Happy Halloween Updates

So, I haven't posted in awhile, and probably won't again for awhile more. I've got NanoWriMo starting tomorrow, and I'm gonna be working as a collaborator on another blog, Cherry Tree. Not to mention schoolwork and my extensive reading list.

I'll post the Cherry Tree blog address under "About" up there. That first post is like, tomorrow I think? Whatever. It's a writing advice blog, but a good one hopefully. Nata is the main... leader... thinker... person on it. *applauds*

NanoWriMo will be difficult, as I've never written over 4,000 words before (*gasp!* O.O) and my computer time can be somewhat limited due to me sharing a computer with my siblings. So, when I do get on the computer, I MUST STAY AWAY FROM THE INTERNET. Somehow, though, I don't think caps lock is going to help me keep this promise.

I haven't caught up (and will still lag behind in future months) that little reading list over there.
<--- I read kind of fast, and just start up a new one. I don't always plan which book it is I pick up, so you'll see under "Up Next" books I don't get around to.

Oh, and Happy Halloween! Some special pictures for the occassion (courtesy of photobucket):

Black cat. Classic halloween picture. And, oh, how I love cats, especially the black ones.

Zombie Tinker Bell. Don't worry, that's her hair hanging around her face, not her skin...

Narnia. Not very Halloween-ish, but still awesome.

If you don't want to gag, I suggest you read this in the most sarcastic voice you can summon up. *stifled laughter as I try my own advice*










So, that's it for my holiday update post. So, goodbye, for however long. Quote:
"If at first you don't succeed then skydiving definitely isn't for you." -Steven Wright

More Music for the Soul... or Mine Anways

So, music.... ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫

Okay, so there is no swearing, no degrading of women, no "wild moments in the dark" in these songs. I know it's been awhile since I posted some songs, so. Here goes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6u8HAjIPSs "City On Our Knees" by Toby Mac. I'm going to add this under 'smile'. It's very inspirational. Toby Mac is a Christian singer, but don't let that affect your decision to love this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=govSp6P-598&feature=related "Lonely Lullaby" by Owl City. Pretty sad. It's about him missing his girlfriend. It's actually quite beautiful, in that sad-song way. Very powerful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahk4k1b19Zs&list=LLLxfdTscPoGyc4VaUJbe7Xg&index=6 "The Last Night" by Skillet. Heavy- it's like, suicide/self-mutilation awareness. His girlfriend is a depressed cutter, and he's saying "I'm here for you." It's touching.

Don't know why I'm going with all these powerful songs, but here you go. Don't hate it till you've listened to it, if you love it, that's awesome and if you don't then that's fine too. So. I'm gonna end this post now, 'cuz I'm bored. Bye and quote:
"What fun is it being cool if you can't wear a sombrero?" -Bill Waterson

(Calvin and Hobbes ;D)

It Is "Its"

So, I've have been doing more reading. A big, big problem is that irritating "its" and "it's".

it's- This is a contraction. "It is" as in:
"It's a lovely day outside." or "It's nice to meet you."
"It is" sounds really formal. I generally only use that in an essay or English paper. "It's" is for informal, dialogue kinda use. It's more of a "this-is-how-I-speak". There are probably other uses too, but this one is the basic.

its- this one shows possession. Like:
"Its blue fur felt warm under my hands." or "Its dying branches looked like fingers reaching out for God."
"Its" is like saying "his" or "her". If you don't know the gender, or the object is inanimate (rock, paper, scissors, etc.) then you refer to it as an "it". I really hope you already know this. Again, there are probably other uses, even if I'm too lazy to list them.

This is all I'm posting for now. Yea, it's short, but you will get over that (or you will be saying "Yes, it's over!!"). So, goodbye and quote~
"Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them." -Lemony Snicket

Pesky Punctuation, among other things

So, it's a new month. The second day, because I was too lazy to do it yesterday. And I'm finally going to write some writing tips. And yes, my post has a cool alliterative title. ;D

1. COMMAS. Going on inkpop, I notice commas are a big problem for people. Commas seperate two ideas. For example:
"Suzy ate some watermelon, then went outside."
I know my example is bad, but whatever. Notice I didn't put:
"Suzy ate some watermelon then went outside."
That one is incorrect, and a very common mistake. Another use for commas is to seperate nouns into a list. As I know that probably doesn't make much sense written that way, here is an example:
"I drove to the store for some milk, bread, and waffles."
This is generally only for lists as long or longer than 3 items. Now that wasn't too hard, was it? Something that I frown on:
"I drove to the store for some milk, bread and waffles."
This one is very controversial, because it's also correct. Some writers do prefer it this way. I can't remember what this comma rule is called, but it kinda makes me group bread and waffles together, like milk is an afterthought. So, I just put a comma after each item until I reach the "and".

2. HOMOPHONES. They sound the same, but have different meanings. Hear and here; two, to, and too; air and heir; sun and son. It looks downright weird if you use the wrong word. For example:
"I hear music in the air."
It is definitely NOT:
"I here music in the heir."
That is a funny mental picture. "Here I am, singing inside the heir to the kingdom!" Haha, sorry. But you get my point. The meaning of the sentence is confusing without the right word.

3. DIALOGUE TAGS. It is generally a smart idea to include dialogue tags. Not all of the time, but yea, at the very least a couple of times. You know what these are- "he said", "she replied". Example:
"'Bye, Mom!' she called."
You notice I used '' instead of "". That's because I already have quotation marks around the whole sentence, so I cannot add more to the dialogue without it being confusing. But normally, yea you put "" around dialogue. The word "she" is not capitalized.
"'I'm going to the library,' he told her."
Before the second quotation mark, you put a comma. You have to have some sort of punctuation before the second quotation mark, which is usually a comma. Unless you're not putting a tag at all, but that's irrelevent. For the first example, I have an exclamation point instead- you can put ! or ? at the end of a sentence instead of a comma, but make sure it doesn't look weird, like:
"'I'm going to the restroom?' she said."
Don't pose it as a question if it's a statement. Please. Here's an example of how NOT to do it:
"'Several monkeys are parading around our room' They told me."
No punctuation, and the 'they' is capitalized. Wrong. It should look like:
"'Several monkeys are parading aroung our room,' they told me."
Should anyone ever tell you that, just smile and nod. Do you understand all of this? Good.

That completes my grammar lesson for today. If you think I missed something or point out something wrong, politely tell me in a comment. I hope this post helps any of the grammar challenged out there. So goodbye, and:
"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." -Mark Twain

Random Facts

So, I'm bored, and I'll post five random facts my research uncovered.Some of them I might have recently discovered, others I might have known for years. Just depends.

1. In Hinduism, people love cows so much, they let them wander the streets. They're considered holy. This is because Hindus believe in reincarnation, being born into another life after you die, and that some people are reborn into animals, like cows. And rats, and insects. If you're lucky, you get reborn into a higher social class.

2. Honey isn't just used for culinary purposes. It can be used on burns, rashes, sore throats, AND Ancient Egyptians used it for embalming the dead.

3. If a person in a coma is unidentified, then hospitals are still required to take care of them, until they can be. They might be assigned a court appointed guardian, who wouldn't pull the plug unless it could be proven that they wouldn't live for long and they were in pain.

4. Justice translates to "Iustitia" in Latin.

5. Color therapy can help cure depression in some people. Not everyone, but some.

I've started reading Mirrorscape now. I'm swamped with schoolwork, and it'll probably be awhile until I post anything again. I'll try, though. And now, a quote:
"I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying." -Oscar Wilde

My Life is Average

So, it's September now. I'll be going back to school next week, and to take my mind off stuff, I'm posting some MLIA. It's a website, and if you don't know what it stands for, look at the title of this post again.

1. Today, I joined the yahoo vs google war. I typed in "Edward Cullen is a..." in both. On yahoo, I got "Edward Cullen is dead." On google, I got "Edward Cullen is an abusive fairy." I think it's quite clear who the winner is. MLIA

2. Today I was having a random conversation with Cleverbot, when it all of a sudden started talking a language I didn´t understand. According to Google translate Cleverbot was talking gibberish in Croatian. I answered that I didn´t know Croatian. Cleverbot´s answer? "Polar bear language, man. Polar bear." MLIA

3. A few days ago, I was bored during math class and drew a few ninjas in my notebook. Today, I went to show them to a friend, and I couldn't find the pages I'd drawn them on. Well played ninjas, well played. MLIA

4. Today was the first day of school. As I got my new French textbook, I opened it up to find that it had previously been owned by Bellatrix Lestrange. French class definitely just got a little bit cooler. MLIA.

5. Today on facebook, I saw a page called "Unicorns are real, they're just fat and gray and we call them rhinos."

6. Today, while opening a bag of M&Ms I found an red heart shaped one. I always knew candy loved me just as much as I loved it. Mlia.

7. Today, my mom and I were driving home from my martial arts class and at a stop light I looked over at the car next to us. Instead of seeing the guy texting or on the phone, I saw him brushing his teeth. MLIA

8. Today in science, the boy next to me was writing OK in rows down his paper. Remembering reading this on an earlier submission to MLIA I said, "Stick figure army?" and he replied, "Ninjas." if you're reading this, you're awesome. MLIA.

9.  Today, I learned how to say Hogwarts in spanish. Win. MLIA

10. Today, the girl I was babysitting said "I don't like Disney princesses.  I like real princesses like in Narnia and Pirates of the Caribbean.  Harry Potter's cool too.". This girl is going places.  HerLIA. 

Of all of these, my favorite is number one. Or possibly number five. :D I like this website. Can you tell?
Okay, my ending quote for the day (or night, as it's almost 10:00 pm):
"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." -Dr. Seuss

Hurricanes and Books

So, by now I'm pretty sure you've heard about Hurricane Irene. It's in North Carolina/Virginia, so it'll hit where I live pretty soon. It's raining and the wind's blowing outside right now, so this post is gonna be pretty short. Even though we have a generator, I'd still rather be off the computer. XD

So, went to the library several days ago and got a few books. Oh, I LOVE libraries. They're like treasure chests, with unknown jewels on every shelf. *contented sigh* I got Poison and Mirrorscape, epic fantasy, the pictures of which are off to the side under my reading and up next list. I've also got "Bloody Jack", which is a pirate story.

The sound of the rain keeps rising and falling. I can hear outside- what I really hope is that the trees in our backyard don't fall down on us. It didn't happen during Hurricane Isabel 8 years ago (I was like, in second or third grade, so I don't remember too much, but since the trees are still there, I can only assume).

I am listening to Group 1 Crew, "Live It Up". It's the only song I know from them, but it's good, very smile. :) I'm gonna end this post now, before the storm really picks up, so a completely irrelevant quote:
"Books are like flypaper- memories cling to the printed page better than anything else." -Cornelia Funke

39 Clues: The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordin

Okay, so I haven't posted in a long while because my computer got a virus. >.< Not happy, and now working off of a computer in my parents' room. So, a book review. I've read this book several times, actaully, but I haven't gotten farther than the 6th book.

Brother and sister Amy and Dan Cahill are given a choice at their grandmother's funeral: take a million dollars, or take the first of 39 clues that will take you on a race to find the greatest treasure in the world. So, of course, they take the first clue, which takes them to the catacombs below Paris in a heart stopping adventure. 

Characters: Awesome. I relate best with shy Amy, although Dan is a fun character, and some of their evil relatives chasing them are cool. I feel like I know them personally. :D 

Plot: also really good. Filled with action, and not really any romance. The Cahill family being seperated into four distinct groups is a cool idea- each trying to find this treasure, and will do anything to avoid the other branches of the family getting to it.

Likes: Well, pretty much all of it. 

Dislikes: Personally, I don't really have a problem with it. Yea, I'm fifteen and this is found in the children's section, but I still love it. ^.^

Overall, I give it an "Awesome♥" and will stick it under the 'reading' tab whenever my dad gets around to fixing my computer. So, quote:

"Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly." -Cornelia Funke 

Let's Talk About Cats.

So. Cats. Intelligent, beautiful creatures, with sharp teeth and claws. They have better night vision, better sense of smell and hearing, AND no one can resist the cuteness of a little kitten.

This is my cat, Angel. Well, technically my sister's cat. She has this really strange voice, like a hoarse whisper. She's Siamese, so she talks a lot and my sister keeps getting mad at us for teasing her cat about it. Isn't Angel adorable?

So, I feel like posting actually funny icanhascheezburger pictures on here. At least, I think they're funny. If you don't understand my sense of humor, then you probably just wasted your time looking at cat pictures. So... yea. ;D

Haha xD

Oh yea. So true. ^.^

If you don't get this one because you're terrible at science, the atomic symbol for silicon is Si. Haha xD
















And, that's all the pictures I have. So, cue ending quote:
"For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Songs for the Heart, anyone?

New month, new songs. And a picture just because.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2-AkmNxNVk

Carrie Underwood's "The More Boys I Meet. Pretty upbeat. I can definitely call this one smile. "The more boys I meet, the more I love my dog." :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRQekKsxTPU

All Time Low- "Painting Flowers". This is from the soundtrack of Tim Burton's version of "Alice in Wonderland". Sad, but I still love it. If a guy played this for me, I actually might go back to him. And coming from me, that's saying something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFcDhj-E3po

All American Rejects- "It Ends Tonight". Kinda heavy, I suppose? It has a... quiet certainty to it. A finality. It's a good song, about a breakup but being okay about it.

 I hope you listen to these songs, but I'm not going to reach through the computer and force you to click on those links. If you don't like them, then okay. Glad you gave them a try. If you love them, then awesome. I love 'em too. ♥ I don't really have anything else to say, except, of course, the ending quote for today:
"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." -Maya Angelou

 

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

So! It's July 31st, this is my last post of the month. I've decided it's high time for a book review.

Megan is a normal girl, soon to turn 16 years old. Then she finds out her best friend is the faery from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Puck, her little brother has been snatched and replaced with a changeling, and that her father is King Oberon, the king of faeries. In order to rescue her little brother, she must go to the faery world and save him, along the way meeting friends and enemies alike. Being half fey, she has to also learn to control her new found powers, and her crush against Puck's enemy, Prince Ash. She finds out the fey who stole her brother is one Iron King, who isn't even supposed to exist.







Characters: I liked the characters. I wouldn't have reacted the same way about the existence of faeries that Megan did, but that's pretty irrelevant. The enmity between Puck and Prince Ash was both amusing and annoying, as they make it perfectly clear, several times. Megan did seem kind of whiny, fussing about choosing between Puck and Ash and being too scared and weirded out to accept her fey side.

Plot: I also didn't mind the plot. I picked this book up in Wal-mart only because it was one of the only ones NOT about vampires. Romance isn't my kinda thing, but again, whatever. The whole Seelie court and Unseelie court monarchy was interesting. Also, the idea of Iron fey wasn't too boring.

Likes: So, I like faeries. I like the monarchy, and the writing itself was pretty good. There was one character who really stood out to me as evil, I can't remember her name but she was seriously one bad, butt kicking character. There's also a mysterious cat in it, which of course I liked.

Dislikes: Megan. She was whiny. She was protective of her little brother, but she was resisting her powers for most of the book, when I would've been like, "Oh yea!!! Super cool faery powers!!!" I also didn't like the romance of it, I thought it focused a little too much on it.

Overall, I'd give it an "Okay..."

Current Progress: Chapter 2

My book, I have decided to call 'Shades of Green' for now. I have gotten up to the beginning of chapter 2, which I am absolutely excited about. ;D I have never made it that far- I usually end up editing the first chapter to death, before deciding to start all over.

Do you want to see a cover for it? Well, I don't have one. Yet. I have a temporary one up on inkpop, not permanent.

http://www.inkpop.com/fiction/fantasy-books/shades-green

^ The unedited first chapter. It needs major work, but I'll do that later, after the second chapter at least.I'm going to focus on getting it down. Must. Resist. Urge. To. Edit. =]

Ending quote....
"No intelligent idea can gain general acceptance unless some stupidity is mixed in with it." -Fernando Pessoa

Interesting Facts

Some interesting things that research for my book has turned up:

1. Belladonna, or deadly nightshade, is one of the most toxic plants found in the Western hemisphere. It poses the greatest risk to children because the berries are attractive and taste sweet.

2. Tortuga in Haiti and Port Royal in Jamaica were REAL pirate havens. They provided a place without any police or law enforcement,  where pirates could get supplies or have a drink.

3. People in medieval times didn't always have a lot of clothes. I mean, nobles and kings did, but most workers would only have a couple sets of clothes. <-- This one seems pretty obvious, but it never occurred to me.

4. Chinese water torture is where you drip water onto a person's forehead in a sort of rhythm for a long time. Then you slowly increase the time between each drip. Nothing physical and not exactly spectacular, but it drives you literally insane.

5. Hitting a person on the head to knock them unconscious is likely to cause brain damage if they're out for more than a few seconds.

Quote for today:
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." -Albert Einstein

   

Lessons Learned (just not by me)

I WAS going to post a book review today, have decided otherwise. One of my family members is still going through this, and I want to let y'all know, in case you didn't already.

Have you ever dated anyone? Girlfriend, boyfriend? Personally, I never have, and so this is an objective point of view. Inexperienced or objective; I don't care how you see it.

If your Significant Other (hereby known as SI) is mean, insults you, has dumped you more than once in the past, cheated on you, and/or hurts you, then you should DUMP him/her. I can hear the complaining already; But we LOVE each other. It's not serious, just a little problem, we'll get through it. Love is only love if it is shared, and if they don't respect you, then they don't love you.

All of the problems I stated above are perfectly serious. No one has a right to hurt you, no matter who you are. If they're cheating on you, then you aren't in love; you're just one out of two. Also referred to as lust, when they don't care who it is they're loving. Insults- if they're casual, then they're treating you like a sibling or a friend. If actually meant to hurt you, then they just don't like you. Goodness knows why they're dating you if they don't like you.

If they keep breaking up with you, then coming back, you should reject them. They're not healthy, like pouring sugar on Fruit Loops. If they can't make up their minds, then you can decide for them. If SI thinks that's alright or keeps saying sorry and begging for forgiveness, that's worse, in my opinion. It doesn't matter how many times you say sorry; you have to mean it. And, obviously, it's not all right to hurt someone like that. 

Which brings me to point C. If they are actually hurting you, physically or verbally, that's abuse. You need to get help, go tell a trusted person(s). I know that it's hard to get outside help, but it's not just for your benefit; it's for SI's as well. And NEVER think it's your fault. It's no one's fault, or the SI's fault. You are a victim, a sufferer, the wounded party. Well, how would you know? You can trust me on this point; I'm not a genius, I'm not stupid, but I know the victim is never at fault.

I know, I've never been in love, I don't know what it's like. But you can't move on if you don't let yourself. You have to let go of them they are no good, so you're not hurt. Seeing my family member in one of these situations kills me, so remember that your family and friends are there for you if you need it. And if you think you're completely alone, I will be here to listen. Don't let yourself be miserable because you don't think you have the strength to let go. Sometimes it's harder to keep holding on.

I end this "love hurts" lecture with a quote:
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." -Oscar Wilde

Music for the Soul ♪♫

Okay, so, I'm going to post three random songs on here. I separate my songs into three categories: sad, heavy, and smile. Sad is pretty self explanatory, and for those who can't tell, smile is happy music. :D Heavy is, like rock music, not light and airy, but... you get what I mean. If you don't, listen to the songs and you'll know. And if you do get what I mean, listen to them anyway.
They are completely appropriate, recommended by me. :P No swearing, not about parties and... *ahem* the wild things that happen when the lights go out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqGIwzMJGcc&feature=feedlik

"Designer Skyline" by Owl City- this song reminds me of Annabeth from the Percy Jackson series. It's such a pretty song. ^.^ This is definitely smile music.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlsBObg-1BQ

"Set Fire to the Rain" by Adele- I'm gonna include this with sad, because I don't know what else to refer to it. If you can think of one, comment. It's about a breakup. A torturous, beautiful kind of song.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W89a8phHuVk

"For Those Who Wait" by Fireflight- kind of heavy, it's Christian rock. But it's very inspirational; it basically says that it's okay to be lonely and sad. There's a purpose for everyone. A very comforting song for when you're down.

All of these songs you should at least give a chance. It's okay if you don't like them; after all, everyone has different tastes. You can do like I do and listen just to the beginning, and figure out from there if you want to keep listening. But I love these songs, so don't tell me they're stupid or annoying. :'( If you like them, that's awesome- I'm glad I could share them with you. =]
And so I say farewell with a quote:
"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring." -Marilyn Monroe

My first Post ;D

Welcome and hello, peoples of Earth. Here is where I rant on about life.
Since my life consists mostly of music, books, writing, and my cats, there will be plenty of those. But also of random subjects I feel like grumbling about. =]
A little of me: I love smilie faces. You'll find that I do a lot of them. And when I say there's no such thing as normal, I mean it. >.< Think about it; what's your idea of normal? Seriously- if everyone is different, then there is no general normal. My normal routine is drastically different than yours, and yours is from your friend's or that person who sits next to you on the bus or in class. But never mind that. What was I going on about before? Ah yes, me.
I do not always stay on topic, a problem that shows up in my writing and I'm trying to fix. I am currently (and slowly) working on my first novel. It has no name as of yet, but it's been stuck in my head for YEARS. I cannot get on the computer often, whether it's because I'm reading a book, or my facebook addict of a sister or my video game loving brother refuses to let me on.
I often can be found on neopets.com, under the username of 'lightgirl438', or on inkpop.com, disguised as fantasy♥cat. 
This is what I type for now. Oh, and I put a quote at the end of these posts because they're awesome:
"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." -Mark Twain.