NaNoWrMo!

Novel? Pshaw!

That's what the folks behind the National Novel Writing Month want me to believe, at least. During National Novel Writing Month, which is November, young writers* across the United States** grab their keyboards and network routers to compose and post an unedited, original novel onto the NaNoWrMo website. The ultimate goal is to have a finished story comprised of 50,000 words by November 30th, and per NaNoWrMo rules (though not heavily enforced) you may only start writing November 1st. That comes down to about 1000 words a day; not too much, actually.

I already have a half-baked novel idea, but it's pretty nascent and I'm sure the final novel would be notoriously vapid. I suppose that would have to be a compromise. Sigh. I haven't given up all hope for a half-decent story, though, because fan fiction is allowed, which would save me if I ever find that my current novel idea flops. Also, I'll probably spend the time I should be writing procrastinating and trying to restrain myself from editing my work, because I'm a known perfectionist when it comes to writing.

Gripes aside, though, I think this is a fabulous idea for me to write more fast. So share the pain and write with me, eh? I already convinced Mulan to join the dark side...

New Tumblr

I've made a new Tumblr, as a spur-of-the-moment-I-don't-want-to-go-to-bed-this-seems-slightly-interesting-and-it's-free-so-why-not thing. Tumblr is famous for its wonderful moving gif integration, as well as a simple dashboard and good social features. It's not very professional, but it works, and it works well.

Also, the palette of themes is outrageous. The service has approximately a bagillion themes for you to choose from. It's nice, especially for a Blogger user used to plain themes.


Without further ado, please check out Aureate Dreams, my secondary blog, primarily for images and succinct messages so concise I feel ashamed to post them on Blogger.

Second Chances

The book I am currently reading (one of three, actually) is titled Untold Story (published in 2011), and it is written by Monica Ali, the famed British novelist. What if Princess Diana had faked her death, escaped to the United States, and lived in a town called Kensington -- ha, ha, that was funny -- under the name Lydia Snaresbrook? And, then, picture a grizzled paparazzi, who recognizes Di by her startling ultramarine eyes (she has abandoned her brown contacts years ago). Imagine the result.

Yep. This novel is a page-turning story. The writing is nice, though it lacks Ali's moving descriptions and strong writing (both of which can be found in her bestselling, NYTimes Editor's Choice novel Brick Lane) but the plotline is fabulously fairy-tale-esque. One paragraph deeply moved me.

In this paragraph, Lawrence, Di's loyal private secretary that abetted her and helped her fake her death and move to the U.S., was describing his conversation with Dr. Patel, his doctor (he is dying with a brain tumor; his doctor reckons, at the time of writing, that he has six months or so to go). This takes place in 1998, just a year after Di's "death", and nine years before the events of the present time in the novel (April 2007, the tenth anniversary of Diana's death). Dr. Patel has said that she was a Hindu after Lawrence asks her if she believes in an afterlife, and that she believes in reincarnation.

Me too, I said, I believe in reincarnation. I didn't elaborate. I think I may have offended her; she thought I was poking fun. Maybe what I should have said is, I believe in another chance.

Isn't that beautiful? Very powerful. Check out Untold Story.

Ha ha, Random!

Whoa. Yeah. I'm still laughing about this. (This is a very random post...)

So. During the week of July 18-22, (2011) our church holds a Vacation Bible School (VBS) thing. And just to add up to my volunteering time, I decided to volunteer as a part of their "staff," as my parents also did. Hamy's too young to volunteer. Guess what? I'm the preschool-K assistant......

Just today I was asking my mom about what I was supposed to do as an assistant and we came up with this: show them some love. Sigh. As if working in the nursery wasn't enough.

Anyway, so, my mom had this friend at our old church, where it also did VBS, and he/she (not sure) led us into another church in St. Joseph, which were willing to let us borrow some of their decorations. And so, just a day ago, we had a trip to that church to cram all the decorations in our car......

I suppose people will not get this whole thing if they didn't know:
A) I got a really boyish haircut.
B) I was wearing a blue loose Twin Cities Twosome shirt and cargo pants with a militaryish design. And black flip-flops.
C) According to my mom, I was sitting next to Hamy, in a position like how a guy would sit. On the concrete, where a few feet away, they were loading decorations into our mini van.

Ha, yeah. I was wondering why Hamy was suddenly going, "Uh...."

Later, as we were coming home, Hamy told me what the woman near us said....
"So, how are you boys going to fit in that car?"

Yeah. The only reason why I wasted five minutes writing this post is because I'll probably forget and I don't.

Wow, sorry. This was a total waste of time........

Random Story

Source: http://www.guy-sports.com/humor/computers/index.htm
I take absolutely no credit for this!!

A Funny Story of How the Internet Began

In ancient Israel, it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot. And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg. Indeed, she was often called Amazon Dot Com.

And she said unto Abraham, her husband, "Why dost thou travel so far from town to town with thy goods when thou canst trade without ever leaving thy tent?" And Abraham did look at her - as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load - but simply said, "How, dear?"

And Dot replied, "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for sale, and they will reply telling you who hath the best price. The sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums. The drums rang out and were an immediate success. Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever having to move from his tent. To prevent neighbouring countries from overhearing what the drums were saying, Dot devised a system that only she and the drummers knew. It was called Must Send Drum Over Sound (MSDOS), and she also developed a language to transmit ideas and pictures: Hebrew To The People (HTTP).

But this success did arouse envy. A man named Maccabia did secrete himself inside Abraham's drum and began to siphon off some of Abraham's business. But he was soon discovered, arrested and prosecuted for insider trading. And the young men did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung. They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Sybarites, or NERDS.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to that enterprising drum dealer, Brother William of Gates, who bought off every drum maker in the land. And he did insist on drums to be made that would work only with Brother Gates' drum heads and drumsticks.

Lo, Dot did say, "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over by others!" And as Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel, or eBay as it came to be known, he said, "We need a name that reflects what we are." And Dot replied, "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators." "YAHOO," said Abraham. And because it was Dot's idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com.

Abraham's cousin, Joshua, being the young Gregarious Energetic Educated Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot's drums to locate things around the countryside. It soon became known as God's Own Official Guide to Locating Everything (GOOGLE).

And that is how it all began.

The heat...is not that bad!

Unfortunately, I have grown inured to the heat of the summer. The past several days have been colder than usual, with days reaching low temperatures of 50. Now, however, methinks the regular hot and humid summer weather is back in swing.

This morning I braved the heat of the second floor of my house in order to lie on my bed and try and relax with my iPod and some books and newspapers. That meant I spent an entire morning sweating and hyperventilating, and by the end of said morning, I was ready to shout vituperations. But suddenly, I thought, why should I have to suffer any more than I need to? After all, I have a fun novelty called a fan.

I recently read in a New York Times article about the merits of using fans over AC. For example, people can save 10% of the energy (and money!) they use for AC by turning up the thermostat one degree.

The author of the article and I have two major differences between us. The first one is the blatant fact that he lived in the cities (Brooklyn, I think), and I live in the outskirts of the small town of Champaign. Thus, the author lived in a co-op where AC was hard to come by, expensive, and inconvenient, whereas I have to walk over to the master bedroom and press some buttons to get the air conditioning on. The other difference is that the author had three, industrial-grade fans, and I have my one dinky ceiling fan that is more for ornamental purposes than for actual cooling.

But other than that, we're practically in the situation. We both want to save money and help the environment (or at least, I hope my parents want to save the environment). We both want to cool off in the most efficient method possible. Luckily for us, the fan works. The differences cancel out: the author has powerful fans to cool the entire apartment and I have a flimsy fan to cool myself in a bedroom. Luckily for both of us, the fan is more than sufficient.

In my personal opinion, the fan actually works better. The AC leaves a lasting impact on the temperature of the room, but the fan's brisk, gentle breezes relax and cool me just fine. Next time, bring a small and portable fan on a car trip to the supermarket or mall. After the shopping spree, instead of burning up in the car and waiting for the air conditioning to start its tortuously-slow so-called "conditioning," turn on the fan and let it do its job.

How to relieve one's agony while saving money and trees? Try the fan. After all, once I switched on the ceiling fan, I ceased my sweating and my urge to shout profanities and enjoyed my afternoon well.

CLICK

Don't click here!

Some Interesting Vocab Words 4.0

Welcome back to the fourth installment of "Some Interesting Vocab Words" (catchy name, eh?)!  Here I present you with yet more vocab words.  This post is super long, because I've been irresponsible and let the pile of vocab words pile on in my inbox.

• callow: inexperienced or immature. 
• pecksniffian, which is an adjective describing a person that hypocritically and smugly affects benevolence and high morals/principles.  Isn't that a great word or what?
• Toothsome may be a word many people already know the main meaning of (the most common definition is "pleasing to the taste").  Toothsome can also mean attractive and appealing, and this definition can also imply having sex appeal.
• Intestable means "not legally qualified to make a will, as by reason of not being of age or being mentally unable to".  Elements that fit in this set include infants, lunatics, and flowers.
• For the word "claque", think "clap".  A claque is a group of people hired to applaud a performer (the afterthought in my email also noted that these people may be hired to applaud, they may also be hired to heckle a rival performer).
• Moirologists are the opposites of members of a claque; moirologists are hired to mourn at a funeral.
• A pangram is a sentence, verse, etc. that contains every letter of the alphabet.  I have a short anecdote: in third grade, my class did an exercise where everybody wrote a pangram.  I wrote the one with the least letters!
• To foist is the force upon, introduce, or bring fraudulently or unjustifiably.
• Coming from the Latin verb neco, necare, necavi, necatus meaning "to kill," the term necrology is used to describe the list of people that have died within a certain period of time, or merely as a synonym for an obituary.
• Foofaraw is flashy and frivolous ornamentation or decoration.  It can also be a fuss over unimportant matters.  Doesn't this word just remind you of fluffy kittens or puppies?
• A longueur part of a book, play, poem, musical composition, etc. is a dull and tedious section.  After these longueur parts always seem so much longer than they are.

Call these words ludicrous, call them inane, whatever: just make sure to use them.  Don't let this list go to waste!

I feel bad now...

...because Mulan updates so frequently on this blog now and I've been caught up with...everything.  I don't even have the excuse of, "But I juggle more blogs AND I write way more on each post."  Because Mulan's new blog features four posts within two days, three of which are just as long as my posts, if not lengthier.

Furthermore, even with the vague aforementioned "everything" that I've been caught up with (e.g. piano, chess, wrapping my head around the fact that it's summer) I've still spent stretches of time on Blogger frequently these past few days.  Some hard evidence: I updated Stiricide plenty since I love that place.  I created, redesigned, and posted--often--on my new blog, The Hu Rants (which was featured in some shameless advertising by Mulan.  Thanks Mulan!).  I completely rewrote my Blogger bio.

In summary, I've been on Blogger for so long and this blog completely flew past my radar.

Actually, I don't feel that bad.  But horrible enough to spend a post writing about how much I feel bad about not updating when I don't even feel that bad.  How's that for paradoxical?

Hi Guys! New Blog!

Mulan is back with a new blog!
It might not be very interesting to everyone, as everybody has their own interests, but I'm a big fan manga and anime, so I've decided to create one more blog, called Mulan's Manga Blog.

The Link:
http://saranesmangablog.blogspot.com

(Okay, I'm sick of the a href tag now...Been posting a LOT of links lately...T.T)

So yeah. Just like our editor Alice, it seems to be my turn doing the "shameless advertising". :)

OK, more rants, this time at 7AM-here in the midwest, at least...

Hmm. That was quite smart of me, no? Last time (I'm not sure though) it was the rant of 10AM. I went to sleep at 10PM, over that, and got up at 4AM for no reason, thus discreetly meaning I've only slept for 6 hours total. Which is not good for my age.

That overwith, here's some advertising for my good editor Alice's new blog that she shares with her brother. It's a new blog, so there are only two posts the last time I visited (2 minutes ago)...

Here's the link:
The Hu Rants

Visit, also comment, and enjoy!
(There, Alice!! I've done the advertising for you!!)

Hi People! I'm Back With a List!!

All credits to who made this website. I only found this. Here's the link:
http://listsgalore.blogspot.com/2009/08/150-things-to-do-when-youre-bored.html

KYAAA!!! SUMMER!!

Whoo! It's summer, people!!!
The only connection I have left with my school is the end-of-the-year party and the textbooks I need to study over the summer!!

Yeah.
I kinda got over that after the first full Saturday of doing absolutely nothing concerning school.

Anyway, with all the excitement gone, here's something to think and comment about:
The next three month's question of the (ummm) day:

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO FOR THE NEXT THREE MONTHS OF FREE TIME?!

Okay, to give you some ideas, here's a starter.

My List:

1. Reading (a lot)
2. Writing
3. Drawing
4. Sleeping
5. Enjoying the fact that there is no homework.
6. Trying not to fall behind on the instruments I play.
7. Posting on my blog. Updating.
   

I don't know...Maybe travelling??? So...comment and let's brainstorm some stuff we could do. I mean, like one of my friends, (cough cough editors) sent me an email saying something similar to that topic, so why don't we all pitch in and brainstorm? I mean, this is something else we could be doing, instead of wasting time, I guess. IDK.

So yeah. Pitch in. Save poor students from boredom.
LOL

English finals: check!

I let out a huge breath as I wrap up my English essay. I close my "blue book" exam booklet, and click my pen to retract the point. Finally, I finished, and I look around the room. Only about 7 or so people were left. One of my friends just finished, and after I hand in my test booklet and test packet in, we walk out together.

Wrapping up the essay had been one of hardest parts. What to put, how to summarize without listing or repeating, how to leave the reader feeling completed, and how to make myself feel done.

Nonetheless, I succeeded okay, at least. I wrote a little over 5 pages, which resulted in a sore wrist and a depleted pen. Who cares, though? I finished my hardest final. The English final is worth a third of my English semester grade, much larger than my other finals. Despite reassurances that this test cannot lower my semester grade (even if I do horribly on it), it was natural to feel nervous.

Not only that, we had to write a complete, cogent, cohesive analysis on a short story, "The War Prayer" by Mark Twain, or poem, "Three Brown Girls Singing". I chose the short story option, despite the fact that it was much longer than the poem. (By the way, I seriously recommend the story to you.)

Had I allowed myself to think about how much I would have to write in order to satisfy myself, I would have freaked out. However, I didn't, and just forced myself to write, no questions asked. I was pleasantly surprised I could write so fast and relatively well. I did great, I told myself, even though I definitely didn't write as well as I could have. Unfortunately, that is the plight of testing: hurried essays and incomplete satisfactions.

Well, at least I'm done with the hardest final. One down, three more to go!!

editing the war

Okay, sorry the indentations didn't work on the thing.

Just Added New Gadgets!

Wow, that didn't sound...right.
But yeah, I added new gadgets!

They are...(drumroll please)

Statistics
Follow-By-Email

If there are any questions, contact me!

The War

Okay this is a story that I already started but I didn't like the beginning so this is just a part of the story.
Enjoy!-Hamy

The War

By Abraham

Chapter One

Graham (Thomas)

I woke up in the car. I was confused to see mom driving the van because she hardly ever did.

“Mommy I’m hungry,” I complained

“Sorry,” she replied “I was called to a very important meeting. I don’t have any food though, sorry.”

A meeting? She doesn’t even have a job! I thought. I was confused and didn’t know that this was going to be one of few hours I was going to spend time with her. Anyway I looked out the window and looked at the cars we were passing by. By the look of it we were going fast, like really fast. I looked over Mom’s shoulder to see the speedometer, it said 142mph.

“Mommy, you’re going over the speed limit,” I told her.

But she just gritted her teeth and looked out the windshield. That was a ‘shut up or I am going to gag you’ face so I remained silent. I thought and thought about what was going on here, yesterday night I was tucked into bed with my dog cobra then I heard stuff about going to have to go to a ‘calling’ that had the whole ‘pentagon council’. So I decided it was boring and fell asleep. I wondered if this was the ‘calling’ or something, but Mom had said it was a very important meeting and she had never lied to me before.

That’s when I started to worry because if this was a very important meeting then Mom would have brought my brother and sister with me. I was going to ask Mom where they were but I decided against it. So I just sat in the backseat looking out the passenger window and looked at the cars passing by.

Soon after what seemed like hours the car stopped and I had to go pee really bad. I looked and hoped to see a building and saw nothing but rocks and some prairie grass.

“Mommy where are we?” I asked.

Instead of answering my question she looked me in the eye, kneeled down and whispered in my ear “Look if anything bad happens anything you had better run like you never ran before. Do you understand? Now there will be three other children coming too so I want you to stick close to them no matter what okay?”

Usually she smiled but this time she wasn’t smiling she was serious. I thought no one would come but they actually came there were three other kids like she said there would be. One was Asian I could tell, had long black hair and was a boy, he stuck close to his dad and looked like a mini version of him. The second one was a boy, had blonde hair and kept on pushing it up in an arch on the top of his head, and he clung to his father’s leg. The last one had short brown hair and he held on to his mother’s hand.

The parents motioned us to come together as a kid’s only group. We looked up at each other and didn’t say a word.

“Who called this meeting?” One asked.

“I did.”

We whirled around and looked to see who spoke. There was a man in a cloak.

“You!” Mom gasped.

“Yes me,” He laughed “all you have to do is to give me those children and I will let you go. If you don’t then I will kill you and then take you children.”

Long Time No See

Okay, it's been a while and I'd just like to say

HI!

How to care about the environment: Global style

I used to read those books detailing some things people can help the environment. These things included taking shorter showers, recycling, and driving less. These books told me actions which I can take, and for a while I felt I really made a difference in the environment, especially when the author points out that if everybody did an action, how many trees or how much water we would save. While I appreciate these books, because they offer simple advice about a colossal issue, my viewpoint about the environment has been shifting.

Cutting Edge is a big research paper in the subbie Earth studies class. It is a large rite-of-passage at school during the subfreshman year, partly because the grade on this paper makes up for most of the second semester grade, and partially because of much class time is devoted to explaining about, researching for, and peer-evaluating Cutting Edge papers (and, of course, because it's tradition and because the upperclassmen make it to be a huge deal). I did my Cutting Edge project on water issues. One of the largest issues I saw about our water usage system is how much disorganization we as water users have.

In many communities, we have no long-term (and oftentimes no short-term!) water usage plan. Although my paper focuses on the technologies to save water and make more freshwater (the assignment is called Cutting Edge), I made sure to explain several categories of water usage plans.

For the information to come: thanks to my interviewee for my Cutting Edge paper, Peter Gleick, for giving me an interview about this vital, and often overlooked, part of water issues! Not only does his ideas pertain to water usage, they also changed the way I look at ecology--forever.

The technology we have, Gleick explained, is only a stepping stone to a global solution to our water problems. Technology on itself is pointless. Having, and successfully implementing, a powerful plan should be first priority. We as humans usually get excited by new gimmicks, but honestly, these new technologies are just that: gimmicks. Think of it this way: the technology is the new, handy smartphone. It is cool, it is neat, but it doesn't get anywhere without the service. The service is what makes the brilliant phone a phone, not just a $200 toy.

The small tips I get from those books ("Turn down the air conditioner in the summer!) don't really have a huge impact (except on my conscience). What we need are plans to tackle the nationwide, global, and even statewide ecological issues. Stemming from these plans can be new laws or easier accessibility to ecological solutions. That's how humans may possibly have a chance to fix the planet we screwed up on so much.

The nature of blogs

The word "blog" comes from the words "web" and "log". Since a log is a journal of sorts, shouldn't a blog be a journal, online?

Well, not exactly.

Blogs express something meaningful. They should not be simply a run-through of a day. A blog is something unique. Have you ever read something on a blog not even remotely like anything else? A blog can contain essays, it can contain musings, but most of all, it should be unique.

I only recently discovered this. Look back at some posts at Stiricide that I've linked to.

A post from February

A post from two days ago

Compare and contrast them. You'll see how different the two posts are. The one from February goes through my day, and it does not bother to connect these common daily activities with anything broader or deeper. This is vapid, and definitely not any different from anything else. On the other hand, my post from two days ago was interesting (if I do say so myself), despite the fact that the topic is generally overused by me. I also went through my day; however, it was more interesting because I put spirit into it. I have improved my blogging skills.

Through blogging, I have also raised my overall writing level as well: see the posts again. The first one was all over the place; although the topic was interesting (a list of grievances against braces) and I used some cool words, I had no focus. The second one: the topic was plain (endangered species and school activities, to be precise), and I did not use extensive vocabulary, but the entire post seemed more alive.

Bloggers: I know I'm not in any particular position to give advice, but: make blogging a different writing experience than normal school-essay. This is easy to do because the entire blogging process seems casual and simply carefree. Soon, your other writing will also emit that "alive and well" vibe.

Celia! Update!

See title.

I'm not kidding, Celia. UPDATE!!

Last Night's Orchestra Concert And Other Rants

Now, since I've run out of a lot of topics, I'm reduced down to writing about school orchestras and choirs.
Anyway, yeah. This whole post is kinda self-explanatory. Just kinda, if YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED ALREADY!!
Ahhhhh.
Yeah, I realize that I sound weird and I blame that on sugar I had...

Yeah.
Back to the orchestra thing.
I personally think that song that only the strings played was kinda messed up since everybody was all over the place and the rhythm was all messed up, and even as a player, I was like, wow, we failed this. This sounds all terrible...
Well, we got a cover since the (longer) song with the winds ensemble only made it up. I prefer the winds ensemble, but I guess I wouldn't want to go back to my sixth grade band...Yikes.
Yeah, in case people didn't know, I can play a little clarinet. Although I'm not that good. I can play some piano and violin, but I want to learn to play cello and trumpet.

Oh, see?!
Now, I'm ranting about what I WANT to play, which really is pointless.
I mean, Hamy's going to play trumpet in his school band, so I'll just rip trumpet off him, but cello...I don't know. I recently have taken a liking to either really low and smooth sounds or really high sounds that are clear or smooth or something.

Speaking of high notes, I'm going to be joining chorus next year. And I hope to be a soprano. I like to sing along with Korean pop songs. I've listened to all kinds of songs, believe me. Let me list some: Korean pop, Japanese pop, American pop, Christian pop, Christian (stuff like gospels), New Age (my fav. instrumental genre!!), Classical, and Soundtracks.
Oh my gosh, I love to listen to soundtracks, especially ones from animes, like Tsubasa, by Clamp. The fantasy one, not the soccer thingy.

And speaking of animes...

You know what, I'll just stop there.

Almost...Summer!

Let's start counting again, shall we?
School gets out at May 27.
Today's May 18.
27-18 = 9.
9, people, 9!!!!

A little over a week, but next to me, our contributor Alice says there's another snow day after Finals, so I really don't know.
Well, there's 4 minutes before I have to go...

Contribute to the Environment!

Hey people,

I've visited the Field Museum just a few hours ago,
and I thought I wanted to share this fact with you...

The normal rate of extinction is one specie per four years.
Now, about 30,000 species are dying out EVERY YEAR.

Doesn't this mean something to you??
People, the cause to this is US. HUMANS.
It's the first time in Earth's long history that one specie has been the cause of extinction for others.
Some reasons are the wastes, landfills that take up space that could have been a habitat, logging industries, and so many more.

Come on, people.
Make a difference.
Help save the environment, because it's US that's going to be end up dead if we don't start contributing, because of our own mistakes...

Some Interesting Vocab Words 3.0

First off, I would like to say sorry that I haven't updated in about a week. Stiricide is my main blog and sometimes, as much as I hate this, M & H & 2 More gets flung to the back of my mind.

(I just noticed that Mulan can be shortened to Moo [since it shares the same sound as the 'mu'] and Hamy can be shortened to Ham. Peculiar.)

But, what's this? It's an [insert drumroll or your choice of intensifier] update! As per most of my posts here (two out of three), this post will also be a list of interesting vocab words. I have found that making these lists really helps me improve my weakest point, getting the spelling and definition just right. Spell check doesn't really help, since these words are too obscure for the likes of Microsoft (just kidding, I love PCs), and usually I have a vague sense of the word but can't place the part of speech (the verb form, the adjectival form, and the noun form are often mixed up), or the precise definition. And thus, the show continues.

• Nonplus: such a fun word! Nonplus, nonplussed, nonplussing; say that three times fast! This word is an intrasitive verb which means "to cause to be confused; to perplex."
• Plangent means "beating with a loud or deep noise" or "expressing sadness". 
• I feel sorry for anyone with mysophobia. They have an irrational fear of dirt; how much worse could you get?!
• To dandle is to move lightly up and down (as one might do with a crying baby). It could also mean to pamper and baby.
• A turncoat is someone that turns and changes alliances. See what I did there?
• A combination of "animal" and "miniscule", animalcule means "an extremely small animal almost invisible to the naked eye."
• A Zeigtgeist (yes, the word is supposed to be capitalized) is the spirit of the time; that is, the general characteristics of a period of time.

I hope you will use these words! These unique words will spice up an otherwise bland piece of writing.

SUMMER

I think our school gets out around May 27th.
Here's the countdown:

Today's the 14th, right?
27-14...
=13!!!
WOOOOO!!
Less than two weeks left of school!

Now...
(in a teacher voice)
Who's looking forward to finals??

Yeah, I know...

Yeah, two days after I changed the theme I realized that it's the wrong season.
*sigh*
Whatever, I guess.
It's a cool theme, Alice says, and I agree, so I'm sticking with it.

Celia!!!
Please update!!!

WOOOOOOOOO!!!

WOOOOOOOOOO!!!
The 5K is officially OVER!
(For the year, anyway...)
I still can't believe it, so...

WOOOOOOOOOO!!!
The 5K is officially OVER!
(For the year, anyway...)

Okay, I could go around copy and pasting this all day, but I'm too tired.
Well, yeah. You get the message now. We're finished with the 5K, our P.E. final.
It started at like 8:30 in the morning, but now we're done.
FOR A WHOLE YEAR!!!

Wooo, guys!
Good job to everybody who participated in this year's Twin Cities Twosome!
It's my first race ever, and I sucked (whatever) but I FINISHED!!

WOOOOO!!

Drama Skit

Yesterday we also had a drama skit we've been practicing over for while...
And I'm the innocent girl.
So guess what I did?
Guess what was my costume???

(Gee, I really should've taken a picture of myself...)

I put my (already) short hair up into two ponytails over my ears.
I put on a pink frilly shirt.
I put on a yellow skirt over my already purple jeans...
T.T

Aaaand...you can't blame me for being mobbed by the girls right after I come out of the dressing room. I guess hiding behind a friend just doesn't work.

"Oh my gosh you're so adorable!!!"
"Oh my gosh you look so cute!!!"

...

I'm not sure how I feel about this.

Math Final

Aaaaaand there's also the super-ultra-Rebecca Black's song, fun-fun-fun-fun math final exam.
I mean, algebra???
Why do we need to know what x equals?
What's the point of cube root squared???
Isn't this why we have mathematicians? And nerds? And people staying up until like, 4 in the morning to prove why 1 + 1 = 2??

Arrrrrgh.
I don't need more stress, especially during the time while I'm stressed over the 5K (see my previous post). Seriously.

I don't WANT to know how you graph Y = -2 (3x - 5.67) ^ 2 +4.
I don't NEED to know how you turn that into vertex form.
I don't even want to know what's a stupid OPEN SENTENCE!!!!

AHHHHHH!!!!!!

Aaaand I'm going to not get a free hour, which I was going to waste doodling anyway, talking about a new text editor.

I love life.

Well...

School's almost over...and guess what we have! Hmm!
Finals!

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

And guess what we have coming up the first thing in the morning of the first day of my weekend?
*drum rolls*
THE 5K!

Fun, right? In the Twin Cities Twosome race, we're participating in the 5K run as our PE final. Lots of people know that I can't run, and our expectation is to finish under 30 minutes.
This is one of the most exciting times of my life.
(Please note the heavy sarcasm.)

Some people, people unlike me, I guess, love to run. As for me, I hate it. I'm not built as a runner. Instead, I spend my time curled up on a sofa with a netbook on my lap and some chips next to me writing. Like I mentioned in my other blog.
Have I already done this rant yet?

Well, at least, I've updated and that's that.

Some Interesting Vocab Words 2.0

For the first vocab post, click here.

In the spirit of the last vocab-related post, I again will try to skew The System (that's its new name now).

• This vocab word was a little too late for Easter: a Judas (yes, this word is capitalized) is a betrayer. An alternative meaning is "a peephole".
• We seem to be Bible-centric today! A Jezebel, named the Old Testament Jezebel, wife of Ahab, who did not worship her husband's god, is a wicked, immoral, or shameless woman. (I find it slightly nerving that women in the Old Testaments were either the wife, sister, or daughter of a man.)
• I did not receive this word from my emails, but I've liked it since I read Edgar Allan Poe's "The Purloined Letter". A purloined letter is a stolen letter.
• Here's a fun word: a jehu is either a cab driver or a fast driver. Funny, because the cabs I get on always trickle. This also has a Biblical connotation. (After looking at the newsletter again I found out that this week's overall theme is Bible characters--see next entry.)
• I also got "Jonah", a person which is believed to bring bad luck. Hey, he did bring the Almighty's wrath upon him and his dinky little ship.
• The verb "anneal" has several, unrelated meanings. It could mean "to toughen or temper", "to relieve internal stress", "to remove or prevent internal stress in some substances such as glass by heating", or "to fuse colors together in glass, metalware, etc. by heating". On second thought, some of them do relate...
• A second fiddle is a secondary role, or a person in such a role. This is music-related.
• To peregrinate is to journey or travel, especially by foot. We get the falcon name from this word (or was it the other way around?).
• This is an especially humorous word. A shirty person is a ill-tempered one. Does that mean wearing shirts makes us short-tempered?

Once again, I hope you dear readers can make use of these interesting vocab words. Remember, kids: don't be a Jonah, Jezebel, Judas, or a jehu: auto insurance is up these days, like everything else in this rotten economy.

Some Interesting Vocab Words

Every day, I receive two of those "Word of the Day" email newsletters, one from Dictionary.com and the other from Wordsmith. I've let them pile on in my inbox (I now have 161 vocab words waiting to be memorized and used). Since I actually want to remember the words, I usually move the email away from the inbox to my "Vocabulary" label once--and only after--I've incorporated the word into my writing. This system hasn't been working recently, though, due to the fact that I haven't visited my story on Google Docs since March.
My procrastination habits aside, I have seen many interesting words. (For those wondering, this is also a cheap way to skew my system: list a bunch of words.) Below are some examples:

• Oppugn. I was attracted to this word mainly because of the interesting spelling. This word means "to assault with criticism" or "to debate".
• Vociferate. This means "to cry out". 
• Bumf: a dull-sounding word for a dull subject matter. If printed matter is bumf, it is unwanted or uninteresting. Examples include sales receipts for Wal-Mart, paperwork, and junk mail from McDonald's.
• Verisimilitude. This is something that appears to be true, of the quality of appearing to be true. One way to remember this is to remember that the truth potion in Harry Potter starts with "veri", and "simi" is like "simulate".
• Bedaub (for some reason I always see this word as "debaud"). Anyway, this word means "to smudge over" or "to overdecorate".
• If something is prolix, it is unnecessarily long, especially in the context of writing. Likewise, a person is prolix if they speak or write wordily. 
• "Balderdash" sounds like a nonsense word from "Jabberwocky". Turns out, balderdash does mean nonsense. An archaic meaning is "a muddled mixture of liquids".

 Try and use some of these words sometime! You will become prolix, your writing will no longer be called bumf, though you might be labeled balderdash.

Bored, But With A Bit of Excitement

Okay! Today was the second day the perspective students are coming in. And finally, there were more than 11 people in our French 1 class...

*ranting*
It's so boring...I've still got like 25 minutes to waste.
OK, so give me some topics to rant about and I will take requests...
Please.
I'm out of topics.

Luke, I am... Your New Editor!

Note: This post was updated 9:48 PM to fix a formatting issue.

So, hi!

I am officially a contributor to this blog now. Unlike the two original contributors, I use my real name (if you thought Hamy and Mulan were real names, I have nothing else to say. Plus, I would never allow you to name my children, provided that I have some in the future).

For curious readers, I am not some random person an editor picked out from the masses of Internet users. In fact, I know both of the editors (one of them is a nice friend of mine). In addition, I have my own blog [if you don't like shameless advertising, I suggest you leave this page], Stiricide--and Other Things, which appears to have gathered a nice, small, but devoted, readership, probably because of the whimsical and humorous content I write. And, I reckon, partly due to some of the real, sober, tangents ("sober" and "tangent": two words that do not belong in the same sentence together).

Now, for some useful information: I attend the same school as Mulan, a "nerdy" school (call it what you want, haters. We know we're cool). I am in eighth grade, though I skipped seventh grade, and am in the "subbie", or, more eloquent, the "subfreshmen" class. I don't care to explain why this is (after all, it might help me explain if I understood this non-conventional title myself). Long story short, it's the grade level before freshman year.

As my Blogger profile explains, I am an "aspiring ecologist and journalist, and avid pianist, chess player, writer, and reader." Since this description is vague, I will clear things up: I wish to do something related to ecology as my chosen career path when the time comes for me to choose.

On the other hand, journalism is a budding hobby for me, one that I will (hopefully) be able to continue for a while. Currently, as a subbie, I have just written several articles as a "subbie contributor" (subbie contributor my life. These titles these days. A subbie contributor is someone that must ask the journalism teacher if they could have an article, and then wait awhiles for it to be published. Of course, I'm grateful for the chance, seeing as this new experiment was initiated just this year). Students are given the chance to join the official journalism course as a sophomore; of course, this means that I'll be better prepared when that time comes. As for the other things, they are my interests, that I explore when I have the time. I developed a strange love for piano playing several months ago, but now the interest is shifting towards writing prose and poetry.

I think I've said just enough so that you, dear reader, understand me, this random new contributor, a little better (but not enough so that you can stalk me. Luckily for me (though perhaps unluckily for you, you creep), I have no Facebook). As you might gather from this post, and others from Stiricide, this size is normal for me; be prepared to be hitting some real lengthy posts soon. In addition, as you might have observed from Stiricide (I have already hit the 55-post mark after just four-and-two-thirds months), I believe in quick updates, myself suffering the I-Want-An-Update disease from blog and Fanfiction browsing. Expect to see one or two posts per week here: however, my Stiricide update rate ranges from three to seven posts a week, so visit there if you want to read more blogging.

Valete, omnes! (That's Latin for "Goodbye, all!": I have been known on Stiricide to occasionally use the opening Salvete, omnes! and Valete, omnes!, as well as some other random Latin phrases. It's called I'm-Itching-to-Use-the-Foreign-Language-that-I'm-Learning-in-School Syndrome, contacted from studying a dead language.) I believe you readers will be getting acquainted with another editor soon as well.

New Editors!

Hi people, who're still reading this...

Well, the title kinda explains it all but we're having new editors. Two, actually. One's my good old faithful, Alice, and the other still needs to follow what the email says but she's agreed!

All right guys, looking forward to hearing from you!

OK

OK, my single follower (wow that came out totally wrong but people, who are going OOOOHHH! at this, get a life) told me to update, so here I am with a new post... Okay, so in English class we're in the poetry unit. I know, I know, we've all seen my little sentimental poem (see one of the posts below) that's like, a 100 pages long and has practically no point to it. I don't know why I wrote that. After writing it, and looking back on it, I feel like I should delete that post but I'm too lazy. So there. Um....What else should I rant about? I've been busy drawing...There's a SELF PORTRAIT *cough cough* drawn in full color taped on the back of my locker, which I'm not giving the locker number b/c I don't need Any More stalkers in my life. I feel stupid. I realize I'm ranting again. But....I'm updating, so hey. ARRRRRGH!!! STUPID ENTER KEY ISN'T WORKING!!!!!!!!

One Thing I Learned

If there's one thing I learned with looking forward to Spring Break, it's that the week just before it is the WORST week of the year/quarter.

The end of third quarter was on the 15th, and I'm stuck trying to cram a history essay (5-pager), science research paper (17 pager) AND a math paper (4-pager).
It's awful...Even though they're just FIRST drafts, with the exception of the math paper, in which we go into the "middle draft".

That's not even it, either. PLUS in the subjects, they still give us even MORE homework to "keep us busy"...

I haven't been getting a fair amount of sleep for this week-four days straight of six hours 'n' less sleep is NOT good for a growing youth. Got to sleep at midnight just yesterday and was awake at 6 AM, trying to finish the history paper...

Anyway, I guess we can take comfort in knowing the fact that tomorrow is the last day of homework, at least for a full week. Plus, we get a day off on April 1st, the first Friday after Spring Break.

The thing I like about the school is the fact that during breaks, we don't have any hw, at least we're not SUPPOSED to. I'm planning on not doing ANYTHING.
Well, SOME things, I guess. Maybe I'll take up knitting again if I can get my hands on some double-knit yarn. I'll catch up on my writing and continue to make horrible manga illustrations. I'll finish the Ranger's Apprentice series and find another good series to follow. Maybe I'll go somewhere (although travelling is not my fav thing)...

The problem: just THINKING about taking a break is killing me!!! Arrrrrrrrghhhhhh!!!!!

Hamy is currently annoying me with collecting boxtops or whatever and I'm still working on my math paper and my room is a total mess (you couldn't find an elephant in there) and I'm planning on getting, like, three hours of sleep tonight although I have to run in the morning-that's my first class.

What else can I say? Most of my book characters are kinda based on me...

*Sigh*

Bad Manga Example

OK, so here's some manga I drew, after a lot of months of "practicing" and stuff. I've never really had a teacher-just how-t0-draw books from the local library.
Anyway, this was supposed to be an example of my manga drawings.

I know, I know, it sucks. It's supposed to be a schoolgirl. The scanner I used in the library didn't really pick up the light skyblue color I used to color the background. I'm glad, though, that it picked up the grass.

Yes, it's an awful drawing.

No, I don't have proper inking tools.

No, I don't have proper coloring tools. I just used Crayola's coloring pencils to color this.

But in my defense, I'm constantly getting better. This is an old drawing.

Sometime soon I will put up the real "manga" I drew. It was a scene never correctly written in my Last Rider story (read my other blog).

But that was an even older pencil drawing, and it's not that great either...

-Mulan

Today's Sunday

Today's Sunday!! After staying up until 10 on Saturday (that's late for me on Saturdays) trying to catch up on homework, it's nice to have a break.

Not that I got very much, aside from all the daylight savings business. Had to change the clock and lost an hour of sleep...T.T
But with Spring Break coming up, I'm going to get through this week thinking, just this week, just five more days...

I'm looking forward to the break and to the end of the semester!!

Maybe

I'm actually considering writing another blog just for my drawings.
(See how DIRECT I was today?? Whoa!)

Anyway, yeah. I'm still considering the idea since I'm thinking THREE blogs and TWO websites is pretty hard to manage for just one person.
But it seems like this blog's doing well with that job but the only thing it seems like it's filling up with is about manga.

By the way, here's a great how-to-draw book I've found at the local library.

Draw your own manga: Beyond the Basics (That's the second book and the only book I've found in the series)

I've also heard that there was this book;
Draw your own manga: All the Basics.

They're both by Haruno Nagatomo...(Disclaimer if needed)

Spring Break, cont.

AHHHHHH!!!!!!!

AND it's a WHOLE WEEK of no homework!!
I can't BELIEVE my LUCK!

***

Yes, I'm done now with all the sarcasm.

I'm truly finished.

I'll go to my room now.

Spring Break

* Singing *
The Spring Break is rapidly approaching...
And I'm so, so ready for no homework...

(These lyrics made by me with the tune from "the weather outside is frightful...but the fire is so delightful...)


Anyway, yes, I am SO looking forward to Spring Break.
Where there's no homework.
Where I don't have to stay up 'till 3 AM trying to finish three papers at once.
Where I can catch up on the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan
(heard there was book 10 coming out!!)
Where I can catch up on some serious writing.
(Poor Yves, he's frozen with Caren sobbing all over him)
Where I can daydream and laugh like an idiot over lame jokes.

Wow.
I should become a poet one day and I would make millions of caching-caching.

-Mulan

It's spring...

It's spring...Springtime when birds and bees meet together-

JK.

Anyway, is anybody out there planning on planting anything?
We've bought a grape plant, strawberry plant, and a blueberry plant. Also, we bought a whole bunch of seeds that are SUPPOSED to give us something.
Like tomatoes, SPINACH (whoever thought of that?), BROCCOLI (no comment), peppers, melon (yummy-but I doubt it'll grow), etc, etc.

I'm rubbing my hands together and stuffing my garden gloves in the washer.

(Wow, I wasn't sarcastic for once. I'm serious now--I'm really excited about planting these. Since the weather's been kinda crummy, we've kept them inside and the plants are already growing. I'm still really surprised how their little leaves can manage to be so green in this cold weather...)

It snowed AGAIN!!

First, let me get this straight:
I have nothing against snow.

But after receiving THOUSANDS OF TONS OF WHITE HALF-SOLIDIFIED STUFF ALL PLEASANTLY WRAPPED IN A BRIGHT RED BOW WITH A STATUE OF SANTA SITTING ON IT PLAYING JAZZ MUSIC OR SOMETHING-

*inhales deeply and goes into some yoga moves*

Yes, in conclusion, I'm downright sick of snow.
Although it only snowed a little.
I mean, really.

Anime Critic

There's this anime I've been kinda following, and they did an English dub...

One comment on one of these videos is like,
They should SO take some Japanese lessons before dubbing it.

And after watching an English dub of the anime, I have to agree. The voice actors cannot pronunce the names of the Japanese characters right, and even I can.

Well, anyway, I guess although that anime could have been done better, it was my favorite series out of the many manga novels I have flipped through and the animes I have watched.

If someout there is going to watch an anime, I recommend a subbed version...

(I guess I'm ranting again)

New Picture

I've narrowed the topic down!! From manga to CHIBI!!!

I love chibi. They're so cute...

(Yes, this was also random)

For an ad contest for the News Gazette, I'm drawing a chibi thingy.

Hamy

Only a few words:

Hamy needs to update.
(Goes off in a corner)

Hamy, are you LISTENING?!
Go to your time out chair NOW!!

(Singing) I'm updating~~

Iiiiiiiiiiii'm Updating!! La la la!

Okay, that was random.

Now that I got that out of my system, I'm back to normal.
Anyway, I'm bored.
I'm even considering about knitting. I found a book...

A Poem I Wrote A While Ago

Here's the lamest poem I've written in my life. Technically, it's backwards. Now you know I can't write poetry.

Farewell

By: Mulan

November 21, 2010

Where?

Where art thou heart?

My lone soul aches for they soul,

My heart chases thy sweet voice from the Mistress of Spring

To the Ends of this Winter,

Yet thou eludes from my sight.

Where?

Where is thy heart for thy exhausted love?

Thy lovely eyes blend into Spring;

Thy laugh disappear with the trickles of Summer,

Thy warm touch is gone with the leaves of Autumn,

And I am left along for the cold, cold Winter.

Where?

Where art thou, my love?

Only Time waltzes a mellow dance with my lonely soul,

The birds of Spring my chorus;

The crisp leaves of Autumn my maids.

The sweet of Summer my dress,

The snowflakes of Winter my hope.

The Sun has set once again,

Only to peek out with the grand mountains the next day.

I shall walk an endless walk once more,

And shall not stop 'till another day.

O' my love,

My tender heart has finally passed on.

My hands, my eyes, my feet...

Ah, they all have a companion, yet thy maiden is so alone.

Where hath thou gone?

Hath thous passed on?

So then,

Until we may meet again,

Farewell, my love,

Farewell.

All right!

All right! My first entry of January 2011!

Well, what should I write THIS time? *Sigh*
I guess my birthday's coming up, so THAT'S exciting...
Not really...

I better just go ahead and mess with Hamy, I'm so bored...

Rant of 10:00AM

Siigh...What am I doing, writing at 10 AM in the morning? It's winter break...I shouldn't be doing this, I should be doing something a lot easier...

Such as what???

Hi! It's Mulan again...

It's me again. I guess I didn't really have very much about myself up here on this blog, so I will provide a link to my other website...

www.myownhearth.weebly.com

Enjoy!

From Hamy

... Idon'tknowwhattosay



what is the begining of eternity and the end of time and space

what is the begining of every end and the end of every place



if ya don't know I'm the wise guy

(and Mulan is the idiot)

Just bored...

Aside from calling Hamy 'Shortneck' and 'Shorty', I'm pretty bored right now. I think I might have already warned people that this is a blog to write down my complaints, rants, et cetera--or was it my other blog about writing?

Hmm...

The Second Post of This Blog

Why is this blog so short?! I've started this in September of 2009-get this, 9-and haven't written in it since. Why? I've started ANOTHER blog and ANOTHER website by Weebly. I guess it's hard to manage three "websites" at once...

Anyway, I've written this post to write down a couple gaming links. Some of them are for little kids and some are just non-violent games, but I used to like them. I'm writing them down in case I come back to this blog 10 years later and laugh at my little posts.

www. dragonfable.com
www. poptropica.com
www. clubpenguin.com
www. battleon.com
www. supersecret.com (I'm not sure if this is a valid address, but Super Secret IS the game's name so I would google it)

Ah, I feel better now that I've written them down.

Check this site out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My friend recommended this site to me, and I think that it's great.

I'm not very sure about the website address, but this is what you do to get there.

Go to Google and type in 'vocab rice'.

Then, click on the first result.

This site donates free rice to hungry people, while you learn a lot of things.

I've tried it before and it's a great site.