Late-night post

I figured that, since I'm already on the computer, I'd blog before I got distracted.

I had a good morning. I listened to the garbage truck roll down the street - trust me, it's a lot more peaceful than it sounds. It was kinda cool to listen to it come down the street from a room other than the living room. I started my library book, too: Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly. I think I'm gonna like it. Not sure if I can finish it in time for when it's due back to the library, but I'll try reading a bit of it every day.

After I got up and ate breakfast, I finished the essay chapter in my GED book (I start the social studies unit next) and re-read a chapter of my Japanese book. I should be back to where I was in no time (I took a break from the book and I'm out of practice).

The rest of the day wasn't as nice, as some family drama decided to invade. Lovely. I re-read a bit of The Manga Guide to Molecular Biology, though, which took my mind off the drama, but now I'm back to being stressed. I'll probably have to practice my martial arts later so that I can get my frustration out. I find that katas - patterns of stances, strikes, blocks, etc.; which are designed to be an 'imaginary battle' - are good for relieving stress. I can't remember my red-belt kata, which is annoying, but it doesn't bother me too much. I always hated that kata.

I do have something to look forward to, though. My grandparents gave me a $25 Chapters Indigo gift card for my birthday, so I'll probably be going to Indigo soon to buy a book :) I might buy Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce, but I'll browse the shelves at Indigo in case something else strikes my fancy.

I have to go to the library tomorrow, because I have an overdue DVD; and I have four things to pick up: the 2010 Griffin Prize Poetry Anthology, Canadian GED for Dummies, season two of Primeval, and a DVD called Monty Python: Almost the Truth. That makes me excited, too :)

Went to Michaels today...

...But I didn't buy anything.

It was kind of disappointing. I had $10 to spend, and nothing really jumped out at me and screamed "BUY ME!" Maybe I'll try the other Michaels.

We went to the British imports shop, too, and bought some more kebab-flavoured Pot Noodle cups. They're highly addictive :) Mom and Dad bought some chocolate for me (I can't remember what they're called, but they're chocolate-mint balls, like the Aero Bubbles), Dad got some Walkers crisps and biscuits, and Mom picked up some tea (we were running out) and Custard Cream biscuits (which I love :D).

I watched the pilot of The Big C, which I had missed when Super Channel first ran it - fortunately, they were having a marathon; so I wound up watching the first three episodes before the soccer game came on.

The soccer game was a shambles... Toronto lost to Seattle. It was a 3-2 win, which isn't too horrible, but Toronto won't make the playoffs now.

I can't remember if I already mentioned this, but I finished my Calorimetry. Now I'm focusing on my Ravenclaw scarf.

A quick post, before Coronation Street comes on...

So I'm kind of mad at my uncle...

I might have said in an earlier post that my uncle and his fiancee were planning to get married abroad, despite that it's their second marriage for both of them. Well, it's official: they're getting married abroad. And of course, we can't go because boarding the dogs is very expensive. And Grandma can't go because she's in a wheelchair. And... well, you get the idea.

Otherwise, I'm okay, but I really hate my uncle right now. He's an insensitive jerk.

Hopefully, I'll post something happier soon. I just wanted to get that out of my system. It's raining today, which is pleasant, and I just finished watching season four of Doc Martin :)

Blaaarrrgggh

I couldn't come up with a clever title, so there you go.

My teeth on my right side are hurting a bit. I think it's from chewing a very tough candy, or from brushing too hard. Or maybe both. I'm trying not to poke at my teeth too much, but I'm like a little kid picking at a scab :p

I think I might refine a short story I started a while ago and try sending it in to a magazine. I sent a short story to a magazine for a theme contest, but it didn't get accepted. I still want to put my writing out there, though. It can't hurt to try, right?

Actually, I managed to remember to work from a writing prompt in the special issue of Writer's Digest that I got from Indigo. One of the articles is a year's worth of writing prompts, and the idea is to do one prompt a week. I got kinda lazy and only did a handful (some of the prompts just didn't spark anything), but a few days ago I wrote a few paragraphs. Pretty awesome, I think.

I did some GED work today. Actually, I think I got a fair bit done in the essays chapter. I'm doing exercises on paragraphs, and I wrote two practice paragraphs, did a quiz on which sentences in the example paragraphs were unnecessary, and an exercise on finding main ideas in paragraphs. The only one I'm unsure of is the main ideas practice, because there weren't any answers so I was like, "Wait, did I get that right?"

I watched the first two episodes of season four of Doc Martin and worked on my Ravenclaw scarf this afternoon. I probably should finish the Calorimetry though :p

I just sneezed on my arm.

So... yeah :p

Anyways, now that I'm not busy, I can reveal my diabolical knitting plan...

Merenwen's Knitting Plan!

Stuff to finish:

1. Calorimetry (I've only got two rows and the bind-off to do, but I'm procrastinating ;P)
2. Irish Hiking Scarf (only got a little bit left to do)
3. Ravenclaw scarf (about 45% done)
4. Fingerless gloves (need to be seamed)

Stuff to start:

1. Lacy Baktus (I'll have to finish the Calorimetry first, because I need the circular needle)
2. Lacy Waves Scarf (I can start this at any time, but I'd like to finish my Irish Hiking Scarf first)
3. Boneyard Shawl (again, I can start this at any time, but I want to finish other projects first)

I think I'll use my Patons Decor in 'Woodbine Ombre' fur the Lacy Baktus, Red Heart Super Saver in 'Light Sage' (the colour I used for my cat/mandrake blanket) for the scarf, and Decor in light blue (can't remember the colourway name) for the shawl. Fun! :D

I also have an itch to read a gazillion books. I think it's because the weather is cooling off, because I think I read more during fall and winter than in the summer - and any books I read over the summer are light, like manga or girly novels. I still have to finish Blood and Chocolate (I know, I'm lazy), but I really want to start my most recent library selection, Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly. It's about a girl names Drea who has symptoms of Asperger's and joins a band with two classmates who don't judge her. You can read the full synopsis on Goodreads here.

I also want to read Terrier by Tamora Pierce, but I also want to read her Tortallan quartets from the beginning - a 'book marathon', if you will - because I feel that if I read the last Immortals book, The Realms of the Gods, right away, I might have to go back and re-read parts of Emperor Mage. I also have $10 birthday money from my estranged grandmother, which I might spend on a paperback or hair stuff. I can't decide.

Eh, I should probably be doing GED work... or maybe I'll eat lunch first. I feel like making a tuna melt for lunch again.

Knitting plans and Venn diagrams

I can't seem to remember to post. Maybe I should mark some blogging days on my calendar...?

Anyways, yesterday I was having a hard time drawing a Venn diagram. Venn diagrams are two overlapping circles, and you use them to show similarities and differences - you write similarities where the circles overlap, and differences in the parts that don't overlap. Well, I can't draw circles for the life of me, so yesterday I thought, 'forget it, I'll try again tomorrow with the compass from my math set'. So today I got out my compass. First I looked in my nice, newer math set, but I didn't have the kind of compass with the bracket for holding a pencil, so I had to use my cheap, purple plastic math set. And guess what happened?

The pencil wouldn't fit.

Yes, my purple compass's pencil bracket wouldn't open wide enough for the pencil that came with it to fit in it. So I tried with my double-pointed compass, but that didn't really work (I think they're more for lines and triangles in geometry), so I decided to use just the pencil and wing it. And it turned out okay. The circles weren't perfect, but the diagram worked okay, which is what matters.

I have some diabolical knitting plans (hehe ;P), but dinner's ready so I can't list them right now. Basically, I want to finish some stuff and start some stashbusters.

Bye!

Look! A post!

I'm kinda bored, so I figured I'd put my boredom to good use :)

Mom ordered a book for me from Elann on sweater finishing, which looks nice. I've been meaning to knit some sweaters, but I've got a bunch of little projects to finish. I'll probably work on my Ravenclaw scarf or my Irish Hiking Scarf tomorrow, while watching one of my overdue library DVDs :p

The dogs have been morons today. Every time I tried to focus on my library book (The Manga Guide to Molecular Biology), they'd bark at something or whine to go outside. Or the phone would ring, which can be just as annoying. I managed to get a little bit of GED work done this morning, though, and I read through an old algebra book to refresh my memory while watching an episode of Cheers - my latest addiction. Ted Danson is a hoot.

I've been skimming through Grace Llewellyn's The Teenage Liberation Handbook, which is about unschooling. I feel inspired when I read it, and I needed a bit of inspiration. I think it helped a little, because my brain kind of went, "Okay, for Canadian history I can read Canadian History for Dummies and Famous Dead Canadians 2, and I can watch Ian McKellan: Acting Shakespeare and read my Simply Shakespeare copies of Hamlet and Macbeth..." So I think I'm kinda going somewhere.

The second season of Vampire Diaries starts tomorrow! So excited! :D