One Year Birthday!

It has officially been one year since I started this blog! Yay! I'm rather proud of myself for keeping with it for so long. I normally get bored  and lazy after a few months, so the fact that I've only missed a few updates in the whole year is very impressive. So why don't I have you a look at the stats since I started this blog.

Page views per month
August 2012: 83
September 2012: 169
October 2012: 242
November 2012: 229
December 2012: 227
January 2013: 261
February 2013: 182
March 2013: 215
April 2013: 271
May 2013: 170
June 2013: 193
July 2013: 246
August 2013 (so far): 155

Fascinating, right? Okay, onto something a little more interesting:

Page views per post

1) Amanda Todd: 46
2) Pet Peeves: 18
3) Winter 2013: Day One: 17
4) The Emperor's Soul Review *SPOILERS*: 14
5) Love Is Not The Only Thing You Need: 13
6) Summer...: 13
7) Imma Just Going To... Sleep: 12
8) Name Change: 12
9) My Life in Seven Steps: 12
10) Protected: 11

And now the best part!

Page views per country

1) Canada: 1,635
2) Russia: 297
3) Germany: 243
4) United States: 193
5) South Korea: 70
6) United Kingdom: 45
7) Ukraine: 23
8) Romania: 14
9) Austria: 13
10) Malaysia: 8

And just for the record, Chrome is the most used browser at 36%, and Windows is the most used operating system at 73%.

A Work Fatigued Mind

About a week ago I posted something about what typically goes on in my mind. Now I thought you would get some entertainment from knowing what goes through my mind at work.

1) I'm hungry. Why am I hungry? I just ate at nine this morning. I wonder what time is is now. Holy shit, it's two.

2) I work in a grocery store and I still can't find some food to eat. Guess it's cheese buns again!

3) Ooh! New person! That means new friend material... Damn, the new person barely talks... Well this is awkward. I'll just go clean this thing...

4) Why do people keep thinking our sugar bin is a garbage can? *sob*

5) I should learn to swear in another language... I wonder if my dad will teach me some in Swedish.

6) Is that a wasp? Shit, that's a wasp. Shit shit shit shit shit... Okay, act calm. Shit, where'd it go? Can I get a manager to get rid of it? AAAH! There it is. Get away get away get away! Help? *sob*

7) It's three minutes to nine, why do you want coffee? *sob*

8) Damn this buggy is hard to control. Whoops, that's a wall...


And please remember this is all in my mind. I wasn't actually swearing out loud when I saw that wasp.

Worst Inventions Ever

Sorry for missing my post yesterday, I've just been tired. And because I have a head ache and just ate my first meal in ten hours, I'm a little cranky, so let's rant!

1) Decaf coffee. What's the point? The only useful thing about coffee is that it gives you an energy boost, but decaf coffee has had the caffeine roasted out of it, so it has absolutely no use.

2) Ipads/tablets/smart phones. I'll be honest, I have an ipad, and I love it. However, I really do hate it, and how it has affected me. I am so unproductive when I have it. I will even get up half an hour earlier than I need to just so that I will have time to play on my ipad n the morning. The only useful thing I have on it is my school organizer, the weather network (which I have no looked at in weeks), and my e-mail. Everything else is just a waste of time.

3) Tanning bed/spray tans. I have no idea why looking like a Dorito is so popular. It seems like everyone I know makes fun of the people who use tanning salons, but I know pretty much all of them would take the chance if someone offered them free time in one of those salons. Our society loves tanned people, and it's to the point that people need fakes tans. Just disgusting.

4) Guns. If guns had not been invented, who's to say that we still wouldn't be riding around in a horse and carriage and wearing beautiful dresses. Guns were really the first big breakthrough in technology. And of course, all the deaths they cause, but hey, people kill people, not guns, right?

5) E-readers. I have a completely irrational hatred of these things. A book is the physical form of the story, so if you're reading on an e-reader, you're not reading a book, you're reading a novel. It doesn't sound like much, but I will always firmly believe that books are the only way to read novels. (That is, until I have to move out and haul all my books around.) I love looking over and seeing my bookshelf and all the books. You cannot do that with an e-reader. It's just not the same.

The Rithmatist review *SPOILERS*

I just finished reading another book by Brandon Sanderson, this one about four times shorter than the last. It's called The Rithmatist, and is 370 pages long, so a nice quick read. I would say it's for a younger reader though, probably suitable for a middle school student or early high school.

You know way back when I said I didn't have many examples of historical speculative fiction books? Well, here's one! It's a steampunk type idea, set in a Victorian era United States. Except, the states include lower Canada, and are separated into large islands, so instead of being called the United States, they're called the United Isles. Furthermore, there are mentions of going ons in Europe and South America that do not match with history. So although it's a world that we're familiar with, it's been changed just enough to be speculative fiction.

Now the magic comes from chalk. That sounds strange, but it's kind of like the idea of witchcraft and the pentagrams, except in this book it's circles. If someone is chosen as a Rithmatist, they have the ability to bring 'life' to chalk. It's actually fairly hard to explain, but Sanderson does it very well. As in the previous book I read by him, he incorporates drawings, which is very handy when it comes to explaining all the chalk drawings that are possible.

Although I loved reading this book, it's not Sanderson's best work, by far. There was something that annoyed me every time I came across it, but I can't seem to remember what it was, so obviously it wasn't too big. But I suppose it was written for a younger reader, so there are bound to be things that I don't like. However, it was a pleasure to read, and I would definitely suggest it as a light read over a weekend.

And another beautiful cover:

Digging a Little Deeper Part 2

(So I'm not feeling all to well. I think I'm probably dehydrated still, but no matter how much I drink, it doesn't help my headache. I guess I should be drinking water and not juice or pop though... Anyway, because I'm feeling uncreative today, here is another few paragraphs from my first attempts at writing.)

Arica woke up gasping, sweat trickled down her brow. Damien was staring at her, concern filling his green eyes. As soon as he saw she was awake he sighed and leaned back.

“Finally your awake, you woke me up with all that talking, and the scream at the end, before you woke up. What were you dreaming about?” He asked and shook his head as if he would rather not know. Arica sat up from where she had fallen onto the ground.

“I- I don’t really know…” She stuttered. A beam of sunlight danced across the floor through the open window. All signs of the night's showers were gone, replaced with twittering birds and fluttering butterflies.

“We're almost there.” Damien said and point out the window. Arica joined him and smiled. It was true; they had arrived at a large white farm house. Acres of green grass rolled along the hills, showing off well muscled horses as they grazed in large paddocks. At the large oak doorway stood a well dressed woman, waiting patiently with an old butler. The wooden wheels of the carriage crunched along the gravel path as the house got closer. Finally it halted and the door swung open. The old butler was walking off towards the back, where Damien and Arica had thrown their bags.

“I can’t believe it!” Damien said as the woman walked over. She scowled at their rumpled clothes then turned towards the butler, who was dragging both heavy bags around the carriage.

“Bring those bags inside and tell Cecilia to take them to the rooms.” She said then turned back to the cousins. “I am Annette, Lady of the house.” She said briskly and turned around. “Follow me.” With a wave of her hand, Annette strutted up the driveway. Arica and Damien exchanged amused glances before racing after their aunt.

“Wow.” It was the first thing Arica said as they entered their new house. Damien stood at the entrance, mouth open wide in shock.

“Come on then, don’t just stand there. Lars is waiting for you in the study.” Annette said and led them into a well lit room. Three walls were covered in large wooden bookcases while the remaining wall had an oak desk against it. Behind the desk was a rather large man, who looked up from the fat book he was reading when they entered.

“Ah, yes, the children. I am Lars, the man of the house. I do hope I’m guessing correctly when I say you are Arica?” Lars said and took Arica’s hand into a firm handshake. She winced at the pain and managed a weak smile. Next he turned to Damien and gave him the same warm welcome.

“Now, I hope you don’t mind, but I’m pretty busy here.” Lars said and shuffled back behind the desk. Annette turned around and hustled the kids out the door, where they were instantly turned up the stairs and towards two doors.

“This is where you two will be sleeping; your bags should already be inside.” Annette said. Once their aunt had gone downstairs and was out of sight, Damien and Arica rushed to their rooms. 

Delve Into the Mind

It's quarter past eleven here, and I've had too much sugar today. I have a stomach ache and I'm probably dehydrated, but I'm in the mood to ramble. So I introduce a few things that goes on in my mind.

The thoughts that pop up the most often are about the future and my choices for it. Although I say my biggest fear is deep water (you never know what's down there...) it's actually about my career choice. I think most people have these thoughts, whether they're heading for something as unstable as a writer or musician, or as solid as, well, pretty much anything other career. And I know I haven't gotten very far in the eight or so years since making this choice. By the winter, I will have two short stories published in my college's anthology, but that gets me bragging rights only, and it's money that'll keep me alive. Of course, you read any blog or comment by a published writer, and they'll tell you that the worrying and second guessing is as much a part of the job as math is to an accountant. I guess it keeps us on our toes. The moment you slack off and stop worrying is the moment that you have something to worry about. Sounds like a great life, right?

Well, at least I've had training as a barista, so if all else fails, I'll open up a coffee shop combined with a book store.

But apart from the constant worrying and self loathing for my procrastination, I'm honestly a happy person. That is if you love making your characters suffer by ripping our their heart. No matter how terrible that sounds, every book worm loves it. What is a book without drama, and what is a writer who cannot create this drama? Now I'm far from the person to create this drama in real life. Oh no, I hate teen fiction novels for this very reason. If I ever wanted to live the drama of a book or character, I would pick something far more exciting. Then again, pretty much anything would be more exciting than my current average life. I'm still amazed I did so well in my Personal Narrative class when half my stories featured other people.

Which brings up my thoughts on my current life. Of course I wish it was more exciting, and I'm constantly coming up with situations in which something could make it more exciting. I might see some guy, envision him asking me out. But I would have no idea what to do or say, so would probably end up blabbering some excuse for why I can't go out, then look down, wishing that my hair was long enough to cover my increasingly reddening face. It's rather pathetic when my imaginary self cannot even handle a situation like that. I think it's best if  just remain on the computer the rest of my life.

I guess I did pick a fitting job after all.

A Tour of My Room

As you may have guessed by now, I'm a huge fantasy fiction nerd. I'm the girl that has to correct people when they call me a 'sir' or a 'he' in RPG games, because let's face it, how many girls actually play RPG games? And my room reflects this nerdiness, so I'm going to give you a few glimpses of it.

Also, I apologize in advanced, because the only camera I have is my phone, and it sucks.

I made these family crests in grade eleven for an English project. Each one is supposed to represent a major character from Macbeth (The one in the top right is Macbeth's) It took me about an hour or two each day to make them, so probably somewhere between seven and ten hours in total. I got perfect on the project, by the way.

This is one of my most prized possessions. And yes, it is a light. Isn't it beautiful? My parents finally agreed that I needed a new light after they took my old one down to replace the bulb and found a ton of dead bugs in it. They said they would spend $50, so I looked around for a while. I fell in love with this one, but it was eighty, so I paid for the last $30 of it. Since it doesn't exactly match the rest of the house, my parents are going to let me take it when I move.

(Also notice the Mad Hatter poster in the background. Everyone thinks it's creepy to have hanging over my bed...)

Now this is something to brag about. My dad made this shield when he was in high school, and had given it to his mom. When she moved into a care home, I claimed it as my own. It now hangs above my TV, and I'm still searching for a pair of swords to hang below it.

This is a bad quality picture, but here is a real beaver pelt top hat, with a scarf and a peacock feather. I wore it to school in grade twelve for Halloween, and I've kind of claimed it as my own now... I believe it used to belong to my great grandfather... Or maybe my great great grandfather. Either way, it's old.

A your of my room wouldn't be complete without a picture of my bookshelf. Please note that there is another shelf at the bottom of this picture that I wasn't able to get into the frame, and another shelf on a separate bookshelf. I also trim my collection down by a few books every once in a while, so there are about thirty or so book that I've donated. 

So there you are, a few of the best aspects of my room. There's more, so maybe I'll do this again later... Maybe when I have a better camera.