Ew. Yuck. Ick. Bleh. I took all the pills that I am supposed to be taking everyday to help get rid of my bone spur (as well as just make me healthier in general) but they have a terrible after taste that I can't get out of my mouth. Not even a chocolate honey mint get the disgusting taste out of me.
Once again whilst browsing Pinterest I came upon a comment in another language. Of course I responded. I've done this sort of thing before. Once someone commented on my pin, and we had a small conversation about it in Italian. This time the person spoke Spanish, and was asking about Louis XIV. You might be wondering how I am able to communicate with these people. Turns out I have this magical box that automatically translates other languages for me, and when I respond it magically translates my message to their language. It's called the TARDIS. ... Okay I'm kidding (obviously). I used Google Translate. I've actually had conversations with my friends using that. At first I though she actually spoke Spanish, until I discovered her secret.
I'm learning I See Fire on the piano. I started a while back, but only learned just a tad and took a break. Now I'm about forty five seconds into learning the song. It's weird though, because parts of the tutorial blank out to a green screen, so on a few parts I'll be flying solo. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
Gah, I'm so obsessed with all the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings songs I got. I just can't stop listening to them. They're so amazing!
Today is the last day of 2014. I can't believe it. So here's the lowdown. We were going to have a party with friends, but yesterday my grandpa had to go to the hospital and things are all outta whack. It's possible that some of our friends might make it, while the others cannot. This year is ending on a sour note.
In any case, this is the last past I'll be making this year. So see you all in the new year. Happy 2015 to you all!
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Monday, December 29, 2014
Life's a Happy Song
I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but for Christmas my grandma sent me money to buy all the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks (excluding the fourth). Awesome, right?! Well today I finally got around to ordering them, and I was $2.08 short of getting free shipping, and to top that I'm quite broke as of the moment. So instead of getting the physical copies, I got the digital versions for just a tad cheaper, and was also able to buy a few other songs with the money. I now own I See Fire by Ed Sheeran, I See Fire by Piano Tribute Players, Concerning Hobbits as played by Taylor Davis, Nebulous by Taylor Davis, and The Last Goodbye by Billy Boyde. Those are some of my favorite songs!
Okay, so for the longest time Sereina and Tiana have been collecting music from Freegal (free legal music). I tired the sight, but they didn't have anything I liked at the time (Adiran von Ziegler, Brunuh Ville, etc.) but now that I listen to a wider variety of music I'm actually able to get some songs! Today I got I See Fire by Peter Hollens (can you tell I'm obsessed with the song?), May it Be featuring Taylor Davis and sung by Peter Hollens as well as Into the West by Peter Hollens. I've kind of become obsessed with Peter Hollens's music; he's such an amazing singer!
Today has been weird. I had it all planned out how it would go in my mind, but things didn't go even remotely how I planned. Basically after I woke up and ate I did a bunch of work for my dad (it's the end of the month again, so we've got a lot of work to do. Plus it's the new year, so that only makes more work), and that's basically all I've done today. Except for buying the music. I was so excited last night to wake up and do school and other things. I know, that may sound weird, but I actually love my school. Probably because I have full control over it, and everything I'm learning is actually interesting to me. But yes, my day in a nutshell is work. After I post this I'm going to do my school, and maybe I'll get some writing in today. We'll see though.
Oh yeah, so when I bought the music today I kind of had a little panic attack. Apparently Amazon had my old BECU card in it's system, instead of my new Chase card, so it automatically purchased on the wrong card. I freaked because I though that my BECU card was empty, and I'd have to pay a fine (I've already got enough debts to pay off, without adding another) but luckily I had a bunch of my savings in there and all was fine.
The New Year is the day after tomorrow? The party is the day after tomorrow?! How did this happen! Okay, I guess we only officially started planning the party like two days ago. Usually we plan up to a month ahead, so there's a lot of time to wait. Not this time. I'm really excited for the party. I'm sure I wont have any problem staying up until midnight. Last night I didn't fall asleep until at least a half an hour after midnight. I was just to awake... and excited. That was when I realized that I could get all of Peter Hollens music on Freegal, as well as a few other epic songs. So I had a late night.
So I know I said I'd have a post about history up soon, but I just haven't gotten around to it. It takes a bit of time to collect the information, and to word it correctly and compile pictures, etc. In the meantime I can easily make posts with all the Gaelic I've learned. Soon I'll post the bits of French I've learned too. Since I've only just started I've barely got any, but if I keep up with my school I'll have at least four new pages a week (each post is two pages long).
Listening to the Piano Guys song Don't Worry Child makes me want to learn a language like Arabic or something. Ack, I'd better stick with Gaelic and French first. Besides, as of the moment Russian would be the third language I'd learn. If I were to learn another.
Okay, so for the longest time Sereina and Tiana have been collecting music from Freegal (free legal music). I tired the sight, but they didn't have anything I liked at the time (Adiran von Ziegler, Brunuh Ville, etc.) but now that I listen to a wider variety of music I'm actually able to get some songs! Today I got I See Fire by Peter Hollens (can you tell I'm obsessed with the song?), May it Be featuring Taylor Davis and sung by Peter Hollens as well as Into the West by Peter Hollens. I've kind of become obsessed with Peter Hollens's music; he's such an amazing singer!
Today has been weird. I had it all planned out how it would go in my mind, but things didn't go even remotely how I planned. Basically after I woke up and ate I did a bunch of work for my dad (it's the end of the month again, so we've got a lot of work to do. Plus it's the new year, so that only makes more work), and that's basically all I've done today. Except for buying the music. I was so excited last night to wake up and do school and other things. I know, that may sound weird, but I actually love my school. Probably because I have full control over it, and everything I'm learning is actually interesting to me. But yes, my day in a nutshell is work. After I post this I'm going to do my school, and maybe I'll get some writing in today. We'll see though.
Oh yeah, so when I bought the music today I kind of had a little panic attack. Apparently Amazon had my old BECU card in it's system, instead of my new Chase card, so it automatically purchased on the wrong card. I freaked because I though that my BECU card was empty, and I'd have to pay a fine (I've already got enough debts to pay off, without adding another) but luckily I had a bunch of my savings in there and all was fine.
The New Year is the day after tomorrow? The party is the day after tomorrow?! How did this happen! Okay, I guess we only officially started planning the party like two days ago. Usually we plan up to a month ahead, so there's a lot of time to wait. Not this time. I'm really excited for the party. I'm sure I wont have any problem staying up until midnight. Last night I didn't fall asleep until at least a half an hour after midnight. I was just to awake... and excited. That was when I realized that I could get all of Peter Hollens music on Freegal, as well as a few other epic songs. So I had a late night.
So I know I said I'd have a post about history up soon, but I just haven't gotten around to it. It takes a bit of time to collect the information, and to word it correctly and compile pictures, etc. In the meantime I can easily make posts with all the Gaelic I've learned. Soon I'll post the bits of French I've learned too. Since I've only just started I've barely got any, but if I keep up with my school I'll have at least four new pages a week (each post is two pages long).
Listening to the Piano Guys song Don't Worry Child makes me want to learn a language like Arabic or something. Ack, I'd better stick with Gaelic and French first. Besides, as of the moment Russian would be the third language I'd learn. If I were to learn another.
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Wicked Feels Man
Well, looks like things are actually going to happen! For this New Year we were going to go inner tubing with as many friends as we could get. But since there's barely enough snow and only a few lanes would be open, we decided to post pone it. On a happy note we're having some friends over to our house instead. I'm really excited!
Ever since getting all of Brunuh Ville's albums I've been listening to them non stop! I go through fazes in the music I listen to, and I forgot how incredible his music is! Now I just need to get all of Adrian's music, and then figure out how I can buy Jo Blankenburgs music...
In the past I've started a few private writing blogs, but of course none were very successful. I did, however, write a few partial posts about my stories that helped me come up with some interesting ideas. I was just copying all the ideas from the posts to Scrivener, and some of the things I wrote were kind of interesting. Like, little comments. Here are a few of them:
^^ Why did I make this a huge paragraph?
Who is going to be blind? Not the guys! Wait, maybe the guys...
Where's the plot in all this?
At a lighthouse though? Weird. Unless it's rumored to be haunted. Eh, too cliche.
Yeah, I inserted weird little comments into my ideas. But overall I have some interesting things, and I seriously am so excited to start re-writing Rohca. Of course I need to finish the first draft of Heart of Fire first, but I'm seriously so excited to write it. While the original synopsis almost entirely fits with the edits, it's changed quite drastically. It's so exciting!
I finished Labyrinth of Lies, and it's got one of the best chases! It was really fun, and overall the whole game was really good. Five stars from me! It's funny, the music was really similar to The Phantom of Venice at times...
So Tiana watched Wicked (the musical) a while back, and when she told me about it I was kind of interested. We watched it the other night and now I'm obsessed! It was so good! It was so sad! Right after it finished I just wanted to watch the whole thing right over again. That's strange for me, because even when I love a movie I usually wouldn't be up for watching it again literally seconds after finishing it the first time. One of my favorite things to say now is, "I've got some Wicked feels man!" I don't think I'll ever tire of the puns on this.
The other night while playing Mario Kart we somehow got on the subject of insults. I have two in particular that I've picked up, and I positively love them. That probably sounds weird, but they're kind of funny insults, and just fun to say. One I got from a Nancy Drew game, it's: "Well you're about as useless as a beanie in the hurricane." My newest one I got from Pinterest is: "You're as useless as a shoe shop in the Shire." Those are two of my favorite insults. Yeah, that's kind of weird, I know.
You know, something I say more often that I realize is "wonderful." And not in a like, "Wonderful!" I'm happy way, but for instance if you just got your favorite drink half price, I'd just plainly say wonderful. It's kind of weird. Tiana has started saying, "It's fate!" after I say wonderful, because every time I say it she thinks of the song from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. That is a really good musical by the way, you should watch it (just saying the title is fun!).
Ever since getting all of Brunuh Ville's albums I've been listening to them non stop! I go through fazes in the music I listen to, and I forgot how incredible his music is! Now I just need to get all of Adrian's music, and then figure out how I can buy Jo Blankenburgs music...
In the past I've started a few private writing blogs, but of course none were very successful. I did, however, write a few partial posts about my stories that helped me come up with some interesting ideas. I was just copying all the ideas from the posts to Scrivener, and some of the things I wrote were kind of interesting. Like, little comments. Here are a few of them:
^^ Why did I make this a huge paragraph?
Who is going to be blind? Not the guys! Wait, maybe the guys...
Where's the plot in all this?
At a lighthouse though? Weird. Unless it's rumored to be haunted. Eh, too cliche.
Yeah, I inserted weird little comments into my ideas. But overall I have some interesting things, and I seriously am so excited to start re-writing Rohca. Of course I need to finish the first draft of Heart of Fire first, but I'm seriously so excited to write it. While the original synopsis almost entirely fits with the edits, it's changed quite drastically. It's so exciting!
I finished Labyrinth of Lies, and it's got one of the best chases! It was really fun, and overall the whole game was really good. Five stars from me! It's funny, the music was really similar to The Phantom of Venice at times...
So Tiana watched Wicked (the musical) a while back, and when she told me about it I was kind of interested. We watched it the other night and now I'm obsessed! It was so good! It was so sad! Right after it finished I just wanted to watch the whole thing right over again. That's strange for me, because even when I love a movie I usually wouldn't be up for watching it again literally seconds after finishing it the first time. One of my favorite things to say now is, "I've got some Wicked feels man!" I don't think I'll ever tire of the puns on this.
The other night while playing Mario Kart we somehow got on the subject of insults. I have two in particular that I've picked up, and I positively love them. That probably sounds weird, but they're kind of funny insults, and just fun to say. One I got from a Nancy Drew game, it's: "Well you're about as useless as a beanie in the hurricane." My newest one I got from Pinterest is: "You're as useless as a shoe shop in the Shire." Those are two of my favorite insults. Yeah, that's kind of weird, I know.
You know, something I say more often that I realize is "wonderful." And not in a like, "Wonderful!" I'm happy way, but for instance if you just got your favorite drink half price, I'd just plainly say wonderful. It's kind of weird. Tiana has started saying, "It's fate!" after I say wonderful, because every time I say it she thinks of the song from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. That is a really good musical by the way, you should watch it (just saying the title is fun!).
Friday, December 26, 2014
Never Boring
Did you notice that when you use "ciamar" you need to add the little "a" to link it to the rest of the sentence?
*Formal
* Hello, how are you? -- Latha math, ciamar a tha sibh?
-Pronunciation: la-a mahh, KI-mar ah-ha shehv?
*Informal
* You -- Thu
-Pronunciation: oo
We already learned the word "sibh," meaning "you" in polite situations. But if you're talking to someone you know well, like a friend or a child, the word for "you" is "thu." Nowadays this word is often used between young people, even if they don't know each other.
*Informal
* How are you? -- Cimar a tha thu?
-Pronunciation: KI-mar ah-ha oo?
* Self -- Fhèin
-Pronunciation: heyn
*Formal
* I am well, and you? (I am well, how is yourself?) -- Tha mi gu math, ciamar a tha sibh fhèin?
-Pronunciation: ha mi gu mahh, KI-mar ah-ha shee PEYN?
Gaelic conversations very often begin with some comment on the weather. The Highlands and Islands of Scotland are known for their very changeable weather, so the topic is never boring! It's also a great way to break the ice when you meet new people. In the next slides we are going to learn how to have such conversations.
* It is a cold day today -- Tha latha fuar ann an-diugh
-Pronunciation: ha laa FOOur auwnn un-JOO
* Cold -- Fuar
-Pronunciation: FOOur
* Cold day -- Latha fuar
-Pronunciation: laa FOOur
* In existence -- Ann
-Pronunciation: auwnn
"Ann" is a very useful word in Gaelic. There is no exact translation in English, but it is used together with the verb "bi" (to be) to say that something exists, or that something is there. It is often used when talking about the weather, like the English phrase "it is..."
In Gaelic, there is no word corresponding to English "a," or "an," so the word "latha" can mean "a day" as well as "day."
*Formal
* Hello, how are you? -- Latha math, ciamar a tha sibh?
-Pronunciation: la-a mahh, KI-mar ah-ha shehv?
*Informal
* You -- Thu
-Pronunciation: oo
We already learned the word "sibh," meaning "you" in polite situations. But if you're talking to someone you know well, like a friend or a child, the word for "you" is "thu." Nowadays this word is often used between young people, even if they don't know each other.
*Informal
* How are you? -- Cimar a tha thu?
-Pronunciation: KI-mar ah-ha oo?
* Self -- Fhèin
-Pronunciation: heyn
*Formal
* I am well, and you? (I am well, how is yourself?) -- Tha mi gu math, ciamar a tha sibh fhèin?
-Pronunciation: ha mi gu mahh, KI-mar ah-ha shee PEYN?
Gaelic conversations very often begin with some comment on the weather. The Highlands and Islands of Scotland are known for their very changeable weather, so the topic is never boring! It's also a great way to break the ice when you meet new people. In the next slides we are going to learn how to have such conversations.
* It is a cold day today -- Tha latha fuar ann an-diugh
-Pronunciation: ha laa FOOur auwnn un-JOO
* Cold -- Fuar
-Pronunciation: FOOur
* Cold day -- Latha fuar
-Pronunciation: laa FOOur
* In existence -- Ann
-Pronunciation: auwnn
"Ann" is a very useful word in Gaelic. There is no exact translation in English, but it is used together with the verb "bi" (to be) to say that something exists, or that something is there. It is often used when talking about the weather, like the English phrase "it is..."
In Gaelic, there is no word corresponding to English "a," or "an," so the word "latha" can mean "a day" as well as "day."
Who Names Their Kid Thanos?
Well, I didn't post yesterday, the actual day of Christmas, but none the less I wish you all a very Merry (late) Christmas!
Today we went to the theater as a family to see Annie. It was really good, and I'd say it's on the high end of my list of favorite movies. It was really fun to see, and just going to the theater in general is fun. Next I want to go see Night at the Museum 3, which I'm still slightly in awe that they actually made another movie. I hope it's as good as it's predecessors. Those are some of the few movies that actually got even better with the sequel!
On Christmas Eve, even after we opened all our gifts there was still one gift I had not anticipated. As a gift to all his fans, Brunuh Ville gave away all his albums for free over Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. So I'm the proud owner of all his albums! I was so excited, I couldn't believe he would actually do that! Not that I think badly of him, but that's quite amazing that he gave away his albums for free for a bit. I'm actually listening to one of his albums right now. Aurora is one that I hadn't gotten to listening to yet, so I am now. I'm so excited though, I love his music! Now I've got it at my fingertips.
Okay guys, something I had meant not to happen is happening and I can't stop it from happening and now it's out of my hands and I have no control and dang. I started working on a completely new story idea. I had told myself I wouldn't start any new ideas until I completely finished another, but next thing I know I'm pinning post apocalyptic fashions and things and trying to figure out what my characters should be like and all that. THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! I guess I'd better start writing faster. Also, I've been having an urge to start re-writing Rohca with my newest idea, but I'm determined to at least finish the first draft of Heart of Fire. Something I haven't been writing as much on as I should...
So as I said on Christmas Eve, I got Nancy Drew Labrynth of Lies, and it's amazing! Somehow it has the flair that the newer games have lacked. Something is different, and I quite like it. The characters are fun (I'm certain that Thanos isn't just playing Hades in a play, but is actually related to him), though I think they used the same voice actor for Xenia as Zoe from Silent Spy, though I could be wrong. But the game has just been fun. It was awesome entering the Underworld for the first time. Whenever I get stuck I got into Tartarus and fall into the flames and die. A bit drastic, I know. But yes, so far it's one of the best of the newer games.
Today we went to the theater as a family to see Annie. It was really good, and I'd say it's on the high end of my list of favorite movies. It was really fun to see, and just going to the theater in general is fun. Next I want to go see Night at the Museum 3, which I'm still slightly in awe that they actually made another movie. I hope it's as good as it's predecessors. Those are some of the few movies that actually got even better with the sequel!
On Christmas Eve, even after we opened all our gifts there was still one gift I had not anticipated. As a gift to all his fans, Brunuh Ville gave away all his albums for free over Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. So I'm the proud owner of all his albums! I was so excited, I couldn't believe he would actually do that! Not that I think badly of him, but that's quite amazing that he gave away his albums for free for a bit. I'm actually listening to one of his albums right now. Aurora is one that I hadn't gotten to listening to yet, so I am now. I'm so excited though, I love his music! Now I've got it at my fingertips.
Okay guys, something I had meant not to happen is happening and I can't stop it from happening and now it's out of my hands and I have no control and dang. I started working on a completely new story idea. I had told myself I wouldn't start any new ideas until I completely finished another, but next thing I know I'm pinning post apocalyptic fashions and things and trying to figure out what my characters should be like and all that. THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! I guess I'd better start writing faster. Also, I've been having an urge to start re-writing Rohca with my newest idea, but I'm determined to at least finish the first draft of Heart of Fire. Something I haven't been writing as much on as I should...
So as I said on Christmas Eve, I got Nancy Drew Labrynth of Lies, and it's amazing! Somehow it has the flair that the newer games have lacked. Something is different, and I quite like it. The characters are fun (I'm certain that Thanos isn't just playing Hades in a play, but is actually related to him), though I think they used the same voice actor for Xenia as Zoe from Silent Spy, though I could be wrong. But the game has just been fun. It was awesome entering the Underworld for the first time. Whenever I get stuck I got into Tartarus and fall into the flames and die. A bit drastic, I know. But yes, so far it's one of the best of the newer games.
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
I've Been Up Since 6 O'Clock!
This morning we got up at six in the morning to open presents. We started with stockings, in which I got the new Schleich Golden Retriever puppy (whom I have named Kira), Trader Joe's honey mints (my favorite) a few other Trader Joe's food bars, some cord for when I build things for my Schleich, and two pairs of knee high fuzzy socks! What a perfect way to start the morning.
We had Daddy open his gift from Sereina first, which was the moose mug from Christmas Vacation. Then we all took turns opening gifts, from oldest to youngest. Guess what I got? From Sereina I got a nice hardback edition of The Diary of Olga Romanov! Squee! You can't get any better than that for history! I also got the Spirit soundtrack and two metal bird decorations from Tiana, Nancy Drew Labrynth of Lies from Mamma (I'm installing it now), the Curse of the Black Pearl movie from Daniel (that's where I got the name Kira for my puppy; you know, Keira Knightley), and lastly three new arrows for my bow and a nice black leather bracer! My family knows me quite well; all my gifts are amazing.
On a much more devastating note, this is our first Christmas without Doji.
Back on the happy side, I can't wait to play Labrynth of Lies! I wanted that one so badly, but when Tiana and I ordered those games a while back she wouldn't let me get it. Now I understand why.
We're going to have waffles for breakfast, so we're getting quite fancy. I can't wait until tomorrow for Christmas dinner though. I love ham.
We had Daddy open his gift from Sereina first, which was the moose mug from Christmas Vacation. Then we all took turns opening gifts, from oldest to youngest. Guess what I got? From Sereina I got a nice hardback edition of The Diary of Olga Romanov! Squee! You can't get any better than that for history! I also got the Spirit soundtrack and two metal bird decorations from Tiana, Nancy Drew Labrynth of Lies from Mamma (I'm installing it now), the Curse of the Black Pearl movie from Daniel (that's where I got the name Kira for my puppy; you know, Keira Knightley), and lastly three new arrows for my bow and a nice black leather bracer! My family knows me quite well; all my gifts are amazing.
On a much more devastating note, this is our first Christmas without Doji.
Back on the happy side, I can't wait to play Labrynth of Lies! I wanted that one so badly, but when Tiana and I ordered those games a while back she wouldn't let me get it. Now I understand why.
We're going to have waffles for breakfast, so we're getting quite fancy. I can't wait until tomorrow for Christmas dinner though. I love ham.
Monday, December 22, 2014
Christmas Eve, Eve, Eve
Now that I have added French to my weekly school list, four days a week I now must: practice math for a bit, write an entry in my journal, write at least a page in both my Gaelic and French notebooks, and practice every song I'm learning on both piano and recorder once. So far so good! I actually kind of like school. There's something about the order in which I now learn the things I like. Overall, math isn't too bad, though it's better once I get the hang of it. Since I already love history, and reading, I leave those off of the list. Mostly I just put the language practice and music practice so I don't forget. I'm a little rusty on all my songs, since I took such a long break between practicing them. Mostly I can't remember the last bit to Across the Stars, and The Force Theme. A few moments ago I was progressing on learning Life's too Short Reprise. I'm making good progress.
Today is Christmas Eve, Eve, Eve, as Daniel and I keep reminding everyone. I'm so excited; I can't believe Christmas is upon us so quickly! I hope everyone likes my gifts. There are a few that I can't wait to see peoples reactions to. Last year (at least, I think it was last year) I got Sereina a Kermit plushy, and when she opened the box she gave a little scream before grabbing him and screaming "KERMIT!" It's funny though; when I put out the gift she guessed Kermit, but by the time Christmas came she totally forgot that she guessed that.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but on my left wrist I've got a bone spur. For those who don't know, it's an extra growth of the bone. It's kind of creepy to look at, and feel. Sometimes my wrist hurts, though I'm not sure if it's because of the bone spur, or my wrist just happens to hurt, or if it's paranoia. I think a few times it was paranoia, since I started over thinking and it started to hurt. I'm taking vitamins to hopefully make it go away (the alternative is surgery, which I do not want to happen for so many reasons). It's really odd, because you'd think I'd have noticed it sooner, but I only noticed it a few weeks ago. Then again, I often get scrapes and scratches and have no idea how I got them.
Just so everyone knows, I'm hoping to make another history post soon. I'm not sure exactly which subject it'll be about, but I've been working on a post about a few of the rooms in Versilles. That is one of my favorite palaces, and I love the story of Marie Antoinette. That is partially why I want to learn French.
Let's see, a few of my latest music obsessions are The Piano Guys, which include Batman Evolution, Don't Worry Child, and Moonlight. All their songs are great, but those three I keep listening to over and over again. As for other music, I listen to Brunuh and Adrian for general inspiration for Heart of Fire. Basically all their fantasy/celtic music has the perfect general feel for the novel, so I've got hours of music to listen to while noveling. It's awesome.
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Call me Crazy
Good gosh, I haven't posted in days! Well, time to change that starting now.
Okay, so I've had some recent thoughts on projects I want to start. First off, you can call me crazy, but I'm going to start learning French along side Gaelic. I'll take it a lot slower, and Gaelic will still be my priority, but I've always felt somewhat drawn to the French language. Maybe it's because one of my favorite books, which happens to be a historical fiction, happens to have a French setting. I remember blogging about considering it before, and I'm not sure what made me so suddenly wanting to learn it, but here I go on the journey to learn a third language!
One of my other thoughts is sword fighting. I've never been good at it; mostly because I'm afraid I'll hit someone and hurt them. In the past I've considered learning, though last night I got this huge urge to start researching and practicing sword fighting. But before I go all crazy on it, I'm taking a few days to think about it. I've often been a person who gets sudden impulses, and a few days later realize I don't truly want to do it, but it sounded fun at the time. Like skydiving. Every time I ride a plane, I ask myself I I could make myself jump out. Each time the answer has surprisingly been yes (I know, that's weird for me). Though I'm sure if I was actually going up with the intent of jumping, it would be quite different.
I can't believe it's almost Christmas. Less than a week away. Underneath our tree is so full, I'm not sure we'll be able to fit anymore boxes underneath. Now we've never really had any traditions around Christmas, though a few years ago we started having Christmas dinner. This year we're opening our presents on Christmas Eve morning. That's like our only tradition; to no open presents on at the same time, or same day, two years in a row. It's not even a real tradition, it's just what happens.
Because of NaNoWriMo I got way side tracked on Gaelic, and because of that I'm a bit rusty. Luckily it's coming back real quick. Luckily I have a good memory. Actually, it's funny, I have one of the best memories, and one of the worst memories. It all depends on how much I concentration.
For the past few days I haven't really done any writing on Heart of Fire, but that's because I've been kind of busy. As much as I want to, I'm not letting myself go back and edit. So far I've completed chapter one. I've decided five pages is my chapter minimum, and around seven to eight will be the maximum. I figure that's a fair amount, though once I someday get it in the actually formatting of the published product, that might seem really long, or short. We'll see though.
Oh, happy first day of Winter everybody! Autumn and Winter are my favorite seasons. I hope it snows a bit this Winter. I'm really hoping it does, just because snow is awesome. I can never decided which of the two is my favorite. It's kind of like picking a favorite book, or movie. It's just impossible.
I've been reading this book, Anastasia: The Lost Princess, and it's quite fascinating! It's written by James Lovell, who happened to meet Anna Anderson/Anastasia and it's my first time reading from the point of view that Anna was in fact Anastasia. He believed it without a doubt, and so far the book has been very informative. I haven't decided which I believe, though based on what he's written it does seem very likely that Anna was Anastasia. Just the name, Anna Anderson, makes me think of something Anastasia might have come up with. Something I didn't know, is she tried to commit suicide before coming out to say she was the Tsars daughter. I could see that happening; after all, if my family and friends were murdered right before my eyes I might not feel like living either. Plus he had countless tapes of interview with Anna, and he learned to tell when she was lying or not. He spent countless years on this book, and so it's really fun reading it.
Okay, so I've had some recent thoughts on projects I want to start. First off, you can call me crazy, but I'm going to start learning French along side Gaelic. I'll take it a lot slower, and Gaelic will still be my priority, but I've always felt somewhat drawn to the French language. Maybe it's because one of my favorite books, which happens to be a historical fiction, happens to have a French setting. I remember blogging about considering it before, and I'm not sure what made me so suddenly wanting to learn it, but here I go on the journey to learn a third language!
One of my other thoughts is sword fighting. I've never been good at it; mostly because I'm afraid I'll hit someone and hurt them. In the past I've considered learning, though last night I got this huge urge to start researching and practicing sword fighting. But before I go all crazy on it, I'm taking a few days to think about it. I've often been a person who gets sudden impulses, and a few days later realize I don't truly want to do it, but it sounded fun at the time. Like skydiving. Every time I ride a plane, I ask myself I I could make myself jump out. Each time the answer has surprisingly been yes (I know, that's weird for me). Though I'm sure if I was actually going up with the intent of jumping, it would be quite different.
I can't believe it's almost Christmas. Less than a week away. Underneath our tree is so full, I'm not sure we'll be able to fit anymore boxes underneath. Now we've never really had any traditions around Christmas, though a few years ago we started having Christmas dinner. This year we're opening our presents on Christmas Eve morning. That's like our only tradition; to no open presents on at the same time, or same day, two years in a row. It's not even a real tradition, it's just what happens.
Because of NaNoWriMo I got way side tracked on Gaelic, and because of that I'm a bit rusty. Luckily it's coming back real quick. Luckily I have a good memory. Actually, it's funny, I have one of the best memories, and one of the worst memories. It all depends on how much I concentration.
For the past few days I haven't really done any writing on Heart of Fire, but that's because I've been kind of busy. As much as I want to, I'm not letting myself go back and edit. So far I've completed chapter one. I've decided five pages is my chapter minimum, and around seven to eight will be the maximum. I figure that's a fair amount, though once I someday get it in the actually formatting of the published product, that might seem really long, or short. We'll see though.
Oh, happy first day of Winter everybody! Autumn and Winter are my favorite seasons. I hope it snows a bit this Winter. I'm really hoping it does, just because snow is awesome. I can never decided which of the two is my favorite. It's kind of like picking a favorite book, or movie. It's just impossible.
I've been reading this book, Anastasia: The Lost Princess, and it's quite fascinating! It's written by James Lovell, who happened to meet Anna Anderson/Anastasia and it's my first time reading from the point of view that Anna was in fact Anastasia. He believed it without a doubt, and so far the book has been very informative. I haven't decided which I believe, though based on what he's written it does seem very likely that Anna was Anastasia. Just the name, Anna Anderson, makes me think of something Anastasia might have come up with. Something I didn't know, is she tried to commit suicide before coming out to say she was the Tsars daughter. I could see that happening; after all, if my family and friends were murdered right before my eyes I might not feel like living either. Plus he had countless tapes of interview with Anna, and he learned to tell when she was lying or not. He spent countless years on this book, and so it's really fun reading it.
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Alrightly Then
In English we say "I am," "you are," "it is," etc. In Gaelic, we say "tha" for "am," "are," and "is." It doesn't change.
* I -- Mi
-Pronunciation: mi
* I am -- Tha mi
-Pronunciation: ha mi
* Well -- Gu math
-Pronunciation: gu MAHH
"Math" means "good" when you are describing something. But if you add the word "gu" in front of it to make "gu math," it means "in a good way" or "well." It's a bit like the ending "-ly" in English, as in "the quick fox" and "the fox ran quickly."
* Alright -- Dòigheil
-Pronunciation: DOA-yil
Although there is actually no such word as "alrightly" in English, when you say "I'm alright" in Gaelic, what you are literally saying is something like "I'm alrightly"!
* I'm alright -- The mi gu dòigheil
-Pronunciation: ha mi gu DOA-yil
* Bad -- Dona
-Pronunciation: DO-na
* I'm doing badly (I am badly) -- Tha mi gu dona
-Pronunciation: ha mi gu DO-na
* Middling -- Meadhanach
-Pronunciation: MEYuh-nokh
* I'm middling -- Tha mi meadhanach
-Pronunciation: ha mi MEYuh-nokh
* I'm reasonably well (I am middling good) -- Tha mi meadhanach math
-Pronunciation: ha mi MEYuh-nokh mahh
*Formal
* How are you? -- Ciamar a tha sibh?
-Pronunciation: KI-mar ah-ha shehv
*Formal
* You -- Sibh
-Pronunciation: shehv
Gaelic had two different words to say "you." When you want to be polite, or if you are talking to someone you don't know or an older person, you should call them "sibh."
* You are -- Tha sibh
-Pronunciation: ha shehv
* How? -- Ciamar?
-Pronunciation: KI-mar
* I -- Mi
-Pronunciation: mi
* I am -- Tha mi
-Pronunciation: ha mi
* Well -- Gu math
-Pronunciation: gu MAHH
"Math" means "good" when you are describing something. But if you add the word "gu" in front of it to make "gu math," it means "in a good way" or "well." It's a bit like the ending "-ly" in English, as in "the quick fox" and "the fox ran quickly."
* Alright -- Dòigheil
-Pronunciation: DOA-yil
Although there is actually no such word as "alrightly" in English, when you say "I'm alright" in Gaelic, what you are literally saying is something like "I'm alrightly"!
* I'm alright -- The mi gu dòigheil
-Pronunciation: ha mi gu DOA-yil
* Bad -- Dona
-Pronunciation: DO-na
* I'm doing badly (I am badly) -- Tha mi gu dona
-Pronunciation: ha mi gu DO-na
* Middling -- Meadhanach
-Pronunciation: MEYuh-nokh
* I'm middling -- Tha mi meadhanach
-Pronunciation: ha mi MEYuh-nokh
* I'm reasonably well (I am middling good) -- Tha mi meadhanach math
-Pronunciation: ha mi MEYuh-nokh mahh
*Formal
* How are you? -- Ciamar a tha sibh?
-Pronunciation: KI-mar ah-ha shehv
*Formal
* You -- Sibh
-Pronunciation: shehv
Gaelic had two different words to say "you." When you want to be polite, or if you are talking to someone you don't know or an older person, you should call them "sibh."
* You are -- Tha sibh
-Pronunciation: ha shehv
* How? -- Ciamar?
-Pronunciation: KI-mar
Monday, December 15, 2014
Another Goal
So when I listen to music 9 times out of 10 I've got earbuds. Due to my misophonia I now use my dad's noise cancelling earbuds, so I can also block out trigger sounds at times. I also keep my music very loud, cause that's how I like it. So it's pretty hard for people to get my attention. Most of the time they wave frantically to catch my eye, though Tiana has taken to shouting things such as, DOCTOR WHO! SHERLOCK! ARROW! FLASH! BARRY ALLEN! NINE! TEN! ELEVEN! Somehow those always seem to catch my attention best, though I honestly don't hear anyone talking most of the time.
Yesterday morning I woke up with an extremely stiff neck and it made my head ache. Luckily after my shower it loosened up a bit, but it's still ached on and off throughout the day. Speaking of yesterday, the Christmas party was yesterday. It was fun, and from the white elephant exchange I got an Epsom salt thing. I gave that to Mamma, and in the end I got the recipe box that Daniel got. My plans are to repaint it and use it for... something. I don't know yet; I just really like boxes though. I have no use for them, but I love glass bottles and boxes. You could say I collect them.
So I was writing Heart of Fire, and I kept making a bunch of new characters. A group that live together. I kept getting them mixed up, so I went to Pinterest and got lots of pictures, and since they're minor-ish characters just wrote a mini bio and voila! By making this new group of characters my story has been added on to quite considerably, and given the character a much larger drive to do what she must.
A while back we got a bunch of peppermint bark, which is my favorite, but because of sugar I haven't had any. Yesterday and today I finally caved, and had some. I figure I'll let myself slide a little around the holidays. My plan though is to start eating a lot healthier, i.e. cut out most bread and snacking and replace them with vegetables, and then I can justify more small sugar cheats. Because sometimes you just can't resist a sugary treat, and if I'm eating better I'll feel better about having it.
Daniel and I have been talking about listening to audio books together for quite some time, and today we're hopping to actually start. Originally we started with the idea that we would listen to Artemis Fowl, and while I want to read the books I wasn't feeling like reading those stories. So I though, Percy Jackson and the Olympian's is said to be good! Unfortunately I can't get the audio book today, but I'm on hold for it on Overdrive, and will hopefully be listening to it soon. In the meantime I'll have to try and convince Daniel to listen to The Westing Game. I read it years ago and loved it, so I want to read it again and see what I think.
Recently I said that I'm officially going to save up for a really nice keyboard, and I am, but now I'm going to be saving up for another thing. This one is extremely long term, and something I'm very passionate about. Starting now ten percent of each paycheck I receive will go into a fund, in preparation for when I travel to Europe. I figure I'd like to go in my early twenties, and when I do Tiana said she's totally coming; I also hope that I can get a few friends to go when the time comes. It'd be so fun just traveling the entirety of Europe, walking and taking the trains, visiting places. Though I want to just walk around and see what I discover, there are quite a few places that I must go. Such as Versilles, Schonbrunn Palace, The Tower of London, Hatfield House, Chateau Chambord, etc. As many know, I love royal history, so of course I'd want to visit these places. I also want to visit a few places in Russia as well, like the Alexander Palace, The Catherine Palace, etc.
Yesterday morning I woke up with an extremely stiff neck and it made my head ache. Luckily after my shower it loosened up a bit, but it's still ached on and off throughout the day. Speaking of yesterday, the Christmas party was yesterday. It was fun, and from the white elephant exchange I got an Epsom salt thing. I gave that to Mamma, and in the end I got the recipe box that Daniel got. My plans are to repaint it and use it for... something. I don't know yet; I just really like boxes though. I have no use for them, but I love glass bottles and boxes. You could say I collect them.
So I was writing Heart of Fire, and I kept making a bunch of new characters. A group that live together. I kept getting them mixed up, so I went to Pinterest and got lots of pictures, and since they're minor-ish characters just wrote a mini bio and voila! By making this new group of characters my story has been added on to quite considerably, and given the character a much larger drive to do what she must.
A while back we got a bunch of peppermint bark, which is my favorite, but because of sugar I haven't had any. Yesterday and today I finally caved, and had some. I figure I'll let myself slide a little around the holidays. My plan though is to start eating a lot healthier, i.e. cut out most bread and snacking and replace them with vegetables, and then I can justify more small sugar cheats. Because sometimes you just can't resist a sugary treat, and if I'm eating better I'll feel better about having it.
Daniel and I have been talking about listening to audio books together for quite some time, and today we're hopping to actually start. Originally we started with the idea that we would listen to Artemis Fowl, and while I want to read the books I wasn't feeling like reading those stories. So I though, Percy Jackson and the Olympian's is said to be good! Unfortunately I can't get the audio book today, but I'm on hold for it on Overdrive, and will hopefully be listening to it soon. In the meantime I'll have to try and convince Daniel to listen to The Westing Game. I read it years ago and loved it, so I want to read it again and see what I think.
Recently I said that I'm officially going to save up for a really nice keyboard, and I am, but now I'm going to be saving up for another thing. This one is extremely long term, and something I'm very passionate about. Starting now ten percent of each paycheck I receive will go into a fund, in preparation for when I travel to Europe. I figure I'd like to go in my early twenties, and when I do Tiana said she's totally coming; I also hope that I can get a few friends to go when the time comes. It'd be so fun just traveling the entirety of Europe, walking and taking the trains, visiting places. Though I want to just walk around and see what I discover, there are quite a few places that I must go. Such as Versilles, Schonbrunn Palace, The Tower of London, Hatfield House, Chateau Chambord, etc. As many know, I love royal history, so of course I'd want to visit these places. I also want to visit a few places in Russia as well, like the Alexander Palace, The Catherine Palace, etc.
Friday, December 12, 2014
Oh Sweet Giftcard
I hope I'm not overloading you guys with all my posts lately; I've been trying to limit to one post a day, but since I've been doing journal entries pretty much everyday, then I can't post about my interests. Hopefully that will calm down. Besides, I figure not everyone wants to read about all my interests anyway, so maybe I'm not overloading anyone.
Guess what I just got from my grandpa for my birthday? A $25 gift card to Cabela's! I'm so excited, after Christmas I'll be able to buy some archery equipment to go with my new bow! After doing some research, I realized why my dad and I were pulling left while shooting. We've been holding the bow at a slight angle, so the draw string doesn't hurt our arms (I've yet to buy a bracer). It's obviously affected our aim quite considerably. So I figure with my gift card I'll get a bracer, and some more arrows. Oh, it's really awesome because my bow actually has a bow quiver. I didn't know such a thing existed until now, but I can hook three arrows onto the side of my bow. I'd still like to get a back quiver, and eventually a hip quiver as well.
Today is a friend of mine's birthday. It just so happens that I'm exactly six days older than her. Of course she's taller than I am, but I've gotten used to that now. Everyone is taller than me. I actually can't believe that I turned sixteen only six days ago. Already it feels like an eternity, which is sorta odd.
This Sunday I'm going to a Christmas party. It's bound to be a lot of fun; there's going to be a white elephant gift exchange. So far some of our ideas are pretty funny. Tiana is going to give away a signed picture of herself, wearing her blonde wig, her sombrero, and holding maracas. Daniel is going to give a white elephant, and I'm going to give a bag with two batteries that has a card inside that says toy not included (get it?). I kind of have to admit, the fact that there will be a real piano at the place is a bonus. I'll probably get to play. I love playing with weighted keys. Ohhh... that's it, now that I'm getting larger paychecks I'm going to save up to get a really nice keyboard; full length with weighted keys. I'm sure it will take quite a while to save up for, but I really want one so bad. I'm so used to my old pay of $20 a month that I am slowly coming to realize all the things I can save up for now. It's all quite exciting.
I finished The Shattered Medallion Nancy Drew game yesterday. The end was... interesting. I can't quite decide if I liked it or not. Sadly I used a cheat at the very end, because I was so stuck with this puzzle. I didn't understand it at all, so I caved and used the solution. Oh well, maybe I'll do better when I start The Deadly Device.
Guess what I get to see on the 1st of March in 2015?! Roger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella! Tiana just bought the tickets today. It's going to be so awesome. I mean I've never been hugely interested in the Broadway stuff, but this is seriously awesome. Seeing the performance in person is going to be so fun. Especially the part where Ella's dress changes. I've see a video of it, and it's incredible. If I didn't have such huge stage fright, I would want to be a Broadway actress. If I could life forever I would do everything. There are so many things, that if I could, I would do. Like be a professional ice skater, actress, singer, dancer, I already want to travel the world and experience different cultures. There would be so many things that I'd do. Become a pilot, or just do anything I could. Sure, some things would be terrifying (I've always wanted to zip line, but that could be scary).
I'm still kind of completely going crazy about that ending to Arrow. Argh, I need to know more. Listening to the soundtrack (as I am doing now) only makes it worse. Someday I want to create a character as awesome as Oliver Queen. He's just awesome how they wrote him, and how he became who he is now. It's all just epic. I think it would be incredible to meet Stephen Amell (Oliver), or any of the Arrow cast. I would love to just watch them act, and sit in a corner unnoticed as they go through scenes, and redo parts and things. That would be fascinating. It would be for any show, though it'd be the most awesome for one I love.
I went Doctor Who pin happy, and now I've got the feels again. Why did Ten have to go?! Why did Nine only get one season?! He deserved more then that.
Guess what I just got from my grandpa for my birthday? A $25 gift card to Cabela's! I'm so excited, after Christmas I'll be able to buy some archery equipment to go with my new bow! After doing some research, I realized why my dad and I were pulling left while shooting. We've been holding the bow at a slight angle, so the draw string doesn't hurt our arms (I've yet to buy a bracer). It's obviously affected our aim quite considerably. So I figure with my gift card I'll get a bracer, and some more arrows. Oh, it's really awesome because my bow actually has a bow quiver. I didn't know such a thing existed until now, but I can hook three arrows onto the side of my bow. I'd still like to get a back quiver, and eventually a hip quiver as well.
Today is a friend of mine's birthday. It just so happens that I'm exactly six days older than her. Of course she's taller than I am, but I've gotten used to that now. Everyone is taller than me. I actually can't believe that I turned sixteen only six days ago. Already it feels like an eternity, which is sorta odd.
This Sunday I'm going to a Christmas party. It's bound to be a lot of fun; there's going to be a white elephant gift exchange. So far some of our ideas are pretty funny. Tiana is going to give away a signed picture of herself, wearing her blonde wig, her sombrero, and holding maracas. Daniel is going to give a white elephant, and I'm going to give a bag with two batteries that has a card inside that says toy not included (get it?). I kind of have to admit, the fact that there will be a real piano at the place is a bonus. I'll probably get to play. I love playing with weighted keys. Ohhh... that's it, now that I'm getting larger paychecks I'm going to save up to get a really nice keyboard; full length with weighted keys. I'm sure it will take quite a while to save up for, but I really want one so bad. I'm so used to my old pay of $20 a month that I am slowly coming to realize all the things I can save up for now. It's all quite exciting.
I finished The Shattered Medallion Nancy Drew game yesterday. The end was... interesting. I can't quite decide if I liked it or not. Sadly I used a cheat at the very end, because I was so stuck with this puzzle. I didn't understand it at all, so I caved and used the solution. Oh well, maybe I'll do better when I start The Deadly Device.
Guess what I get to see on the 1st of March in 2015?! Roger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella! Tiana just bought the tickets today. It's going to be so awesome. I mean I've never been hugely interested in the Broadway stuff, but this is seriously awesome. Seeing the performance in person is going to be so fun. Especially the part where Ella's dress changes. I've see a video of it, and it's incredible. If I didn't have such huge stage fright, I would want to be a Broadway actress. If I could life forever I would do everything. There are so many things, that if I could, I would do. Like be a professional ice skater, actress, singer, dancer, I already want to travel the world and experience different cultures. There would be so many things that I'd do. Become a pilot, or just do anything I could. Sure, some things would be terrifying (I've always wanted to zip line, but that could be scary).
I'm still kind of completely going crazy about that ending to Arrow. Argh, I need to know more. Listening to the soundtrack (as I am doing now) only makes it worse. Someday I want to create a character as awesome as Oliver Queen. He's just awesome how they wrote him, and how he became who he is now. It's all just epic. I think it would be incredible to meet Stephen Amell (Oliver), or any of the Arrow cast. I would love to just watch them act, and sit in a corner unnoticed as they go through scenes, and redo parts and things. That would be fascinating. It would be for any show, though it'd be the most awesome for one I love.
I went Doctor Who pin happy, and now I've got the feels again. Why did Ten have to go?! Why did Nine only get one season?! He deserved more then that.
Start at the Beginning
I've been learning Scottish Gaelic since around the middle of Summer this year, and I'd like to start sharing what I've been learning on my blog now. The only site I could find to learn Gaelic, was Mango Languages, and as I've been learning I've been writing down the words and phrases in a notebook, so I can look back. Besides, writing stuff down helps burn it into my memory. Now I've decided to also write what I've been learning on my blog, so you can follow me in my goal to become a fluent speaker of the Scottish Gaelic language.
(Because each chapter can be quite large, I'll be doing them in different parts, and the start of a new chapter will be clearly indicated)
Chapter One: Greetings, Gratitude, and Goodbyes
* Hello (Good day) -- Latha math
-Pronunciation: la-a mah
* Day -- Latha
-Pronunciation: laa
* Good -- Math
-Pronunciation: mahh
"Latha math" is the standard greeting in Scottish Gaelic. You can address it to anyone at any time of the day, and it can also be used to wish someone a good day when you part company. You may also hear the greeting "Halò."
* Afternoon -- Feasgar
-Pronunciation: FESKur
In Scottish Gaelic, the word "feasgar" refers to any part of the day between lunchtime and nightfall, so it corresponds to both "afternoon" and "evening."
* Good afternoon -- Feasgar math
-Pronunciation: FESKur mahh
*Feminine
* Morning -- Madainn
-Pronunciation: MA-Teen
*Feminine
* Good morning -- Madainn mhath
-Pronunciation: MA-Teen vahh
Did you notice that the word "math" changed to "mhath" after "madainn"? This is because "madainn" is feminine. In English, things can be "he," "she," or "it" depending on weather they are male, female, or neither. In Gaelic, there is no "it": all things are considered to be either masculine or feminine. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to tell if a word is masculine or feminine, you just have to remember the gender of each word. One clue is that feminine words often change the sound of a following adjective, which is indicated by adding an "h" after the first letter.
*Feminine
* Night -- Oidhche
-Pronunciation: OI-hye
*Feminine
* Good night -- Oidhche mhath
-Pronunciation: OI-hye vahh
* I am well -- Tha mi gu math
-Pronunciation: ha mi gu MAHH
* Be -- Bi
-Pronunciation: bee
* Am, Is, or Are -- Tha
-Pronunciation: ha
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Chickenweeds
They. Did. Not. Just. Do. That. I just watched the Winter finale for Arrow, and *spoilers* Oliver is dead. Ra's al Ghul just stabbed him through the chest, then pushed him off the mountain side. Now I have to wait until the end of January to figure out how he survives. Dang, these writers are amazing with their characters and plot lines. My hat's off to them. *End of spoilers*
Now that Christmas is just two weeks away all the shows are going on break. All of them decided to leave off at critical parts in the story, and some wont return until March. March! Can you believe it?
Wow, the wind is blowing extremely hard tonight. It's rather on the borderline of insane. Let's just hope no trees fall over. They've been known to do that you know. A rather large one fell down a couple of years ago. Blocked off what little bit of forest we have by our house. Oh, I hope the power doesn't go out. With all this wind I hope the chickens are okay. We were just saying that we hope they don't get blown away like tumbleweeds (or chickenweeds as Daniel called them).
Now that Christmas is just two weeks away all the shows are going on break. All of them decided to leave off at critical parts in the story, and some wont return until March. March! Can you believe it?
Wow, the wind is blowing extremely hard tonight. It's rather on the borderline of insane. Let's just hope no trees fall over. They've been known to do that you know. A rather large one fell down a couple of years ago. Blocked off what little bit of forest we have by our house. Oh, I hope the power doesn't go out. With all this wind I hope the chickens are okay. We were just saying that we hope they don't get blown away like tumbleweeds (or chickenweeds as Daniel called them).
Maria Antonia Josepha (Josephina) Johanna; What a Name!
 |
| Maria Antoinette, Queen of France and Navarre, by Louise Èlisabeth Vigée Le Brun, c. 1779. |
To start off, Marie Antoinette was not always know by such a grand name. As a child she was Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, so as of the moment I'm not entire sure where the name Marie Antoinette even came from. I'll have to do more digging to find out.
Antonia, as she was known, was born on November 2nd, in the year 1755 at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna Austria. She was the 8th living daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, ruler of the Habsburg dominions, and Emperor Francis I. It was the day after her birth that she was baptised with her long name, also know as Maria Antonia Josephina Johanna.
Turns out Antonia was not to be the last child of Empress Maria. Most people have a few kids, like three, or maybe four. But she ended up having a total of sixteen children, including Antonia. Unfortunately four of her children didn't make it through their childhood. One of them died shortly after birth sadly.
Because of all the children she had, and the duties of ruling the Holy Roman Empire, Empress Maria did not have much time for her children. I read once that Antonia grew up with an 'awe-inspired fear' of her mother. But of course, back in those days the royals were all about marriage and alliances. The Empress was able to marry off her daughters and sons in order to create great alliances.
 |
| A gorgeous view of the Hofburg Palace in Vienna Austria, taken by Peter Talke c. 2011 |
Interestingly enough, life for Antonia was quite relaxed compared to other royal courts, especially the French court she was going to marry into. Deviating from protocol was more common during Antonia's childhood. The Habsburgs lived a more private life than many royals, and the royal children played with non-royals, and were even encouraged to do so by their parents. Not exactly something you'd have thought to happen, don't you think?
Though her life was more private from the outside world Antonia was rarely, if ever, alone. She shared a special friendship with her sister Maria Carolina. They were the youngest girls, and even shared the same governess for a time.
Even though the Empress planned to marry off her daughters to the sons of kings, and other nobles or royals their education lacked greatly. While Antonia learned the protocols of manners, dance, appearance, and music she lacked the knowledge that a future ruler should obtain. She knew nothing of statecraft or running a county, and this is partly to blame as to her rather drastic fate. Her handwriting was careless, and it's said that her tutors would sometimes finish her work for her, so that they would not lose their position.
 |
| Marie Antoinette's signature |
During the period in which Antonia lived German and French were considered the 'universal languages' that basically everyone knew. But Antonia, at age ten, had trouble reading and writing German. She spoke little French, and when she did it was rather difficult for her; and Italian she barely spoke at all. The Empress fired Mme de Brandeis after deeming her responsible for the princess' lack of education. She then appointed Mme de Lerchenfeld, also known as Gluck, who helped Antonia excel in her musical endeavors. Antonia drew often, and drew a good chalk likeness of her father around the age of ten.
Some of the instruments that Antonia grew to play quite well included the harpsichord, spinet, clavichord, and harp. She was said to have sung French songs and Italian arias during the family's musical evenings. Antonia was a wonderful dancer, and Horace Walpole once quoted Virgil as to her gait, saying, "vera incessu patuit dea" (she was in truth revealed to be a goddess with her step). As shown in a family portrait, Antonia loved dolls; in the portrait she is excitedly holding up a doll. When Marie Antoinette turned thirteen numerous dolls turned up at Hofburg Palace, all wearing miniature versions of evening gowns, evening dresses, and gold-trimmed gowns.
Of course it's hard to say if all of these words are true. You can only know so much about the past, before it all becomes a big hypothesis, or guessing game. I mean think about it, there are paintings of Marie Antoinette, but we don't know what she looked like for real. The paintings are good, but not lifelike like some of today's. So that leads me to wonder what Antonia actually looked like.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
The High Kings
My latest music obsession is The High Kings. They do Irish (and I think some Scottish maybe) songs. They're all really fun songs, with a good beat, and would be really fun to dance to. A few of my favorites are The Wild Rover, Irish Pub Song, and Marie's Wedding. So if you're interesting in that kind of music, I'd suggest checking them out!
Two days ago I was part of a meeting for a new project. It's a secret as of now, so I can't divulge anything as of yet. All I can say is I'm really excited to be working on a semi-large project with friends. I think it will be a lot of fun, and I can't wait to truly get started.
I pulled out Magix, my music making program, the other day. Making a composition is tough, though I've got one in the works. Unfortunately it's only like ten seconds long so far, and I'm not sure how to continue on with the song just yet. I may have come up with a way to create a tune, but I've yet to put it fully in action. I know I've been saying this every post since I first got the program, but hopefully we'll see a song soon. This time I mean it though; I'm determined to write a song soon, even if it's only like a minute long. I figure that'll be my limit for the shortest my songs can be.
Oh, Sereina just got home, and she bought Mario Kart 8 for our new Wii U! It;s been so fun playing the Wii U games. There's this one game, Nintendo Land, and it's got a Luigi's Haunted Mansion game that my entire family is completely obsessed with. Everyone loves being the ghost. I've also been enjoying Lego Lord of the Rings; Daniel and I just finished all the levels and now we can wander around the Hub, which is the entirety of Middle Earth! (I think I mentioned that before...) It's so fun; I love playing as Arwen, though it's a bummer that she doesn't carry a bow. I'd say that Legolas is my favorite though.
Yesterday the two new Nancy Drew games came! I started The Shattered Medallion right away. Actually, I had started watching the Arglefumph walk through a few months ago, but I only got a few videos into the game. I'm already passed that part that I'd watched to, so now I have no idea what's coming next. So far I've used a few hints, but I'm determined to not use any outright cheats.
Two days ago I was part of a meeting for a new project. It's a secret as of now, so I can't divulge anything as of yet. All I can say is I'm really excited to be working on a semi-large project with friends. I think it will be a lot of fun, and I can't wait to truly get started.
I pulled out Magix, my music making program, the other day. Making a composition is tough, though I've got one in the works. Unfortunately it's only like ten seconds long so far, and I'm not sure how to continue on with the song just yet. I may have come up with a way to create a tune, but I've yet to put it fully in action. I know I've been saying this every post since I first got the program, but hopefully we'll see a song soon. This time I mean it though; I'm determined to write a song soon, even if it's only like a minute long. I figure that'll be my limit for the shortest my songs can be.
Oh, Sereina just got home, and she bought Mario Kart 8 for our new Wii U! It;s been so fun playing the Wii U games. There's this one game, Nintendo Land, and it's got a Luigi's Haunted Mansion game that my entire family is completely obsessed with. Everyone loves being the ghost. I've also been enjoying Lego Lord of the Rings; Daniel and I just finished all the levels and now we can wander around the Hub, which is the entirety of Middle Earth! (I think I mentioned that before...) It's so fun; I love playing as Arwen, though it's a bummer that she doesn't carry a bow. I'd say that Legolas is my favorite though.
Yesterday the two new Nancy Drew games came! I started The Shattered Medallion right away. Actually, I had started watching the Arglefumph walk through a few months ago, but I only got a few videos into the game. I'm already passed that part that I'd watched to, so now I have no idea what's coming next. So far I've used a few hints, but I'm determined to not use any outright cheats.
Sneak Peak
On Pinterest I keep my story boards hidden for one reason. I add lots of detailed description to each pin, describing character, place names, and events. May people are either lazy and wouldn't remove these captions, or someone could steal them. I don't like to think the worst about people like that, but the fact remains that it's highly probable. So I've decided to enclose a few pictures from one of my short stories, Blank Pages, here. This particular story doesn't have a board, just cause it's a short story, but I'm hoping to write it in the near future. Just to clarify, these photos are not mine. I wonder what the pictures will make you think of?
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Your Inner Writer
This post is all about positivity, and reminding yourself that a first draft is not a code word for final draft. It is literally a really detailed outline of your story. I just finished the first draft of Believe, and let me tell you, if that was the final draft I'd be out of business as a writer (then again I'm not even in print yet, but that is beside the point). What I'm getting at is, lots of people get caught up in writing the first draft, wanting everything to turn out perfect, or at least really good. But when it doesn't, they get discouraged, and in my case just start over. I hope I'm not the only one who's done this.
One of my favorite forms of writing encouragement is going on Pinterest (though beware, it's a black hole that cause writers to lose focus). Since I like to pin inspiring pictures for future stories, or specific stories I'm working on, it's just fun to go through and see all the ideas I have swirling in my head. If that isn't enough, there's the series called Writer Positivity. They're just little notes saying things such as, you're going to write someone's favorite character. Or that you are going to be someones favorite author someday. That alone just gets me excited and wanting to write like there's no tomorrow!
Something that I as a writer has struggled with is plotting. Everything you read and hear says to plot it out before writing, that it's so important for you to do this. But as I like to say about many writing rules, "They're more like guidelines anyway." -Hector Barbossa. I quote that quite often actually. Now I try to sit down and write what will happen in my novel. But most of the time my ideas are only partial, and I simply don't know what's going to happen yet. It may not be this way for everyone, but that held me back. I thought that I had to plot. But of course those wonderful words, "it's just a first draft" come to mind. I've discovered that plotting before writing the first draft just doesn't work for me that well. Sometimes you just need to pull off that first draft before you can get anywhere.
A lot of times I see articles about how to improve my writing, and my inner writer gets discouraged because I'm not paying attention to all these rules while writing. As I will repeat so much that you'll come to hate this sentence: it's just a first draft. I forget that all too often. It's just a first draft. I struggled to remember that each writer is completely different, and have their own way of pulling off a bestseller.
Monday, December 8, 2014
All About Sinking
 |
| First class accommodations on the RMS Titanic; undated |
Let's start off with a few simple facts that I've learned thus far. Now many people know at least a little bit about the RMS Titanic. Before I started reading I just new that the Titanic hit an iceberg and lots of people died because of lack of boats. I don't know if this is true, but I somehow learned that they didn't put on enough life boats because it cluttered up the side of the ship and made her not look as nice.
 |
| RMS Titanic |
One thing I've learned is that all the Titanic's passengers had great faith in her, and didn't believe they were in any danger until the boilers exploded, causing the ship to tilt so steeply that people started to fall to their deaths. It's kind of funny. People thought it was impossible for the Titanic to sink, and yet on her maiden voyage she did just that. Rather ironic, don't you think?
Until I started reading about the Titanic I never though of it as a story of hero's. I was reading that when they started getting into the life boats there was no chaos, or pushing to the front. They loaded all the woman and children first, and brave hero's stayed behind, sacrificing themselves for the lives of others. They didn't know these people, and yet they chose to stay. That is a hero in my mind, and so it should be.
.jpg) |
| Recent photo of the Titanic |
My Sweet Sixteen
Okay guys, it's December 8th, so two days after my birthday. I meant to post sooner, but life got busy; i.e. I was playing with all the stuff I got from my epic sweet sixteen birthday. Here's how the day went. Everyone was scheduled to be ready for me to race upstairs at eight in the morning, so I could open presents first thing. As you might expect, I woke an hour before eight that morning, and kept tossing and turning try to sleep to make the time go by faster. I figured they might be a little late, and didn't get up until Sereina pounced on my bed a few minutes after eight exclaiming that everyone was waiting for me. I rushed and got dressed as fast as I could, shaking with excitement.
Last year everyone didn't wrap their presents for me until the day of, so all my gifts had been sitting in the living room since the night before. I had no idea what any of them were. Starting with the smallest one, I got a five dollar gift card to Target from Tiana. For some unexplainable reason she saw a baby buggy gift card, and thought of me. Not sure how that happened. Next was Sereina's gift. I tore open the box to see a really nice black leather journal, two really nice pens, and The Lion King soundtrack! Squee! Next was Daniel's gift. When I shook the box it sounded like Legos, but we've been known to trick other people by putting random Legos in a box as a decoy. I opened it to see our "junk yard" bags (it's a long story) filled with random Legos.. Then I saw it, Lego Lord of the Rings for Wii! I'm seriously loving that game. It's the best. The hub is Middle Earth! Okay, next present, the second part of Tiana's gifts. I opened a large flat gift to reveal a book with 40 Harry Potter posters! Yay! Finally I got to the gigantic box from Mamma and Daddy. After I finally got it open, I found a Tomcat compound bow! My dad and I took it out yesterday, and though I'm far from being the next Green Arrow, Hawk Eye, or Legolas, it was really fun. We're figuring out all the workings of the sight. My old bow was really small, and didn't have a proper sight. This one has a really nice fiber optic sight.
Those are my gifts, so you can sorta guess what I did next. I played Lord of the Rings until we left to buy our Christmas tree. Sereina decided to get a Wii U since it was on super sale for a deal that she would have regretted had she not bought it (she walked into the store, and shouted "I'm gonna get it!" to her co-workers. To which David replied, "Yeahhhhh!"). Then I went to P.F. Changs for lunch. They have the most amazing gluten free spicy chicken on earth, and I could eat it nonstop. Now usually I don't eat refined sugar, but at Changs I got a free desert for my birthday that was too good to pass up. It was a chocolate dome, of the richest chocolate ever. It was incredible! (When the guy brought it over he said he wasn't going to sing Happy Birthday, to spare us both the embarrasment. I like that guy.) Finally we came home and hung out for the rest of the day. I had berry pie as my desert, and we were going to watch How to Train Your Dragon 2, but couldn't get it, then we were going to watch Flarrow, but I wanted to play on the new Wii U more. Most of the time I prefer games to movies or television, except in a few rare occasions.
So in the end, it wasn't the most lavish of parties, but it was the best birthday I've had. Although it does come in close tie with my twelfth birthday, just cause it was a surprise party. I really love surprise parties, and surprises in general.
I could drive now if I wanted. It's funny, my dad kept joking that I was getting a car for my birthday. I just played along, but we all know I already have a car. I've claimed the Volkswagen beetle bug, usually know as just the bug, for my own.
Last year everyone didn't wrap their presents for me until the day of, so all my gifts had been sitting in the living room since the night before. I had no idea what any of them were. Starting with the smallest one, I got a five dollar gift card to Target from Tiana. For some unexplainable reason she saw a baby buggy gift card, and thought of me. Not sure how that happened. Next was Sereina's gift. I tore open the box to see a really nice black leather journal, two really nice pens, and The Lion King soundtrack! Squee! Next was Daniel's gift. When I shook the box it sounded like Legos, but we've been known to trick other people by putting random Legos in a box as a decoy. I opened it to see our "junk yard" bags (it's a long story) filled with random Legos.. Then I saw it, Lego Lord of the Rings for Wii! I'm seriously loving that game. It's the best. The hub is Middle Earth! Okay, next present, the second part of Tiana's gifts. I opened a large flat gift to reveal a book with 40 Harry Potter posters! Yay! Finally I got to the gigantic box from Mamma and Daddy. After I finally got it open, I found a Tomcat compound bow! My dad and I took it out yesterday, and though I'm far from being the next Green Arrow, Hawk Eye, or Legolas, it was really fun. We're figuring out all the workings of the sight. My old bow was really small, and didn't have a proper sight. This one has a really nice fiber optic sight.
Those are my gifts, so you can sorta guess what I did next. I played Lord of the Rings until we left to buy our Christmas tree. Sereina decided to get a Wii U since it was on super sale for a deal that she would have regretted had she not bought it (she walked into the store, and shouted "I'm gonna get it!" to her co-workers. To which David replied, "Yeahhhhh!"). Then I went to P.F. Changs for lunch. They have the most amazing gluten free spicy chicken on earth, and I could eat it nonstop. Now usually I don't eat refined sugar, but at Changs I got a free desert for my birthday that was too good to pass up. It was a chocolate dome, of the richest chocolate ever. It was incredible! (When the guy brought it over he said he wasn't going to sing Happy Birthday, to spare us both the embarrasment. I like that guy.) Finally we came home and hung out for the rest of the day. I had berry pie as my desert, and we were going to watch How to Train Your Dragon 2, but couldn't get it, then we were going to watch Flarrow, but I wanted to play on the new Wii U more. Most of the time I prefer games to movies or television, except in a few rare occasions.
So in the end, it wasn't the most lavish of parties, but it was the best birthday I've had. Although it does come in close tie with my twelfth birthday, just cause it was a surprise party. I really love surprise parties, and surprises in general.
I could drive now if I wanted. It's funny, my dad kept joking that I was getting a car for my birthday. I just played along, but we all know I already have a car. I've claimed the Volkswagen beetle bug, usually know as just the bug, for my own.
Friday, December 5, 2014
Tomorrow is the Big Day
Today is my last day of being 15 years old. In a sense I want the day to pass quickly, so that tomorrow will come. But at the same time I keep thinking about the number 16. It feels so different than 15, though I suppose I must have felt the exact same way last year. Now I'll be able to get my drivers license! If I could even drive that is. I keep saying that I'll get around to learning how to drive, but honestly it's not that interesting to me.
Okay, hopefully we'll finally be able to watch the latest episodes of The Flash, and Arrow tonight. I'm so excited to watch the Flarrow (Flash Arrow crossover) episodes! According to Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen), who did a Q&A video the other day, there's more humor in these episodes. I look forward to that. As much as I love action, humor is something I'm looking for equally.
I found a piano version of the song, I See Fire by Ed Sheeran, and I'm completely in love with it. I've decided to learn that song on piano. Only thing is, I really should finish the other songs that I've been learning and haven't finished. Like Across the Stars, by John Williams. I've been learning that off and on for the last couple of years. So I really shouldn't, but I probably will start learning it. Actually, I already started learning it, but I'm only a few second into the song, so that barely counts.
Yesterday I got to deposit a check on my phone. It's pretty nifty, you just enter the account you want to deposit to, how much, and take photos of the front and back of the check. Now that I've refilled my back account, I'm headed to the mall today! Okay, I'm not going to the mall just because I'm no longer poor. We just happened to be going today. I wonder if I'll buy anything? There's a Lego set I'm considering, but it's in really high demand, so I kind of doubt it will be available.
As much as I love the holiday seasons, Christmas in particular, it's completely maddening on the fandom side. Just after things get extremely intense on Agents of Shield, they decide not to play the season finale until the new year. That's a whole month of waiting people. I've never really been a very patent person, so of course this is going to be agony.
Okay, hopefully we'll finally be able to watch the latest episodes of The Flash, and Arrow tonight. I'm so excited to watch the Flarrow (Flash Arrow crossover) episodes! According to Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen), who did a Q&A video the other day, there's more humor in these episodes. I look forward to that. As much as I love action, humor is something I'm looking for equally.
I found a piano version of the song, I See Fire by Ed Sheeran, and I'm completely in love with it. I've decided to learn that song on piano. Only thing is, I really should finish the other songs that I've been learning and haven't finished. Like Across the Stars, by John Williams. I've been learning that off and on for the last couple of years. So I really shouldn't, but I probably will start learning it. Actually, I already started learning it, but I'm only a few second into the song, so that barely counts.
Yesterday I got to deposit a check on my phone. It's pretty nifty, you just enter the account you want to deposit to, how much, and take photos of the front and back of the check. Now that I've refilled my back account, I'm headed to the mall today! Okay, I'm not going to the mall just because I'm no longer poor. We just happened to be going today. I wonder if I'll buy anything? There's a Lego set I'm considering, but it's in really high demand, so I kind of doubt it will be available.
As much as I love the holiday seasons, Christmas in particular, it's completely maddening on the fandom side. Just after things get extremely intense on Agents of Shield, they decide not to play the season finale until the new year. That's a whole month of waiting people. I've never really been a very patent person, so of course this is going to be agony.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Grand Opening
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the grand opening of my newest blog, Life's a Journey! Yes, thank you very much, you're all too kind. Okay, on to business now. I figure my first post should be explaining what my blog is about exactly. To put it simply, it's a place to record my everyday thoughts and experiences in life, as well as documenting my latest projects and accomplishments. Some of the main topics that I'll be covering is my progress in learning Scottish Gaelic, my research on monarchy throughout the ages, as well as tips, tricks, and other things on my writing.
I'm really excited to start this new blog, because out of the many blogs I have enjoyed making, only one has been successful. That is my old blog, Adventures. See, I tried making different blogs for my different interests, because I wanted a specific design since designing a blog is so much fun. But keeping up more than one blog is tough. So I finally decided to start a fresh new blog, and it's now my one big blog of my adventures through life!
Hopefully what I write about will be enough to keep you interested. So feel free to comment, and follow my blog! I really love getting comments, so I can know where to improve, and your overall thoughts on my blogging.
I'm really excited to start this new blog, because out of the many blogs I have enjoyed making, only one has been successful. That is my old blog, Adventures. See, I tried making different blogs for my different interests, because I wanted a specific design since designing a blog is so much fun. But keeping up more than one blog is tough. So I finally decided to start a fresh new blog, and it's now my one big blog of my adventures through life!
Hopefully what I write about will be enough to keep you interested. So feel free to comment, and follow my blog! I really love getting comments, so I can know where to improve, and your overall thoughts on my blogging.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)