New Year's Eve

I don't have anything to blog about, and I don't have any writing ideas either. But I hope everyone has a happy New Year; for me it's New Year's Eve right now but most people in the world are already in 2013, I think.
So I was going to leave my post at that, but since it's 2 sentences and I simply can't post just two sentences, I'm going to put a few quotes just to make this look longer and more impressive.

"Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them."
--Bruce Lee
"Don't you dream impossible dreams?"
--Taylor Swift from her song "Starlight"
"I'm sorry, I'm busy. Can I ignore you some other time?"
--Not sure, my friend told me this one
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
--Professor Dumbledore from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
"Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have."
--Hermione Granger from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
--Mahatma Gandhi
"If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem."
--Eldridge Cleaver
"Winners never quit and quitters never win."
--Vince Lombardi

There are many more awesome quotes, but I won't put them here. Maybe I'll start a quotes page...
--Audrey

The Eighth Amendment and a Book Review

Just randomly thought of this...the Eighth Amendment dictates that "no cruel or unusual punishments be inflicted," but how do you determine whether a punishment is cruel or unusual? Also, since child labor is banned, where do you draw the line between typical house chores and child labor? And another thing I find odd, often people (including me) say things like "that's weird" or "you're annoying," but how do you determine whether something is weird or not? It's not like there's a book that lists everything that's weird (at least, I don't think there is)

  And now for the book review.....Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank XP. I'm not sure if I should rate this book out of five stars or out of ten or anything, seeing as this is a diary and it's not as though you can grade a teenager's diary in terms of well-developed plot and stuff. In general I'm bad at reviewing books because a) I like almost every book I read and b) when I like books, I can't think of anything to say except "it was good," "interesting," etc. But I don't have any other idea for a post, so here goes:

This book is kind of a downer. It's sad; makes you wonder why people were so cruel. But at the same time it's sad, it sort of makes you happier. (Well, it made me happier). By reading how Anne suffered, how she ate nothing but rotten potatoes and half-cooked spinach for months on end, how she had to tiptoe around all day, how she had to grow up without any friends to grow up with, you kind of realize how lucky you are. Because chances are, you don't have to walk around with a big star branded on your skin, you have more variety to eat than rotten vegetables, and most importantly you live freely. You don't have to live cramped in a secret attic of an office building with seven other people that you don't even really like, be in constant, horrible fear that cruel soldiers will send you to do endless labor or be gassed to death. (At least, I don't have to. I hope you don't). And through her diary, well, it's sort of like another history textbook. A primary source, I think the proper term is. (Although it was translated by someone else so whether it still counts as a primary source I don't know). She illustrates the daily life of a Jewish person living in the early 1940's, and a Jew evading persecution at that. Anne was extremely brave, all throughout those 25 months of hiding. She was about my age when she was first forced to go into hiding, and I tell you, if someone came to me right now and said that I had to go hide away in an attic with a stranger family for two years and eat rotten vegetables, I wouldn't be nearly so spirited as Anne, I wouldn't show the sort of happiness and hope that Anne emanated in her diary entries. I would totally freak out. Anne does a great job of explaining her daily life in her hiding place, how the people around her act, how she feels, and she even writes about the politics and radio broadcasts. Some of her entries even seem like stories you'd read in a novel today--burglaries, falling in love, finding her place in the world. This book is highly recommended.

Well, that was a lame ending to my review, but I figure a book review doesn't have to have a good closing that clears up all the holes in the plot and all that.

--Audrey

Counting and Sneezing

Okay, so the title of this post is extremely weird, but this morning while I was sitting on a couch, staring at the big calendar in our living room, a few thoughts about counting crossed my mind.
Please excuse this nonsensical rambling.

What's three plus four? Seven. (unless I'm so bad at math I can't do that). You get seven by counting four, five, six seven. But why don't you count THREE four five six? I don't know...I'm sure there's some mathematical explanation anyhow... My main question is how many days are there until New Year's? (For me January 1 is the New Year, I don't follow the Lunar Calendar but if you do, then the question is how many days till January 1) There are 3 possible solutions, I think, and 4 different ways of counting...

Method 1: Including today and New Year's: (it's Saturday for me right now) Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday: 4 days until New Year's.

Method 2: Including today but NOT New Year's: Saturday, Sunday, Monday: 3 days till New Year's.

Method 3: Including only New Year's but NOT today: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday: 3 days till New Year's

Method 4: Excluding both today and New Years: Sunday, Monday: 2 days till New Year's

In your opinion (or mathematical reasoning or research or whatever) which of these methods is correct, are they all correct, or are they all wrong and am I missing a method?

Okay, now that that's done, I just had to post about sneezing. I don't know if I'm alone but to me I find sneezing extremely awkward. I hate sneezing in public. Especially if I'm wearing a shorter sleeves that expose my elbow. Because etiquette dictates that I direct my sneeze into the crook of my elbow. But isn't it kind of disgusting if you walk around with spit and mucus covering your elbow? And it would look extremely weird if you took out a tissue and wiped your elbow after each sneeze. At least to me it seems weird. Yet there's nothing else you can do, unless you wipe off your sneeze onto your shirt or pants, but that's a) also kind of disgusting and b) I'd imagine you'd look very odd, wiping your elbow onto your clothing. So one possible solution, I think, is to not actually sneeze onto your elbow, but bring your arm up to your face as though you were going to sneeze into your elbow but actually sneeze over/under your arm. But that introduces a whole new problem, the fear of sneezing onto someone else, especially if you're in a cramped elevator or a classroom or something. Just wondering if anyone shared these thoughts or if I'm alone in being totally paranoid about sneezing habits.

And I just realized I've been posting every day since the 26th so I'm going to call this a post-Christmas New Year's countdown kind of thing. For fun, since my posts aren't that fun and I don't do anything fun like contests and whatnot.

--Audrey

A Random Idea

I was sitting at the computer, supposedly working on my essay and two projects (which are effectively ruining my Christmas break -_-) and suddenly I was hit with a random idea. An idea for a  writing piece that has nothing to do whatsoever with a literary response to Pride and Prejudice. So, without further ado, my quickwrite.... (by the way, the main character is in fifth grade)



       She stared at the empty plate in front of her. Clean, white porcelain shaped in a perfect circle. Then she looked at the spoon next to the plate. Also clean. Shiny, silver metal that reflected her normally thin face to be distorted, round, and upside down. The girl's eyes widened. Something--fear?--flickered in her eyes and she tore her gaze away from the spoon back to the plate, only to quickly start staring at her spoon reflection.
      "Excuse me, Kaylie, would you please pass the butter?" a friendly girl named Maria asked. Looking up from the silverware, Kaylie blinked a few times before her tablemate's request had properly registered.
       Without any acknowledgement, Kaylie almost robotically grabbed the stick of butter and placed it in front of Maria. "Thank you," Maria said, buttering her bread, but Kaylie did not reply.
       Just then, the harsh clanging of a bell sounded in the noisy dining hall. A young man stood up on his chair, ringing the bell. Kaylie glanced briefly at the man, and then turned her gaze back down to her wavery round face in the spoon.
      As soon as the hall became quiet, the man started talking. Kaylie didn't pay much attention, nor did she look at the man. She was staring at herself in the spoon.
     "...welcome to science camp! Enjoy your dinner!" the man finished. Once he jumped down from his chair, college-age camp counselors began taking dishes of spaghetti and chicken wings to each of the tables.
      Kaylie stared at her face in the spoon, her jaw slowly clenching tighter; her eyes slowly narrowing into nervous slits. She did not react when a teenager slid a few plates onto the table she was sitting at, nor did any of her tablemates realize as they happily spooned food onto their plates.
      However, it was only a few minutes before the teenage "leaders" of Kaylies science camp cabin realized that she was not eating. One of them asked, "Are you vegetarian? This spaghetti doesn't have any meat in it."
      Slowly, Kaylie lifted her eyes from the shiny metal spoon and stared at the teenager, blinking twice. Then she shook her head ever so slightly, barely tilting her chin from side to side.
      "Alright..." the teenager replied, looking confused. "Why don't you eat? This food tastes good, I promise."
      Kaylie blinked again, so slowly that her eyes were closed for almost a full two seconds. Then she shook her head again, moving even less than she had the previous time. To Kaylie's right, she heard a brown-haired girl whisper to her friend, "Can that girl talk?"
      The teenager was baffled. "Why...why don't you want to eat?" she asked Kaylie.
       Although she did not want to talk, Kaylie opened her mouth as little as possible at muttered, "Not hungry." The teenager shrugged and continued eating her own meal.
       Just as she had uttered those two words, the young man who had spoken earlier walked by, stopping right behind Kaylie's chair. "Not hungry?" he echoed. "We had a two-mile welcome hike! How are you not hungry? I'm starved." He grinned at Kaylie, attempting to be friendly.
      Kaylie looked more frightened than ever. She shifted in her chair as far away from the man as possible, and then answered, "I'm not hungry."
      The man didn't seem to accept her explanation like the teenager had. "Well, you have to eat something," he urged. "Come on. We have a salad bar. Or fruit?"
       Just as she had two times before, Kaylie shook her head slowly, and very slightly. "I don't have to. You can't force me to eat."
      His expression briefly flashing annoyance, the man prompted, "If you don't eat now you'll be really hungry at night. The kitchen won't be open until breakfast tomorrow."
      Kaylie shrugged her bony shoulders. "Then I'll wait till breakfast tomorrrow." Next to Kaylie, Maria let out a short giggle, which she quickly covered with a cough.
     Mr. Dilbeck, Kaylie's schoolteacher, came from the teacher's dinner table to the table Kaylie was sitting at. "Kaylie, you should probably eat something," he urged gently, standing next to the young man.
     Frightened at the sight of two tall men standing by her chair, urging her to eat, Kaylie shifted even further from them until she was nearly off her chair, and then she scooted her chair further from them until she was pressed up against the dinner table. "If...if I'm not hungry, why do I have to eat?" she inquired.
     The young man next to Mr. Dilbeck's eyes narrowed. "Just eat something. Anything." The way he said this almost seemed like a challenge; a test to see how Kaylie would react.
     Still keeping her calm, quiet tone, Kaylie blinked three times before replying, "Why do you want me to eat so much?"
      Mr. Dilbeck made eye contact with Kaylie, who stared right back without blinking. When her teacher blinked, Kaylie did as well, very slowly. "It's alright Kaylie, you don't have to eat if you don't want to."
      Kaylie didn't respond; she turned her back to the men and resumed staring at herself in the spoon. Both men glanced at the thin, pale girl a little longer, and then left.
     Later, at the "campfire" gathering, while a few camp counselors were putting on a skit, a woman tapped on Kaylie's arm. Kaylie, who had been staring at and pinching her right arm, looked up slowly, and seeing the stranger, quickly shifted away, her eyes widening in terror like a deer caught in headlights.
      "Could you come with me, dear?" the woman asked politely, smiling at Kaylie.
      Blinking twice, Kaylie leaned away from the woman and tilted her chin from side to side.
      Looking slightly annoyed, the woman said, "I should rephrase that. Please come with me, dear."
      Kaylie leaned further away from the woman and shook her head again.
      "I'm the nurse. There's no need to be afraid," she assured Kaylie, who blanched and shook her head again, this time vigorously.
      "Look, I was informed that--that you might have some eating problems. This will only take a minute." The woman pressed on.
      Kaylie stood up quickly from the wooden bench near the campfire and ran, as fast as she could, away from the woman. Little did she know that she was running right into the young man that had spoken in the dining hall earlier. Her eyes blinded with fear and tears, Kaylie slammed right into him, and although the man didn't fall, Kaylie dropped facefirst onto the dirt.
      The man reached down to help Kaylie up, but instead she scrambled to her feet and dashed blindly away from him.
       But a thin, four-foot tall girl was no match for a nearly six foot young man, and so Kaylie was quickly stopped, and guided to the nurse's office.
      "I promise I won't hurt you." the nurse said.
       Kaylie was sitting on a metal chair in a room with a closed door and no windows. The nurse as well as the man were standing in front of the door, blocking Kaylie's escape. Kaylie sat stone-still on the chair and did not speak. She stared with empty eyes in front of her, not reacting.
      "Why didn't you eat dinner?" the nurse asked gently.
       Kaylie didn't speak.
       "You're making this more difficult for yourself. Eventually you will have to talk to me," the nurse reasoned.
       Kaylie didn't speak.
       "Please, young lady, I'm here to help you," the nurse said, trying to keep her patience.
       Kaylie didn't speak.
       "What's your name?" the nurse asked suddenly, after waiting for the practically immobile girl to react for a full minute.
      Kaylie didn't speak.
      The young man did, however. "Kaylie Briggs," he informed the nurse. "Please, we aren't going to hurt you. Would you prefer to speak to your teacher?"
       This time, Kaylie spoke. "I don't want to speak to my teacher. Or you. Or her. Why should I talk to complete strangers about my own personal thoughts? I'd like to leave now."
      Neither adult reacted, until the nurse prompted. "If you need help, we're here to give it to you,"
      "And I don't need help. I'd like to go, please. Or are you trapping me in here?" Kaylie asked.




Hm...I can't really think of anything else to write...my idea was fading. Anyway, Kaylie's anorexic...
What I was really trying to do was make all the adults seem sort of mean and pushy, and get the readers to root for Kaylie even if she has a problem, but after reading my writing I decided I suck at that. But oh well, a quickwrite is a quickwrite. I won't edit it.

--Audrey
     
    
     

My Long Overdue Writing

As I promised yesterday...writing! I actually got a few ideas for writing to post, but one of them seemed to promise the longest piece, so I chose that one. I was going to write it as a diary entry, but that's first-person and I wanted to post something third-person, since I already did a first-person piece. So I'm going to try to convert my idea into a third-person story. It's realistic fiction...again...I can't seem to think of anything else lately. It will suck terribly, so I suggest you stop reading now lest you waste a few minutes of your life reading some of the worst writing this world has ever seen.



       Laura stared out the car window, watching the sparkling white snowflakes drift merrily to the muddy asphalt, and disappear into the ugly brown sleet.
       "It's snooowwiiiing, it's snooowiiiinggggg!!!!" Ashley, Laura's younger sister sang in delight, bouncing around in her car seat, rapping at the glass as though she longed to break free from the buckles and belts fastening her to the seat of the car and race outside to the snow and wind.
       Mrs. Weiss, Laura's mother, turned around from the passenger seat in the car. "Sit still, Ashley," she chided her daughter, and then she addressed both of her daughters, saying, "There are a lot of cars stuck in the storm right now, so it could take us another few hours to reach Reno. Why don't you two take a nap?"
      Although she had been bubbling with excitement earlier, Ashley immediately cried, "Okay!" and leaned against the back of her chair and closed her eyes.
       Bored, Laura craned her neck so she could see the long line of cars stuck on the snowy highway, trudging along at about five miles per hour. Many cars had pulled off to the side to put snow chains on their car tires.
       Suddenly, all car movement came to a complete stop. Mr. Weiss muttered wearily, "There must be a heavily loaded truck up on the highway that can't climb up the mountain any more. Or maybe a car spun off the highway. I haven't seen such a bad storm in ten years."
      Sighing loudly, Laura slipped off her boots and pulled her knees to her chest. "How long will it take us to reach Reno, then?" she mumbled, but there was no answer except a deep, heavy breath from Ashley.
       A few minutes later, the cars started moving again. Laura sat up hopefully, but their SUV inched only a few feet forward and stopped again. Flopping back against the leather seat, Laura rolled her eyes and leaned her head against the cold window. Snow was falling more heavily than ever, so that Laura could hardly see anything but white.
       Just then, a man bundled up in thick layers of brightly colored clothing, wearing a neon green crossing-guard vest stopped at the window of the car in front of them, and appeared to be saying something to the people inside the car. Interested, Laura straightened and waited until the man came over to their car. Mrs. Weiss rolled down the window so he could speak, and snow blew into the car, stinging Laura's face and covering the seats in a thin sheet of white.
       "The highway is closed off now. It won't reopen for another three to five hours," the man announced, and then he left to go to the car behind the Weiss family.
       Seriously??!! Laura thought furiously. I have to sit in this car for another five hours with Ashley?
       Mr. Weiss and Mrs. Weiss exchanged worried glances. "You know, I think it would be better if we just...headed home," Mrs. Weiss suggested tentatively.
      As both parents had predicted, Laura exploded in fury and indignancy. "WHAT???!!" Laura spluttered. "We always go skiing for Christmas! When you saw the storm warning, I had to persuade you to keep our plans! Why do we have to go home? Why can't we park the car on the highway and wait for a few more hours? We've already been driving for six hours, haven't we? Might as well wait another three to five! I--"
      Mr. Weiss cut Laura off. "Laura," he started sternly.
      Ignoring her father Laura continued to fume. "What? What's wrong? We already drove this far, so there's no point to just head back! It's snowing just as hard on the road back home as the road to Reno! We--"
       "Laura!" Mrs. Weiss snapped. "Why don't we drive back to Sacramento, spend the night there, and then tomorrow morning, we can head back out for Reno."
       Mr. Weiss nodded appreciatively. "Yes, that's a great idea. Laura, why don't--"
       Interrupting her father just as he had earlier, Laura challenged, "It's going to take us a few hours to get back to Sacramento in this storm anyway! Why can't we just wait here?"
      Ashley had woken up from all of the shouting and commotion. "I'm hungry," she whined.
      "We can get food in Sacramento," Mrs. Weiss decided. "Besides, there aren't nearly as many cars headed away from Reno as there are to Reno. It'll only take an hour."
      Laura demanded angrily, "So the second Ashley says she's hungry, we turn right around to feed her spoiled face?! Yet when I really want to go to Reno, you just make some lame excuses and--"
     Livid, Mrs. Weiss cried, "Laura! Apologize to your sister!" Ashley had started crying.
     "No, I don't think I'll apologize for telling the truth," Laura snorted disrespectfully.



I couldn't think of how to end this. Anyway, it's a pointless story, just parents arguing with their child.

--Audrey

Winterlicious Tag

Thank you very much to July who tagged me with, as the title clearly states, the Winterlicious Tag!

Favorite Winter Movie: Miracle on 34th Street
Favorite Winter Holiday: Christmas (with New Year's as a very close second!)
Favorite Winter Drink: What qualifies as a winter drink, exactly? I like mint black tea, but if that doesn't count, I also enjoy hot cocoa with a candy cane melted into it.
Favorite Winter Accessory: snowflake necklace
One thing on your Christmas List: Barnes and Noble gift card (which I received, as you might know if you read my previous post)
One thing you regret: Not making sure that the hotel I was staying at had WiFi so I could blog
Five Pictures that have to do with winter or random:






Thank you to Google Images for the pictures! =)
And now to tag four others....
Fira Marine
Jessica
Kayla Anne
The awesome guy from www.entresting.com who I don't actually know and he won't actually do the tag, I think, but I can't think of anyone to tag that hasn't been tagged already...

--Audrey

A Belated Merry Christmas

Hi, everyone! I hope you had a very merry Christmas, and if you don't celebrate Christmas, I think Kwanzaa starts today...and if you celebrate Chanuka, I hope that was a several days, and if you don't celebrate any of those, I hope you will have a happy New Year or a happy winter! For Christmas my parents gave me a $100 Barnes and Noble (a chain bookstore) gift card, which I am extremely happy about.
I really would've posted a lot earlier, but I went to Lake Tahoe in Nevada (which, by the way, has awesome sloped) and the hotel I was staying at had no WiFi, unless you buy it for like $25... But while I was on vacation, I had an idea for some long overdue writing to post, and July also gave me the Winterlicious Tag (which I will do in just a sec).

Right now, I seem to have the beginnings of the flu...stuffy nose, my head feels heavy, and my face is rather flushed. But I don't mind because I'm at home, with my family, well fed and happy, which unfortunately not everyone in the world can say. Anyway, not much else to say, so I think I'll get started on that Winterlicious Tag! Tomorrow I'll post the writing that I ought've posted loooong ago.

--Audrey

Guest Post: Vanessa

Hey, everyone!! Is anyone else positively DYING for Christmas break? Cuz I know I am XP
Happy Chanuka/Kwanzaa/Christmas/New Year/whatever you celebrate!
But more to the point, one of my best friends, Vanessa, is going to guest post! =)

When Audrey first asked me to guest post, I was forming a post in my head before I even accepted her offer (because, um, DUH I want to post on someone's blog!) I don't remember exactly what my evil brain was cooking up, but it was terrible and went something like this:

I'm not an artist. I can't draw or paint to save my life. I never had a knack for instruments. I can't sing or dance or design or decorate. I can't fold paper into pretty shapes or cut paper into pretty shapes. I'm not athletic either. I can't kick balls, catch balls, throw balls, run fast, jump over hurdles, swing rackets, do crazy tricks on four-inch beams, or do ten turns at once while balancing on the tips of my toes.

It went on like this, until I started to say that I always had writing, that I always loved writing, and writing was always there for me. And I'd turn that into a pretty little inspirational sob story. But I couldn't, because that is just totally FAKE. And wrong. Lies. False words that I'd put into my graduation speech. (except for the fact it is not in any way possible I'll be the valedictorian).

I don't mean to brag or anything, but truthfully, I'm not bad at everything but writing like I was going to say. If I do say so myself, I don't play the piano all too bad, and just two weeks ago I set my new mile-running record (6:23 WHAT NOW PEOPLES?!). But I knew I couldn't just blog up Audrey's awesome blog with my junky ramblings. So I obsessed over what I would write, how I could turn this guest post into something cool, something worthwhile that people wouldn't regret reading.

But unfortunately, I couldn't come up with anything, so you're just going to have to put up with my aforementioned junky ramblings. I thought I was going to write about...writing. How I love writing, how writing makes me happy, and all that mushy gushy cliche blah-blah-blah. I like to think of myself as a writer--I mean, I write. Not well, but I do write. And then, last night, or rather this morning, when I was technically supposed to be studying for a physics final that I took today and failed miserably, I knew what I was going to write about. This. These wonderfully amazingly breathtakingly awesome junky ramblings. Because that is what I write.

I could write an inspirational piece, if I tried. (Which I wouldn't). I could write about how happy writing makes me, because at least that's true. I could even post some of my many many manyyyy stories that I thought was a fantastical idea until I wrote about 2 pages and then my brilliant light was put out. But the truth is, that isn't what I write. I write about everything that comes to my mind, like whether pillows can be compared to iron in terms of brittleness and why concrete is grey and whether it's valid to complain about something that is wrong manner-wise but not breaking and rules or laws of any sort. And even if no one else but me cares about that, the fact remains that I care about it, and that's what matters in my writing. That I like what I'm writing, that I enjoy what I'm writing, that I feel like the writing is my own and not gushy inspirational words put into my head by my language arts teacher. Even though my writing sucks, generally has no point, and no one understands it...it's MY writing, and for me, that's all that matters.

 

    

 

    

And that's Vanessa! =) Very nice piece, I think. And inspirational. Although I don't quite get the part about pillows and iron...haha. And, um...a mile in 6:23??!!! Very impressive.
Please see Seana J Vixen's blog, she has a Christmas contest that she clearly wants people to enter! =D
~Audrey

What An Adorable Blog! Award

Thank you very much to the fabulous July, a totally awesome blogger who nominated me for the What An Adorable Blog! Award.

Rules of this award:
-- you must nominate 4 other bloggers
-- you must answer the following questions:

Q1: If you were stranded on a beach in the middle of nowhere, which three people would you have with you?
Molly, even though she’s extremely chatty XP, Alexa, and Cody Lundin, this totally awesome survivalist on Discovery Channel that’d get us three girls off the island in no time =).

Q2: Which celebrity would you love to meet?
Um…that’s hard…I’d have to go with Taylor Swift though. I really like her music.

Q3: If you won one million pounds/euros/other currency, what would you spend it on?
A MILLION dollars??!! I can’t even begin to imagine what that could buy me. I’d save $200,000 for college tuition, and use the rest to: buy more stuff for my awesome cat, buy BOOKS, help me get an agent to publish my NaNo novel, donate to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, donate to help soldiers overseas, and a vacation to Paris.

Q4: Pick two people you can't live without.
Oh…well, both my parents earn enough money individually to sustain our family’s life, but I can’t just put my mom and not my dad, or my dad and not my mom, so, although I’m totally copying from July (sorry!) my mom and dad.

Now, four other bloggers to nominate...hm, well...
Fira Marine because her blog is just totally awesome.
Jessica because her blog is also totally awesome, and she's an amazing writer AND artist.
Hermione because I really like her blog, and because she's a huge fan of Harry Potter like me =).
Kayla Anne because her blog is super cool, and she's really good at taking pictures of herself. Which I just can't do.

Have fun everybody I nominated, and I hope you aren't mad at me for making you do a post about your award!
 



 

Take It All

So unless you want to waste some of your precious time listening to me rant about the utterly ridiculous and stupid new game show "Take It All," I highly suggest you don't continue to read this post.
(totally off-topic question: Does anyone know how to change the text color of the "About Me?")

Brief overview of the game show: There are five people. The first person opens a "prize." The next person can either: open a new prize, or take the first person's prize. If someone wants your prize, you can't stop them--you have one "lock" that stops someone from taking your prize, only one in the game. At the end of the round, whoever has the cheapest prize has to go home empty-handed. There are four people; the game continues. Then there are 2 people left. They go to a "prizefight." So basically each person gets a cash prize, but they don't know how much it is. Then each player chooses either "Keep Mine" or "Take It All." If BOTH choose "Keep Mine" then BOTH keep the prizes they have accumulated through the rounds. If ONE puts "Keep Mine" and ONE puts "Take It All," the person who puts "Take It All" gets all the prizes-their own, and the other person's. If they BOTH choose "Take It All," then they BOTH get nothing. This last part is supposed to be the super-exciting part but it isn't, if you think about it, which is why this show is poorly designed.
(wow, still reading?) (go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_It_All_(game_show) for a better explanation of the game show--I can't explain things well).

So at first I thought OF COURSE you should choose "Take It All" because: IF the other person puts "Keep Mine" you get EVERYTHING. And if the other person puts "Take It All," maybe you get nothing, but at least the other person doesn't take your stuff.
Then, I sort of thought about it at a mathematical level. Assuming there's a fifty-fifty chance of choosing either "Keep Mine" or "Take It All."
IF you choose "Take It All" you have a 50% chance of getting NOTHING and 50% of getting EVERYTHING. If you choose "Keep Mine" you have a 50% chance of getting NOTHING and a 50% chance of getting HALF.
Well, DUH!!!! Are you going to flip a coin for $0/$200 or flip a coin for $0/$100?????!!!! (how I wish there was an interrobang key...but if it's on the Symbol section of Word I'm soo not going to copy-paste it and go through all that trouble, lazy me XD)
The last competition is basically determining whether or not you trust the other person enough to put "Keep Mine" so that you can both get money. So I thought maybe on the trust level, the game would be better designed.
But then I thought about it and it STILL makes more sense to put "Take It All." IF you DO trust the other person to put "Keep Mine," it's better to put "Take It All" 'cuz then you get EVERYTHING.
If you DO NOT trust the other person to put "Keep Mine," it's better to put "Take It All" because at least then the other person won't get your prizes.

If anyone's still reading this, and hasn't fallen asleep due to my poorly constructed, boring, rude rant, please tell me in the comments or Cbox whether there's something about this stupid show that I didn't quite understand!

The Useless Post

As the title of this useless post cleary states, this post is useless. But I haven't posted in quite a while and felt like I should, which is why I'm putting off three projects, an essay, massive amounts of other homework, and finals-studying to write this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi3aEGo8y-E Very cool Procrastination Musical =)


So I'm kind of tempted to leave this post at that, since I really have nothing going on with me. Unless you want to read about my mountainous stacks of homework (part of which is overdue) or my big, this-is-half-of-my-semester-grade-so-I-really-can't-screw-this-up projects, or my vain attempts to memorize pages upon pages of Spanish vocabulary, or my Nastily Exhausting not-Wizarding final Tests.

A semi-interesting story: On Sunday night, or more accurately Monday morning, when I was frantically trying to finish all my homework (that I totally didn't leave until that time) there was a loud shout from outside, which was quite scary, believe me, because one does not often hear a man yell "HEY!!!!" at the top of their lungs on a Monday morning at approximately 2:30 AM, the shout seeming to have come from your backyard. But when I looked outside, my neighbors were actually having some sort of party in their backyard... some sort of December 9th holiday I don't know about?

That's all =) Happy Holidays, everyone!

NaNoWriMo

UGH I still cannot figure out how to put up a NaNoWriMo widget on this blog, so I guess I'll just have to do it this way: I'VE WRITTEN 34316 WORDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Which is surprisingly above par as of today, but I'm seriously out of ideas...
But this is a writing blog and I have to post WRITING, but NaNoWriMo is seriously sucking every last drop of writing inspiration in me.
And I do not want to share the novel I'm writing for NaNoWriMo...it sucks way too much. I am very ashamed of it.

So here's a little quickwrite-ish thing that I thought of a few minutes ago when staring blankly at the computer screen, with no new ideas for my novel. Kindly excuse the horrible grammar and way too many sentences starting with "I" and "the."

  I stood on the wet concrete deck of the swimming pool, the tips of my toes just barely hanging over the edge of the deck. The surface of the pool was still and unbroken, dancing with hundreds of shades of gorgeous blue. The deck created a short shadow about two or three feet, making the water a beautiful turquoise. Staring down at the clean tile at the bottom of the twelve-foot pool, I envisioned myself plunging into the cool, glorious water.

 I looked at the other side of the pool, where there were several men and women holding stopwatches and chatting amongst themselves. Then, directly disobeying my coach, I sneaked a peek on both sides of me, checking out the seven girls that were my competition.

             Suddenly, a long, shrill whistle pierced the noisy air, and I took the cue. Standing atop the white diving board, I made sure my goggles were tight for the millionth time, and peered at the other girls again. A familiar swarm of frantic butterflies flapped in my stomach.

A mechanical-sounding man’s voice stated, “Swimmers, take your marks.” I positioned my back leg, and lined the toes of my front leg up with the edge of the board as I had done so many times before. Then, leaning over to grasp the edge of the board, I took a deep breath. The edge of the hard, wet plastic felt familiar under my fingers. I bent my head down low, staring at the serene water, focusing on the spot I wanted to dive into.

The spilt second the all-too familiar sound of the buzzer hit my ears, I pushed off the board with my legs, assembled my arms in a tight streamline, and broke the surface of the cold water with a splash.

 

Vacations

I've been on a lot of vacations. Like, seriously, A LOT.
In the USA alone I've been to LAX, San Francisco, a lot of other places in California, Lake Tahoe, Seattle, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Hawaii (Maui, Lahaina, Kihie, Honolulu) Alaska, Washington DC, Florida (Orlando, Miami, Everglades), NYC, Maine, Texas, New Mexico.....and more.
I've been to Montreal and Quebec, Banff and Vancouver...that's Canada.
I've been to Cancun, Mexico City, Riveria Maya, and other places in Mexico.
In South America I've been to Brazil. My mom said we might visit the Andes mountains and explore the old Incan civilization a little further east.
Europe... France (Paris!), Germany, Switzerland, Italy (Rome and Venice!), Great Britain (London), and Spain (Madrid, Barcelona), Greece.
Egypt in Africa, and I've also been to Madagascar and a bit of mainland Australia.
But there's one place I've never been.........................
Asia.
My family isn't remotely Asian, and I guess we just never thought about going.
Which, now I think about it, is pretty stupid since a lot of places like India and China are a lot more worth visiting than a kiwi farm in Nebraska. Which, btw, is a pretty boring place to go.

But today.....just like ten minutes ago, when we were eating dinner (totally offtopic but did you know some people eat dinner at four pm? crazy!!!) my mom said that in the 2013 summer I-not we, I- was going to SHANGHAI. CHINA. For a whole entire monthhhhhh.....the exact dates TBD. Just me, all by my little own self. JUST. ME. ALL. ALONE. Well not exactly....my mom's best friend (one of em) is Chinese and she takes her daughter to China every summer. THEN said Chinese mother offered to take me along for the trip and THEN my mother had to go and AGREE.
We'll be staying in an apartment with some relative of that family. Only two people live there-a Chinese girl who is in eighth grade like me and her grandma. (My mom's best friend's daughter is in seventh grade.)
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Oh, Audrey, it'll be such a good experience!" says my mom and I'm like *scornful face* "Yeah right." Mom: Oh, Audrey, stop complaining, I wish I were in your position!" and I'm just like "Great! You can go instead of me!" my mom: "Audrey, really, you should be glad you have this wonderful oppurtunity!" Me: "So when was being shipped halfway across the world all by yourself when you were only 13 a wonderful oppurtunity?"

And I'm not just going there on vacation....ohhhhh nooooooo......
I've been signed up for some diamond authentication class. I don't really know what it's called but they teach you how to tell fake gems from real.
That sounds hard to learn if it's being taught to me in ENGLISH.
But this is a CHINESE class, and I don't know a single word in Chinese except for "ni hao" which I don't know what the characters look like and I can't pronounce it right. Well actually I've never heard it pronounced by a Chinese speaker but I'm pretty much certain I'm not saying it right.

Majorly. Freaking. Out.

Hey Guys!

Helllooooo!!!!
(not that there's anyone who's actually reading this)
I've started a new blog, my writing blog =D.
Mostly you'll see free verse/haiku poems, short stories, and quickwrites.
I am participating in NaNoWriMo, and if I figure out how, there will soon be a widget showing my epic journey to 50,000 words.
That's about it, but I thought I ought to post some writing, seeing as this is a writing blog and all.

...and I've just spent ten minutes sitting at the computer, with nothing to write.
XD so excuse this horrendous piece of writing.

Magical

The wing of a fairy,

The cry of a nymph.

The song of a sylph,

The laugh of an elf.

The touch of a dwarf,

The grin of a gnome.

The cackle of a goblin,

The flight of a witch.

 

Yup, so it makes no sense, doesn't rhyme, has no meter, and in general sucks terribly.

That's basically how all my writing looks like.

 

I've always wondered... is peanut butter a solid or a liquid?