I've decided...

...that I need to do educational stuff this fall instead of wasting time. Here's the basic plan:

1. Get my algebra knowledge up to scratch. That means going over my polynomials pages and (hopefully) finishing the written work and the practice test. I hate the written work. It's vague as hell.
2. Learn chemistry right from the beginning. I had started using my textbook (Chemistry Demystified - I also have the physics one), but then I stopped because I got lazy and I thought I had cheated on the chapter one practice test.
3. Japanese. I'm so out of practice.
4. Writing - specifically, essay writing. I think I'm going to start a narrative essay first, about one of my favourite karate teachers in the universe, Mr. Bishop. Shit, I miss him like crazy. He and Mr. Perrins (the EVIL ONE who was such a bastard to me when I had my tooth extracted) parted ways a few years ago, and Mr. Bishop owns a dojo (karate school) in Grimsby. If we lived closer, I'd so sign up at his dojo, but it's just too far away. Damn!
5. Biology. I want to finish my truly awesome anatomy colouring book - I screwed up on colouring in some vertebrae, but it's too late to fix it. Oh well, it doesn't matter.
6. Reading. I want to read some classics, like Orwell's 1984.

I have this seriously weird itch to go back-to-school shopping, only I can't think of anything that I need. I already got pencils a couple of weeks ago, when we went to Staples after church in that horrific weather. But surely there's something else I need... right? Oh! I know! Medium-point Sharpies! In loads of pretty colours! I have some coloured Sharpies, but they're in an Ultra Fine Point - which is okay, but I want to get some in a bolder point for doing big, obnoxious drawings. I don't draw much, but I'd like to get back into it.

Speaking of drawing, I came across a portfolio of my childhood drawings. Boy, was that a flashback. Some of them aren't too bad, actually. I'd like to get a new sketchbook for making fashion sketches, though, because my sketchbook is full of juvenile drawings. Then again, I got it several years ago at Wal-Mart. Mom says I should get one at Curry's, which is a nice art supply store. I'm not sure if it's a franchise or not - I've only seen one Curry's. I love them, because they carry good markers, nice paper, and even origami paper. Pretty super, if you ask me. I think I'll go on Flyerland and see if they have a Curry's flyer. Maybe I'll convince Mom to get some new paint for her own use. She'd like that. She's been saying that she wants to paint again, and what better time than the present, eh?

On the subject of art, I want to make some collages. We have some National Geographic magazines that nobody reads anymore, and an issue of Glow (the Shopper's Drug Mart magazine), and somewhere in the Abyss of the Flyer Bin is an issue of Famous, which is the Famous Players cinema magazine. Maybe I'll find all of our drawing books and try to draw human beings again. I seem to be better at drawing inanimate objects.

I need music...

There. Music. I love YouTube.

I also want to try cooking Japanese cuisine, like onigiri and sushi. I joined the Bento Artists group on Ravelry because I love the idea of making cute lunches. I know I probably won't need to make myself a boxed lunch for a while, but it would be neat to practice by making a bento the night before and stick it in the fridge, and then I don't have to frantically ask myself, "WHAT THE HELL SHOULD I HAVE FOR LUNCH?!". hehe. I'm borrowing a couple of Japanese cookbooks from the library, which are nice, but they're mostly Western-style stuff.

Wow. I've written a lot.

I'm also going to work on my existing stories. I need to do some research for my crime story first, though. I like writing it, though, because it's different from what I normally write - urban fantasy. Sometimes it's refreshing to write something a little more real, a little more logical. Maybe it's because you don't have to imagine as much. I mean, with a crime story you still have to imagine, but you don't have to make up magic or anything. It's all stuff that can happen anytime, anywhere.

I feel a lot better today than I have for the past few days. Probably because the weather is nice and cool. I still can't wait until I can wear jeans again.

That's all, folks :)