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