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.