.....AND On the Eighth Day of Christmas...

Another double! I hate getting behind...

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

Today we have Tarrah*!

She is another NaNoer I know, and she is really good at writing as well. She and I are pretty similar in a lot of ways. She and I both get pretty crazy. It's nice to shoot her a message when there is drama this side of the world. Thanks for making me laugh!


On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

Annnnnnnnddddddddd there's Buckle*! Woo!

He is an amazing older brother. He gives me a very good example and something good to shoot for. And even thought he's FOURTEEN years older than me (ahhh, all of a sudden that sounds like I'm calling him old, which I'm not. I'll get back to this) he still talks to me about the things I'm doing, and school or whatnot.
Ok, I'm back to it. What I meant by bringing up the age gap was that he gives it a little extra effort to be my friend. And when I say that he's 14 years older, that just makes me feel young. Like, really young. Because he's not old, which makes me young. He certainly doesn't look old, seeing as he isn't. It seems like he just got out of collage yesterday. He has an amazing wife, and three adorable kids (aunthood ^_^)
uh, yeah, I'm going to stop before I shove my foot any farther down my throat. The message we should all take away from this is that he is amazing, and I love him a lot.
And I think I might have to edit that ramble above this text. On second thought, I think I'll do that when I'm more awake. If I do it now, I think I'd just make it worse. Merry Christmas Buckle!

On another note, you may have noticed that I'm a little brain dead. I actually didn't say much about the peoples today. I love you guys! I promise I do love you just as much as all the people before your turn.
Then why are you doing this today, you ask. Well, because Christmas is nearing, and I want to get the pressents started, so that means you need to tell me, but to do that, I need to do this. So think of this as a poke to tell me what you want, and I'll actually do the shout out for you tomorrow, or whenever I'm mentally up to it. (That sounded really lazy and pathetic. meh, it is me we're talking about.)


Annnnnnnnnnnddddd I think that's all for now. Merry Christmas!

Oh I lied. One more thing. For those of you who are new/the people who forgot, read the post titled 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' or something like that to figure out what this is all about.

Now I thinks that's it. Another Merry Christmas!

*Tarrah is the name she uses on the interwebs, so I didn't change that. And Buckle is a nickname that my brother got a long while ago, so I guess that works, right?

On the Sixth Day of Christmas...

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

Annnnnnnnnndddd today we have..... Nathan*!

He is almost the most hilarious, and hard working person I know. (I can't decide who is the most :P) He is almost always happy, and usually hyper. I mean, everyone has their down days, but his outlook on life is pretty chipper. And he has a talent for cheering people up. He's the kind of person who if you're around him for too long, you'll laugh so hard you'll suffocate yourself for lack of being able to breath. Wait, suffocate, and lack of being able to breath. Redundant much? Anyway...
Thanks for being a good friend :D

Alrighty, so far you're the only person I've actually thought of a gift for, so you aren't required to pick one (see http://dorksideoftheforce.blogspot.com/2009/12/twelve-days-of-christmas.html), but you can if you want :)

*name changed.

On the Fifth Day of Christmas...

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, Five golden rings,
Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

Anddddd....today we have, *can of amazing* Renee*!

She's just cool. She taught me how to persevere, even when others are questioning your goal, and even when you get discouraged and question your sanity. And she's just funny. Like, honestly hilarious. And she doesn't even try some days. She's got one of the hardest work ethics I've ever seen, which is cool and inspiring and all that.
This is hard. I'm trying to come up with something new for each person, but the problem is my friends are a lot alike, and awesome in very similar ways. This doesn't diminish their awesome, but it makes for a hard blog post :P
She gets all crazy with me, and my other sister Anne*. We just have blast when they both come from college for a visit. The best part? She's sevenish years older than me. She takes the time to hang out with her little sister, who's younger by a lot. ^_^

Pick yourself a gift! That was really bad grammar right there, but meh.

And as a general poke, only 2 out of 5 people have picked something. In all fairness, the fifth person was today, but that leaves two others. I love you, but consider yourself officially bugged about this. Christmas is nearing....
Sorry, I just have the creepy feeling that I'm going to be swamped this season trying to fit all the things I want to make in.

*name changed.

On the Third Day of Christmas.....AND On the Fourth Day of Christmas...

On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, Three French hens, two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

So, seeing as I'm sorta behind in all of this, you get two today! Lucky you!

The first one is....... Stephen*! He's a ninja. And he's convinced everyone that he's superman, but that's another story :P
He's basically awesome (I think I use that word too much. It's losing it's epicness.) He is a very good friend, has nearly killed me with laughter on quite a few occasions XD, and has also saved my bacon regarding a certain school project ^_^. And he has very good values. Not many people have, or when they do stick to, values these days. And that is a very apreciated by me. So keep rocking, and for the record, ninjas rule *high fives*

Go choose your gift ^_^

On the forth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree...

So, on the fourth day, we have Anne* of amazingness. She, wow. Out of all the people I know, she is the one that has influenced me for good the most. If anyone's wondering, she is also my older sister, so Samantha*, I loves you like a sister, but my real/blood sister gets that title (of most influence for good.) She taught me the difference between true happiness and self fufillment, and a plastered-on smile and popularity. Thank you for that. She also started my education in the beauties of sarcasm at an early age, so that my snarky sense of humor would be fully developed when I needed it most. Thanks for being my friend when I had no others. And you're still my friend, just thank you for being the first. Love you muchly!

Annnnndddd, now it's wish list time! Go choose a gift/see the very first 12 Days of Christmas post.

Haha, and I just realized that the 12th day will have a very long into :P

*names have been changed.

On the Second Day of Christmas...

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

Sooooo, some of you may have noticed i'm not being very regular about this.... Yeah, not a good idea. But that will all change, it will change now!
Yay, renewed effortness! Woo!

Ok, so on the second day *reaches into the hat of awesome* (yeah, ok, it's a can :P)
*drumroll* we have Catana! Yes!

So Catana* is a very awesome person. Her blog was maybe the first place I heard of NaNoWriMo. I don't remember *shame*
She is a very inspiring person. She hit 69,500 words on her NaNoWriMo novel, waaaaaayyyy over the goal. She was the one who motivated me enough to actually pull this off, with a loving kick in the pants when i needed it. She and I write in very different genres and don't always agree on all the aspects of writing, but she gave me advice my loving friends and family couldn't, because she is a writer. Thank you for understanding the pains of NaNo, and being a writing mentor, who actually talked one on one with me. Much love ^_^


*This is her internet name, so no need for changing ;)

On the First Day of Christmas...

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, A partridge in a pear tree.

Todays shout out goes to a very awesome and ninja person named Samantha*
She is one of my best friends (most people fall into that category :P),but she is also more than that. She and i have been friends for about threeish years now, and i can't imagine my life without her. She and i get very hyper, and generally have a ball together. She sings in a professional choir, but still says she isn't that good, which is a lie. She is an AMAZING singer, and she's a very nice and sarcastic person. Okay, i don't think those two things really belong in a sentence together.... Any way, she's kind at heart, but has a cool sense of humor that some might find a little harsh. I love it, and everyone who objects is not cool. So there.
Okay, now that I've gotten off subject just a tad, back to her awesomeness. she is the person who taught me to be who i am, and to not care what people think about me. Okay, so I'm still working on that just a little, but imagine me without her! Eep. She taught me to get my sass on so to speak.
Alright, i think much to her relief, I'm done embarrassing her now. I could go on, but those are the biggest things she done for me, and i don't really want to write an entire novel full of her awesome, which i could :D But i think that would be a bit excessive.

So, now you can choose your gift thingy. Let me know, and I'll get right on it. Love ya, in that best friend way ;)

The Twelve Days of Christmas continue, join the fun!

*Name is changed

The Twelve Days of Christmas

yeah, ok. i know i said that i would be doing this on dec. 1-12, but life had other plans.
but hey, i'm doing it now, and it shall be awesome non the less.
so..... i suppose i should start off with why i'm doing this. in some aspects of life, i'm a shy person. shocking i know :P sometimes i think that people can read my thoughts and know how awesome i think they are. in reality, not everyone is psychic, so i sometimes come off as a slightly snobby person. i really do love you people! i just don't express it enough. in light of the holiday season, i thought this expression of appreciation was long over due. and what better time to do it than when a catchy phrase is already made up?!

to start out with, there are 12 days of this awesomeness. and about 19 people that first popped into my head when i thought of doing this, with other people i haven't thought of yet on the way i'm sure (and i will most likely be all embarrassed that i didn't think of those people sooner when i do.) to solve this problem (no, i sadly don't have time to make it the 24 days of christmas) i've decided to cut up all the names (uh, meaning they all get a tiny piece of paper) and put them in a hat or something. then everyday i'll draw out of the hat. if you don't get a day this year, it doesn't mean i don't love you! and i'll most definitely do you next year!

for the lucky winners (or unfortunate if you consider me probably embarrassing you a trial) i shall write you a letter telling you how awesome you are. then i will do a shout out on this blog of how awesome you are (note: as a general policy, i will not be using real names), because once just isn't enough! then i shall give you your choice of gifts.

you know that one person (or persons) in your life that you love to pieces, but don't know what to get them for christmas? you want to put some thought into it, but you don't want it to be the gift where they get that 'oh, that's nice. hmmm' look on their face. hopefully this will eliminate that. i have a decent variety of hobbies, and you will be able to choose which one you want a gift from.
so, say you want me to crochet you something? and you'd like a scarf. you tell me that, and then i'll put my creativity into the project, choosing patterns and what not. so that way i'm actually thinking about it, but i won't give a flop either. everyone's happy.

the hobbies i can think of off the top of my head are:
sewing
crochet
writing (this would mean a short story for you. and i can cast you as any character you want if you want to be in it)
i draw comics
guitar and piano
i do sculpey clay, but i make no promises in my proficiency
basically anything you think is in my skill field.

and if you can't decide, you have until november 2010 next year to 'redeem this coupon.' if you choose to wait, i will get you a different gift for christmas, but it might be something lame ;P

in exchange for all this awesomeness? just think about sharing the love (can't you just imagine me saying that in a hippy voice?) tell someone how much you appreciate them.

tomorrow's another day...

so after a much needed rant, talking to some encouraging friends, and a good night's sleep (which i really haven't gotten since sometime in october) i feel much, much better. i actually feel kinda embarrassed at the intense emoness of that last post, but if it helped me get in a much better mood, then i'm ok with it.

yesterday was for realizing my mistake. i think the weight of that mistake (i spent at least three hours a day, for thirty days on that "novel") was what made me so angry at myself, mostly for not seeing it sooner.

today is for fixing it. i'm taking a break from writing, making a few christmas gifts, cleaning for once, and generally making a fresh start. then in a while i'll have another go.

and today, i can honestly say i'm pretty pleased with my NaNo experience. sure, i wish i'd seen this earlier and saved myself a few hours of wasted time, but i learned a very important lesson. one that i don't know if i would be able to learn as well any where else. i don't think this would be a good one to learn for say, a school project, or what have you. so i'm glad i did NaNo. and next year, i'll do it right.

and in other good news, i went so far off my intended story line, i think i can rewrite without any problems what so ever. in january though.

wow, i'm actually kinda tempted to edit that last post. it's really emo, and really not like me. but i think i'll keep it, just as a reminder for my future mistakes that it can get really hard, but it gets much better.

in other news.....
i have nine followers! and i've only had this blog for about two months. this fact makes me insanely happy, and i'd like to thank everyone! and thanks for listening to my random emoness ^_^ you guys rock!

a revelation, an ugly cow, and an empty victory

so, moments ago, i finished NaNoWriMo. it was definitely not what i expected. for one thing, i hate my novel. like, really really hate it. and here's why. flashback!!!!

once upon a time, (aka last fall) i hadn't sewn a stitch in my life. and then i got this really, really insane idea. i thought, 'hey, my sister is a very good seamstress. she can teach me.'
yeah, we're getting to the crazy part soon.
then, i thought, 'hey, halloween is coming up in like a month. why don't i make a costume?'
still not thinking i'm crazy? just wait.
then, then i thought, 'i don't care how hard it is, i'm going to make an epic victorian style one. in under a month'
yeah, it gets better.
oh boy, the real kicker. at the last second, meaning a week before, i decided i was going to make one for my best friend to. yeah, i'm insane.

but the thing is, i did. sure, by the skin of my teeth. but i finished. and they were pretty dang awesome too. i'm famous for almost never backing out of a crazy whim/dare like that. and then i epicly fail at a realistic goal of say, exercising more. i've always been proud of my ability to stick with things like that. sure, not so much of the fail part, but i've taken pride in never backing out on a whim. (/flashback)

but not this time......

you see, i signed up for NaNoWriMo. i don't remember where i first heard of it, but it sounded pretty cool. so i thought 'hey, why not? what's the worse that could happen?' oh boy! it was on a whim, totally not planned, with less than two weeks to get a story idea, and an outline before it started. ugh

for the first week, everything was going great. sure, i switched the timing around about a bagillion times, but hey, you know what they say. that's what december's for.

then the second week, things started getting a little whacked out. i started hitting walls i didn't know how to demolish. i didn't know precisely where to go next in my story, so i started rambling. then, i started taking dares. i started writing about random subjects just to get my word count in. things i knew i would just cut out later. this worked ok, i guess.

but it got worse and worse from that day on. i was just putting random scenes in. describing things in huge detail, just to boost the words. week three, i knew i was just running it into the ground. but that stupid inner determination of mine just wouldn't let go. of course, i couldn't quite see that then.
by week three, nano had completely slipped from my 'want to do' list, to my 'should do' list.
week four it slipped to 'have to do'

i killed my NaNo story, and the joy of writing (for the time being, don't worry i'll still write.) just because of the pride i took in not quitting.


where's the cow come in you say? well, i was talking to a friend of mine, and i often use the term 'what's his cow?' or 'i'm having a cow with this'
cow meaning problem.
so i had a major cow with my nano. my friend and i decided it must be a very ugly cow. and i named it NaNo 09, which has a certain ring to it.

ok, so that was supposed to be the funny part....fail!!!!


and the empty victory? i was so blinded by that stupid pride, that i missed the real victory, of writing a good story, even if it was a lot less than 50k. next year baby....
and also, i learned a lot from NaNo, even though i epicly failed the intended purpose of it. so, here's to unexpected lessons.


PS-sorry for the incredibly emo post. this is NOT a trend i will continue, i just really needed to get that off my chest. wow, this is really not like me..... thanks for listening any way :)

the mad ramblings of a pied-out dork

today was a most excellent thanksgiving.

i slept in deliciously late (which was offset by how late i stayed up to get my word count in >_<)

i ambled down the stairs and watched the Macey's thanksgiving day parade. which was interesting for two reasons. one, it was so boring i almost fell asleep. and two, i also felt an interesting sense of excitement, for watching the parade is the way thanksgiving has always started at my house, and it felt like the day was about to snow ball into an amazing adventure of some sorts. where is the interesting part you say? the fact that it bored me to sleep and got me all excited for the day at the same time. the exact same time. simultaneously. it was an odd sensation, let me tell ya. it made me think about how important family traditions really are. they are the things that tie us together in important ways.

after that, the day did indeed snow ball. there was a turkey to be basted, things to be dusted, tables to be set (yes, our family is big enough to take more than one ginormous dinning room table), etc. the day flew by with all the craziness of preparing. the turkey filled the air with intoxicating scents that tickled your taste buds. the pies were set out, tempting any one who walked by them to take just one taste. the preparation it self was a blast.

then all the crazy in-laws showed up. phew! boy did it get crazy, but that to was a blast (though i will admit that i was relieved when they left and there was a delicious quiet.) that was interesting (two pieces of wisdom in one post? what is the world coming to?) for out of all the cousins, i'm not what you would call popular. i mean, just read my hobby list. i'm a nerd of sorts. a proud nerd, but a nerd non the less. they are on the, well, cheer leading, football side of things. so i usually kind of find an out of the way spot at family gatherings and watch. this time, we all just played together. we told jokes from our favorite comedians, played card games and such. it was very fun, and it made me think about people, and personalities and the like. it's interesting that even the most incompatible people can find at least something they have in common, and have a blast with each other. i came out of this with a greater resolve to not 'brand' people on first contact/sight, and to try harder to find that thing we have in common with the people i already see.

then we ate. it was good. my cousin makes a mean chocolate pie. nom.

after everybody left (meaning the extended family, including all the cousins) i sat in the family room with all my family (close family, mom, dad, and siblings) we all just sat and talked. a lot of my siblings were trying to figure out some computer problem with my dad, and the rest of us put our feet up. don't get me wrong, i'm very interested in computers, but i was too tired to comprehend what was said. so i peacefully crocheted.

and announcing *trumpet sounding* the NaNo scarf.
the NaNo scarf is a very fuzzy, very warm scarf i starting crocheting in the late october/early november. i found that when my characters were giving me fits, or the plot took a nose dive, crocheting would give me something repetitive to do with my hands, somehow helping free my mind up. it helped me relax, and i would just mull ideas over until some inspiration hit me, and i'd be typing again. i don't know how it works, but i'm not complaining. so that is how it got it's name.

ok, so after all the extended family left (yay tangent there....) i sat crocheting my NaNo scarf. and i ran out of yarn/cry. it isn't nearly long enough to actually be called a scarf. so i guess i'll rename it the NaNo half-scarf until i can figure out some magical way to make it longer. it was a good project for NaNo, but i'm sad that i can't wear it. it is long enough to make one of those weird, scarf thingies that just barely go around your neck, and often connect with buttons. those are fine, but they annoy me. so i guess it's back to the drawing board.
the fail that is the scarf:



i would like to end this post with something awesome. so here is a list of things that i am grateful for today.

pie. maybe something more spiritually deep or what not should go on the top of the list, but seriously? can you imagine thanksgiving without pie? *shudders*

family. sure they're a pain in the rear a lot of the time, but they make up for it in their sheer awesome moments. they support you, they have fun with you. and in your turn, you are a pain in the rear for them, and support them, and have fun. it's just a good set up.

friends. they are much like family, but with less pain in the rear, and fewer eye rolls. but then again, they aren't required to stick by you like family is. i'm not sure if this improves their standing or not..... i guess it says something that they stick by you voluntarily. any way, i love all my friends in all their craziness.

being crazy. i love being crazy. you just have so much fun! the whole world is your play ground. and much like on real play grounds, we old people play on them, do childish things, and generally look silly. but it's fun. and i'd rather have fun and look silly, than look cool and be a stuffed up old 'mature' (aka boring) person.

uh.... more pie. yeah. that's good stuff. cookie dough icecream's pretty good too. yumminess.

warm fuzzy feelings. you know those days where it's a saturday or something, so you don't have school. there's snow falling, you have a warm sweater on. you get some hot chocolate and a good book, preferably by a crackling fire. yeah, that's the feeling i'm talking about. the holiday season makes me think of all those days, and that feeling of, mmm, warm. or when you talk to that one friend/family member that you haven't gotten the chance to talk to in a while, that you've missed a lot. ^_^

well, that's it. well no, that's not it. i am grateful for a lot of things. those are just the most important ones that pop into my head on thanksgiving (cept the icecream. not really sure where that came from.)

well, it's kind of late. and i should finish up my word count for the day.

PS-for the record, i consider anytime before you go to bed (even if it's technically after 12 midnight) to be the night of the day before. that really didn't make any sense. uhh....
wake up on thursday=thursday
bedtime at 1:00=still thursday
so this is thursday. not friday, even if the little date thingy says it is. blerg.(note: to any of you who are not familiar with my vocabulary, blerg is a guttural sound that is meant to express frustration.)
PPS-as a sneak peek into the future blog posts, i am going to do something i like to call the 12 days of christmas. i haven't worked out all the ideas and stuff, but i'm going to be doing something cool on everyday dec. 1-12
i think it may involve making my gifts for christmas, and thanking people and other awesome things. it shall be awesome.
PPPS-if i do happen to make gifts, than you'll have to wait till after christmas to hear about them, because people i'd make them for read this blog. talk about spoiler.