Christmas Break and Shenanigans

Hello. Oh, you're confused as to why I'm posting so often, right? Because I post so seldom nowadays that it's barely sufficient? That's okay. It's okay to be confused. But I decided that I should start posting more often on my blog. You know why? Because it's Christmas break.

Christmas break is always filled with shenanigans and sunny days and stories that create memories that last lifetimes. I've own a strange supply of memories from past Christmas breaks - visiting the family in the Philippines, hugging a fluffy Pillow Pet, admiring mounds of books, taking pictures after pictures after pictures, and finally - the annual New Year's gathering.

Every single year, my family friends and I gather at my uncle's house for a New Year's party. We arrive at around three in the afternoon and do the funniest things until midnight. We bring our laptops and phones and phone chargers and board games and X-box games and all kinds of things. Right before midnight, we gather in the living room and turn on the TV. We always, always, always watch the ball drop.

And then we usually head right back to what we were doing and stay until three in the morning.

Other than the annual New Years gathering, I plan on write a whole lot. I may re-write Count the Stars, which was my first ever NaNoWriMo novel for any writing event I've ever done for the Office of Letters and Light. I will be writing blog posts and fan-fictions and other works like that.

And I also plan on catching up on Doctor Who and BBC Sherlock. Because why not? It's completely elementary. It's fantastic. ;)

I hope to read lots over Christmas break and, perhaps, start a new book series. I have many books in my personal library that I haven't finished and/or started yet, and I want to get on that as quickly as possible. I also set a personal goal on Goodreads to finish fifty books by the end of the year. I'm about five books from reaching that goal. Yay!

I've also been cutting down my laptop time because my eyes hurt. They really hurt. But Tumblr and Pinterest and HEXrpg and YouTube and Minecraft and Don't Starve and dksfhadjkfhs. They're waiting for me! I can't let them down now!

But to sum everything up, expect 11x more blog posts than I've ever posted before. Which means you'll probably be getting a ton of blog posts thrown at your face every few days or so. Prepare for battle, everyone. The words will ambush, any day, any time, any hour...as long as I'm not up to any other shenanigan.

-Dominique

Procrastination: A Severely Contagious Disease

Hello. My name is Dominique. (Hi, Dominique.) I've been suffering from procrastination for perhaps three years now. I have productivity that's horrendous at being productivity. I'm okay.

If no one understood the reference I've just listed above, it's a playoff of the first chapter from The Fault in our Stars by John Green. The original quote was said by the main, narrating character named Hazel (Hi, Hazel) and was speaking about cancer and the lungs she had that stunk at being lungs. Why is this relative to the main topic of my post? Because I've been procrastinating from writing this blog post by rereading this book.

Another symptom of procrastination I've been dealing with for the past almost-two-months-or-so is this wonderful game called Don't Starve. It's an indie game found on Steam. You play as a gentleman scientist named Wilson who is transferred into a demonic, alien world and must survive in order to get back home. I played it yesterday for nearly three hours straight instead of writing what I'm writing now.

And then there's the popular, rechargeable and incredibly sociable symptom which most call the phone. If you've never heard of this so-called contraption, it's a widespread device used to make calls, send messages, record videos, take pictures, catch up, and most of all - play games. My first hand choice of gaming on my phone is Tiny Tower. (If you don't know what Tiny Tower is, run. Run and never get involved in it.)

After that, we have the loyal Skype desktop application for Windows 8. And you know what it can do? Make video calls, share screens with friends, chat, send files, socialize, and who knows what else. Maybe it could bake me fresh pumpkin-cinnamon cookies for me on command. On it, there are these things called sociable humans that you can make contact with. It's rather useful and loots time like a robber in a bank.

Plus you've got the almighty sketchbook! With the sketchbook, you can draw pictures and sketches (such a creative name, the sketchbook has!) and color and doodle. How fun. Very, very fun, and if you suffer from perfectionism (which I will discuss in another blog post), you may have symptoms that come with this symptom. This includes wrist pains, gradually decreasing self esteem, and uncontrollable screeching.

Then, of course, who could forget Pinterest? Pinterest is like Tumblr (shhhh)...but not. You can re-pin pictures to bulletin boards on your profile page and scroll indefinitely on different category pages. Most link the sources where they get the pictures, and sometimes you can learn from the source (ex. Like a braid you re-pinned? There could be a link to a tutorial on how to make it).

And all of this procrastination leads up to the major point - my disease has kept me from writing about my NaNoWriMo experience from last month. I won at about 51,050 words.

-Dominique

I'll have my usual NaNo post up. I promise.

But right now, I am currently exhausted from writing and have decided to go back to my usual procrastination. But I promise, it's a going to be a wonderful post, with lots of wibbly wobbly, cheesy wheezy, inspirational . . . stuff. So be prepared, my dear Internet! Be prepared!

(Yes, I won. Now stop bugging me and give me a break, Mr. Conscience. You too, Inner Editor.)

And - we're clear. (iCarly Finale TV Review)

Okay. Okay okay okay okay okay. Okay. Okay? No. Not okay.

Around an hour and a half ago, the very last iCarly episode aired on Nickelodeon in the east coast, concluding five seasons of a phenomenal show directed by Dan Schneider, who also directed Drake and Josh, Zoey 101, and Victorious - three more favorite shows of mine. When all three ended, I was alright. D&J was a big smack in the face for me at first, but I got over it quickly. Zoey 101 was a little abrupt, but after watching a few reruns, I couldn't care less. And for Victorious, well - I didn't get that into it, so I wasn't that affected when I found out it ended. In fact, I'm not even sure if I cared at all.

But iCarly has stuck around with me for, what, since second grade? I remember watching it live on my dad's birthday. The next day, everyone was talking about it at lunch and telling each other their opinions. I had immediately fallen in love with the show. I never missed an episode. (Of course, now that I'm older, I still have a few episodes I've missed, which will help me relieve the HORRENDOUS AND MONSTROUS FEELING I HAVE IN MY GUT. But we'll talk about that later.)

Sitting down to watch the last iCarly - iGoodbye - was like sitting down to watch a best friend jump off a cliff to her death. Or, well, at least jump off a cliff to become severely injured. Considering that the show has - had (cringe) - been around since I was seven years old. Seven. Years. Old. And then it was just ending in front of me and I was like WHAT IS GOING ON IN MY LIFE I DON'T UNDERSTAND.

But anyway, I should probably get on with it so I can go obsess over the old episodes on Netflix and things like that. (I was on the iCarly website ten minutes before I opened up Blogger to write this.) From this point on, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS! Beware!

Okay, first of all, Sam. Sam was awesome. She was just. Wow. Just wow. She was just so Sam. That's the only way to describe her. I absolutely adore Jennette McCurdy and her acting in this episode was awesome. Just. Just awesome. I can't.

Spencer Shay/Jerry Trainor was amazing!!! I've always loved Spencer and he completely developed in this episode. I know I'm over stressing this episode, but everyone just changed in this finale and I'm just blurting everything on my mind! He went from setting things on fire and never being serious to being serious when he knows seriousness is needed...but he still set something on fire...

FREDDIE!!!!!! WHY DO YOU SPEAK SPANISH!?!?!?!? Also, your purse made me laugh really hard. And the fact you have a phablet the size of your head, but you know, whatever.

Gibby and T-Bo were cool, too. In the beginning of the series, Gibby wasn't a very big character. Later on, he showed up as a main character in the intro and I freaked out! I was so happy. I was really disappointed when he didn't go Gibbehhhh and take off his shirt at the end, though. And I love T-Bo! I knew I'd like him when he first appeared in an episode. And the fact he can put tacos on sticks? Mind = Blown.

JDKFJSHAKJFHDKJSAHFKSDHFKHIRETHFDJK. Mr. Shay finally appeared. I flipped out. He didn't look the way I imagined him, but he sounded the way I imagined him, which was weird. And speaking of appearances, what about Socko? What the heck? Dan Schneider is such a troll. (Not as big of a troll as Steven Moffat, though. Steven Moffat is the biggest writer-director troll in the universe.)

Mrs. Briggs appeared again, too. That made me smile. And Sam and Carly, they did it! They did the thing! Like, the thing! (The whole pointy joke they did in the first episode? iPilot? Yeah? Okay, I'll shut up now...)

And finally, Carly Shay/Miranda Cosgrove. She did astonishingly. I can't even. ALL HER CRYING AND HAPPINESS AND AFJASDHFKS MADE ME CRY EVEN MORE DURING THIS EPISODE. I can't. I'm sorry. Let me go wallow in a pit of my own self pity.

Last but not least (DEFINITELY NOT LEAST!!!!) are the end flashbacks. I'm sorry, but that is too much for the feels to handle. I was so emotional. Hfjdshfjkasdhfad I can't even. What is this thing you call happiness? I don't believe that I understand. And at the end, when Freddie said and - we're clear, I wasn't expecting it. I just flipped out and collapsed with all of my almighty feels.

But that's it. I guess that's it.

And - we're clear.

-Dominique

The month (so far) in review.

This month has been chaotic. Very, very, very chaotic. Chaotic to the point where I want to pull out my hair and stomp on the floor and fall down the stairs and pull myself into a fetus position at the bottom and leave myself there to die. Honestly, I don't know what I'd do without my friends there to keep me together.

I'm at my boiling point. I'm around 4,500 words behind in NaNoWriMo and I've written almost 3,000 words today already. I feel too tired to continue, but I know I need to, so I decided to take a break and get some relief out of a nice blog post. (Oh, hello, audience. Sorry that I haven't posted in a while.) It's always relieving to publish my inner feelings to the world for my class and others to see and judge. (Can you breathe the sarcasm?)

But seriously, these blog posts pull me together, yet at the same time, make we want to implode. (That wouldn't be a very pretty sight, now would it?) I haven't posted in around two months due to procrastination with Skype and Minecraft, and I feel really bad about it. It's makes me feel even better to know one of my Nerdfighter friends Mary Rose manages to update her blog once per week. (Just kidding. Check her out here. She's awesome.)

And then there's Seussical the Musical. I'm pretty sure that I've mentioned Team Aladdin once or twice here in my blogging haven. Auditions for this year's play were two weeks ago, and I managed to make it to call-backs and get a minor part. I should be excited about that, right? WRONG. I mean, I get to see some of my best friends and everything, but not I have rehearsal to juggle with NaNoWriMo every week. Plus the fact my best school friend didn't make it through.

I do have a refuge when all hope is lost, though. I've just recently finished reading Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys and After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick. I'll post a full book review for both sometime this week (I have Thanksgiving break), but I'll just say one was incredibly beautiful and outstanding while the other one was okay, but incredibly disappointing. I'll leave you in suspense, my dear reader, until I post the full things.

And congratulations to me for being shoved into the exciting position where I wait for the Doctor Who Christmas special to come out again, because Steven Moffat just refuses to hand out any more Season 7 episodes until December. I waited for almost a year or more for S7 just to be cut off from my television heaven once more. And (spoilers!) Amy and Rory are gone now, too. I'm just gonna go dig up a hole, jump in, and wallow in my self pity now.

And now, I've just realized, I start a science project next Monday. Woo-hoo! (Can you breathe even more sarcasm?) It's not a hard project, and I already have all of the supplies ready to bring in, but seriously. This month is way too chaotic.

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! I have a test tomorrow as well. I'm totally ready. I think. And then there's the spelling bee...and the fact I still need to get my best friend a birthday present...and I also need to get my other best friend a birthday present by December second...and that I'm probably going to be pestered on Skype for not getting on enough since I'm too busy writing...

This is going to be a long, long month.

Signing off,

-Dominique

That little piece of me.

So I wrote another 50,000 words this August. 50,017 words, to be exact.

This is my third time doing this challenge, the third time I've written a blog like this (if you don't count the Script Frenzy post, of course). By now, I know the NaNoWriMo challenge inside and out. I know those last-minute tips that everyone saves for the very end and I know how frustrating and impatient you can get when you're sitting down writing for too long. I've heard it all, from all of the NaNoWriMo gurus and veterans.

And yet, still, I end up in the same place in the last week.

Every single time I have done this challenge, I have ended up very, very far behind by the time the last stretch has arrived ("the last stretch" is a term for the last seven days of NaNo month). And I'm not even sure why this time because I was all caught up in the first week. It's kind of weird.

But I guess the important thing is that I've learned something, or thought of something that I keep in my foresight (or hindsight), right? Something to do with writing, my imagination, something I'd like to carry with myself for the rest of my life (if I don't forget it all by then). Or, at least, of course, until I stop writing.

What I learned, you say? Well.

I learned (by myself) that there is a little piece of our imagination, a piece of us, that tucks itself in the back of our heads as we grow up. It's that piece of our imagination that helps us to, well, imagine, the most of things. It helped us imagine ourselves as Disney princesses and pirate sailors when we were so small. And when we grow up, when we're old enough, that piece of us hides. It hides and waits.

I believe, now, that writers, the jobs of us writers, are to help others to find this so-called piece of themselves again. I believe that we are supposed to help others find their young selves again between book pages and in audio books, maybe even on a movie screen, as long as the story is being told. Our job is to help them find the little (yet so important) piece of their imagination again.

And, if we're brave enough, try to find our own.

-Dominique

NaNoWriMo Nonsense | "Cheat Week"

Word Count: 37,338
Days Left: 5

Okay, so I decided to start making this a blog series. Just because I can.

So, this is the last week of Camp NaNoWriMo and I'm happily going at my own pace. (Haha, just kidding, I procrastinate in the morning, as usual.) I write at a pace of about 5,000 words per day (my parents tell me I can't play Minecraft or the like if I don't write that amount by the time my dad comes home from work). And, of course, I'm doing pretty well until I've missed a day's worth of writing completely. Imagine writing 10,000 words in a day. Yeah, not pretty.

If I didn't write 10,000 words today, I would have to write 15,000 tomorrow. And I had been out with my family the entire day, coming home at about 7:00 at night. And I still wrote the 10,000 words. How, you ask? That's what I'm here to tell you.

I call the last week of any NaNoWriMo event "Cheat Week" because it usually consists of caffeine, desperation, late nights writing, and my friends tempting me to get on Skype for a minute (or sixty) of writing. And of course, that's what usually happens. So I have done my research on the forums of the NaNoWriMo website and have collected a few useful cheats for anyone who is in desperate need of a boost in word count.

Before I continue, use these cheats at your own risk! I only recommend using these if you are seriously desperate and have absolutely no hope for yourself anymore. (Or if you're really lazy, either way works.) I've only used these little cheat tips a few times (including today), but I will leave what you do with them to you.

(Also, these "cheats" aren't against the NaNoWriMo rules. I checked, so don't be too hesitant about them. ^~^)

1. Use flashbacks. Flashbacks save a whole lot of time. Flashbacks can be written originally or copied from an earlier section of your novel. This is one of my favorite and most useful cheats. They can be from 300 words long to 2,000 words long! It's your choice.
2. Use previously written prose in your novel. As long as you have written it, you can have one of your main characters read it aloud or something. Whether it's a Druna fanfiction or a scary story, it doesn't matter! Just put the thing in there and bam! There's another few hundred words (or thousand!) for you.
3. Write dream sequences. My own dreams usually don't make sense, and they sure are fun to write down! The fun thing about dreams is that they are seriously random, which makes it very entertaining to write! When writing this, who knows? Maybe it could lead to a plot twist or two!
4. When in doubt, ex-ter-minate contractions! (Sorry, I know that was pretty cheesy, but I couldn't resist!) This can add (usually) 300-600 words to your novel. Just paste it in Word and use the Replace feature. It's as easy as that!

That's it for now. Expect more blog posts soon! Wish me luck, and if you're writing a novel this August as well, I hope the little tips helped you!

-Zoe

NaNoWriMo Nonsense | Cupcakes vs. Muffins

(( I was desperate, okay? Enjoy this conversation between two of main characters, in which repetition ensues and contractions are completely rejected, copied from the Camp NaNoWrimo novel document of yours truly. ))

        Lyra and Maddie exchanged a glance of relief before finishing their breakfast. After a long moment of silence, they began to talk. “Hey, Lyra, what do you think is better? Cupcakes or muffins?” Maddie asked curiously. Lyra raised an eyebrow in confusion.
        “Uh, why do you want to know, exactly?” Lyra replied, puzzled, as she stuffed a piece of her scrambled eggs in her mouth. Maddie shrugged and did the exact same thing that Lyra had done with her scrambled eggs, chewing it slowly and carefully as she did so.
        “I do not know. I just want to. It is a pretty legitimate and debatable topic for a conversation, am I right?” she said, grinning as she ate. Lyra rolled her eyes and continued to eat, completely ignoring her question. “Oh, come on! Please, just answer!” Maddie insisted persistently.
        “Cupcakes, I think. Wait, I do not know, I think um, maybe, uh, muffins. Wait, no! I really do not know. Aren’t muffins just cupcakes without all the icing and sprinkles and extra happiness?” Lyra replied, raising an eyebrow at her again.
        Maddie looked offended. “Of course they aren’t! That’s terrible! Muffins deserve as much love as cupcakes do, even if they aren’t as exciting and happy looking and all that other jazz. They are amazing! I especially like blueberry muffins, but I think cupcakes are just...better.”
        Now, Lyra looked even more offended. Her jaw dropped at her auburn haired friend and she put her fork down loudly on her plate. It made a loud screeching noise as it did so. “Okay, now I am defending the muffin family. Muffins are super duper amazing, like you said, but they are just...they are nicer! They are less messy and they do not have really sticky icing that gets all over your fingers. It gets really annoying when the icing gets on my fingers, too. I know that most people do not really care and just lick the stuff off, but it’s different for me! It’s just a really weird and actually, rather big and extraordinary pet peeve that I have.”
        Maddie seemed to stop eating and crossed her arms over her chest, angry at Lyra’s replies. “Even though cupcakes can get really sticky and messy and get all over your fingers, and they can get super crumby and stuff, they are just better tasting in general. The icing makes it nicer and it’s fun to just lick off instead of eating the entire thing. The sprinkles are really fun and delicious. Muffins are a disgrace to the food chain!” She insisted.
        “No, they are not! Cupcakes are more of a disgrace to the food chain than muffins are!” Lyra replied stubbornly. “Cupcakes are seriously unhealthy most of the time. They have way too much icing, the sprinkles are overused, and sometimes people put ice cream or pudding or tapioca or something else like that! Muffins are just sort of like...fun, tastier bread! And they are shaped differently! Different shapes are cool!”
        Maddie looked disgusted by Lyra’s speech. She ate some of the rest of her breakfast and looked at the thirteen year old girl before her. “How could you say that? Cupcakes may be unhealthy sometimes, but they are seriously amazing and I am pretty sure that I can name at least five people who would prefer cupcakes rather than muffins any time now!”
        “Unhealthy sometimes?” Lyra scoffed, rolling her eyes and eating more of her breakfast as well. “They are always unhealthy, if you have not noticed, Madeleine Smith! They are filled with sugar and sprinkles and icing and all that unhealthy stuff that parents usually do not let their children eat too much everyday!”
Maddie only rolled her eyes. “You are just jealous because you know that muffins are not that good, anyway. Muffins are just complete rip offs of cupcakes, you know. They are the boring, dull, monotonous, disgusting, untasty, bland, yucky, unbelievable, bitter, tasteless most of the time, and seriously salty versions of cupcakes.”
Lyra finished her breakfast and looked at her, astonished that she would say such a thing. “First of all, muffins are not, at all, boring, dull, monotonous, disgusting, untasty, bland, yucky, unbelievable, bitter, tasteless most of the time, and seriously salty versions of cupcakes. They are actually very, very tasty, while cupcakes are boring, dull, monotonous, disgusting, untasty, bland, yucky, unbelievable, bitter, tasteless most of the time, and seriously salty versions of muffins.”
Maddie looked at Lyra, with an expression that said are you kidding me? “You have to be kidding me, Lyra. Muffins are boring, dull, monotonous, disgusting, untasty, bland, yucky, unbelievable, bitter, tasteless most of the time, and seriously salty versions of cupcakes, and you know it. There is absolutely no possible way that they could be boring, dull, monotonous, disgusting, untasty, bland, yucky, unbelievable, bitter, tasteless most of the time, and seriously salty versions of muffins. First of all they aren’t boring, dull, monotonous, disgusting, untasty, bland, yucky, unbelievable, bitter, tasteless most of the time, and seriously salty. But whatever. I am done with this conversation. Let’s finish our breakfast now, shall we?”

Pre-Birthday Reflection

Tonight, at exactly 12:00am, I turn 12. Not 12 and a half, not 12 and three quarters, but 12.

And this scares me. It feels like just yesterday, I was walking into my kindergarten class for the first time. And the funny thing is, my three best friends to this day sat at the same table as me, surrounding me, getting to know me. We're all so much older now. I know we all wish to go back to when we were five and role-played Barbie in the recess yard.

It sounds rather dramatic, more dramatic than it really is, but 12 is a big thing for me. I've been told that when I turn 12, I can ride shotgun by my parents' side (which has been moved to 13 by now). I've been told that when I turn 12, we'll have flying cars and robotic pets that can talk to us. I've been told that when I turn 12, I'll be all grown up, near entering high school, be almost as tall as my mother and gain even more potential than I previously had.

Only one of those statements turned out, surprisingly, to be true.

Of course, we haven't developed the technology to have flying cars and robotic pets that talk to us, and I'm still not allowed to ride shotgun (and frankly, I'm okay with it). But my joyride from 11 to where I am now was a roller coaster, I can tell you that.

In these 364 days that I've been 11 years old, I've done and learnt so much. My life has turned upside down then right back up. One of my best friends moved to the other side of the globe (Thea, I know you're reading this, so hi), and the other went to another school. I participated in my first-ever middle school play and met some pretty amazing friends (Adam and Andrew, if you're reading this, I'm talking to you!) and some pretty obnoxious people as well.

I've gotten closer to one of my friends since birth (Tyler) through a miracle of a program called Skype. We Skype nearly every day now, and he's introduced me to some truly amazing people that I couldn't live without (Jordan, Christian, Garrett, Taylor, David, Matthew, Justin). I have video parties every week with one of them (Taylor), called (whether video or audio only) almost every day with another (Garrett), fan-girled over Doctor Who for months with Christian, talked about the excitement of Bronycon with David, found out about some pretty weird expressions with Matthew and Justin, and discussed the adorableness of kittens with Jordan.

I don't know what I would be now without them.

I introduced Tyler to Doctor Who and Bronyfied at least eight people I know. I obsessed over Legend of Korra for a period of time before forgetting to watch the rest of the series (which I regret, Thea, thank you very much). I finally made a FanFiction account (they let you make one if you have a Twitter account!) and wrote a MLP:FiM fanfiction that made strangers cry.

I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time, as well as Camp NaNoWriMo (June) 2012. I finished writing one book and got it published on the Kindle for fun. The other one I hope to do the same, but it will be (most likely) finished when I'm 12. I participated in Script Frenzy 2012 (the very last official year of Screnzy) and hope to continue next April, even if the official challenge online is taken down.

I made a gaming channel on YouTube with my friends and we've gotten to 5,000+ total video views, and 30+ subscribers. I started uploading to my own YouTube channel around a month ago and already have 11 subscribers and 4,000+ views. I've found recording and editing videos to be a fun hobby of mine.

I got into the computer club and video crew at my school, and assisted the faculty and staff for a short time. I was able to earn my way into the honor roll once more and my average grade hit 97% (and 98% is the highest you can get!). I had an amazing ELA teacher, who loved Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings, and Jane Austen. I had a hilarious and super-nice math teacher for homeroom, and there was never a boring moment.

And I may or may not have new interests, too.

Favorite Song: A Little Irony by Tom Milsom

Favorite Book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Favorite Animated Movie: Brave from Pixar

Favorite Real-Life Movie: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Pt 1)

Favorite Female Celebrities: Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) and Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange)

Favorite Male Celebrities: Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) and Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom)

Favorite Candy: Sour Patch Bunnies

Favorite Food: Macaroni and cheese

I feel I've changed, and I will be changing even more. But it's better to think in the present sometimes than plan the future.

-Dom

It's complicated.

I won Camp NaNoWriMo! (Sort of.)

....this blog post started off completely anticlimactically for me. I had this whole theme set for it about writing to my past self (see my last blog post), but I can't really do that. It's complicated.

So let me start from the beginning. You might want to grab a cup of hot cocoa (or freezing cold lemonade if you have sweltering hot weather like I do) and pull over a chair because, my friend, this story is going to be very, very long. (Okay, fine. You caught me. I'm exaggerating. But still, it's pretty long.)

I started at the beginning of the month writing with my friend. I had written over 5,000 words in the first week and was extremely proud of myself. But then, she had to quit and I decided to start from scratch (we thought of the plot together and I wanted to be fair).

I was so behind. I procrastinated (because I'm the world's biggest procrastinator) with YouTube, Twitter, the YWP NaNoWriMo forums, Doctor Who, Goodreads, my summer reading projects (that was actually a rather productive kind of procrastination), Skype, Minecraft...

What? You want me to stop listing everything I procrastinated with? You get it? Oh, alright. Just for you, blog reader, just for you.

There were just so many things to procrastinate with! And, when I finally got some work done, I'd take a five minute break and end up playing Minecraft for three hours. Are you face-palming? Don't tell me that you're face-palming! No! Don't click on the X! Not the X! Don't click away, please! Don't lose hope yet?

*dramatic sigh* Okay. You get it. I'm really bad at keeping track of my time sometimes. I started to pull apart my inner procrastinator. I killed it slowly by sitting in front of my netbook, sitting in the big, black, leather, reclining, soothing (fine, I'll get to the point) spinny chair in my living room and writing. I had a whole list of tools: WriteOrDie, MyTomatoes, SimplyNoise, the word sprints from @JuNoWriMo, and previous pep talks from the YWP NaNoWriMo archive.

Since I'm not old enough to join the official Camp NaNoWriMo website and have to wait until next year, I joined the JuNoWriMo website. It was created before Camp NaNo started for people who wanted to do NaNoWriMo over the summer. There, I looked at the blogs and the spreadsheet of everyone's progress. It was great.

I was seriously organized. I made myself pacing charts to keep myself on track, a list of tips, tricks, and plot ninjas, and remembered to bring my writing journal everywhere so that I could write in my free time. Everyone was going awesome!

Then, everything went downhill.

Nearly an hour ago, the clock struck midnight and I only had 46,000 words. I was devastated. I was completely disappointed in myself, and then I realized: Wait, what about that first 5,000 that I didn't include? I was seriously confused for a moment. I kept asking myself, Did I win? Did I win? And so I looked on the NaNoWriMo website for the rules.

The rules specifically state you have to start from scratch, and cannot use any previously written prose from before November 1 (or, in this case, June 1) as part of your novel. It needs to be original (you have to have written it on your own) and you must have written at least 50,000 words (or, in YWP NaNoWriMo, your personally set goal) by November 30 (June 30) in order to win.

Started from scratch? Check.
Didn't use a previously written prose? Check.
Original? Check.
Wrote, in total, at least 50,000 words by the end of the month? Check.

The only problem is, I don't feel the same spark that I did when I won last year. Maybe it's because I doubted myself. (Or because I didn't have the thrill of watching my stats on the NaNo website...age requirements, schmage requirements...) Because there wasn't a YWP Camp NaNoWriMo website, I lost the thrill of many things, such as the pep talks and the weekly blogs and the certificates and the online badge. Oh, the online badge. It made me glow with pride. I managed to find one online for me to save, though. I also got the JuNoWriMo badge.

tl;dr: I won Camp NaNoWriMo. Eh, it's complicated.

-Dominique

To my future self.

Dear Future Self,

Hello. This is your past self. This is your procrastinating, absent minded, disgustingly lazy and low self-esteemed self. And I hate myself for that. I hate that I may have, possibly, disappointed you. I hate that you may look back at me and frown angrily and kick your computer and stomp on the floor and cry into a pillow or whatever you might do when you're frustrated. If you do look back at me with repentance and wish that I could have committed more to my Camp NaNo novel this month, I am so sorry. I am so sorry that I had you lose, and most likely make you so disappointed that you forget about August, or even September completely.

Or, I might make you smile.

I might make you smile so hard that you just fall out of your seat out of happiness. I might make you think, It was totally worth it. I might make you jump up and do a happy dance, not to mention that all of your friends are listening to your screaming on Skype. I might make you do hip swivels and make you run up and down the stairs without anything but your finished 50,000 words on your mind.

And I sure hope that it goes down that path.

Whatever it is that happens on that night of either glory or disappointment, I have one word of advice for you before that midnight strikes on the clock at you either break down out of sadness or smile like you've never smiled before:

Write.

Yours truly,
-Past Self

Today went well, so what's wrong?

I found my wallet.
I found my library book.
I found a star in two of my Snapple caps today (for their promo).
I got a Chipotle quesadilla.
I went to the pool with my best friend.
I got special prescription goggles.
I finally got enough sleep.
So what's wrong?
I'VE ONLY JUST HIT 10,000 WORDS FOR MY CAMP NANO NOVEL, THAT'S WHAT'S WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-From your stressed out and completely demotivated Zoe.

Review: Matched

Matched by Ally Condie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Although Matched was a great read, there were a few flaws (at least, for me) that have influenced my review. The plot is a bit typical for dystopia; I've found quite a few books revolving around a dystopian society now (such as the Hunger Games). Like most dystopian society books, it considers a rebellion.

The book didn't start off as well as I thought it would. I had gotten feedback about the book from my friends, and I expected to be hooked by the first page. The beginning of the book, however, was a little boring and I didn't understand much. If I hadn't read the summary on Goodreads, I probably wouldn't have understood a single bit of what was in the first chapter.

The book also felt rushed. It went from her Matching to finding out about Ky to her grandfather's Final Banquet. I think that if it had been slower, I would have enjoyed it more. The majority of some chapters are mostly of Cassia and Ky talking on the Hill. I'm also not very favorable of first person.

The ending was a little anti-climactic as well. It went from exciting and heart racing and slowly went downhill. In fact, the ending was so vague that you're pretty much forced to read the sequel (Crossed) rather than just enjoy the first book alone.

I'm not one for romance, but I found this book rather enjoyable. I mainly read it to satisfy my craving for another book of dystopia. In conclusion, this book was an interesting read and I would recommend it to anyone who liked the Hunger Games or Divergent. I plan to read the sequel, but not anytime soon.



View all my reviews

Chooooooooooooooch!

On Friday, I went to my first Phillies game (well, first baseball game, for that matter, not to mention the fact that I haven't been to any other game, baseball or not, in my whole life) with one of my best friends. I was incredibly overwhelmed when I arrived; I'd only seen Citizen's Bank Park on a TV screen in a living room until just then. Not to mention that the park the Eagles played at was across the road from it.

The park was so much different than I had expected. The stadium as a bit smaller than I had expected (considering I've never seen it up close) and there were stores. Everywhere. I thought that the only way to get food was to buy from those people that ran up and down the seats from the movies before, and that there would be some sort of gift shop. Fortunately, it was much better than that. There were gift shops everywhere, as well as different food outlets (including ice cream!).

The game was very entertaining to watch. When Carlos Ruiz showed up on the jumbo screen, everyone yelled "CHOOOOOOOOOOOOCH!" and I thought they were booing him at first. I asked my friend, and she told me that it was his nickname. They also clapped when a certain song came on. Apparently, they do this at every game. It's expected.

We left early because of a rain delay. It began to pour at the beginning of the fourth inning. It was definitely a night to remember. I hope to go to another Phillies game soon. Although I didn't understand some parts of the game or what the audience was doing, it was great!

-Dom

Minecraft Singleplayer Tour

As most of you know, I am cough-obsessed-cough with this game called Minecraft. I doubt that you haven't heard it, but if you haven't, here is a definition from Wikipedia. Not that I like Wikipedia (it's terribly detracting when you're writing essays), but I'm awfully too lazy to paraphrase for you.

Minecraft is a sandbox-building independent video-game originally by Swedish creator Markus "Notch" Persson and now by his company, Mojang.

Minecraft is focused on creativity and building, allowing players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D world. Gameplay in its commercial release has two principal modes: Survival, which requires players to acquire resources themselves and maintain their health and hunger; and Creative, where the player has an unlimited supply of resources, the ability to fly, and no concept of health or hunger. A third gameplay mode, named Hardcore, is essentially the same as Survival, but the difficulty is locked on the hardest setting and respawning is disabled, forcing the player to delete his or her world upon death. An outdated Classic version is also available for free, although it is no longer being developed. Creative Minecraft resembles Classic, but with many more features.

So, there you go. I've never actually described my obsession or explained it, but mainly because I have this terrible condition called "procrastination" I can't describe it with words. And since I can't, I'll just give you a tour my my single-player world (alas, the world I escape to when I'm not in the mood for productive activity!).

This is my house; very simple, yet not too simple. I guess. I'm not a refurbishing professional.

We'll start at the front of my house. This house didn't take any more than 10 minutes at the maximum. I had a limited amount of cobble and only enough would to last me a while, not to mention the lack of any kind of decorative block. I made one of the most basic houses, and it actually turned out very nice! :)

This is the inside of my house. It's not too shabby.

I didn't want to spend 30 minutes decorating, so enjoy the dully furbished inside of my house.

This didn't take too long, but I really like it. I'm great at making mines.

To make this, I just dug up a 5x4 rectangle and made stairs. It's not too fancy and there aren't water elevators or anything, but it's very efficient. I love it! I found a cave very early into the mine and have been hunting for ores ever since.

It looks like a mini-forest. =))

Considering I had single player commands turned on (a mod that can spawn you supplies, change your gamemode, etc. in single player) and I didn't feel like breaking leaves for a straight 20 minutes....I cheated and spawned a stack of saplings. Minecraft is like the famous prison-break of the Productive Activity Jail Center.

I didn't want to make this super-complicated, so I just used up the space behind my house to make this.

I spawned myself seeds here as well. And the water. And the fences. And the fence gates. Maybe I should turn off Single Player Commands....nah

R.I.A. Esther Earl: This star won't go out.

For this one, I didn't spawn myself anything. I felt that my little-one-Minecraftian-neighborhood wouldn't be complete without a grave for Esther. I am a hardcore Nerdfighter, so it had to be done. (For more information about Nerdfighters, click here.) Esther was a Nerdfighter who died of cancer. Under the stone slabs, there is a large chest filled with flowers.

I call those islands over there "The Small Yet Efficient Jungle Biomes".

To finish the blog post, I'll show you "The Small Yet Efficient Jungle Biomes". I spawned in a small jungle biome placed on a small island. I was able to get most of my wood supply from there, as well as cobble. There are several small jungle islands over there, not just one. I go there when I'm too lazy to replant saplings in my tree farm.

For the album on Imgur, click here. That's all, folks.

-Dom

The Avengers - Movie Review

***CAUTION: SPOILERS! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!***


The Avengers was a great movie. If I was one of those critics who rated according to stars, I would rate it five (well, 4.9) out of five stars.

The reason I'm so hesitant about rating it to the maximum is because, well, I'm not a big Marvel fan. I wasn't sure who Bruce Banner was until Tony Stark made that witty remark about him being a big green rage monster. I had to ask my sister a few questions during the movie because I wasn't sure who was who or what was going on at some points. That's why some parts didn't appeal to me as much as others.

Oh! And hey! I'm doing my IMDB research in this blog post. So...yeah. I feel professional.

Tony Stark/Iron Man was my favorite character! He may seem conceited, stubborn, biased, and overconfident...but to me, he was the wittiest character in the entire movie. All of his clever remarks made me laugh out loud. Robert Downey Jr. did an astonishing job playing as Stark in this movie.

Natasha Romanoff/The Black Widow was great as well. She was the only woman fighter and definitely one of the strongest of The Avengers. When she first appeared as hostage (I'm not sure if she was being held captive, but that was what I interpreted. Again, I am not the biggest Marvel fan), she did some epic kicks and swerves. She was epic in general.

Bruce Banner/The Hulk scared me when he first appeared. And I didn't know who he was, either, so I didn't know if he was a bad guy or not. When he screamed STOP LYING TO ME!!!!!! I nearly jumped out of my seat and dropped most of my popcorn. And then Agent Romanoff held up a gun and I was confused again. He definitely showed some of the Green Rage Monster, even before he first transformed in the movie. I couldn't stop laughing and almost started crying when he bashed around Loki in the Stark Tower. Oh, gosh, that was hilarious. Mark Ruffalo was great.

Steve Rogers/Captain America confused me. Utterly. I had no idea he was frozen for decades or something and was unfrozen and that he fought in a World War and that his shield could beat the Thor Hammer of Death or...yeah. Utter confusion. I really liked him though! He was a great Avenger. Since he was in a war, he had much experience and played a great leader.

Thor was funny, moody, and ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING at the same time. His remark about Loki being adopted made me like him more. But his moods kept switching from mad to calm to wants-to-throw-his-hammer-at-Tony-Stark's-face. His power to summon FLIPPING LIGHTNING OUT OF THE SKY was quite the scare. I enjoyed Chris Hemsworth's performance anyway.

Clint Barton/Hawkeye seemed like a more...empty character, if you know what I mean. We didn't have much background about him, he didn't have many lines, and was hypnotized by Loki almost the entire time. He wasn't very important until The Black Widow bashed his head against a banister.

I'm still confused about Nick Fury. What happened to his other eye?

Now. Loki. Loki was an AMAZING super villain. He made me cringe and laugh and narrow my eyes and cringe some more and have spasms in my chair and adfjadsfsdTomHiddlestondidanastonishingjob. I loved Loki so much. Even though he was a terrible person. I love him like I love Bellatrix Lestrange; he's evil in a way that is just so moving. Nyaaaaaaaaah. I cannot stress out the astonishingness of Loki enough.

Overall, this movie was amazing! I would watch it again if I had the chance. I hope that there will be an The Avengers 2 soon.

-Dom

Experiencing Pottermore Again

Months and months after I had experienced the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on Pottermore the first time, I decided to make a new account and go through it all again. It was just as thrilling as when I had first gotten into beta, except they had made a few minor changes.

They had added sound. The sound made the chapters more exciting and I definitely liked the new addition. However, it seemed a bit loud and I had to turn my volume down. It wasn't much of a problem. Some of the collectible items were no longer available.

I remembered my answers from the first time I had gotten a wand (let it choose me, as it says in the books) during Beta. I answered all of them flawlessly and got the same results as I had gotten the first time. It was still a thrill to take the quiz again.

The Sorting Hat was a different situation. There are several questions, and for each Sorting, the questions are randomized. If your friend took the Sorting, chances are that they will get different questions than you did.

It was still a wonderful experience, as always. This time, I decided to lie and see what would happen (after all, whatever House I got into, the Sorting Hat's decision is final! I'll be a Ravenclaw and always be a Ravenclaw, no matter how many times I got Sorted). I tried to lie and get into Ravenclaw somehow by thinking out the answers until I came to a conclusion.

Once I had gotten through all seven questions, I was Sorted into Slytherin. I started to laugh. From this, I have come to a realization that forcing your answers is useless. They are all psychological questions and most of them are hard to figure out. If you try to get into a certain House, you'll fail because the questions are much more thought out than you think.

I've deleted the account because I have no use for it, but it was fun seeing all the updates and features they had added since Beta. I hope that Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets comes out soon. I still keep Pottermore on my Twitter text list, just in case. ;)

Don't Break the Chain

Earlier today, I discovered a video on Youtube uploaded by Charlie McDonnell called Don't Break the Chain. In this, he discusses a motivational method for procrastinators called, well, Don't Break the Chain!


This method helps when you are easily distracted by a task you need to/want to do. First of all, you need a calendar print-out. You cross out every day on the calendar that you complete your task. Once you have a streak, it is actually very hard to stop doing the task every day because you don't want to break the chain.


I am using this method for both blogging and writing in general. I printed out two calendars. My goal for blogging to to post on my blog at least three times a week. My goal for writing is to spend 15 minutes per day on something such as my newest fanfiction.

I think that this method will work great on me. It already is! I wrote two blog posts yesterday, so I will complete my task for this week under blogging. I wrote another chapter for my fanfiction as well today, so another X on my calendar. =)

I think this method will work a charm on me. When Script Frenzy in the beginning of this month, I completely forgot about my blog. All I could think was script script script script script script and more script. Now, I'm going to be forcing myself to.

-Dom

Making MLP:FiM Mixes

Today, I decided to give MLP:FiM mixes a go.

MLP:FiM mixes are (you guessed it!) My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic remixes or original mixes relating to the show. They are usually based on a character. Character mixes try to relate to or give the mood of the character's personality. That's what I did. I think I did a pretty good job.

I decided to do Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy. I am currently basking in self pride. I absolutely love the final results of these and am definitely going to make more. To make these, I used both Audacity and Aviary Music Creator. Since Aviary only records approximately 16 seconds of music, I decided to use it, but make it longer using Audacity.

Fluttershy (Butterfly Reveries):

Rarity (Cordial Invitation):

Rainbow Dash (Weather Patrol):

-Dom

I'm DIFFERENT

Hello world. My name is Dominique, and I wrote a 100-page script in less than a month.


I can just hear myself telling that to people. They'd probably look at me like I was nuts, because a. I'm eleven years old and b. most people my age and gender prefer going to the mall and whatnot over sitting at their computer and writing an endless story.

But I'm different!

I'm not proud to say that I accomplished this because I had nothing else to do at 5:20 in the morning. I knew that if I went back to sleep, I would stay asleep until it was time to head to school. I also knew that if I stayed awake, I would eventually give in. Thus, I decided to do something productive!

I headed down to my basement, hit the "on" button of my laptop, and started writing.

Although scripts aren't my thing, I decided in late March that I would write one during Script Frenzy anyway. Even though it isn't the same as NaNoWriMo, it was still a writing experience. I was originally going to write the script with my friend, but she was too busy at school to be able to help me.

I just wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote...and I was there. Sitting in front of me was a 100-page PDF that I'd been working on for over three weeks.

I was basking in glory when I spotted the number 100 at the top of the program, Celtx, I was using to write my script. I saved the PDF to my computer and verified my word count on the Script Frenzy website.

If you could look for another girl in my class who had written this much in a month, you'd fail. Miserably. And you know why?

Because I'm different.

-Dom

The Hunger Games: Movie Review

***WARNING: SPOILERS!!!!***

I went to watch The Hunger Games with my two best friends, my sister and my dad the other day. (So, Mom, don't read this.) I think it was truly astonishing and worth a round of applause, believe me on that.

I just think they didn't stress out the emotions and the cruelty that was in the book enough. I mean, if your little sister was chosen for a fight to the death on live television, I bet you wouldn't sit there with a blank expression. (If my little sister was put in the Hunger Games, I'd be falling apart with the snap of a finger.)

Overall, though, I think the movie was amazing. The characters were easy to distinguish for me easily; Effie Trinket made me snicker the first time I saw her. I've seen her in the trailers and everything, but her bright mood and overuse of makeup put me over the edge. She was always a treat to read about in the books.

Haymitch = Best. Mentor. Ever. In my opinion, his character was portrayed perfectly; a drunk, shaggy-haired man with a crude sense of humor that drove Katniss absolutely nuts. (I really liked the scene where Katniss almost cut Haymitch with a butter knife but let it hit the table instead. It pretty much sums up the relationship between Katniss and her mentor. Also, "THAT IS MAHOGANY!")

Cinna could have been more thought out. His personality wasn't as clear as Effie's or Haymitch's. I feel that Cinna is a very important character and could have been stressed out more. I mean, he gave Katniss the courage to get in there and show the Capitol that they can't push her around. He's part of the reason Katniss lived through the Games.

Cato scared the Nutella out of me. That's all I have to say about him.

RUE. During her death scene, I was just crying and trying to see through the blur of my tears. She was played very well; an innocent, harmless girl who just wanted to stay alive. I didn't look when the spear went through her stomach, though. My classmates told me it was "very disturbing" (they were exaggerating to great limits), so my friend who had already watched the movie told me when to look away. So much for "very disturbing".

Prim was adorable, but I think she would have reacted a little more to Katniss volunteering. You know; like, screaming and kicking at Gale and everything. Her father had already died, and I bet she didn't want her only sister to leave her as well. I think Gale was nice, too, but could have been better. In the movie, he just seems to be this hunter guy that's friends with Katniss. That's just my opinion, though. It could have been more thorough.

Peeta, you say? I have no comment. (I can't really say anything about him because my classmates have exposed me to their daily lectures about Josh Hutcherson being "cute" and Team Peeta. I'm sort of sick of hearing about him.) He was pretty epic in the movie, though.

I think the ending could have been better. I would have liked it if we had the berry scene from President Snow's point of view. And also, Seneca Crane didn't die of eating nightlock berries. He was hung. I know this is a PG-13 movie and everything, but why would they lock him in a room and starve him like that? I didn't get this at all.

I like that we saw the Hunger Games from the Gamemaker's point of view as well. We could see them planting the muttations and talking to the viewers. (Also, I don't think the muttations are nearly as scary as I pictured them to be. They looked like really, really big pugs to me.) I really enjoyed that.

The tracker jackers gave me the shivers. I have this mini-phobia of bugs because of a house centipede incident...(ew.)

The scene on top of the Cornucopia was pretty epic. Cato, again, scared me in great amounts; choking Katniss and threatening to kill Peeta and stuff. When he fell off and the muttations, like, devoured him and stuff, I was suddenly very grateful that the movie was rated PG-13.

That's all I really have to say about it. I give this movie four stars. I would definitely watch it again sometime.

-Dom

Things to do with April!

April is going to be a fantastic month for me. I'm going to participate in YWP Script Frenzy with one of my good friends. Avatar: The Legend of Korra is supposed to premiere on the 14th. I may or may not be participating in BEDA (Blog Every Day in April). My school will be holding the annual science fair on the 23rd (I've been working seriously hard on my project). My best friend from Germany will be coming to visit. My personal goal is to get to the climax of my newest fanfiction.

YWP Script Frenzy something I'm definitely looking forward to. However, I don't know if I can write three and a half pages of a script plus a detail-oozing blog post daily for an entire 30 days. I also have to consider that the time I'm writing will get in the way of my science project. If I get a bad grade on my project, it will not benefit me for third trimester.

My fanfiction can be put off, but I'm trying my best to write at least one chapter every week. Each chapter is around 1,000 words long. I try not to make them to long so I don't bore the audience. I'm hoping the word count for the chapters will go up soon, though. I want to get in the habit of writing chapters as long as 2,000 words now.

Also, I can not afford missing the world premiere of the new Avatar series. If I miss it I WILL DIE.

-Dom

Let the Hunger Games Begin!

After four months of waiting impatiently for the movie to come out, the movie finally came out today.

I've been waiting for so long for this movie to come out! I got so excited this morning about the possibility of going over spring break. Of course, I asked my parents if I could go earlier (being the obnoxious HG-lover I am) but I wasn't able to convince them. I was originally going to go with my friends Tyler and Garrett to see the movie for the first time with them over the break, but they couldn't wait any longer and went today. We may still be going together, but we're not too sure.

After waiting months and months for this movie to open in theaters, it's finally here! Whenever I'm going to watch it, I can't wait. I'm planning on wearing my hair in a braid and getting an HG t-shirt from Hot Topic. (Maybe I can get my hands on a mockingjay pin before we watch it if I'm lucky!)

I'm psyched to see this movie. I'm definitely going to write a review about it later, as I did to "Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows Part 2".

-Dom

PLANTS!

Two days ago, I started working on my school science fair project. We have to make a display board and a research paper. It took me a while to decide, but I finally decided on what to do the project about. I'm doing the project to determine whether plants grow best naturally (with only water) or with plant food/fertilizer.

The hardest part, of course, was setting up for it. We bought a cart to display the pots and whatnot on. We had to get the pots, plant food, seeds, soil, etc. We bought special Brassica rapa seeds from Wisconsin Fast Plants online. They go through the entire life cycle in 35-40 days, which my dad and I thought was perfect for the project since we didn't have much time. We got Schultz Plant Food Plus, soil and whatnot from Home Depot, and two fluorescent light-bulbs (Fast Plants seeds, rather than requiring sunlight, need fluorescent lights in order to grow). I am growing four plants; two grown naturally and the other two grown with plant food.

We also got these things called HydroSpikes which automatically water your plants for you. They are similar to AquaGlobes, but you need a reservoir at hand rather than just filling it up in order for it to work. We put them in the soil and they work wonderfully. They stopped lots of likely scenarios from happening. If I had watered my plants manually every single day, I could water too much or too little. This would make my project inconclusive, which would not be very good for my grade or for my presentation.

My dad also set up a camera to take a picture of the plants every half-hour. This way, we could put together a stop-motion video of the plants growing. Later, we also decided that I would wake up at 6:30am to turn off the lights so that they could cool down, then turn them back on at 7:00. The same thing at night; I would turn the lights off before dinner, then turn them back on after we were done eating.

Today, the plants finally started to bloom. Buds have appeared and I'm very excited about it! I can't wait to see beautiful flowers blossoming. It will look wonderful. My hypothesis is that the plant food supported plants will grow best because of the nutrients that come with it. I hope that my plants will grow smoothly and that my project is a success. Let's just wait and see!

-Dom

Script Frenzy

More countless hours spent on the computer trying to write a story, but in a different format? BRING. IT. ON.


As most of you know, I participated in YWP NaNoWriMo 2011 (and won!). Earlier this year, I registered for YWP Script Frenzy, which is a challenge similar to NaNoWriMo. During Script Frenzy, you (and maybe a partner) write an entire 100-page script in a month. You can write screen plays, TV scripts, and things of the like. Like NaNoWriMo, I'm going to aim for the same goal as the adult challenge.

Unlike NaNoWriMo, I'm going to have A. experience and B. a plan. I found out earlier that Script Frenzy is hosting elementary, middle, and high school boot camps to prep up for the event. I haven't decided what kind of script I'm going to write yet, but I'm definitely going to find out soon (and if not, I'm going to have to wing it like last time. And that isn't going to turn out very well),

-Zoe

Sick

Being sick isn't something I find enjoyable. Besides the consistent napping and hours of free time reading and doing whatever comes to my mind, everything else is a blur that I want to clear up as fast as possible. Trust me. Sitting at home all week with my ears infected, my head throbbing and my throat clogged up is not something I look forward to.

When I'm sick, I usually read most of the time that I'm not asleep. However, since my mom got an iPad this October, it gives me something else to do. I usually play on an app, watch YouTube or FaceTime with my friend from Germany with it. (TV in the morning isn't very interesting, so it isn't something I do normally on weekdays that I'm sick.)

Something else that makes being sick even worse than it sounds when I get back to school and have to make up for all the work that I missed.

UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG.

Post-Aladdin Reflection

If you don't want to read something dramatically depressing to the point where it seems desperate, don't read ahead of this. I am a writer, so I express my feelings in a way that seems seriously dramatic to the point where it doesn't seem real. This is what is going to happen to me after after every theatrical performance, you see; I will go into some sort of long-lasting depression where I wish to go back in time and experience what I experienced before it was gone. Since I'm unfortunate enough to have a heart made of glass that shattered the moment I stepped offstage today, I needed to post something that could express my dramatically exaggerated feelings that are something I don't want to experience, unlike my experience with Team Aladdin. If you want to dwell with my messed up emotions that never give me a break, read ahead. And because I am a writer, this is the kind of post that happens when I am depressed. :|

The past three months have been three months I can never possibly forget. They're those kind of memories that you never really appreciate as they happen, and only start to realize how precious and wonderful and beautiful they are when they are just. About. Gone. They're those kind of memories where you know that it's going to happen again soon, but that soon just seems so far away and out of your grip.

"Aladdin Jr." was my first theatrical performance. I never thought that theatrical performances would take more effort than you put into something you're doing for your own benefit, or because your best friend pleaded for you to, or for the sake of saying I did this and I am proud. Although I did first audition for this play for all three reasons I've just listed, the effort it took for this beautiful memory to happen was more than you'd think.

I've met amazing people through this, gotten closer to people I thought I was close enough to, and learned from my experience. Although I know there will be another play for me to audition for and meet more people and reunite with everyone I've gotten to know and love for the past three months, today was the last time the same exact cast would perform altogether

Long giggling fits, awkward silences, catchy tunes, familiar voices and standing ovations ring in my head. It's been four hours since we all split up. I've invented a name for my depression. "Post-Aladdin Depression", I call it. I wonder how long it's going to last. I hope it's not too long. My emotions really never give me a break. >:(

An experience I will NEVER get used to

This year, I had another amazing opportunity to participate in my school's spelling bee. Last year, I had participated and won. I was overwhelmed by all the words I had to commit to memory, the long time I had to study that seemed so short, and the competition that worried me greatly.

If anyone tells you that the pre-bee jitters only last the first few rounds, that's a lie. That's a big fib. A prevarication. A nasty, no good, filthy, dirty, rotten lie. This was the fourth spelling bee I had participated in and my knees were wobbling until my last word. The big audience, small chance and mind-blowing words take over and your brain doesn't work right. Your knees shake, you start to twiddle with your thumbs and sweat is trickling down your back. Unless you can shove off the hardest of emotions, there is no way to avoid the feelings you are going to feel. Unless, of course, you've got some hardcore confidence in you. That's a different story. Just don't let the emotions overpower you. Be careful with what you say, because before you know it, the dreaded bell might ring in your ears and you'll be sitting right back down.

Never let yourself be too confident during a spelling bee, though. You'll start to spell the words that shoot at you too fast and skip a letter or two. You'll think you've got all the brains, but in reality, your brain is busted. Your confidence will take control. You might even spell the easiest of words with an extra letter.

There is also no such thing as "enough studying". The more words you have committed to memory, the better chance you have. There'll be long, confusing words stuck in your study list here and there. You need to get them in your head as quickly as you can. In my case, the hardest words are usually the easiest to spell because I start studying them first.

By the way, the advice I'm giving you? That was my key to winning again this year.

The Little Things

Since 2011 has come to a close, I wanted to make a list of the really little things that I never stopped to appreciate.


I thank 2011 for

• the little hugs I got from my best friends every morning
• the kiss I got from my parents before bedtime every night
• the small things that I tripped over that made me look like a real klutz
• the thick books I read at school that made me look like a nerd
• the strange outfits that I picked out that made me look like I was color blind
• my first guitar that everyone raised their eyebrow at because it was so small
• the inches that never grew to make myself look taller than Thea
• the soft ear of my stuffed animal rubbing against my nose before I go to bed
• the friends I took for granted that made a great impact later on
• the long talks I had with my mom after dinner that went on for hours
• the short conversations I had with my dad that consisted of nonexistent words and jibber-jabber
• the glasses I put on every morning that helped me see the world clearer
• the books that were there when no one else was
• the tears that I cried that were worth it after all
• the laughs that I held in so I wouldn't look like a freak
• the laughs that came out anyway
• and the years that I have ahead of me that are yet to come.