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Thursday, November 19, 2015

The Lost Hero

Life has been going pretty good lately. I've been playing piano all the time, and have already learned the entire thing of The Dragonborn Comes on piano. Now to just perfect it. I'm thinking I might do song covers on my channel along with my original compositions. We'll see though.

I've finally gotten around to reading the first book in the Heroes of Olympus series. I finished Percy Jackson and the Olympians a million years ago. Okay not really, sometime during this year. I forgot when. But I'm so sucked into The Lost Hero, I can't stop reading it. Of course I have to at some points so I can continue with NaNoWriMo.

Speaking of NaNo, it's been going quite well. Each year I've been able to write more and more. My first year was pretty tough. 1,667 words was a lot, and the moment I hit that each day, I pretty much stopped. Until Tiana raced ahead at the end, and obviously I didn't want to get left in the dust. I ended up writing ten thousand words in the span of two days. Now I don't write that much regularly, but it's not as big of a deal anymore. About a week ago I wrote almost six thousand words, and I didn't even mean to. I just kept joining Word Wars, and let me tell you, those get me super competitive. When doing a Word War I average at about a thousand words in fifteen minutes. I'm so excited to start editing, seeing as this is my first draft I'm happy enough with to edit.

I can't believe Thanksgiving is almost here. The time to feast on mashed potatoes is fast approaching! That'll be amazing. I love mashed potatoes. They are my weakness. And not the boxed kind mind you. Real honest to good potatoes.

Fun fact: A new species of daddy long leg spider has been named Iandumonema Smeagol. Yes, there is a spider named after a LOTR character, simply because it looks similar in color. And it had no eyes, but that's just another random thing. So yeah, fun fact.

And another fun fact because you all should hear this. You know that dizzy feeling you get when you stand up too fast after sitting or lying for a while? Kind of like you might pass out? The technical term for it is Orthostatic Hypotension. Thank you medical student/doctor on Pinterest that I follow who inserts your knowledge on pins. It's very educational.

In other news, I'll be going to the stable today. Due to reasons I'll be going an hour earlier than usual, just this week, and won't be there when it's dark. After the time change if felt like I was there a lot longer because when I leave it's dark out. But yeah, anyways, can't wait to go to the stable. I really want to do some cantering. Hopefully I'll do better after learning some techniques. Well, it's hard to call them that, since technically it's mostly psychological. Imagining my entire weight dropping into my heels and stuff like that. Or envisioning myself as something really heavy, to solidify the thought of staying in my seat. Kind of like a bag of potatoes. But of course I gotta keep good posture. So as I'm riding I literally think to myself, "I am the most glorious bag of potatoes." It's hard to say how much it helps, but it's entertaining.

Last week I rode Bella, since it was windy. Usually I'm on Zoe, but she's kinda spooky with the wind and all. I rode down in the big arena the entire time, and Bella decided that "fast trot" was the only word in her vocabulary. It was probably due to the cold though. By the time I was done riding I felt completely frozen. My fingers were freezing. But it was a good ride. Bella randomly decided to canter, and I didn't lose my balance and was able to bring her down within a few strides. Of course I was going in a straight line, so of course it was easier than what I've been doing. But I've always seemed to do better on Bella's canter in the past... hm.

Yesterday some friends came over because Tiana wanted to do a collab video for her YouTube channel, and so did Lilly. Mary and I just hung out playing piano and making homemade granola most of the time. Then we showed them Google Translate sings. They just released a rendition of Google Translate Sings Phantom of the Opera starring *drum roll please* CALEB HYLES! WOO HOO! I want him to play on Broadway as Phantom one day. He has a really great voice for it. Oh yes, and we watched the latest Studio C, a parody on Sherlock. OH. MY. GOSH. Matt looks exactly like Moriarty, and he plays the part soooo well (Matt looks like so many characters, just like how Jason can act out every character perfectly). Stephen made a wonderful Watson (JAWN), and Adam played Sherlock. He did a good job, but it was just a little strange, because his voice is slightly high pitched. Not really in a bad way, but since Benedict Cumberbatched voice is inhumanly deep, it sounded a little off. It was hilarious. I love the part when Matt pulled out the gun and shouted, "That's why there's a GUN!" That's one of my all time quotes. Well, the actual quote, not the parody of it. Not to say I won't be shouting that all the time now.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Oh Life

Okay so the BEST thing ever happened a few days ago. So as some of you may know, I've been saving for a better piano for like, forever. And my dad came back from Costco where they had a really nice one on display that was much more in my budget that the Casio PX850 that I was (and still am, but as a long term goal) saving up for. Well, my birthday came early because my dad helped me pay for it as an early gift (my birthday is early December btw). I've pretty much been playing non stop. I can't help it, the weighted keys and full length are enough to keep me going. Plus it came with a bench, and headphones so I don't have to bother everyone with the same tune a million times while a learn songs. I've named my keyboard the Dragonborn in honor of the first new song I'm learning, The Dragonborn Comes. The piano has great sound and I love it so much.

As for other things. NaNoWriMo. Yes. That. The first week is over and I don't want to write anymore. I mean, I will. I'm competitive enough that I WILL write the 50,000, no doubt. I just don't feel like writing anymore. Plus, my character is undergoing training in hand to hand fighting, weapons fighting, parkour, etc. and I honestly have no idea what I'm writing. I've never done anything like that except when we filmed a fight scene for 841 Films. So that part is weak and will require research before any other eyes besides my own read it. But I'm excited because this is probably the first manuscript that I won't completely scrap. That's exciting! I'm actually really excited to edit.

Okay I've been going crazy reading Resurrection of the Romanovs. Once I got past the beginning (it's hard to read because I know 95% of what they're talking about already so to me it's like, get on with it!) it started to get really good. It's really starting to captivate me. I seriously LOVE Romanov history. Plus I found quite a few books that I'm hoping to get for my birthday related to the Romanovs. Hint, hint family members. Hehe.

My room is a mess. Ugh. I've been too lazy to clean it. I really should, especially since I'll be busy most of Thursday, between keeping up with writing and going to the stable. Last time I went Rachelle was sick, so I rode Zoe and tried some things of my own. First off, imagining the entire weight of my body dropping into my heels really help my seat. Not to say it was perfect. I did a lot of sitting trot, and because Zoe was kinda spooky from Rachelle moving manure in the tracter (despite her being sick stuff had to get done) she didn't need the crop to keep a good trot going. It really made me realise that while I've gotten the posting trot down, I still need to develope my seat. I can't wait to ride again. I'm considering riding bareback sometime soon, to work on my seat. But if I go bareback then there's no chance of cantering. I'm not ready for that yet, considering I sometimes still hold the saddle. Oh decisions.

That's basically been my life lately though. Writing. Playing piano. Procrastinating from writing. Eating. Lots of eating. I made mashed potatoes and I can't stop eating them. Mashed potatoes are my weakness I love them so much.

Ah yes, and I've been stretching this entire month so far because I'm determined to be able to do the splits. Most all of my friends joined me in doing the thirty day challenge alongside NaNoWriMo. I can touch my toes when I'm warmed up, so yay! I'm not a very flexible person so that's pretty good for me. I'm still a bit away from being able to do the splits, but I'll get there. I'm very determined.

Sunday, November 1, 2015

NaNoWriMo 2015

My third year of NaNoWriMo has begun! So far it's going amazing, and I've already hit day three's par. I was able to do quite a bit of plotting for once in my life, and I think this novel is going really well so far. Especially compared to my last novels. It might actually be edit worthy when the first draft is done, haha.

I've been sick for the past week. Got a sore throat on Sunday and it went downhill from there. Whenever I get a sore throat first when sick I think about when I got sick on the cruise. That's exactly how it started. Luckily this wasn't nearly as bad as on the cruise and I'm almost better.

Call me crazy but I'm no longer saving up for a five hundred dollar piano, but a thousand dollar piano. I can't help it, I found a better model and it's seriously worth the extra money. Ever dollar. So it'll be longer until I can get it, but I'll be getting quality as long as it lives up to my expectations. On another note, I discovered that my piano is once again too short to complete another song, A River Flows in You. It was going so well too. I don't want to forget what I've learned so far, but it'll be a while before I can finish it.