On the way to work this afternoon I was driving behind a CUBE. They are the most ugliest and weirdest vehicles I've ever come across, I swear! I mean like the taillights for instance, they're all in the middle section of the back door, not on the edges of the car like you'd expect them to be (like normal cars lets say) and it just looks so ridiculous! I wouldn't be caught dead in one! But seriously, how can anybody, who is sane, say with a straight face that they are 'the proud owner of a CUBE'? No, it's not possible.
Moving on from CUBE's I'm going to discuss cars and their drivers in general. You see some funny stuff on the road when you're driving. Such as, there are times when somebody behind you is a little too impatient and will pass you, just before you turn onto another road. People do that to me all the time, on that last little straight section of main highway, just before my turn off. I find it quite amusing most of the time, to the point where I feel like waving as they go past, sniggering under my breath thinking about the wasted effort and fuel, and to think - if only they'd been patient. But alas, no. They will still get to their destination faster, because they passed me before I turned. However when you have a little think about it, people probably go out and buy GPS's and then do unnecessary things whilst driving just so they can beat the ETA showing on the little screen. Where else is the fun in life?
Then there are the drivers like in the silver car following me this morning on my way home from work. I was doing just under 100kph for a while and following a van. I like to keep my distance while driving, not understanding what people get out of tailgating. So, I dunno, I probably double the usual distance most of the time and go a good speed if I can so as to not annoy people behind me. There was a bit of a bend so I slowed down to about 90ish, the silver car right up my rear and I began to speed up a bit more. Next minute, as we were on a clear straight, the silver car sped passed me and pulled in behind the van. I'm not too sure what the silver car got out of the passing, because it was following so close to the van in front that it had to continuously touch the brakes, for quite a while I might add, until we came to a passing lane where it evidently excused itself from our presence - rather quickly. However I am curious about the van driver. Either he is generally a slower driver, didn't know the area that well, or he saw the silver car being impatient so decided to slow down that tiny little bit, just to annoy him a bit more. I would prefer it if it was the latter of course! Once we were relieved of the silver car I felt like giving the van driver a high five, and delight in our team effort to annoy a fellow member of society.
Sometimes though I really have to wonder about cars and their occupants. Why the big rush? Everyone is always in a hurry to get somewhere by a certain time, which evidently means they have to get up to the speed limit or higher. 100 isn't a target! Why drivers have to continuously get up to the limit and tailgate other drivers to eventually reach where they're going is a wonder to me. There isn't a rule stipulating that "all-drivers-must-go-the-exact-speed-limit". It is a limit for a reason, that doesn't mean it has to be a target for us to reach. And for those of us that like to keep below the speed limit, it doesn't mean you have to drive erratically just to get past us "grannies". Because there are those of us that leave early enough so that we can get to where we're headed with time to spare, without us having to drive up to or over the speed limit the whole time!!
Tuesday 28 January 2014
Friday 24 January 2014
Some Time Away
Since Monday my brother and I have been away visiting relatives. We stayed with our two cousins at our Grandparents place for five days. It was super fun! I'll try and briefly run down on what we got up to.
Monday:
We arrived at our Grandparents in the afternoon and just basically hung out.
Tuesday:
We played a game of RISK, which I'm absolutely useless at. Had lunch and then headed to Nana's Op Shop. We'd brought down a tonne of stuff to give to the shop and then us two girls stayed and dressed up a new style for the mannequins in the windows. I think they looked pretty good actually :) We also cleaned what seemed like a tonne of dishes somebody dropped off. Let's just say they weren't in very clean condition in the boxes....
Wednesday:
In the morning we picked a few buckets of plums from their tree. My brother made us pancakes for lunch and then my two cousins and I went out in search of the park down the road while Nana and Grandad had some visitors. The intention was to jump on the swings, but that dream was quickly diminished when we discovered a big group of children already fighting over the swings. Luckily we'd brought along a soccer ball and played with that for a while. After that we went out in search of a dairy and got a drink each before heading over to the local Primary school to see if there were any swings there. The back of the school is 2 metre high chain-link fence with barbed wire on top. (Must be to keep the naughty primary kids from escaping school.)
Around the front was also fenced - and locked up tight. Except for one gate that had been left unlocked as teachers were working inside. Us two girls were a little dubious about going inside. In case of the obvious - like being found and considered trespassers, or worse, locked in. We hung around for a little while, then decided to leave. But I figured we may as well just hunt out a teacher and ask if we were allowed in. We found one and by the Angel she didn't mind at all! To our dismay there were no swings, even though there were two different playgrounds! I don't know why, considering swings are the best part of any playground for any age group. So we were a little annoyed with that and on our way out we did our good deed for the day and assisted a teacher when she dropped a bunch of things.
That night the four of us went out to the movies and watched "The Book Thief" which we all enjoyed. I'm certainly adding that book to my wishlist on my kobo!
Thursday:
We went on the Luge which was super fun. Came home and had corn on the cob for lunch, then spent the rest of the afternoon playing card games and "The Game of Things", before the three of us went back up to the park for a little while prior to dinner. Yet again, the playground was crawling with children, which was fine. I ended up doing another good deed and lifted a little girl for her to reach the monkey bars. She must've been about five, was pretty little but still an awkward weight to hold. The three of us played hot potato with the soccer ball and some of the boys came over to play some soccer with us. It was actually rather funny. We agreed we were definitely people magnets, for what reasons - we don't know...
My older sister and her partner came over that night, leaving Nana to cook for not two, not six, but eight people. It must be pretty difficult to do that when you're used to cooking for two. Then we watched the City of Bones. Over the course of the week we played endless games of Last Card, Scum - or P's and A's as some call it - and The Game of Things :)
Today, Friday, we came back home after dropping the cuzzies off at their bus. We found Mum and Dad painting the house. It was a pretty good day to be doing it though, so we helped them with the second coat. I'm glad to be home with my own cats - after Nana and Grandads' cat "Sweetie" snobbed me. She doesn't seem to like me that much for unknown reasons. Although she was cosying up to me before we left. Nana thought she was probably excited that we were all leaving!
I also came home to discover a letter from my good friend in China. It was exciting to get a letter from her, though I was curious that she didn't add "NZ" to the address. However I soon discovered she cheated, and must've passed her letter on via her sister who arrived back in the country from China last week, who then must've sent it from NZ. Talk about cheating ;) lol
Now I start the week of school work, attempting to get as much sent in as possible this week. I go on a short trip to visit a friend next weekend, and after that I've got a busy year ahead! Let the school work begin!
Monday:
We arrived at our Grandparents in the afternoon and just basically hung out.
Tuesday:
We played a game of RISK, which I'm absolutely useless at. Had lunch and then headed to Nana's Op Shop. We'd brought down a tonne of stuff to give to the shop and then us two girls stayed and dressed up a new style for the mannequins in the windows. I think they looked pretty good actually :) We also cleaned what seemed like a tonne of dishes somebody dropped off. Let's just say they weren't in very clean condition in the boxes....
Wednesday:
In the morning we picked a few buckets of plums from their tree. My brother made us pancakes for lunch and then my two cousins and I went out in search of the park down the road while Nana and Grandad had some visitors. The intention was to jump on the swings, but that dream was quickly diminished when we discovered a big group of children already fighting over the swings. Luckily we'd brought along a soccer ball and played with that for a while. After that we went out in search of a dairy and got a drink each before heading over to the local Primary school to see if there were any swings there. The back of the school is 2 metre high chain-link fence with barbed wire on top. (Must be to keep the naughty primary kids from escaping school.)
Around the front was also fenced - and locked up tight. Except for one gate that had been left unlocked as teachers were working inside. Us two girls were a little dubious about going inside. In case of the obvious - like being found and considered trespassers, or worse, locked in. We hung around for a little while, then decided to leave. But I figured we may as well just hunt out a teacher and ask if we were allowed in. We found one and by the Angel she didn't mind at all! To our dismay there were no swings, even though there were two different playgrounds! I don't know why, considering swings are the best part of any playground for any age group. So we were a little annoyed with that and on our way out we did our good deed for the day and assisted a teacher when she dropped a bunch of things.
That night the four of us went out to the movies and watched "The Book Thief" which we all enjoyed. I'm certainly adding that book to my wishlist on my kobo!
Thursday:
We went on the Luge which was super fun. Came home and had corn on the cob for lunch, then spent the rest of the afternoon playing card games and "The Game of Things", before the three of us went back up to the park for a little while prior to dinner. Yet again, the playground was crawling with children, which was fine. I ended up doing another good deed and lifted a little girl for her to reach the monkey bars. She must've been about five, was pretty little but still an awkward weight to hold. The three of us played hot potato with the soccer ball and some of the boys came over to play some soccer with us. It was actually rather funny. We agreed we were definitely people magnets, for what reasons - we don't know...
My older sister and her partner came over that night, leaving Nana to cook for not two, not six, but eight people. It must be pretty difficult to do that when you're used to cooking for two. Then we watched the City of Bones. Over the course of the week we played endless games of Last Card, Scum - or P's and A's as some call it - and The Game of Things :)
Today, Friday, we came back home after dropping the cuzzies off at their bus. We found Mum and Dad painting the house. It was a pretty good day to be doing it though, so we helped them with the second coat. I'm glad to be home with my own cats - after Nana and Grandads' cat "Sweetie" snobbed me. She doesn't seem to like me that much for unknown reasons. Although she was cosying up to me before we left. Nana thought she was probably excited that we were all leaving!
I also came home to discover a letter from my good friend in China. It was exciting to get a letter from her, though I was curious that she didn't add "NZ" to the address. However I soon discovered she cheated, and must've passed her letter on via her sister who arrived back in the country from China last week, who then must've sent it from NZ. Talk about cheating ;) lol
Now I start the week of school work, attempting to get as much sent in as possible this week. I go on a short trip to visit a friend next weekend, and after that I've got a busy year ahead! Let the school work begin!
Saturday 18 January 2014
The Story of My Life
Finally the sun has come back out! These last few days have been really lousy weather-wise, so it's super nice to feel the heat on my shoulders again while outside. Speaking of sun, I've been thinking that the awesome tan I've got is the best I've ever had.
I don't know what it is about summer this year, but it's not too hot so I haven't exactly been getting burnt. Therefore I'm congratulating myself on my awesome tan. Please don't go all PC on me and mention the word "melanoma". Seriously, in my personal opinion (and I am rather opinionated) the world is getting too PC in regards the sun and skin cancer. Way back when, people didn't bother with sunscreen and covering up because they actually lived. Nowadays however, I don't want to be part of the population that hides away inside because they're too scared of getting cancer, instead of living they wrap themselves and their children in bubble wrap and go soft centred and thus can't cope with the smallest of things. Way I see it, everything these days will get you sick with something, so isn't it better to live your life and enjoy it, doing the things the officials suggest not to do, rather than sitting cooped up in your cave, afraid? I know which option I'd prefer. Yes it'll probably come back around and kick me, but at least I can say I've had fun! No?
This past week I haven't gotten too much done in the way of school, but I have gotten some done. Next week I'll get none done because my brother and I are going away for five days. We're staying at our Grandparents with my two favourite cousins, so it should be pretty fun! We're planning all of the things we're going to take with us, definitely some eggs, as our chooks have been laying, well I should say firing, eggs out like there's no tomorrow. We've got about three trays full with no idea what to do with them. Before we moved we gave them to our neighbours. That was when we had 20 chickens. Now with 13 there's still far too many eggs. I think we may have to give them to one of our current neighbours instead every so often. Just to get rid of the blimmen things!
Dad killed our two pigs on Thursday. They were a little bit older I think than we anticipated them to be, as we'd had them since October with the intentions of Christmas hams. However as we never had time to get them done, they kept on growing and growing. The female never grew that big because the male was, well, a pig! He always hogged (pun unintended ;) ) most of the food and thus grew massive! We guessed the female, on the hook with the *cough* unneeded extras removed, weighed in at about 60 Kg's to be cut into chops, roasts, steaks and mince. I'm not eating any of this, as I don't eat pork. Even so, Dad jokingly says the chops are mini roasts because they're so big! The male pig was far too big to be done the same so he was sent in to the local butchers to be done into ham and bacon, which I will eat :P On the hook we guessed he weighed about 90 Kg's. So they're pretty massive pigs! Sorry, were pretty massive pigs. Mum and Dad are now scratching their heads trying to figure how to fit everything into our big freezer, as with two pigs and the small amount of meat in there currently, we're not going to have much space for the beast we've bought to go in there soon too. It's silly, we always seem to go suddenly from famine to feast when it comes to meat!
I think Mum and Dad are secretly pleased - perhaps not so secretly - that the pigs are done, because that means that while I'm away they only need to feed the chickens. As, generally speaking, I do all of the outside jobs and it's a pain for them to have to run around doing things they wouldn't normally do. Now though, it's just the chickens and I can trust them well enough to do them right. Though apparently I have to talk to Rookie about her escapades and enforce that she won't go wondering during her chicken style recess! I hardly think she'll listen though!
Yesterday I bought One Direction's new album, Midnight Memories. Just like the rest of the albums, it's pretty catchy music. I don't know what it is with their music but I find it the best to listen to while doing schoolwork. It helps me concentrate! Weird huh? Currently though, as this one is so new to me, I'm desperately trying to concentrate while writing and rereading this. But I keep going off track. Doubt I'll get away with listening to it while we're on the road on Monday! Not for long anyway! My brother has rather different tastes in music...
My Mum who is my dedicated reader of my blog told me something I forgot to mention, so I thought I'd better mention it! Yesterday, along with buying the new CD I also bought another book from The Mortal Instruments. The intention was to buy City of Glass and City of Fallen Angels. But sadly, neither Paper Plus nor The Warehouse had the City of Glass in stock. So I just bought the latter and intend to look in TakeNote in town, or another Warehouse to look for it. Silly me read the synopsis of City of Fallen Angels, giving away a spoiler I was semi-aware of and guessing towards already. Tut tut.
Not only that, I also bought the City of Bones DVD which we sat through last night with Dad. It was...Okay. So it wasn't particularly special for Mum and I because we love the books so much and it didn't follow much of the storyline, however it did follow the dialogue really well! Dad seemed to enjoy it, I think it has convinced him to read the books now, although he was going to get there eventually! Nevertheless it wasn't terrible, but exactly how the director said - mistakenly aimed at younger teenagers rather than young adults/adults like the book is aimed at. However I can't wait for the City of Ashes to finish filming! Hopefully this time they get it right - they're confident they will anyway :)
I don't know what it is about summer this year, but it's not too hot so I haven't exactly been getting burnt. Therefore I'm congratulating myself on my awesome tan. Please don't go all PC on me and mention the word "melanoma". Seriously, in my personal opinion (and I am rather opinionated) the world is getting too PC in regards the sun and skin cancer. Way back when, people didn't bother with sunscreen and covering up because they actually lived. Nowadays however, I don't want to be part of the population that hides away inside because they're too scared of getting cancer, instead of living they wrap themselves and their children in bubble wrap and go soft centred and thus can't cope with the smallest of things. Way I see it, everything these days will get you sick with something, so isn't it better to live your life and enjoy it, doing the things the officials suggest not to do, rather than sitting cooped up in your cave, afraid? I know which option I'd prefer. Yes it'll probably come back around and kick me, but at least I can say I've had fun! No?
This past week I haven't gotten too much done in the way of school, but I have gotten some done. Next week I'll get none done because my brother and I are going away for five days. We're staying at our Grandparents with my two favourite cousins, so it should be pretty fun! We're planning all of the things we're going to take with us, definitely some eggs, as our chooks have been laying, well I should say firing, eggs out like there's no tomorrow. We've got about three trays full with no idea what to do with them. Before we moved we gave them to our neighbours. That was when we had 20 chickens. Now with 13 there's still far too many eggs. I think we may have to give them to one of our current neighbours instead every so often. Just to get rid of the blimmen things!
Dad killed our two pigs on Thursday. They were a little bit older I think than we anticipated them to be, as we'd had them since October with the intentions of Christmas hams. However as we never had time to get them done, they kept on growing and growing. The female never grew that big because the male was, well, a pig! He always hogged (pun unintended ;) ) most of the food and thus grew massive! We guessed the female, on the hook with the *cough* unneeded extras removed, weighed in at about 60 Kg's to be cut into chops, roasts, steaks and mince. I'm not eating any of this, as I don't eat pork. Even so, Dad jokingly says the chops are mini roasts because they're so big! The male pig was far too big to be done the same so he was sent in to the local butchers to be done into ham and bacon, which I will eat :P On the hook we guessed he weighed about 90 Kg's. So they're pretty massive pigs! Sorry, were pretty massive pigs. Mum and Dad are now scratching their heads trying to figure how to fit everything into our big freezer, as with two pigs and the small amount of meat in there currently, we're not going to have much space for the beast we've bought to go in there soon too. It's silly, we always seem to go suddenly from famine to feast when it comes to meat!
I think Mum and Dad are secretly pleased - perhaps not so secretly - that the pigs are done, because that means that while I'm away they only need to feed the chickens. As, generally speaking, I do all of the outside jobs and it's a pain for them to have to run around doing things they wouldn't normally do. Now though, it's just the chickens and I can trust them well enough to do them right. Though apparently I have to talk to Rookie about her escapades and enforce that she won't go wondering during her chicken style recess! I hardly think she'll listen though!
Yesterday I bought One Direction's new album, Midnight Memories. Just like the rest of the albums, it's pretty catchy music. I don't know what it is with their music but I find it the best to listen to while doing schoolwork. It helps me concentrate! Weird huh? Currently though, as this one is so new to me, I'm desperately trying to concentrate while writing and rereading this. But I keep going off track. Doubt I'll get away with listening to it while we're on the road on Monday! Not for long anyway! My brother has rather different tastes in music...
My Mum who is my dedicated reader of my blog told me something I forgot to mention, so I thought I'd better mention it! Yesterday, along with buying the new CD I also bought another book from The Mortal Instruments. The intention was to buy City of Glass and City of Fallen Angels. But sadly, neither Paper Plus nor The Warehouse had the City of Glass in stock. So I just bought the latter and intend to look in TakeNote in town, or another Warehouse to look for it. Silly me read the synopsis of City of Fallen Angels, giving away a spoiler I was semi-aware of and guessing towards already. Tut tut.
Not only that, I also bought the City of Bones DVD which we sat through last night with Dad. It was...Okay. So it wasn't particularly special for Mum and I because we love the books so much and it didn't follow much of the storyline, however it did follow the dialogue really well! Dad seemed to enjoy it, I think it has convinced him to read the books now, although he was going to get there eventually! Nevertheless it wasn't terrible, but exactly how the director said - mistakenly aimed at younger teenagers rather than young adults/adults like the book is aimed at. However I can't wait for the City of Ashes to finish filming! Hopefully this time they get it right - they're confident they will anyway :)
Sunday 12 January 2014
Brains can be annoying.
Last night I jumped into bed by 9:30, set my alarm for 5 A.M. as I was milking this morning, and then set myself up for a nice long winters nap, well, sorta. Suddenly, out of the blue my brain whirred into action. I could've sworn it said to me "Do you remember that time when...?", after that sleep was a distant dream away. Midnight came around and my brain was still muttering, to either me or itself, I've no clue. Either way, I could not sleep. I was furious. I guess it may have been to do with the fact that the past two days I stayed up to 11pmish reading, perhaps my subconscious figured I wasn't due to sleep yet, or maybe even my mind wasn't worn out from extensive late night reading. But once 11 o'clock came and went, there was no excuse!
I don't know when I fell asleep, but eventually it came. Though I woke up at about 4, I'm easily frustrated when I wake up an hour or a half before I have to get up. 5 o'clock came around, for which I had to drag myself out of bed and out the door to be leaving by 20 past. I'm a heck of a lot better at this than I used to be. There is a possibility that I drove to work and milked with my eyes half shut but I can't really remember. However I woke up eventually and then spent the day at home mowing the lawns. I'm not quite sure what it is with mowing the lawns on Sunday because it seems to happen quite often, but I have to admit that it is refreshing, wondering around pushing a lawn mower and thinking about nothing in particular with hardly a care in the world!
Earlier in the week we were doing odd jobs around the house that needed doing. One of those included putting up some of our things on the walls, photos, canvases etc. There weren't many to hang, but half of them were mine for my room. It's amazing how much something so little can change a room! As soon as my familiar favourites were out of the cupboard and up on the walls again my whole bedroom changed. It probably sounds really crazy, but it's difficult to describe. I guess you can relate it to staying at a friends place or at a motel. The room never feels right, for me anyway, it's so foreign because there's nothing of yours in there. It just feels like an empty shell, cold and impersonal. But, alas! The frames went up and it was like a light being turned on in a dark room. My bedroom became my bedroom. Yes, okay, that probably sounds really strange, but I don't care.
Currently blogspot is driving me insane with a few things. For one it records my personal viewing and adds it to the stats, even though I've told it not to. I've got the language set to UK English, yet the spell checker is constantly trying to change my correct spelling into American style, and on the stats page, it doesn't seem to realise that we are in another month, let alone another year. It is recording last months, (last years) page views with this year and binding them all together. Seriously, what is the point of recording things if it isn't done properly?!
I don't know when I fell asleep, but eventually it came. Though I woke up at about 4, I'm easily frustrated when I wake up an hour or a half before I have to get up. 5 o'clock came around, for which I had to drag myself out of bed and out the door to be leaving by 20 past. I'm a heck of a lot better at this than I used to be. There is a possibility that I drove to work and milked with my eyes half shut but I can't really remember. However I woke up eventually and then spent the day at home mowing the lawns. I'm not quite sure what it is with mowing the lawns on Sunday because it seems to happen quite often, but I have to admit that it is refreshing, wondering around pushing a lawn mower and thinking about nothing in particular with hardly a care in the world!
Earlier in the week we were doing odd jobs around the house that needed doing. One of those included putting up some of our things on the walls, photos, canvases etc. There weren't many to hang, but half of them were mine for my room. It's amazing how much something so little can change a room! As soon as my familiar favourites were out of the cupboard and up on the walls again my whole bedroom changed. It probably sounds really crazy, but it's difficult to describe. I guess you can relate it to staying at a friends place or at a motel. The room never feels right, for me anyway, it's so foreign because there's nothing of yours in there. It just feels like an empty shell, cold and impersonal. But, alas! The frames went up and it was like a light being turned on in a dark room. My bedroom became my bedroom. Yes, okay, that probably sounds really strange, but I don't care.
Currently blogspot is driving me insane with a few things. For one it records my personal viewing and adds it to the stats, even though I've told it not to. I've got the language set to UK English, yet the spell checker is constantly trying to change my correct spelling into American style, and on the stats page, it doesn't seem to realise that we are in another month, let alone another year. It is recording last months, (last years) page views with this year and binding them all together. Seriously, what is the point of recording things if it isn't done properly?!
Friday 10 January 2014
It's sunny for a change :)
My schools online learning website came back on yesterday. It's been off for the past month or so during the summer holidays while they upgraded it. It's rather odd, logging back in and discovering the entire new webpage for us students to use. Everything has completely changed, for instance - in each course we do we can have access to our personal progress as the teachers update it. Although I can keep myself pretty well up to date here at home, it's good to have it all there on my account too!
However along with adding new things, they've removed things as well. By the looks of it, one of those things is mine and my friends beloved blogs. We spent three years on them getting to know eachother (even though we've never met) and having a ton of fun! But, we no longer have access to these so we'll have to keep in contact in other ways.
Along with being able to access the webpage, I have direct access to my school work too. So yesterday I printed and completed my first piece in Agriculture. It's just a questionnaire so my future teacher will know where I am up to on the subject. I've never "studied" Ag before in this form, so it'll be interesting doing it and seeing what else I can learn! As well as adding much needed credits! This morning my first school work arrived in the mail. I'm thankful that this year the school is onto it and I can get a head start, although the term doesn't start until the end of January. Last year I hadn't fully begun until late February/March - it was a nightmare! Fingers crossed, this year I finish my last year of school and do it as best as I can! My good friend who lives overseas told me yesterday that her first box of work arrived on Christmas Day. The school is very up to date with sending work for the overseas students, but arriving on Christmas Day?! That's more of a cruel sort of punishment!
I bought the first two books of The Mortal Instruments on Wednesday. I'm taking them a little slower this time around. It took a little bit to get into the City of Bones, as in the beginning I was trying to link up characters to the previous series to see how they're all related (apparently the MI's are the Grandchildren of the ID's characters). Now I'm getting into them, but I'm still trying to take it nice and slow so that I don't spend all day reading and not leave time for other things. Now my school work has arrived I need to work around that.
But, on that note, I think this year's going to be a pretty good one.
However along with adding new things, they've removed things as well. By the looks of it, one of those things is mine and my friends beloved blogs. We spent three years on them getting to know eachother (even though we've never met) and having a ton of fun! But, we no longer have access to these so we'll have to keep in contact in other ways.
Along with being able to access the webpage, I have direct access to my school work too. So yesterday I printed and completed my first piece in Agriculture. It's just a questionnaire so my future teacher will know where I am up to on the subject. I've never "studied" Ag before in this form, so it'll be interesting doing it and seeing what else I can learn! As well as adding much needed credits! This morning my first school work arrived in the mail. I'm thankful that this year the school is onto it and I can get a head start, although the term doesn't start until the end of January. Last year I hadn't fully begun until late February/March - it was a nightmare! Fingers crossed, this year I finish my last year of school and do it as best as I can! My good friend who lives overseas told me yesterday that her first box of work arrived on Christmas Day. The school is very up to date with sending work for the overseas students, but arriving on Christmas Day?! That's more of a cruel sort of punishment!
I bought the first two books of The Mortal Instruments on Wednesday. I'm taking them a little slower this time around. It took a little bit to get into the City of Bones, as in the beginning I was trying to link up characters to the previous series to see how they're all related (apparently the MI's are the Grandchildren of the ID's characters). Now I'm getting into them, but I'm still trying to take it nice and slow so that I don't spend all day reading and not leave time for other things. Now my school work has arrived I need to work around that.
But, on that note, I think this year's going to be a pretty good one.
Monday 6 January 2014
The Infernal Devices
I spent the last three and a half days reading three books from my most favourite book series - The Infernal Devices - Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess - by Cassandra Clare. They were suggested to my parents by someone in a bookshop to buy me for Christmas. They liked the look of them, so bought me them. Every Christmas Mum and Dad buy me books - the last five years at least. Often they buy me the next book/s in a series I love, or else start me off on an entirely new one. It's really great them buying books for me, because often they buy me a series that I personally would've ignored if choosing it for myself, but in hindsight I really enjoy them!
It began with Twilight by Stephenie Meyer and The Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. They only bought me Twilight because we'd recently watched the movie and discovered it wasn't actually all that bad. I was glued to Twilight after that and was a bit dubious of Mead's books, the vampire fantasy featured, but it seemed rather odd at first. Nevertheless, I gave in and read the first three books they bought for me. About five or so years down the track and my bookshelf is clogged with fantasy novels, most of the vampire related kind, but it also includes seven more books of Mead's as I absolutely loved her novels in The Vampire Academy series and Bloodlines spin off. My bookshelf now features 10 different novel series I've bought/had bought for me over the past five years. The Hunger Games, the Alex Rider nearly complete series. Amanda Hocking's Watersong and Trylle series; Twilight; The Secret Circle; The Vampire Academy; Bloodlines; The House of Night; Night World; and now finally The Infernal Devices. Soon to be included - The Mortal Instruments, which is connected to the ID's.
I absolutely loved the ID's. I have always enjoyed the Vampire Academy and thought it, without a doubt, my favourite series of all time. Now I may just be reconsidering that thought. I don't recall ever reading three novels, back-to-back over three and a bit days. Staying up 'til 11pm just to keep reading. Dad actually thought I'd do an all-nighter last night just to finish it off. But no, I was good and I forced myself to close the book and instead finished it today. He has been making out over these past couple days that my continuous reading is not very good form. I could read for hours on end, skipping meals at points when it wasn't worth eating, or shifting from the lounge to my bedroom while still being glued full forced to the words across the pages. He can't talk though. Between him and Mum, there should be no surprise to them that at least one of their kids has ended up with both of their genes for love of reading. Unlike Mum though, I don't skim read!
I am astonished though, how authors like Clare, can create such a plot, let alone think it all up in their imagination. I've always wondered how they'd do it, without muddling everything up. Do they make everything up as they go along, or do they do a tonne of research, make up the basics, start, middle, end and then join the dots? There were a few points that were predictable, but others would just jump up and yell out and make me think "wow, I never even considered that as an option to occur!" Also the best of novels are the ones where you feel as if you are in the storyline too, living with the characters. It's a tragedy when the novel ends because it makes it seem like everyone of the characters have left you. It's all happily ever afters and leaves you hanging on thinking, "hey wait a minute, where do I fit into all of this?" Then begrudgingly you have to remind yourself to go back to reality. It's actually really difficult to do.
Mum has been reading the ID's after me, she's not quite as hooked but she is enjoying them. Quite a few people I know fully back the ID's and Mortal Instruments as a great series. So if you don't mind a bit of fantasy (don't worry vampires are not mainstream in this series), bit of romance, comedy and quite a lot of action - believe me, the book starts off and ends with a bang - then this is the series for you. I seriously recommend it!
It began with Twilight by Stephenie Meyer and The Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. They only bought me Twilight because we'd recently watched the movie and discovered it wasn't actually all that bad. I was glued to Twilight after that and was a bit dubious of Mead's books, the vampire fantasy featured, but it seemed rather odd at first. Nevertheless, I gave in and read the first three books they bought for me. About five or so years down the track and my bookshelf is clogged with fantasy novels, most of the vampire related kind, but it also includes seven more books of Mead's as I absolutely loved her novels in The Vampire Academy series and Bloodlines spin off. My bookshelf now features 10 different novel series I've bought/had bought for me over the past five years. The Hunger Games, the Alex Rider nearly complete series. Amanda Hocking's Watersong and Trylle series; Twilight; The Secret Circle; The Vampire Academy; Bloodlines; The House of Night; Night World; and now finally The Infernal Devices. Soon to be included - The Mortal Instruments, which is connected to the ID's.
I am astonished though, how authors like Clare, can create such a plot, let alone think it all up in their imagination. I've always wondered how they'd do it, without muddling everything up. Do they make everything up as they go along, or do they do a tonne of research, make up the basics, start, middle, end and then join the dots? There were a few points that were predictable, but others would just jump up and yell out and make me think "wow, I never even considered that as an option to occur!" Also the best of novels are the ones where you feel as if you are in the storyline too, living with the characters. It's a tragedy when the novel ends because it makes it seem like everyone of the characters have left you. It's all happily ever afters and leaves you hanging on thinking, "hey wait a minute, where do I fit into all of this?" Then begrudgingly you have to remind yourself to go back to reality. It's actually really difficult to do.
Mum has been reading the ID's after me, she's not quite as hooked but she is enjoying them. Quite a few people I know fully back the ID's and Mortal Instruments as a great series. So if you don't mind a bit of fantasy (don't worry vampires are not mainstream in this series), bit of romance, comedy and quite a lot of action - believe me, the book starts off and ends with a bang - then this is the series for you. I seriously recommend it!
Thursday 2 January 2014
Time
In almost every song; every movie; every book; time is mentioned. Somehow, somewhere, you'll find it. Because time is the real thing that is in control of our lives. We're always worried about not having enough time to get things done or wondering when our own individual clocks will stop ticking.
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Hermione used a time-turner to able to go back in the past and get to all of her classes in time. Although Harry Potter is indeed fiction, going back in time to see the things we missed, to change the past etc, seems to be what many of us want. We want to be the master of time, just like we want to defy gravity while still on Earth. Although it's not possible, everyone still wishes for it.
Not only do we want to reverse time, we want to pause it in the moment or fast forward it. However, although we can pull the batteries from a clock, time will still keep ticking. The need to be in control is a flaw in humans, instead of just living, we want to be able to edit our lives as if they're a document or photo. People just can't accept that, for once, something else is in control.
Time controls when we start and finish work, when an event begins and ends, when we go to bed and when our alarm goes off, or when our favourite shows come on TV. Everywhere we go, we keep checking our phones, our watches, the clock on the wall or computer. Everywhere we are we are in constant thought about the time, ever aware that we're constantly fighting to beat it. To us, time is always cheating in the race against us, it always knows how to cut the corners to its best advantage.
But honestly, time is the one who will always have the last laugh.
Wednesday 1 January 2014
New Years Day
Sometimes I wonder where the fun is in partying all night long to blasting music and getting so drunk that you can't even walk in a straight line. However, perhaps the combination of the lights flashing at such high speeds that you can't see in front of you, the music pumping so loud that the ability to think is near impossible and the alcohol rushing through your system gives you enough of a buzz that none of this even occurs to you.
Don't worry, that wasn't me last night and certainly never will be anytime in the near future. Me, well I was having a very nice sleep up until midnight when all of my happy new year text messages came through. Not that I don't appreciate the well wishing messages, but I wish I'd remembered to put my phone on silent. After that I could hardly sleep for loud music that was in full force down the road. But I should be grateful that new years celebrations generally only happen once a year!
I've never been one for new years resolutions, but this year there are definitely a few things, not so much resolutions, that I need to achieve.
For instance, I need to: finish and pass my final year of high school (preferably with good marks); earn enough money so I can afford to pay for my university accommodation next year; go to said chosen university on the open day so I'll definitely know what I'm in for; get accepted into university (this happens to be a must!); and get my full license. These are all high on my agenda to achieve this year, so I imagine I'm going to be a busy beaver this year!
Not only are there things I need to do, but there are also many wants. Just the usual stuff, but the problem is having time to do everything. I think I'll need to be the master of time this year and set my priorities to suit. However getting myself prioritised to get everything done isn't everything, the daunting thought keeps coming to mind that this is my final full year at home. It's rather scary thinking about it, but also extremely exciting!
Time sure does go fast the older you get.
Don't worry, that wasn't me last night and certainly never will be anytime in the near future. Me, well I was having a very nice sleep up until midnight when all of my happy new year text messages came through. Not that I don't appreciate the well wishing messages, but I wish I'd remembered to put my phone on silent. After that I could hardly sleep for loud music that was in full force down the road. But I should be grateful that new years celebrations generally only happen once a year!
I've never been one for new years resolutions, but this year there are definitely a few things, not so much resolutions, that I need to achieve.
For instance, I need to: finish and pass my final year of high school (preferably with good marks); earn enough money so I can afford to pay for my university accommodation next year; go to said chosen university on the open day so I'll definitely know what I'm in for; get accepted into university (this happens to be a must!); and get my full license. These are all high on my agenda to achieve this year, so I imagine I'm going to be a busy beaver this year!
Not only are there things I need to do, but there are also many wants. Just the usual stuff, but the problem is having time to do everything. I think I'll need to be the master of time this year and set my priorities to suit. However getting myself prioritised to get everything done isn't everything, the daunting thought keeps coming to mind that this is my final full year at home. It's rather scary thinking about it, but also extremely exciting!
Time sure does go fast the older you get.
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