Things have been so crazy lately! I just found out I've been nominated for an award at Arts Evening and I am so happy! I didn't think I would be because I'm only in Junior Band, nothing else. But who cares, it's an award! I didn't get invited last year so this is new. 
So also I've been swamped with work. I feel bad because there are people I've been messaging on a cool penpal site and I haven't been able to message them back and also that there are people waiting for more chapters on Fanfiction.net. I mean I usually put off writing 'til I find inspiration anyway but it's been like two months since the last update of my FrancexCanada story. *sighs* My geography teacher lent me his copy of Twister (a movie) because I missed the middle 45 mins of it when I went to see Romeo and Juliet. I need to watch it and hand in the question sheet Friday and I don't have timeee. I've barely slept so I accidentally blew off all homework yesterday because I was busy til nine and I usually do math around that time but I fell asleep. I can't remember the last time I fell asleep at nine. It's usually between 11:00 and 2:00 that I fall asleep, then I wake up at 7:00. Not healthy, I know. But I've come to realize it's physically impossible to get the amount of sleep and eat the food I'm supposed to, have a thriving social life, and do exceptionally in school all the time. So generally I give up sleep first, then friends, then school. But sometimes that catches up to me and I'll just crash on the couch with my laptop open before supper. Honestly, there aren't enough hours in a day. 
But hey, my birthday is on the 17th! I'm really excited for that because I'm turning sixteen and all. I hope I get some of the stuff I wanted. I mostly asked for books, sheet music, DVD's and anime merch. I want cake already... x3

     Hallo! Yeah, I have a habit of throwing words and small phrases from other languages into my speech. It's either interesting or incredibly irritating. I always enjoyed saying "hola" instead of "hi" and "merci" instead of "thanks," but I didn't do it much 'til I started watching Hetalia. (I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before. It's an anime where all the characters are personifications of countries.) I read (and also write) fanfics for the show and generally the countries will say certain things in their native languages. Also, I like to confuse people. >:3 When I'm bored one of my favourite things to do is learn stuff from other languages. I have an app that is teaching me Italian (I've always wanted to learn the language; it's so pretty~) and I'm taking a German class next year. I'm picking up some Japanese through the subbed anime I watch, and lately when I get bored I've been practicing writing it as well. I can say "I love you" in 9 different languages! (Wonder if this'll come in handy when I wanna tell someone discreetly~ hehe..) 

    Aaaand in other news, aikido classes are over now until September. Boo :( Oh well, I'm bumped up to a yellow belt now and I'm pretty happy :3 There was a BBQ yesterday to celebrate everyone's hard work and I even got a veggie burger ^_^ Mmmm.. Anyway, when the teacher was talking about everyone and how well we did, he talked about me as well and my friends were laughing at me because my face got all red -_____- I don't mind being the centre of attention around people I know, but when people talk about me in a crowd I get all flustered and kinda embarrassed. I mean, compliments are great, but to have others hear them and stare at me I worry and get self conscious and stuff. Oh well~ 

     Don't leave yet, I'm not done babbling! Just one more thing. I really want to just fast forward to the end of the school year. Mostly because I'm so excited for next year's classes, but I really want the summertime and the next while in all my classes is gonna be majorly stressful. Final projects and all. I'm really worried, because I don't feel confident about any of them. 

  Bleahhh I wrote the Literacy Test yesterday and it sucked. -_-' It just doesn't seem like an accurate way to test our literacy. I mean, we can be literate without being able to write and answer quickly. I'm the paranoid type that likes to write out the outline in the rough notes and then write slowly to make sure they can read my writing (it's usually like REALLY messy so I gotta worry about that stuff.) So I spent almost half my time on the first question, making sure everything sounded good before writing it out! Then the teacher said that there was fifteen minutes left and I had a mini panic attack and froze and... yeah it didn't turn out well. Thank goodness they had food in the cafeteria; I might have fainted otherwise because I felt really lightheaded. So with the second booklet, I tried my best to do everything quickly, especially the question where I had to write lots of paragraphs. I might have gone a little *too* quickly, because my writing wasn't the greatest and I finished with ten minutes left. Also, how is knowing what "prudence" means any representation of our reading/writing skills? (I looked it up after, it means "discretion in practical affairs.") How much does that really matter?
  
   Oh well, what're ya gonna do? Hope I passed.. (duh, 'cause it's important.) 

  On the topic of writing, the look of my handwriting (no, not cursive writing, just how it looks when I write normally) has not hanged much since fifth grade. It's gotten smaller and it's more connected, that's all that's changed. Funny thing is, Mum says my writing looks almost identical to her dad's. That does make sense because I'm a lot like my grandpa.

I have to say, I'm stressing out a bit about the next few days. First of all there's band today and of course that will go well as always but I have to make sure I have everything down pat. The music rocks but I doubt we'll even have good attendance today what with track and choir and all. We are planning to scare the teacher again though by putting this little cat toy that my friend found on her music stand. So that'll be fun. (We don't mean anything by it; we've done it before and all she does is think it's a mouse for a second then laugh it off.) Then tomorrow I have the demonstration for my Aikido class (a martial arts class.) I'm sure it'll go fine but my parents will be watching and all so I'm gonna do my best. Tuesday of course is the OSSLT, which I'm not worried about because it's just another irritating standardized test, but still, something that kinda decides whether you graduate or not is sort of a big deal. I know you can get more chances but that would kinda suck. Then on Thursday night there's music night and the junior band is playing two songs. I shouldn't be nervous but my clarinet will probably squeak, then people will laugh and I'll be embarrassed. Oh well, what can you do but cross your fingers and hope when it comes to reed instruments... Then of course there's the Romeo and Juliet trip in Stratford and while I'm sure that will go fine, I'm still missing a day of classes and missing class means catching up. Speaking of classes, I have homework and stuff every day to worry about. Well, at least after all this is over, my life can go back to normal. I'm excited to have some change in my everyday routine, but this is a lot at once. It's a bit overwhelming but what can I say? Sometimes stuff happens and things pile up. 

     Yeah so recently I watched the first six movies of the Harry Potter series. (I had never seen/read any of it DON'THATEMEPLZ) Let me tell ya, those movies are really long. Like, on average they're about 2.5 hours long and I watched the first four all in one day. Then two more the next day, but my attention span was *really* tiny by that point. Eventually I'll get around to watching the last two, but I dunno when. 
     I did like the movies though. My movie taste is way more broad than my book taste so I was okay with the [slightly ridiculous at some points] magic-y stuff that isn't really ever explained. 

If you've actually been checking up on this page, you'll see I have a hard time committing to this random page when I have my blog to deal with. Maybe I can just use this page to ramble and talk about myself and what I like. This can be more personal as opposed to the more formal things I write for my blog.

Here is a list of the TED Talks we've watched in class. This list will continue to grow. ^_^

1. Coding for a better government by Jennifer Pahlka

You know what? This isn't working. It just isn't. SOOO, I'm changing up this page yet again. Aside from rambling on about random things, there is another thing I like: LISTS. Yes, lists. I like to make lists. Mum says I get it from her dad.

Anywho, bear with me, alright? Until I find something I can get into, this page is going to be all over the place. I hope this'll be the last change. No more schedule with this one, no more obligation looming over me saying that there's something I have to do. I'll start the list thing here: 

My Top 5 Favourite Book Series:

1. Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth. I have read both Divergent and its sequel, Insurgent, each five times over. I'm sure that number will grow. It's yet another dystopian novel written for young adults like myself. I just love how the main character, Beatrice, knows she belongs somewhere else and reinvents herself when she gets there. I also like how here love interest, who goes by the name of Four, isn't always mushy and protective of her. In other popular books, the guy is often coddling the girl, constantly telling her she's beautiful, freaking out if she gets so much as a paper cut, etc. Here, Four is only protective when he absolutely needs to be and, as her instructor, often acts the opposite way. I also really like the recurring theme of fear. In Dauntless, their faction, all members are forced to face their fears and never back down in the face of danger. It transports me to a different world whenever I read it. 
2. Maximum Ride by James Patterson. This eight-book series definitely falls in the science fiction genre. The main characters are avian-human hybrid experiments that are on the run from the company that created them. Granted, it got really cheesy at around book four, but the first three were amazing and the last book was fantastic! I waited so long and bought the ending the day it came out. It might be repetitive at times (they get captured a lot), but that's maybe one of the things I like about it. It makes the little twists all the more exciting. I admire the main character, Max, a lot. She always has some snarky comment to give to the whitecoats (their name for scientists) and always has a plan to get her flock out of things. She starts out in the series only fourteen years old but, as hybrids, they grow up quickly both physically and mentally because of the things they've had to go through. 
3. The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. I was actually very reluctant to read this series. I'm not as into fantasy as science fiction but this was so greatly explained that it didn't matter. In many fantasy series with magic and creatures and stuff, nothing is really explained. It's more like you're in a different place where everyone blindly follows the idea of magic. In this series, however, it's explained to someone as if the world existed all along. I'm not making any sense, am I? My point is, no matter how hard you try, I'm not going to read something like Harry Potter. I liked how there were so many plot twists in the series. I can relate well to the main character, Clary, and I absolutely adore her love interest, Jace. Their characters just fit so well! I like how the characters don't always get out of difficult situations easily. Sometimes they have to make sacrifices and every little thing they do matters. 
4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. This series also took some convincing to get me to read. It was never explained very well by anyone and I didn't realize just how great it would be. Once I started reading, though, I just couldn't put it down. Katniss is just so strong and I admire her too. She takes care of her family and Peeta too, despite what happens. She's stubborn enough that she won't let the Capitol get what they want. She survives the Hunger Games not by killing others, but fending for herself. Oh, and who doesn't love a good love triangle? 
5. Cinder by Marissa Meyer. I liked how this was a dystopian sci-fi twist to a classic tale. Though there are many similarities between Cinder and Cinderella, they plot is far from the same. Cinder is a cyborg (human with some robotic parts) who cares deeply for one of her stepsisters, Peony. When Peony gets the dreaded plague that had been killing thousands of people of what is now China, her stepmother sends her off to be a guinea pig for plague cures. I think it's cool how Cinder is willing to do anything for her sister. There were lots of twists in the book and I am eagerly awaiting the rest of the series!

Honestly, I'm sorry. I think I'll discontinue the word of the day as well. I'll still include it in the Weekly Stuffs, though. Also, I'm taking away book character of the week and replacing it with one quote from me!

Song of the Week: Somewhere in Neverland by All Time Low
     This song is all about growing up and not being able to have your childhood back. It's a reference to Peter Pan. The singer is offering to run away with Wendy so they can stay kids forever,

News Story of the Week: Boy scares off lions with flashy invention
     Thirteen-year-old Richard Turere hates lions because they come an eat his family's cattle at night. When going around with a flashlight, he realized that the lions were scared away by the moving light. This inspired him to invent "Lion Lights," LED lights wired to a car battery powered by a solar panel to scare the lions away from the cattle. Read more here.

Art of the Week: Flight by Amy Roger.
Mum's an artist. :3 This piece is one of my favourites. You can check out here gallery here!

Episode of the Day: Black Butler OVA episode 1
     In this bonus episode of Black Butler, the Funtom company, owned by Ciel Phantomhive, decides to put on a play. Something goes wrong, however, when the actors are held up. They can't cancel, for fear of bad publicity, and so they have to learn how to act. They put on Hamlet, but fail miserably. None of them stay focused or have any acting skill at all, aside from Sebastian. If he couldn't act, then what kind of butler would he be? The main idea of the episode, though, is the similarities between Ciel and Hamlet. Both of them young royals, desperate for revenge. The idea of revenge is a recurring focus in the series because that is what the Ciel's Faustian contract centers around. If Sebastian, a demon, serves Ciel and helps him get revenge on the people that killed his parents, Sebastian is allowed to kill Ciel and take his soul.

Word of the Week: Amity
Amity is a noun meaning a friendly and peaceful relationship.