Hello Again

It's been a while since I posted, hasn't it? That just seems to be the way it is with this blog. Like always, the end of the school year is extremely busy for me, especially since it's my senior year. Prom, grad, projects, family obligations, and life in general have been overwhelming me just a bit. Still, I thought I should just check in and say hello. So... hello. How is everyone?

I have to admit, I've been better. I'm looking forward to summer. I've got a lot to do right now, but hopefully during summer I can relax a bit. I'll try and get a proper post done for this blog soon, but as always I make no promises.

I hope you're all doing well.

Laterz

I Love the Internet #2

I've discovered some awesome new sites since the last time I did this segment, so I thought I'd share. Just a warning first: prepare to waste all your free time.

Let's start with something useful. Have you ever had a song stuck in your head, but try as you might you can not remember the name of it? Midomi is a search engine that allows you to search songs by singing, or simply humming the tune. The only downside is that you need to have a microphone or web cam to use it, and if you only know less than ten seconds of the song it will be harder to find a match. If you sing/hum more than ten seconds though it is very accurate.

The Useless Web is a huge time waster, but it's so much fun. You just click a button and it will take you to a useless -and often hilarious- website. There are at least a couple dozen websites that can come up, and they seem to add more every now and then. Just in case you're wondering, my favourite is Leek Spin.

Ava's Demon is a web comic about a girl named Ava who is haunted by a demon named Wrathia. I can't really say much more without giving things away, but trust me when I say this is definitely worth reading. It's only about 350 pages at the moment, most without any text, so it's a pretty quick read. It updates every Thursday, so it's easy to keep up with. Also, it has some of the most gorgeous art I've ever seen. Take a look:

Homestuck is the first, and best, web comic I've read. It's much longer than Ava's Demon at around 7000 pages (I think), and completely different in both plot, art, and story-telling style. I'm not even going to attempt to explain what it's about. Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:

Homestuck begins when thirteen-year-old John Egbert receives a beta copy of an upcoming computer game, called "Sburb," in the mail. Installing and running the game on his computer triggers a meteor attack on his real-life house, which survives only by being transported to another planet, thus immersing him completely within the world of Sburb. As John's friends Rose Lalonde, Dave Strider, and Jade Harley join the game with him, they learn that they have unwittingly triggered the end of the world, and that it is their duty to play the game and thereby see the story through to its completion.

And that's only the beginning. There are trolls, and alternate timelines, and romance, and pretty much everyone dies at one point or another. It starts off a bit slow, but if you stick with it I can guarantee that you will love it. Like Ava's Demon, there are a fair amount of panels that are textless, although it takes a while to get to those. The story is told through images, chatlogs, text, animations, and even a few flash games. It's extremely fun and interesting, and definitely worth reading if you've got the time.

The first panel of Homestuck

As you can see, there is a lot of variation in the panels

Well. I hope you are able to enjoy these sites as much as I do. What are some of your favourite sites? Leave me a comment (and remember I have endless amounts of free time)!

Laterz

Happy Holidays

Hi everyone! I thought I'd just pop in and say Happy Holidays! It's Christmas Eve (20 minutes to Christmas) here, so Merry Christmas to those of you that celebrate it. Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Kwanzaa to anyone who celebrates either of those. And to everyone else, Happy Holidays. I hope you're enjoying the holiday season.

I'm excited to spend tomorrow with my family. I haven't seen most of them for a while, so it will be nice to see everyone again. I'm sure I'll have tons of fun with my crazy cousins. On boxing day I'm celebrating Christmas with my mom's side of the family. It will be a smaller gathering, because most of the family lives out of town, but it will still be fun. Then a quiet New Years at home with my dad and my brother.

I almost forgot to mention, we're having a band meeting on January 3rd, to work on the song. I've finished up the lyrics, so now it's up to the others to come up with music. I don't play any instruments, so I'm kind of useless with that. Hopefully I'll have some good news to report after the meeting, so stay tuned.

And just to help you get in the winter spirit, here's a picture I took the other day.

I think that's all for now. So, does anyone else have any fun plans for the holidays? Let me know.

Laterz

Music

So you may know from my past posts that I'm a huge music lover. I spend almost all my free time listening to music, and I sing whenever I can. In the past I've posted links to playlists and songs on Youtube. You may have also noticed that I semi-recently joined tumblr. Well, I've now made a tumblr page for my favourite music. It's called You Are The Melody.

Fun fact about the name: It's inspired by a song that my friends and I are writing - and hopefully recording - together. We're just starting, so hopefully I'll have more on that later.

Anyway, this new page will have all the cool music I find on tumblr. I'll probably be updating it more often than I update my blog, so you should definitely check it out! I'll also link to it in the sidebar.

Laterz!

Travelling, Part Two

At long last, here are the pictures I promised.

Before we got to our hotel we decided to do a little shopping. There were flowers everywhere along the street, and I couldn't resist getting some quick pictures. Skyres wanted to actually shop, so I didn't get very many, but this is my favourite:



Eventually we finished shopping and got to the hotel. We had an amazing view of the falls from our window.



 It was pretty at night because everything lit up, including the Sky Wheel.



The next day we went to see the falls, and they were just as beautiful as I remembered. I recently got a new camera, and I was so excited to take pictures.

After that we headed down to the Maid of the Mist. Despite all the times I've been to Niagara Falls, I've never gone on the Maid of the Mist, so it was a first. It was an incredible experience. I didn't get many good pictures though, because I'm short and I ended up in the middle of the boat. But if you're wondering, this is the view from the middle of the Canadian Falls.

Basically, it's misty and wet.

Once we got back to shore I did get some pictures of the boat as it headed out again.



And I spotted a little inukshuk hidden by some leaves.

Then Skyres and I went on the Sky Wheel and played some glo-golf on Clifton Hill. The view from the Sky Wheel was fantastic.

After that we had dinner and headed home the next day. I had tons of fun, and I can't wait to hang out with Skyres again.

Laterz

Travelling

Home at last. It's been a while since I've been home for more than a couple days. My suitcase hasn't been unpacked for at least two weeks. It's always like this for me in summer. I'm stuck at home for most of July, and then in August I'm hardly ever home.

First I was staying at my dad's house for a week. Then at the end of the week Skyres and I went to Niagara Falls for a few days. We went together a couple years ago, and we had just as much fun this time as we did then. I got to go on the Maid of the Mist for the first time ever. It was absolutely amazing. I got some great pictures too. I'll put those in another post.

After that I was home for a day before leaving for Mississauga with my family. A family friend was in an outdoor art show there. She makes things out of glass. I couldn't resist buying an adorable little owl. We stayed overnight at a hotel and did a little shopping before we left. My favourite purchase was a TARDIS mug. When it's empty it shows the TARDIS on a normal street. When you put hot water in it the TARDIS disappears and reappears on  the other side in space. It's super cool.

I was home for two days after that before going over to my friends house for a sleepover. It was good to see all my friends again. I don't get to spend much time with them in summer. We had a great time together. While I was there Skyres dyed my hair for me. We did the tips blue. I only did one colour, because hair dye is a lot more expensive then I remember. It turned out great, and I'm so glad to have colour back in my hair.

I got back from that yesterday, and tomorrow I'm going back to my dad's for a few days. Then I'll be home on Monday or Tuesday and hopefully this time I'll stay home.

My camera's still packed away, so I'll try to upload pictures as soon as I'm home again.

Until then,
Laterz

Randomness and Obsessions

I just realized how long it's been since I last posted. Believe it or not, I'm not dead. I may have completely forgotten that I had a blog, but that's debatable. And now I'm not making sense. I should probably be practising my dance for my exam tomorrow, but I've decided that I don't want to do that, so I'm doing this instead.

I didn't really plan what to put in this post. Probably should've done that...

Oh! Here's a playlist I made of some of the songs I've been listening to lately.
PLAYLIST

I'm not sure if any of you knew, but for about a year I had coloured streaks in my hair. I had to remove them in May for a play I was in, but I'm thinking of putting some colours back in my hair. This time I was thinking of doing just the tips. Kinda like this:


I'll probably just do purple and blue though. My hair looks almost exactly like that, except mine is shorter.

Hmm, what else to talk about? How about some of my recent obsessions? I've started watching a few different shows that I really like; Merlin, Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Legend of Korra, to be specific. I've only seen the first season of Merlin, and I just started the third of Doctor Who. As much as I love David Tennant, Christopher Eccleston is still my favourite. I absolutely loved Sherlock. I've watched the whole series twice.

And I just watched the season finale of Legend of Korra today. There are no words to describe how much I love that show. For those of you that don't know, LoK is like a continuation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It follows the new avatar Korra, a hot-headed and rebellious teenager from the Southern Water Tribe, as she faces the anti-bending Equalists and tries to master airbending. For those of you that have watched the show, you'll understand me when I say Oh my goodness it is the best show ever! I would definitely recommend you watch it if you haven't already, especially if you're a fan of the original series.

Well I think that's enough for one day. I'll try to update more often, but I make no promises.

Laterz

I Love the Internet

It's true, I spend way too much time on the Internet. But I can't help it. Have you seen all the amazing stuff out there? I could spend my entire life surfing the web, and still not see all the interesting sites there are to see. Although I don't actually spend all my free time on the computer, I have found some pretty cool sites. So here are some of my favourite sites to visit.

First are the obvious ones:
YouTube
tumblr
deviantART

Then there are the more random ones:

Doll Divine is probably my favourite site for dress up games. The artwork is beautiful, and the ideas/themes for the games are always interesting. I like creating my characters in various games to see what they look like in different styles.

Cake Wrecks is self-explanatory. I usually only read the Sunday Sweets section, but some of the wrecks are pretty funny.

Epbot is run by Jen, the same girl who runs Cake Wrecks. It's probably one of my favourite sites to visit. Some of the posts are about how to do amazing crafts, some are about geeky weddings or toys, and some are absolutely hilarious stories about Jen's life. I always leave Epbot with a smile on my face.

Hyperbole and a Half is a blog that always keeps me laughing. Although it hasn't been updated in a while, the stories are so good that I'm still laughing the fifth time I read them.

Colossal is and art blog that I love visiting. It's not boring art like people imagine seeing in a museum. It's often fun, creative, and mind-blowing. For example:

It's a bird made of old CDs. There's always something stunning and beautiful to be found on Colossal.

The Quiet Place is a great way to forget everything and just relax. It doesn't take long, but it works. If you're stressed out, I can guarantee you'll feel better after this.

The Thoughts Room is a good way to just let it all out. If something's on your mind, if something's bothering you, this is a good place to vent. Like The Quiet Place, it's very therapeutic.

I hope you enjoy these sites as much as I do. What are some of your favourite sites? Let me know in the comments!

Laterz

Something New

So, I redesigned the blog again. The fancy red design got kind of boring for me. I like lots of colours. This design is much more me right now. I actually designed the background myself using MS Paint. It was originally for my bedroom, because I wanted to repaint the walls. I love the colours against the black background.

Anyway, I'm in a really good mood today. I had dance class this afternoon, and for the first time I didn't hurt all over afterwards. Also, I'm going over to Skyres's for a sleepover tomorrow night, and she and Kesha are going to do my hair. In case you didn't know, I have coloured streaks in my hair. I change the colour every month or so. This time I'm dying them purple and blue!

Since it's almost Valentine's Day, I'm working on making Valentines cards for all my friends. I found this super-cute picture to put on the front:

 Now I just have to figure out what to write on the inside. To me, Valentine's Day isn't just about romantic love. It's about letting your family and friends know how much they mean to you. That's why I'm making cards instead of buying them.

So what are your plans for Valentine's Day? Leave me a comment!

Laterz

Boredom

There's this site I use to design characters, called Meez. When I'm bored I like to go on meez and play around a bit. For example:

I also like to design alternate outfits for some of my characters.

And Halloween costumes.

And dresses.

As you can see, I use Kara the most. She's so easy to dress and so much fun to work with!

If you have some free time and nothing to do with it I would definitely recommend checking out Meez.com!

Laterz!

Christmas Music

So I know I said that I'd do a holiday themed Best of Youtube post, but as you can see that hasn't happened. The holidays were super busy for me this year. I feel really bad, but instead I'm just going to put a link to my Christmas playlist. It's kind of late, I know, but there are some really good songs on the playlist.

Christmas Playlist

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and a Happy Hanukkah. And if you don't celebrate either of those holidays, I hope you had an awesome holiday season.

Laterz!

New Stuff

Like promised, I have once again redesigned the blog! I absolutely love the red background. What do you guys think?

I also added a Follow Me section to the sidebar. It has links to my other blogs and a couple of different sites I'm on. It also has a link to the brand new Completely Me tumblr account! I just made the account last week, and I'm loving tumblr. It's so quick and easy. I'll probably be updating it a lot more than I update this blog. Don't worry though, I still have plans for new posts, including a holiday themed The Best of YouTube. Stay tuned!

Laterz

To Skyres

You all know my soul sister Skyres, right? If you don't, than you need to stop reading this right now and check out her blog Writers Den. Don't worry, I'll wait for you

Now that you know a bit about Skyres's writing, you should know a bit about Skyres herself. She's the most amazing person you will ever meet. She's funny, creative, thoughtful, kind, and so much more. I realize that I've already dedicated posts to her on both of my blogs, but here's another one. This is for you Sky!

October and Updates

Happy October everyone! If you read my post last year, you will know that this is my favourite month. Unlike last year, when it was cold and rainy, this year it's sunny and warm out.

There are quite a few things that make this October special, besides the weather. Evanescence's new CD is coming out on the 11th. Skyres will be happy to know that Seizure by Kathy Reichs (the sequel to Virals) will be out on the 18th. On the 25th the newest House of Night and Vampire Diaries novels will be released.

Another exciting thing that happened this month; Skyres and I got VIP tickets to meet Starkid! For those of you that don't know, Starkid is the theatre group that did A Verry Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel. You should also check out their other show, Starship.

My favourite thing about October is definately Halloween! It's my absolute favourite holiday. Despite the fact that I'm 16, I'm going trick-or-treating this year. Skyres and I are going to be Death Eaters this year, and I've been practicing drawing my Dark Mark for weeks. I'm actually getting pretty good at it. Last week we made our wands and tomorrow we're going shopping for the rest of our costume.

In case you haven't noticed yet, I changed the blog design. If you don't like it don't worry, it's only for the month of October. I don't think I'm going to change it back to the old design though. It's time for something new; something Completely Me.

Laterz

The Best of YouTube: Harry Potter

If you know me, you know that I am a major Harry Potter fan. I saw Deathly Hallows Part 2 on opening day (not at midnight though). I spent the week before that making a bracelet in all the house colours. I stayed up until five in the morning to get onto Pottermore early. I've read all of the books at least seven times. From reading my blog you should have figured out that I go on YouTube a lot. And of course I love watching Harry Potter videos. I've decided that it's about time I do a post of all my favourite Harry Potter videos.

I'm warning you right now, this is going to be a long post. Enjoy.

Videos and Parodies
How Harry Potter Should Have Ended
Disney and the Deathly Hallows
Harry Potter Friday Parody - Another amazing parody by the Hillywood show!
The Making of Harry Potter Friday Parody - Although this video is over 20 minutes long, it's definitely worth watching.

Tributes
Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home
Harry Potter Freedom Fighter - Really well done, with awesome voiceovers at the beginning
Harry Potter Tribute, for the last movie
Harry Potter - Through the Pensieve - This is the best Harry Potter tribute I have ever seen!

Music
Harry Potter Meets Metal
Harry Potter in 99 Seconds - Absolutely brilliant! I love how so many different songs were used
Harry Potter and the Theme Song
Harry Potter Tonight Tonight
Wizard Love - This song always makes me think of Severus and Lily
Like It's Quidditch - The Harry Potter version of Like a G6
Alohomora (Harry Potter Remix)

Ministry of Magic
I recently discovered something called wrock, aka wizard rock, and instantly fell in love. Shortly after I heard about a band called Ministry of Magic. They are now my favourite band, and these a few of my favourite songs by them. Well, maybe more than a few.
Snape vs Snape
Pensieve Diggory
The Bravest Man I Ever Knew
Only Power Remains
Gryffindor Rally Cry
Epilogue
Marauder's Map
Lightning Struck Tower
Escape From Azkaban
House Song
Harry Potter is Dead
Don't Leave

Other
These are a few of the playlists I have on YouTube. There are too many videos in them to post individually, so I just linked directly to the full playlist. WARNING, some of the videos aren't appropriate for young children.
Potter Puppet Pals
A Very Potter Musical - This is a must see for any major Harry Potter fan. It's funny, has great music, and stars Darren Criss. It's totally awesome!
A Very Potter Sequel - Just as good as AVPM, with new music and new characters.
Songs From AVPM and AVPS

That's all for now! I'm considering doing another Harry Potter related post soon. Any suggestions?

Laterz

Looking Back

Hey everyone! I just realized that I missed the one year anniversary of my blog! So in honor of this late anniversary, and because I have nothing better to do at this time of night, I'm going to re-read my old posts and comment on them right now.

Hi
I spelled Training wrong (Traing). Completely pointless post.

Damon Salvatore
Still a huge fan of Damon/Ian. I've given up on the marrying him thing, but he's still completely hot.

SUMMER!
Again, pointless. I think I was really hyper when I wrote that.

Glittery Things!
Goth Tinkerbell + glitter = awesome

CT: Waking Up
I spelled write wrong (right). I'm too old to go to that theatre camp and I really miss going! Still haven't made the CD collage.

Bad Day
I went to camp last weekend but luckily only got about fourteen mosquito bites. No I haven't named any of them. I still watch YouTube videos on my Ipod, and I've avoided getting sick so far this summer.

New Design
I haven't changed the design yet because I really like this one. It's getting kind of old though. What do you think? Time for a change?

Banner
Definitely changing the banner soon. I still like it, but it's not really me anymore.

Why I'm Awake at 5 AM
I don't stay up until five am anymore, although Skyres does now. We still call it Demon Puddle, although it has also been called Demon Pond, Demon Lake, and Demon Ocean, depending on the size.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Not sure what to say about this one...

The Best of YouTube
zeldaxlove64 has an album out now called Find Me. I love her songs and my favourite is King of Thieves. I still love The Hillywood Show. Hillywood forever!!

My Videos: Morgan and Garcia
4,493 views!! I'm speechless! (And that almost never happens) I'll try to make another video soon.

October
I still love Halloween. On Saturday I wore a shirt that said Happy Halloween. I already know what I'm going to be this year, but you're going to have to wait to find out!

The Best of YouTube
Alex and Charlie (nerimon and charlieissocoollike) are also in a band called Chameleon Circuit. Their new album Still Got Legs was just released.

Lame Excuses and Stuff
The title is self-explanatory.

THE MYSTERY BUTTON
Kinda forgot about that. What's on there right now? Maybe I should update it.

The Good, The Awesome, and The Super-Hot: Actors
So. Many. Hot. Guys. I really need to do another one of these posts. Maybe musicians?

Soul Sister
Love ya forever Sky! Check out our blogs: Welcome to Wonderland and The Sister Paradox.

Saunders Cancer Campaign
Thank you so much to everyone who donated! We raised a record breaking $62,740.13, and the video got 76,219 views. It's amazing to see so many people supporting such an important cause.

The Best of YouTube: Videos
In only two months I've found enough videos to make another post like this. Stay tuned!

CT: Attack of the Disappearing Alien Meatballs
I wrote a post about meatballs. And spelled disappearing wrong. What's happened to me?

Looking Back
Wait, I'm not finished writing this post yet. Oh well.

So that's what I think of my posts from the past year. By the way, did anyone ever notice that past and post are only one letter apart. Weird. Anyway, here's to another year of randomness, bad spelling, and pure awesomeness. And I promise you that it will all be completely me.

What do you think of my past posts? Have you enjoyed the last year? Leave me a comment about these questions or anything else. Leave me a comment about your favourite kind of cheese if you want to!

Laterz

Conspiracy Theories: Attack of the Dissappearing Alien Meatballs

The other day I was at the grocery store looking for meatballs. They didn't have any, so I went to another grocery store. I couldn't find any there either. Finally I ended up going home without any meatballs. I found it weird that no one was selling meatballs, especially since they usually have six different kinds.

Theory #1
All the meatballs came to life, broke out of their packaging, and attacked everyone in the store. After this incident there was a worldwide recall and the meatballs were locked up in Area 51 where they will undergo extensive testing. In my opinion, the meatballs should just be sent to therapy, because they obviously have some sort of dark past that led to this violent outburst.

Theory #2
A government scientist discovered that meatballs are actually a) aliens, or b) from space. Again, all meatballs were locked up in Area 51 to undergo extensive testing. Hopefully these alien meatballs can be used to prevent an intergalactic war. If not, at least they're tasty.

The Best of Youtube: Videos

I spend way too much time on YouTube, but I always find amazing videos. Here are some of my favourites.

Movies
What is a Youth - Romeo and Juliet (1968)
Pippin's Song: Edge of Night - LOTR Return of the King
Through the Pensieve - Harry Potter
The Scott Pilgrim Remix - Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Music
Call On Me - Daniel McKenzie
Above All That is Random 3 - Christina & Sarah
Goodbye - Ke$ha
Invisible - Taylor Swift (Sims2)

Covers and Parodies
Rolling in the Deep/Someone Like You/Turning Tables (Adele) - Alex Goot
Trouble (Coldplay) - Maunie/RemixSyde
E.T. (Katy Perry) - Christina Grimmie
Harry Potter and the Order of Umbridge - The Hillywood Show

Books
Complex Atlantis - Artemis Rocks (Artemis Fowl Series)
Katniss and Rue (The Hunger Games)
Matched by Allie Condie Book Trailer
Darklight by Lesley Livingston Book Trailer
Memory's Wake by Selina Fenech Book Trailer

That's all for now. If you want to see more videos I found interesting, check out my YouTube channel!

Laterz

Saunders Cancer Campaign

It's April, and that means Spring! Unless you're in Canada where it's still freezing and occasionally snowing (Grr). April means more than just spring though, it means it's time for the Saunders Secondary School Cancer Campaign!

Every year Saunders does everything it can to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society. Last year we raised over $45,000, and we're trying to surpass the $40,000 mark again this year. For more info check out the Facebook page.
There are lots of events being held at the school to raise money, so if you live in the area check it out!

Even if you don't live in the area you can still donate! Just go here, and remember, all the money goes to cancer research. Even if you can only spare a few dollars, every little bit helps. You can also buy Cancer Campaign T-shirts!

Another super-easy way to support the campaign is to watch the Cancer Campaign video and send it to everyone you know.



Every year I'm amazed at how much support we receive, and how much we manage to raise. I'm hopeful that this year will be our best yet.

Soul Sisters

Some of you may read Writer's Den, Skyres's blog. Skyres and I have been friends for a long time, and I have never had a friend as good as her. She knows everything about me, she knows my house better than I do, and we always have fun when we're together. Skyres and I are closer than sisters, and to show her how much she means to me I've made her something special.

This is for you Sky.

Soul Sisters