Best. Dinner. Ever.

I'm just about done this semester, and my brain has decided to turn off, right before finals. So there's not going to be anything special today. In fact, I'm going to talk about something completely ridiculous.

My friend's mom's spaghetti.

It is the best food I have ever had, or at least, the best pasta. I have no idea how she makes it, but it's pretty much the only time I don't complain about eating spaghetti. In the sauce is vegetables, and normally I would find this disgusting (I'm not a big fan of mushy vegetables) But when it's smothering in the tomato sauce, or whatever it is, it tastes pretty damned good.

Dang, now I'm hungry...

Ooh! And then she serves it with garlic bread. And the garlic bread is amazing too.

Okay, I need food now.

30 Hour No Famine

I was supposed to be doing the 30 our Famine on Thursday, but I just received an e-mail telling me that because the Famine is a liability to students, it's been cancelled.... Now, I did it for four years in High School, and there was never any trouble... But there isn't much I can do. Maybe it'll be different next year.

I guess this means that it's a good thing that no one bothered to donate online. However, the Student Union is still accepting money to donate to World Vision, so if anyone still want's to donate their spare change, you have until Friday afternoon. I know several of my friends are willing to give up the six dollars I was going to spend on their presents (Not much, I know, but I'm currently lacking a job, and therefore the funds to go all out on presents) At the last count, I had $44 promised to me, $20 of which was an extra donation from a friend who has a job and can actually afford to be charitable.

I'm finding it rather hard to believe that students are not allowed to starve themselves for 30 hours, out of their own free will, to raise money for families who have starved their whole lives. It really makes you think about the priorities of society today. And although I suppose I understand that there is a lot on the line if something serious does happen, I think the easiest way to fix that is to get the participants to sign a waver. If they're acknowledging that they know what they're doing, and all the risks to go with it, and that the school is not to be blames for anything, then what would the harm be? If worse comes to worse, the event could have taken place off of school grounds, but that makes it much harder for the sleepover. (Yes, the college was planning on having a sleepover. I think it would have been exciting to sleep overnight at the college, but I wasn't able to make it to the sleepover either way.)

Anyway, to sum up, no 30 Hour Famine this year. Maybe I'll find some other charity event next semester to participate in, or even something at UBC next year.

Famine Time!

For four years in high school I would do the 30 Hour Famine. I was pretty sad when I graduated and wouldn't be able to easily participate, since I had no idea how to set up anything, or even when it was. So last year I wasn't able to do it. Today, however, guess what I saw!

I was heading toward the library when I saw a booth with a tiny little poster for the Famine. Normally I just pass right by these booths, because it's for events that I would never go to. (Things like dances, and anything social...)

So anyway, apparently the famine is about four months earlier than I'm used to, but I guess it makes sense. They don't want to have the famine a few days before everyone's finals in the winter semester. Why they're having it a week before finals in the fall semester, I have no idea.

But I signed up anyway, and now I'll be desperately asking everyone for money. If you want to donate money to help families in developing countries, then just say so in the comments. I don't want to post the link because Blogger will probably lock my blog again... Or if you know me on Facebook, I have a link there too. It would be best if you could give me money in person, but I know everyone is busy... And pretty broke, so hit up your parents! Remind them of all the times they told their children to eat their food because there are starving kids in Africa. Now you can actually do something, rather than silently taunting them with a clean plate.

Personally, I think I'll be cleaning out my huge change collection, which I had been saving to buy Christmas presents for my friends. It's around $37, so really not that much, but hey, every dollar counts.

Brain Dead

So, I was up until about three or four doing homework last night, so I slept in late this morning. I mean, really late. It must have been around 2 in the afternoon... That just means that it's quarter past one now, and I'm not at all tired. A good thing, considering I'm working on homework again. I really shouldn't be taking a break, but hey, I've started and nearly finished an essay just today, so I think that I'm making enough progress to quickly write a post.

Anyway, like I said, I've been busy all day working on my essay for my World Societies class. I'm doing it on Mesopotamian and Egyptian writing. (Surprise there, eh?) Well, not quite writing, more like scripture. I'm looking at their alphabets. It would be a lot more interesting if I didn't have to keep to a rigid structure in my essay. Since I'm comparing the uses, form and development, I can't go off talking about the religion behind it, or modern developments in deciphering them... Though I admit that I kind of did once in a while...

Now I'm stuck though, because I'm nearly at the end of my essay, but the book I'm using for my information on Egyptian script hasn't said anything about the simpler script that the lower classes used. Since I'm trying to talk about the development of the two scripts, it's very hard to do so when according to one of the textbooks, there was no development.

But then, I am only on page 17, so you never know... Unfortunately, most of the book is looking at religion and the practises of death and burial...

Well, back to writing. Once I'm done with projects and finals in about two weeks, then I'll have a post up about my upcoming Zelda Christmas party.

You Know You've Been Wearing Glasses Too Long When...

So, I'm super busy with school, so it looks like I'll be posting another quick list.

1) Even in your dreams you're wearing glasses
Or you vision is fuzzy. This happens more often than you would think. From the dreams I can remember, recent ones at least, most of the time my vision is fuzzy, and once in a while I'll be aware that I'm wearing glasses.

2) You don't even notice when your glasses need cleaning
Now, I only really clean my glasses once a week, sometimes only once every two weeks. So when I take them off, it's surprising how dirty they are. In fact, I seem to have permanent little dots on them. They look like water marks, but they don't come off easily, although they seem to be fading now.

3) When you automatically think that someone has to take their glasses off to rub their eyes in a book
I was reading Harry Potter several months ago, and when I got to the part that Hagrid was wiping tears from his eyes, I automatically thought of him taking his glasses off first. No matter what, I could not get that image out of my head.

4) You've actually written a poem (or story, blog, status, ect.) about what things look like without glasses
As I mentioned in my previous post, I've written a poem about what the moon and my room look like without my glasses.

5) You always carry around a spare pair of glasses, in case something happens to your regular pair
This is actually a very reasonable fear, especially if your eyes are as bad as mine. People are always asking me why I have glasses in my glasses case though... Sounds like a pretty stupid question, right?

You May Just Be A Writer When...

I've been meaning to make a list like this for a while, but things just kept getting in the way. Now that my muse has come back and I don't have any writing to post at the moment, I figured now would be a good time to make the list.

1) You silently narrate your whole life, pretending that it could be interesting enough for a novel.
     I know it sounds like I'm crazy, but for someone who leads a very boring life, it makes each day a little more fun. Most people would call it daydreaming, and a majority of the time it leads to daydreaming, but what I am talking about here is less dreaming and more thinking... If that makes sense. Instead of imagining images, I imagine words.

2) You are ridiculously attached to your first notebook, despite the fact that your first attempts at writing are pretty bad.
     My first note book is a skinny black thing. My grandma gave it to me, even though she didn't know about my dreams of becoming a writer. Actually, at that point I had barely realized the dream either. After writing in the book for a while, I found that I really enjoyed it, and was already tweaking what I had written.

3) You write a blog.
     I know that a lot of people who have no intention of becoming a writer also write blogs, but I've also noticed that the few blogs I read are sporadic and updated only once a week, if even that. I feel that a true writer is dedicated to their blog and will update it often and dutifully. they will also talk almost exclusively about writing, which I realize is probably wearing on you guys.

4) You love to read.
     It's a common known fact that all writers are also readers. I admit, I'm a slow reader, but it's because I hate rushing through a book. I often find myself skipping a paragraph ahead because I'm excited to see what happens, but as soon as I do that, I feel like I've missed something important, and have to re-read the whole page. In other words, I hate to miss even a single word. Despite this though, or maybe because of it, I have a bookcase full of books (Around 150, last time I counted) They are organized in alphabetical order by last name, and are actually starting to spill onto my second book case.

5) You are excited to wait in line for four hours just to see your favourite author for four minutes.
     Best day of my life. I met one of my favourite authors, Brandon Sanderson. I stood in line for about three, maybe four hours... Or maybe it just seemed like that long, honestly I wasn't paying attention to the time. Either way, I got a picture with him, which still makes me smile. I was even an hour late for my friend's birthday party, but she completely understood, as she is as devoted to photography as I am to reading and writing.

6) You keep a stash of sharpened pencils next to your bed.
     I can't even count the amount of times I've turned my light back on so that I could write something down while in bed. Since I'm always kept awake at night thinking, it's the best time to come up with new ideas. Every once in a while I'll even come up with a poem. One night I was getting annoyed by some light that was coming through my blinds. They fell on my bedroom door and my closet door, so I wrote a poem about them, along with the moon and the shadow that forms between my bookcase and the wall. The whole poem was through my perspective when I'm not wearing my glasses. I handed it in as one of my poems for my poetry class last year, and my teacher said it was amazing and must have taken me forever to write... Not to brag or anything...

7) You actively try and recruit people to read the books you like.
     As I am doing with the list of books at the bottom of the page... But yeah, I've gotten two of my friends reading Wheel of Time... Or at least one who is a fan, and one who has bought the first book. Unfortunately, most of my friends are either not very into reading, or they read the teen fiction stuff that I hate.

8) You understand and hate Gary and Mary Sues.
     The term Gary Sue and Mary Sue refers to a perfect character. A lot of people call the characters in Twilight Gary and Mary Sues, because it's obvious that the two male characters were made for girls to fall in love with, and the female character was made for girls to wish to be her. Gary and Mary Sues normally try to please everyone, they're stunning to the point of being inhuman (even if they are human) or they have flaws that are far too cliché or ironic for the book (Ex. Bella's clumsiness)

9) Every once in a while you get a good idea for an essay...
     Then you realize that you're being crazy and write a story instead. This happened mostly when I was in high school, and barely had to write essays. Now that I'm in college, I've written more essays in one semester than I care to write in a year. And I still have three more to go, not including finals or other smaller projects and assignments.

10) Chat speak annoys the hell out of you.
     I cannot even force myself to write it. I look back at my sentence, and start to edit it using chat speak grammar. I start thinking 'what is the substitute for l? Is it 1? Looks close enough. But wait, that doesn't make the word shorter, that's the point of chatspeak, right? Okay, how do I make the word shorter? Take out a vowel? No, then you can't understand... Hell, I don't understand it anyway, I give up.' Yeah, trying to write in chatspeak takes me much longer than just writing every work out properly, even it is means going back to correct spelling errors.


Hope you enjoyed my lovely list. I'll add more if I think of more later on.

Wolfe's Pack

Today I finished with one of the projects that I was worrying about. It was for my Canada Before Confederation class, and we had to do something creative to commemorate a conflict in Pre-Confederation Canada. Most people did post boards or small dioramas. Of course, I decided to write a poem, and now that I've presented it, I'll share it here:

Wolfe’s Pack

Like mice we scuttled along the watery roadways of the black river,

With night as our cloak and ignorance our shield.

The French Hawks saw, but remained blind,

And in moments we became the predators.

Upon the banks we paced,

Like a hungry fox waiting for its food to rest.

We hungered for vengeance, for action, for the blood of the French.

Win and we gained power, glory and honor.

Lose and we get skinned like common animals.

Silent as the hunting wolf,

We scaled the cliffs after our noble leader.

A pack of angry dogs, we clambered over the edge

To face our death with reckless courage.

Fire in our hands, flames in our eyes,

Our blood boiling from the heat of our anger.

The guns boomed to the sound of our beating hearts,

Reminding us we are alive, we are fighting.

Britons do not hesitate, do not look back.

We are no animals to flee at the touch of Death’s cold hand.

And touched by Death we were.

Our noble Wolfe pack leader fought and fell.

His last battle with the Reaper lost.

Dozens of men joined him that day,

In their last journey to their final resting place.

This poem is written from the perspective of a British soldier while fighting on the Plains of Abraham.

And as per usual, I claim copyright over this poem.

Midterm, Projects, Essay Essay Essay

Once again it seems I am being swamped by school work. tomorrow I have my Astronomy midterm, which I actually studied for this time. Then on Thursday I have a creative assignment due. Normally this would be a lot of fun, but since it's for a history course, it means a lot of research, and writing an essay to accompany it. I'm playing to my strengths and writing a poem, so that means I'll have something new up soon. Then I have three more essays due for three difference classes. One of them is due on November 29th, same day as a presentation for the same class, so I have a little more time to think about it. But my other two are coming up within a week or two, and they're both for English courses. I'm doing one of my essays on Dulce Et Decorum Est, which is one of my very favourite poems. It's on a very morbid topic, but it's written so beautifully.

So anyway, by now you should know that I'm not up to writing anything new, and I'm running low on new work, so here is something very small:

I have taken

a trek

through the stars.

I have fought

battles,

and survived

disasters.

All in the

comfort

of a Hollywood

set.

And not once

did I say,

“Beam me up, Scotty”

so don’t

misquote me.

I am

however

a very

fascinating,

captain.

With a fear

of flying.

And though

it has been

years,

I still remain

healthy

and boyishly handsome

because of

the blood

of young runaways.

So you may say

my life has been

Weird

Or What,

but,

one thing

is for sure.

I will not be

forgotten.

You may have guessed that I was writing in the voice of William Shatner. It was a poem for one of my classes last year, and I really should edit it a bit...

Name Change

Alright, due to the fact that the name of this blog does not quite fit the content, I've decided to change it a bit. Instead of being called 'The Rants of a Normal Norman', it shall now be named 'The Tales of a Normal Norman'. Much more fitting, don't you think?

Now, onto more interesting things. I have several large projects or essays that I need to start working on, so for now it'll be just pre-made work. I'm getting a little low and the good stuff though. Looks like I might have to go searching on the old computer for some things I haven't moved onto my laptop yet. Unless it would amuse you to read some things from middle school...

The first poem I wrote in grade ten. We were supposed to write a love poem, but me being me, I just couldn't do it. Well, not really...

Love at a Bus Stop

He risked everything for that one little glance;
The one glance that would tell him she still wasn't looking.
With piercing green eyes and vibrant red hair, 
In his mind she’s the goddess of beauty.
And the destroyer of courage.

Like a magician with his wand,
With that one glance he had risked,
His courage turned to smoke
And was carried away by the brisk morning breeze.

An eternity later, another risk, another glance.
A lost heartbeat, a caught breath.
A glare from those piercing green eyes.
Another breeze, lost courage, caught up by the wind.

The desolate clouds

Let go their heavy burden

And the sun shines through.

A frosted petal

Floats from the frail flower.

Fall is fleeing fast

In the heart of the city, there is a sunset on the safari.

Crisp wind, heatless sun, summer is finally turning into autumn.

I travelled through a tunnel of emerald trees, turning brown for fall

The last few poems are actually hiakus. Funny story, but for the second one, I had my whole family thinking for about half an hour for the right word to describe the flower. I finally thought of frail, but it goes to show that sometimes you cannot go on until you have that perfect word.

The wind chime tolls

In the still night air.

This one come to me when I quite literally heard it. I was in the kitchen and I heard a wind chime, but I could have sworn there was no wind. Kind of creepy when you think about it. The use of the word toll always reminds me of 'For Whom The Bell Tolls', a book by Ernest hemingway, but also a line from a poem by John Donne. Unfortunately, the name of the poem escapes me... Something about a graveyard, I thought.

And as per usual, I claim copyright over my work.

Character Conversation

Ugh, okay, so I have another nasty cold. It's not as bad as it was yesterday, but after school today, my headache is back. Because of this, I'm just going to post something pre-written. This is something I did for fun a few months ago. It's called a character Conversation. Basically it's like an interview between me an a character. It helps to develop them, because it makes you ask basics questions such as name, age, rank, appearance, heritage, and so on. I never actually finished this one, but I'm not in the mood to do so now. Maybe later...
Anyway, the bold would be my questions, the regular font is the character's reply.

I’ll start off with very basic questions. First, what is your full name?

I am Tanlar Stanegin, first and only son of Eiod Stanegin, heir to the Stanegin name.

Very detailed. Any middle name?

We do not have middle names where I come from.

And where is that?

I live in the great land of Ro Amir, in the Province of Troth, over which my father rules.

So your father is the king?

Oh no, just a Lord. But our lands are very extensive; we might as well be considered royalty.

And what about you? Will you take over your father’s place?

In time. For now I am still learning and training. When I come of age I will replace him.

And how old are you now?

I have lived through seventeen summers.

So you’re seventeen? How old must you be to take over as Lord?

Twenty one, unless my father passes before then.

And do you have any siblings who will contend for the title?

I only have my younger sister.

And what is her name?

Nadalia Stanegin.

A beautiful name. Does her appearance rival it?

Ah, yes. She takes after my late mother. Her hair is a light brown with-

Sorry to cut you off, but this interview is about you. And who do you take after?

My father, of course. The brown hair and brown eyes run in the Stanegin bloodline. Through the males at least.

And you are a warrior, am I right?

Yes, I have been trained since the day I could walk. I have quite the body for the women to swoon over.

Ah, yes, right… And modest, I see.

All great Lords must show modesty.

What else have you learned from your training?

I can read and write as well as any scribe, and my dancing is nothing to be ashamed of. I am the best fighter in the castle and my aim with a bow is unmatched.

Yes, I can see the modesty now… You said you live in a castle? What is it called?

Stonehold, so called because of the two mountains that back it.

Impressive. It must be very well guarded then.

No one has ever taken it.

No one? Wow. Has anyone ever tried?

Of course. People are still trying. In fact, there is a Lord to the south who has been trying to take our land for years now.

And how is that going?

…Perfect.

And as usual, copyright and stuff. These ideas are all mine, so don't go taking my names and stuff.

The Perfect Pet

Ugh, my cold is coming back, and because of this, I'm not in the mood to write. So here is a fun poem I wrote a few years ago:

Would you like to make a bet?

That I can find the perfect pet?

It cannot shed

Or steal the bed.

Digging is unacceptable,

As is begging under the table.

A dog won’t due,

Whether it’s old or new.

A cat, perhaps,

Until it snaps.

Besides, they’re cranky when they’re old,

And far too bold.

A bird is tame,

But kind of lame.

A ferret is crazy,

A fish is lazy.

The dinosaurs are all dead,

Unicorns are fake, or so it’s said.

Hippos are fat

Beavers are better as a hat

Monkeys want hugs, and maybe more,

Snowballs leave wet spots on the floor.

Tigers would be cool to own

But you cannot leave them home alone.

Platypuses, or Platypi,

Are too expensive to buy.

Dust bunnies have their adorees,

Unfortunately, they cause allergies.

Pandas eat bamboo,

But rarely know kung fu.

Fish are tiny,

Humans are whiny.

Anteaters have a strange diet,

Frogs are never quiet.

Bugs are disgusting,

Raccoons are far from trusting.

Porcupines are prickly,

Squirrels are finicky.

Chickens taste delicious,

Snakes look suspicious.

Llamas like to spit,

And boy, I don’t want to be hit.

Horses are hard to ride,

The last time I tried, I nearly died.

Hermit crabs are a bunch of loners,

And all of them are cranky home owners.

Zebras can’t decide if they’re black or white,

But at least they rarely fight.

Kangaroos you must worry about,

For their kicks always land, without a doubt.

Worms make great bait,

But oh, what a horrible fate.

Giraffes have necks to break through the roof,

The hole in mine is certainly proof.

Elephants are too big for the house,

Maybe you should just stick with a mouse.

Ostriches are too fast to catch

And take way too long to hatch.

Moles are vicious when I try to pet them,

Maybe it’s because they have only have a brain stem.

A group of crows is called a murder.

I don’t want to be called the ‘bird herder’

So after searching far and wide,

I found a pet that is known worldwide.

It comes in colours red, green and blue,

Though can never be found confined in a zoo.

This pet needs little attention

And is great at burglar prevention.

All it needs for a bed is a sock,

And yes, I am talking about a rock.

Drawsomething Review

Ever since my friend got her new phone and downloaded Drawsomething, I've been addicted with it. For anyone not familiar with it, it's a game where you have a list of three words, and you have to try and draw one of the words out. It can be pretty difficult if you get people or verbs, but the nouns are pretty easy. Unfortunately, a lot of people just end up spelling the word out instead of drawing it.

Once you've been playing it for a few months, you start to know the words, and can guess what is being drawn after only a few seconds. Unless you get partnered with a really bad drawer... And eventually you'll get pretty good at drawing too.

However, every once in a while you will get a very rude person. Last night I was playing at my friend's house, and someone started swearing at me for no reason. I actually find it very funny when people do this. They dropped the F-bomb, and I replied with 'Awe, how cute. Does your mommy know you're swearing?' This went on for a while. After the first picture, they stopped sending me pictures, but I managed to guess the word anyway, which seemed to just piss them off more. Then they stopped even trying to guess my words, and continued to swear at me. I just calmly replied and continued to draw pictures for them. But then I got bored last night and didn't bother to reply. This morning I replied with 'I'm bored of your limited vocabulary. It was a pleasure playing with you, good bye.' And so now you know it's pretty much impossible to insult me or even angry me. In fact, I love it when people try to, because it only ends up angering them.

If you don't like people like this though, you can easily delete them by sliding your finger from right to left on their picture. It took me forever to figure out how to do that... But don't worry, unless you have bad luck, most people will be very polite, or won't talk to you at all.

I'm really tired, so I don't feel like writing much. I'll try for something better on Monday.