The New Room (update)

I have one picture to share with you guys right now; I don’t want to post any more pictures until I have my room exactly as I want it to be. I still have a few things to dump out of my boxes, but this picture should give you a sample taste of my new room’s color scemes. I freaking love those pillows.

I’ve already spent one night in my new bedroom; it’s certainly very different but much nicer then my old room upstairs. I’m very excited to be nearly all moved in.

Thursday the carpet people finally came and put down my new carpet. They came earlier in the morning which worked out perfectly because I expected them to come after lunch, so I ended up having way more time to start bringing things downstairs then I had originally thought.

Everything worked out perfectly; The Doctor’s brother, good ol’ Daryck, came over in the afternoon and helped me carry all my boxes downstairs, along with my bookshelf, my desk and he got my mattress of the top bunk and down the stairs all by himself. This was an unexpected but delightful occurance and I got to hang out with him for the rest of the afternoon and he certainly saved me a lot of energy with all his help; so thanks a lot, bro!

So, because of Daryck’s help, I ended up having everything moved downstairs in one day, which I hadn’t thought would happen! All that is left up stairs is a few things behind the door and my clothes. I slept well with the matress on the floor and I’ve already watched Warehouse 13 and Merlin curled up in my new chair–super comfy, lemme tell you. I actually referr to that chair as the Doctor Who chair, because Kayla and I will watch Dr Who together on when she comes home (it’s big enough for two people and I can stretch across it very nicely when I’m by myself)

And my Sherlock poster arrived today. So, I’m pretty happy. I got a lot accomplished yesterday, my room feels fresh and amazing and I’m looking forward to the hours of peace and quiet I will get just my shutting the door.

Oh yeah. My door. I put the numbers “221B” on it. Couldn’t resist.

~Jamie

Sucessfully Graduated

Well, my graduation/birthday party went well and without a hitch. It was a beautiful day, the weather was perfect and nearly everyone we invited showed up. There was just over fifty people in my house and backyard between four and eight o’ clock. The Boys’ family stayed till ten and we played Cops and Robbers together, so it was basically the best day ever.

I was very happy to be surrounded by friends from all times of my life. Old church friends and new church friends got along wonderfully. My old friends all told me as they were leaving, “I love your friends!” and my new friends were happily stating “Your friends are nice!” Everyone mixed well and I was pleased to hear everyone talking and getting along nicely.

Here’s one of the two chocolate cakes we got from Costco; the other said Happy Graduation. Mom got lots of balloons (I love balloons). There was pork sandwiches and meatballs, veggies and cheeseball. The meatballs were easy to make but it didn’t feel like it because my mom stressed over them for over a week and a half. We now have a running joke about how meatballs are stressful and they were suppose to be easy. lol

Everyone watched a slideshow of pictures that Kayla made and Dad gave this mini speech in front of everyone about it and it was quite nice. I got my certificate and everyone was clapping and cheering. Happily, no one asked the dreaded college question, except Dylan and that was after everyone had left and we were lying ‘dead’ in the front yard during Cops and Robbers and were simply talking. And it was okay because he said he probably wasn’t going to college either. And than we talked about Latin and shouted at Daryck to stop swinging over our dead bodies. Lol.

(me and my adorable adopted sister Nechet who wrote me the sweetest card; I love this picture! lol )

I got many beautiful gifts (and sweet, sweet cash, lol.) A hat from one dear friend, a beautiful scarf made with my favorite color purple, a necklace, several books, lots of notebooks and writing supplies. Some of the money has already been spent on See’s Candy, an Avengers Calender for next year, the official Avengers poster, and two shirts from the Disney store.

My favorite gift was easily the one Dylan gave me and that wasn’t until the Monday afterwards. Mom and I dropped off two tables we’d borrowed from his family at their house and Mrs B raced us inside all excited and was like, “Dylan just got Jamie her present, we literally just brought it home!” And inside he handed me a huge book which contained every single book and story of Sherlock Holmes by Arther Conan Doyle, complete with golden edged pages and a beautiful cream colored cover with Holmes’s silhouette on it. I’m so excited to now own every single Holmes story in such a gorgeous book; and to read them all with Dylan for the rest of the year. Thanks for the wonderful book, bro!

All in all, it worked out just about perfectly and I loved every minute of the party.  The family is still recovering a little bit but we’ve got the house all back in order and I’ve mailed most of my thank you notes already.

Everything school and graduation related is now out of the way and I’m ready for two more weeks of world building before NaNoWriMo begins!

Life is taking a change but I’m looking forward to it.

~Jamie

Life Update

Hiemdall (better known as Tubby!)

Ahhhhhh. This week has been full of thoughts and posts on writing but I feel ready to give a post on life in general (aka post where I ramble about the first few topics that come to mind.)

I haven’t mentioned the kittens in a while, have I? Well, we still have all five, they’re so big, so cute and so fun. Up there is one of the two males, Tubby, who’s official name is Hiemdall! XD I don’t have pictures of all of them, but the shot below is of the Dot (or Dr. Watson), who was the first kitten to be born. She’s adorable. The other kittens all have official names and than nicknames that we call them. The other male is a black kitten who Mom named Vader but we call him Blackie. The black and white kitten is Holmes but we call her Socks (Yes, Holmes and Dr. Watson are girls. What can I say, my mom named them.) And than Kayla named her kitten Katniss and that’s what we call her. Here’s a picture of Dot below.

Yes, I did take these pictures, actually. I wish I had more pictures of when they were small but it was actually pretty stressful when they were first born and taking pictures was far from my mind during the whole ordeal. I won’t even both to go into details right now, it was just tough those first few weeks.

This week I started learning a new song on the keyboard. I’ve been in LOVE with the song when I found it on YouTube and after several weeks of listening to it, it dawned on me that I should try to find the sheet music somewhere. Google never fails. I found the music and was able to download for a few dollars. I’ve spent all week making my fingers fly on my keyboard. The song is fast paced and full of rhythm and I’m finally getting the hang of it. I actually was playing it on the Oboe setting on my keyboard and Kayla thought it was the computer and not me playing, so that was funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKhSMDUBfuY

This is not the first song I’ve looked up sheet music for from off YouTube. I also bought the a five sheet piece entitled Rain and spent a week to two weeks learning it. I can now play that song with my eyes closed and it’s one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard. It was worth the time to learn. Go ahead and listen to it; just pretend that’s me playing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWh5YR8sVrI

Okay, enough music.lol

Let’s see, what am I reading right now… oh, yes, I’m reading Dracula again. I know, I know, I just read it, like, two months ago. I’m now reading it with Dylan and he hasn’t read it in a year. I actually don’t mind rereading it because it’s so good. It’s nice to be able to talk about the different chapters with him now instead of just, “ohmigosh yes it’s sooo good!” So, that’s what I’m reading right now. I think we’re going to read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow next, if I remember right. He said it was the perfect story to read around Halloween. I’ve not read it, so I’m looking forward to it. After that I think we’ll tackle a couple of G.A. Henty novels and I’ll be doing everything in my power to get him to read Treasure Island. Who’s read Treasure Island, by the way? I love that book so much.

We actually got some rain in my neighborhood this week and that was super nice. I was reading Dracula, actually, right before it started Sunday evening and I’m at this really intense part and all of a sudden “BOOM” there was this huge crack of thunder, perfectly synched with the story. I was like, “Wow. That’s creepy!” I kept reading to the sound of thunder until I also heard the sound of rain and than it was like, “I CAN READ LATER! IT’S RAINING OUTSIDE!” I love seeing lighting in the sky; I also picture it being Thor cracking his hammer up there, having some sort of battle or something. So sometimes I’ll yell at him from the porch, “GO THOR! GO!” Lololol. I’m such a dork.

Okay, I’m going to end on a funny note…. at least, these are funny to me. XD I’m going to start with this one because I think we’ve all experienced this at least once in our lives.

HAHA! Anyway… I’m going to be off and running now! Have a good Saturday!

~Jamie

School, I’m breaking up with you

I’ve done so much school work the past week, which is why I haven’t posted again. I’m really determined to finish these books though, so other things are being pushed to the side. Finishing up by the end of September is the goal right now. I’m excited to be progressing so far.

Oh, and Kayla took some shots of me around the empty neighbor’s house for some of my graduation pictures. A couple turned out nicely. Thanks Kayla.

Dear School,

I don’t care about the “homeschoolers love school” stereotype, boy. I’m done with you. I don’t like you, I’ve never liked you and I’m going to be glad to have you out of my schedule. Now your twin brother Learning is okay, but you, School; I despise you. There, I’m only being honest. Another month, and this relationship is over.

Oh, and I am not about to go out with your other brother College either, thank you very much, so tell him to stay away from my window. At least not till I have a very long break and I spend some time with your cousin Writing. I have fond affections for Writing. And of course for Blogging and that dude, Reading. I like them a lot, too.

Not regretting anything,

Your about to be ex-girlfriend, Student

~Jamie

Back from the Abyss

one of my birthday presents: a Captain America ‘hero and hearts’ wallet!

Well, I kinda took a two week break there, didn’t I? It was an unannounced break which I didn’t mean to take but it was actually nice to have a short break. And I’ve had a good couple weeks.

I had a wonderful birthday; I got my 38 special revolver (YES, EIGHTEEN YEAR OLD CAN OPEN CARRY WEAPONS IN ARIZONA! ), books (my own copy of Dracula, YAY), some action figures, a Hawkeye slap bracelet and other random stuffs. Mom and I watched The Help that morning together, I got a call from two family friends wishing me happy birthday; I spent the afternoon on my laptop creating a visual world for a fantasy story which has been, without my consent, building up in my head. We had Panda Express for dinner and watched The Mysterious Affair at Styles e later I got Mom and Dad to watch Monsters Inc with me. THREE MOVIES IN ONE DAY! UNHEARD OF! It was a great day of relaxation and unwinding.

my favorite book, right here people.

I also got to go on a spending spree with my birthday money; I RARELY get to go to the mall, but Mom took me to a double decked one at the other side of town last Saturday and I got to go into any shop that interested me. It was my first time visiting Forever Twenty One, people. Yep. I went nuts at the Disney store; they had a corner full of Avenger and Spider-Man stuff. There were so many stuffed animals there, too; I could have died. I ended up buying a Donald Duck shirt for myself and an Avengers shirt for Kayla. I bought a very cute hat at a shop called Icing (I tried to take some selfie shots of myself wearing it but they came out miserably so you’ll have to wait to see what it looks like.)

Internet shopping is always fun too: I ordered a Joker shirt, a laptop skin decal and keyboard stickers off of Amazon as well. The stickers are the only ones to have gotten here; they ARE SO CUTE. It makes my keyboard look so colorful and cheerful. I took pictures, but they’re not coming up right on here. Wahhh.

It’s late right now. So randomness will start flying all over. Prepare to duck.

It’s the end of July and August has just started… meaning for me, summer is beginning to end. I remembered I’d written a short summer bucket list a while ago; let’s see what I’ve completed.

*Lite ten fireworks off on Fourth of July

*Finish the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes with Dylan

Complete and post the Avengers 40 Question Challenge with James (waiting on Kayla to work with the graphic)

Ride my bike more (ouch, haven’t done this very much)

*Dress in identical clothes with Kayla for the day

*Come up with a fresh novel idea for this year’s NaNoWriMo

*See The Amazing Spider Man with Kayla in theaters

Read Lord of the Rings (I did get the books for my birthday!)

and

*Think of some special way to celebrate my eighteenth birthday.

So, I actually did pretty good! Speaking of summer beginning to close, don’t you find it hilarious when you see different people complain about the recent season their in and long for another one? I always get a kick out of visiting different blogs and seeing, “Oh it’s so hot I want it to be winter soon with snow here I’ll post ten Christmas pictures now” and we get to the Christmas season and I’ll read, “I’m getting tired of this sludge I want to walk through grass feeling the summer breeze now I’ll post eight pictures of prairie grass and the beach”. It’s kinda on my not-really-but-sort-of list of pet peeves.

I don’t know why I just talked about that…. lol.

 Okay, so I mentioned up there that a fantasy story has been building in my head without my consent? Well, there’s nothing I can really do about but work with it. The picture above best describes my thoughts right now; fairies and books. And yes, this is the fresh idea I’m going to use for this years NaNoWriMo!

I’ll try to summarize my idea of the story and I apologize ahead of time for it not being the most thought through. Basically the short of it is (you’ll probably recognize where some of the inspiration came from, lol) two young people, boy and girl, get sucked into separate fictional world inside a novel and find that they’ve unsuspectingly been given the chance to experience the book’s adventure first hand inside a fantasy world with fantasy creatures. The problem is that being in different world is breaking down their bodies and they quickly decide that they’re not going to dilly-dally with the story, or the characters, or the plot but only find a way to get back to their world where they can exist without having their bodies slowly destroyed by the world’s atmosphere. However, the girl is kidnapped along with several other of their novel’s characters, and the boy of course can’t go home without her, so he joins their novel’s characters to rescue the girl and make sure the book has a happy ending before they return to reality. And yes, as they discovered, their own presence can completely alter how the book will end.

I’ve been using butterflies as part of my inspiration for the fairies

And yes, somehow, I will get fairies to have something to do with the story.

This is all still up in the air and I’m still `having plot inspirations. But Scrivener has been an absolute life saver for the novel planning; I’ve been saving all my inspiration pictures in there and writing down my plot ideas and so forth.

I’m glad I have new story idea growing, actually. The other story idea I have is so much more complicated that I don’t think would have worked for NaNoWriMo. This new one  here is taking leaps and bounds in all sorts of directions and I’ve not felt such creative for a fictional work for quite some time. So, this is really quite exciting for me!

Just had to share about it.

Soooo, Kayla and I watched Batman Begins again and I thought I’d give some thoughts on the main characters. Oh, and if you haven’t seen Batman Begins or The Dark Knight, I highly suggest you check them out, especially if you’re an action/superhero fan. It’s not Marvel but they’re still pretty good movies.

I really do like Batman Begins quite a bit. I don’t care so much for the beginning half but all the scenes that take place in Gotham are great. I do think it’s an underrated film which I think is kinda sad. I actually think I would enjoy it more than The Dark Knight except that The Joker took the cake in that one. If it wasn’t for the Joker, I probably would like Batman Begins way more than The Dark Knight. As of now, I like The Dark Knight just a little more for The Joker’s sake but Batman Begins is just under it.

*there may be spoilers lurking below*

Bruce Wayne: I like his character development throughout Batman Begins (he wasn’t anything special in The Dark Knight because his character development basically didn’t continue in that one and I didn’t enjoy him that much.) Bruce’s whole story of being orphaned, wanting revenge, living with criminal, learning different fighting forms and then ultimately creating his alter ego Batman is pretty cool to me. Trying to live two lives makes for an interesting aspect in a film. The fact that he battles with obvious human feelings like a fear of bats makes him more human and real. Overall, I like Bruce and Batman makes for a pretty interesting ‘superhero’.

Rachel Dawes: I personally preferred Katie Holmes’ acting for her over the actress in The Dark Knight (the other actress had cute features but I didn’t care for Rachel’s character progression in The Dark Knight either. She was basically brought down to marriage bait for the plot and she took her pretty time picking between Bruce and Harvey (and kissing both.)) In Batman Begins, we see her history with Bruce is, how she’s a smart District Attorney and one known to have strong principles that can’t be bought off. While Rachel didn’t stand out in any special way apart from other female characters in movies, I did like her and appreciate her strong stand in her principles. (Oh, I like how she has and uses a taser. lol)

Alfred: I LOVED THIS CHARACTER SO MUCH! Oh my goodness, Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce’s butler, is such a refreshing, wholesome character. Noble, dignified, witty, loyal, and tender yet firm. He’s one of the delightful characters that just make you smile. He’s easily one of my most favorite characters from the Batman movies. I couldn’t say more because it would turn into “alksjdkaljdklsjaksdjfkaslj” really quickly….

Ra’s al Ghul: Okay, so, I’m all oooh, Liam Neeson, cool, okay. However, as we got to know the character a bit, he really started to annoy me. He asked Bruce to do things that weren’t right and that wasn’t great considering he seemed to be a good guy. And while I think he was supposed to be a mysterious character, he ended up being too mysterious for me. And than SPOILERS he turned out to be the bad, bad guy in the end. Wahhh. END OF SPOILERS. So, he was an okay character. Liam Neeson was good though.

 Gordan: He was one of the uncorrupted, dependable police men in Gotham and I liked him. I connected well with him good which helped with certain events that happened in The Dark Knight. I liked how he just rolled with the flow when Batman kept showing up. He just quickly learned to adapt to him and that was nice to see. It took me a while to realize the reason Batman/Bruce went to Gordan was because he was an officer who comforted him after his parents had been murdered. Anybody else say, “Awwwww, no wonder”? So, in that way they have a connection. I also loved seeing him interact with the Tumbler.

Dr Crane/ Scarecrow: Okay, I had a bad case of, “He’s familiar, have I seen him somewhere else???” During the movie and it wasn’t till afterwards that Kayla solved the problem by saying, “That was Fischer from Inception!!!” Anyway, Dr. Crane was a great characters. He was with the good guys a lot and functioned easily around them even though he was one of the corrupted people. His mask for Scarecrow coupled with his fear gas was a great aspect in the film for me because it seemed quite original. (speaking of which, the special effects for all the fear gas scenes were very cool and a little scary!) I thought Crane was a decent bad guy and  his character worked well with the film’s whole plot.

All in all, I enjoyed the cast of characters a lot, more so especially in Batman Begins than in The Dark Knight. But, yes, I would recommend both for a mature audience.

I’m not going to talk about The Dark Knight, at least not in this post. I have a post about villains in the works where I’ll exploit The Joker a bit, but that’s it on Batman for now.

So… I’ve been eighteen for almost two weeks. People keep asking me, “How does it feel to be eighteen” and I think they half expect me to go with the old joke of, “not much different from seventeen”. *sarcastic lololololol* And while it doesn’t feel obviously different,  it’s still a great feeling to hit a big age. It just feels bigger than other birthdays. Dylan turned eighteen early in the year, so I got some understanding; he and his mom dropped by the other day for something really fast and somehow the age came up. He simply stated, “Isn’t it great to be eighteen?!” And I nodded and said, “Yep!” So how does it feel to be eighteen? The answer is, “It feels good.”

Anyway. I guess I had to quickly rant about that. lol. So. End of that story.

And now I’m posting this just to see if anyone will actually do it! LOL, I mean, why not?

I have some posts I need to finish; I have another “Being Me” edition on the trials of having naturally curly hair, my plans for later this year and then that villains post. So, you can watch for those in the near future.

I’ll let you know next time I plan to have another two week break, by the way.

~Jamie