Home now

Got home a little bit ago. The zoo use cool! There were lions and tigers and emus and ostriches and apes and lemurs and foxes. We even got to feed buffalo (actually American bison.) the bad thing was that we couldn't take pictures or video. Something about spooking the animals.

- Posted from my iPad

Going to the zoo today!

Yes! Going to the zoo today. It's been some time since I was at a zoo. I think that zoo was Lowry Park. Yeah, that was it ^_^ Lee's still here but he won't be coming with us. He already had plans with his family. We'll drop him off at his house when we leave later. But at the moment, he and Sasha are busy nomming my toes >.< lol!

- Posted from my iPad

Yay for Friday!

Intermission so I'll have to make this quick.

I spent most the day with my friends and Lee. It was a perfect beach day. Except the water was still a bit cold. So we mostly goofed off on the sand and just waded knee deep. It was nice and I got a little red from the sun. But it's not a sun burn, just my initial tan. Yvonne tans the same way. Alice can actually burn, so she has to be really careful. Over all, we had fun ^_^

- Posted from my iPad

Three day weekend!

Yes!!! We have a three day weekend starting now ^_^ End of quarter and the teachers need to do grades and such. Soooo, we get tomorrow off ^_^ And then, Saturday, mom and I are going to the zoo with my aunt and cousin ^_^

I started reading a book by "A Fire Upon the Deep" by Vernor Vinge. It takes place in the uber distant future where people talk about civilizations coming and going like minutes on the clock. Ships are thousands, tens of thousands of years old. The book as a feel of "Dune" and "Babylon V" That's probably why I'm so into it ^_^ It's not a fast read like "The Hunger Games" series. But it is well paced ^_^

Mockingjay

I finished the final book in Suzanne Collins' "Hunger Game" series. I kept remember Frank Herbert's "Dune" as I read "Mockingjay." I kept imaging the Capitol as the Padishah Empire. But nothing else reminded me of anything of "Dune." Weird, huh? Anyway, the story was fast paced, but at time seemed to drag. Katniss seemed to always been mentally troubled to the point she couldn't function. In the first book, she functioned more or less normally. But by the end of "Mockingjay," she was just mentally sick almost always on the verge of a break down. I came close to almost crying towards the end and the story almost ended there. But I think Collins realized this was a bad way to end the story and attempted to make less tragic with the epilogue. The series is a good read, fast pace and interesting. I just could with a little less Katniss freaking out. It gets to the point it that she seemed fake. Maybe that's what Collins wanted all along, for us to realize just how fake the Mockingjay was.

Catching Fire

Yes, I just finished the book, "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins. I would have finished it earlier, but I had dance class tonight with Lee's mom and little sister ^_^

Unlike the first book, I didn't find myself hoping any particular support character would survive like I did for Rue. I sort of knew that Katniss and Peeta would make it. The story would kind of fall flat if either of them died. I guess I kind of rooted for all of them to live but knew that they couldn't; it is after all a continuation of the Hunger Games. And speaking of the continuation, this book kept the continuity of the story intact. I've read some series in which the actions in a preceding book are totally scrambled, as though the author forgot what she had written and didn't even go back and check. Collins either wrote all three books at one sitting or took the time to check her "facts" for the remaining books. Hopefully, she does the same in the final book. Oh, that's another difference between this book and the first. The first book was complete. You can read it and not have to read any of the other books. The second book ended with a cliffhanger. You need to read the final book for the conclusion.

The Hunger Games

I just finished reading "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. I've had it on my Kindle along with the other two books in the series for some time now. But like Harry Potter, I never got around to reading it until the movie was about to be released. Actually, in the Harry Potter case, I didn't start reading the books until "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" was about to come out o.o

I'm impressed. I actually like the book and was cheering for Katniss and Peeta. I wanted to scream when Rue left the Games and was horrified by what the muttations turned out to be in the end. I'm going to start in on "Catching Fire" later tonight. Probably have it finished by tomorrow night if it's as good as "The Hunger Games" ^_^

- Posted from my iPad

Green Heart

Back on Friday, I discovered that Alice Hoffman released a new book, "Green Heart" I bought it instantly since it was one of Amazon's Kindle books of the day. Hey, $2 is good price for your favorite author, right? Well, I misread the book's description. It turned out that book is an abridged version of the previous two books, "Green Angel" and "Green Witch" combined into one. It was kind of disappointing for me to find this out after I bought it. I was hoping for something new. I love Hoffman's style and love her Green books. If you have the money, buy the first two books and skip this one.

Rain day

It rained most of today. It started very early in this morning, like around 2AM. It was raining so hard that it woke me up, but I quickly fell asleep--I love listening to the rain at night ^_^ Luckily that it stopped long enough for me to take Jack and Tom out for a walk a few hours later. It started again almost immediately the moment we got back home. And kept doing that all day yesterday: rain. stop. rain. stop.

Mom had to try to time our shopping excursions between the rain bursts. We did get to the bookstore where I got the new issue of Juxtapoz magazine ^_^

Anyway, around 10am, I got an email from my online "bestie." She finally got around to replying to an email I sent back on Wednesday. She said she had lost her iPod and just found it. Okay, no problem there, except, why didn't she reply using her computer??? That's how she used to email me. She isn't grounded so I know she has her computer or her parents' computer. I at least try to email her when my wings get clipped just so she doesn't worry. Bleh! I didn't email her back cause I'm mad and my mom and I were leaving to do the shopping. Then around 7:30pm, she emails me again, "guess ur mad." Well, DUH!!! >.< I haven't replied yet. I don't know what to say if anything. She seems to always be doing this to me. Now I'm torn. Do I just ignore her and carry on and probably lose her as a friend? Or do I email her back and have her dump a guilt trip on me for being mad at her? o.o

- Posted from my iPad

Visiting family

We went out of town again yesterday to see my grand uncle. We hadn't seen him over a month and he doesn't get many visitors. So the three of us: mom, my grand dad, and myself, went to see me. He seemed to be happy yesterday because he joked around and such and didn't complain of any pain and such.

After we left, we had an early dinner then stopped at Best Buy. My grand dad wants a Kindle Fire and wanted to see one in person. He acted like he didn't want one, but mom and I both knew that he really did. So, if he doesn't buy one for himself before Father's Day, he'll be getting one from us ^_^


- Posted from my iPad

Party last night

We skipped movie night and instead went to Yvonne's house. Her family was doing a Spring party and her parties are always a blast! ^_^ Lee was invited and even his little sister Hannah. Spring parties are always family things. So little kids like Hannah can be there. My mom was there and Kyle and his family.

Lots of food: salads, BBQ pork and ribs and chicken, pineapple upside down cake, cupcakes, corn, sweet potatoes, ice cream, did I mention cupcakes o.O? LOL ^_^ Music of course to dance to. Nerf warfare in which I was victorious until Lee and Hannah betrayed me >.< LOL

Around 11pm, the party started breaking up. Hannah fell asleep on the couch, so mom took her home when she left. I was still too hyper to go lol Lee and I ended up sleeping over at Yvonne's along with Kyle and a few other people Yvonne's family invited over. It was a blast!!! ^_^

Books and stories

I noticed last night that it's been awhile since I've updated my books and my stories pages. Those are pages on here for stories and books that I've read. When I meet some one new online, I'm usually asked what books I like or have read and I get flabbergasted trying to remember them all. So I created those pages. They don't have all the books or stories that I've read listed, that's just way too many to remember. What they do have are some of the ones that I do remember and the ones that I've read since I started online blogging. I just haven't been updating lists lately.


- Posted from my iPad

It's done

She's gone and I need to move on. I've deleted the playlist of her favorite songs. No longer are they collected together in one place. They're now scattered throughout my own songs. Like dust in the wind. She's gone. The filters I use in Gmail to tell me that I have email from her are now silenced. No more alerts from her. I need to move on. I felt this awhile ago, deep in my stomach. I started departing from online awhile ago. She's gone and I'm moving on.

Journals

I'm looking for a journalling app for my iPad. I really don't know why because I like writing in paper book ones. But I think I would like to give one a try just to see if I like it. For now, I'm going to use a hidden, private blog on here and my iPad blogging app. I even deleted all the posts from an old copy of my main blog for just that purpose. But still, I would like to give an iPad journal a try. I love writing and have always journalled since like forever. It wasn't until last year that I started doing a public, online version.

Thunderstorms

It's thundering still. Thunderstorms have started. Today's started about the time Lee and I were down at the river seeing if we could see any otters. We didn't see any today because we had to run. The storm was faster than us and we ended up soaked hiding out under a gazebo. Our city and county puts gazebos around the main trails just for this purpose. We ended up waiting almost an hour for the rain to let up enough for us to make another run for it. It wasn't really the rain we were worried about, but the thunder and lightning. We make it to his house where he gives me one of his t-shirts and a pair of jogging shorts while my clothes dry in the dryer. Don't worry, his mom was home ^_^ She's the one that gave me a ride home after the rain started up again.

A different fairy tale

I finished another book today, Sophie Robbins' "A Hole in the World." It's a twist on the Prince-rescues-Princess fairy tale. In this case, the "prince" is actually a fifteen year old girl from our times. When she was little, Bianca discovered a hole in a wall and started to explore it but chickened out. A few years later, she discover hole again. She's never really forgotten about it though. It shows up in her dreams. This time she explores it and finds that it leads to another world, a fantasy world from fairy tales. While there, she rescues a princess, who starts calling her her "Prince Charming," and brings her back to her world. After a couple of weeks, another prince shows up from the princess' world and takes her back. Time works different between the two worlds. A couple more years pass for Bianca, but only a few days for the princess. The princess' fairy godmother comes to Bianca and tells her that the prince is evil and that she needs to rescue the princess again. Bianca, and her friends, charge in for the rescue. They're successful and everyone lives happily ever after.

I liked the story. It was light and happy most of the time and made me smile. Sure, it was unbelievable at times, such as when Bianca hides the princess for two weeks in her room and at school and no one finds out. But, it's also a fairy tale; so you have to suspend belief a little. But over all, it was a nice book.

- Posted from my iPad

Happy Spring!

Google's Doodle for today by Marimekko ^_^

Back to school

It figures. Today was an almost perfect day and also the day school starts back up after Spring Break >.< LOL

The turtles were out and about at the school's ponds today along with a flock of ibises. I expect soon that the fish will be building their nests and making baby fishes; actually, making eggs.

Lee is working with his dad tonight. So I'm going to meet up with Yvonne and Kyle and head downtown. Maybe we can stop in and see Lee ^_^ then head over to the beach. Hmm, I haven't been down at the beach to see the drummers for the longest time. Maybe Lee and I can do that this Saturday ^_^ I want to dance in the sand to the rhythms of the drums ^_^

- Posted from my iPad

Out of town

We were out of town today. Mom was meeting a friend from high school that happened to be visiting nearby. He seemed nice but I'm glad him and mom didn't start seeing each other again. Besides I don't think his girlfriend would have been happy.

Afterwards, mom and I went into St. Pete (Saint Petersburg, Florida) for the rest of the afternoon. I love going there. It's probably the closest I will be to being in a big city. I love all the people just walking along the sidewalks with their dogs, or eating at the outdoor cafés or window shopping. Mom and I stopped at a tea shop and had some tea and mom bought some loose tea for home. We then stopped at a gelato shop and had some nummy gelato ^_^ We then did some window shopping and finally came home. It was almost a perfect day ^_^

- Posted from my iPad

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Just wishing everyone a happy
Saint Patrick's Day
Here's the Google Doodle for today:

Intermission

Another Doctor Who marathon. I was able to find the missing episodes online, so we're picking up were we left off ^_^

Today is the last day of Spring Break. Or maybe. I think I'm going to declare tomorrow as the last day ^_^ Lee's older sister, Amanda, took Lee, me, and Lee's little sister, Hannah out for a drive in her jeep. It was such a beautiful day. I can't believe how nice it was to just drive no where in particular with the top off. I see why people want convertibles so much. Except in horrible weather. Then the want something else. But in beautiful weather like today, it's convertibles all the way.

Spring break is almost over

Another day, and it's done. It went by so fast o.o I guess it's true that time flies when you're having fun ^_^

Lee and I went to the beach today and spent most of the morning and lunch there just basking in the sun and each other <3 ^_^ Later on, we met up with Yvonne and Kyle at the park downtown and hung out there until it was time for me to go home for dinner. Lee came by after dinner and we hung out in my room practicing guitar and just goofing off ^_^ Just a lazy day ^_^

Happy Pi Day!

Today is Pi day as in the mathematical symbol Pi, 3.14 which is also today's date 3/14 ^_^

To celebrate, Lee and I got an key lime pie from the grocery store and mom and us had it for dessert tonight ^_^ It was nummy ^_^ LOL We also had pasta and salad and garlic bread. Lee says my kisses taste garlicly o.o lol

Another zombie dream

This dream left me with a feeling of loss this time. No one died and no zombies were visible. But I was always aware of their soon-coming presence. It was another dream about their coming and us having to evacuate/run. This time it wasn't the panic running for it. We had time to grab stuff from our house and we all knew that we wouldn't be back. We also knew that we could only take what was needed. We grabbed what we could and left. The next scene was me going back home to grab a few more items. It was the next day and I don't know what happened overnight. We didn't grab clothes the first time, so I grabbed some clean ones. I saw my guitar and knew I couldn't take it. No electricity and it was a luxury. The same with my iPad and Kindle. I grabbed some books and sketchpads and pens and pencils. But not much stuff. Only what I could put in my oversized satchel. As I left, I looked around, remembering and feeling sad. The next moment, my dogs were trying to get me out of the house because they heard the zombies approaching. I woke up here because my dogs were trying to wake me up to take them out. I love how dreams and the real world can merge like that.

First day of Spring break

And Lee has to help his dad >.< He's going to see if his dad would let him go early tonight and spend time with me. I hope his dad lets him ^_^

Yvonne and Kyle came by this morning and we ended up at the beach. I guess we were hoping to see the Spring breakers from the rest of the county, but almost none were there. I'm glad. Most breakers are just drunks looking for another reason to get drunk like they really need one. The few people we did see at the beach were the normal tourists, some with their grand kids. Only the die hards were swimming. The Gulf is still too cold to swim in. Another month or two, and it would be perfect for swimming, but not now.

After the beach, we met up with Alice and Sheila and did Taco Bell for lunch. Alice and Sheila have been a "couple" for nearly a year now and Alice seems so happy ^_^ Of course that makes me happy ^_^ We all hung out at the mall for a couple of hours, then split up. Yvonne and I ended up at my house and we'll be heading back out in a little while.

DST and Spring break!

This morning DST started. I thought I would be up before the dogs since they're still on the old time. Nope. They were up before me, still >.< lol

Mom did up my online curfew to 10pm on school nights like I thought she would. On non-school nights, she's letting me stay online as long as I want. But, if she thinks I'm spending too much time online, she's going to redo my online curfews.

Spring Break! YaY! LOL No school for a week. So much to do and so little time to do it in. ^_^ Yeah, I'm babbling tonight. My mind is bouncing all around so it's difficult to focus on here. I'm going to go practice my guitar. Maybe I'll be able to focus then ^_^

Alice's Birthday Party

Alice's birthday was back on Wednesday, but we're did the official party today. It's kind of hard to have a party on a school night >.< It was awesome! Alice kept it towards a girly theme with nice dishes and such, but didn't force it on anyone. In fact, she was dressed in nice jeans and a hunter green top, wearing the earrings I gave her on her birthday earlier ^_^ Her present from me this time was the matching necklace I made. She's my bestie and I love her <3 <3 Teagan, Sheila (of course), and Yvonne were also invited. We all had a blast. Teagan and Alice tried to do a makeover on me, but I reminded them that it was Alice's day and she should be the one to have a makeover ^_^

Hellraiser marathon

Lee and I ended up doing a Hellraiser marathon last night. We couldn't decide on anything else and I felt like a horror movie or two or three ^_^ Too bad the first three in the series were old and corny. It was more gore than fright o.o That's really sad. I was hoping for a good fright.

- Posted from my iPad

An ending

It finally appears that my friendship with Taytay is coming to an end. She emailed me Tuesday asking me to email her. I did, but told her that I was in dance class. Never heard anything further. Last night I emailed her again and her replies seemed terse and distant. She never did respond to my last email last night. Today, I sent her an email that it was raining and I haven't heard anything from her so far. The end is near. I don't like losing friends, but if you think about it, if the friendship is over, then I'm not losing a friend.

Anyway, it rained to day. Torrential down pour just in time to catch me in the open on the way to lunch >.< I was almost completely soaked grrrrr >.< Of course, after lunch, the sun came out and now there's only a few clouds in the sky. GRRRRR!

Lee's coming over later to do movie night, though we're not sure if we'll be continuing the Doctor Who marathon. Netflix isn't streaming the last episode of the 4th season. I can get it on DVD if mom is willing to subscribe to the service. But she isn't and it would be here too late. I could also buy the episode on iTunes, but that would require us to watch it on my PC, my small screen PC. Or even on my smaller screen iPad. And what am I going to do with one episode of Dr Who? That would be like buying a copy of the LOTR: "The Return of the King" or "The Amber Spyglass" without owning the previous books. Maybe we'll just go hang out ^_^ We start our Spring break this weekend ^_^

Stylus arrived

My stylus came for my iPad ^_^ I've been playing around with it most of the afternoon and while it's nice, I wish that its nib was so smooshie. I was kind of expecting something more like rubber instead of a sponge. But, it does work quite nicely. I only wish they had it in blue. The only color that I thought might be nice was black and that's not really a color >.< Pogo has been teasing about coming out with a pressure sensitive stylus, code name Blue Tiger. It's supposed to work like a graphics tablet which would be awesome! The problem is that it probably will be very expensive and it requires the apps to know how to deal with the pressure function. Right now, apps don't have to worry about that because it doesn't exist. Pressing hard is the same as lightly touching. But with the Blue Tiger, pressing hard with the stylus will be like pressing hard with a pencil or chalk or paint brush. Pogo does have an artist stylus that looks cool and you can buy replaceable nibs for it. Wacom has one too, but the nibs wear out very quickly and they don't sell replacements o.o

Tons of updates

Looks like Apple released the new iPad today. I had tons of updates waiting for me when I got home O.O It looks like I lost the ability to wirelessly sync my iPad with iTunes >.< That sucks big!! It means that I have to connect my iPad to my computer to sync now.

Happy Birthday Alice!!!!

Today was Alice's birthday. She's my bestie and is now 15 ^_^ I gave her this really cool pair of earrings that I made her. I used emerald green crystal beads and golden fittings for them. Emerald green is her fav color ^_^ She loved them ^_^ <3 I'll be giving her another present Saturday during her party ^_^ Sheila, her girlfriend, is giving her a small party. Sheila means as much to Alice as Lee does to me. So I'm good with that ^_^

Warm and windy

It was chilly again this morning but also kind of calm. Now, it's warm and windy. I just wish the weather would make up its mind >.< It doesn't really matter tonight anyway, since I have dance class in a few hours, but still...

Today, Lee snuck an entire bag of Dove Dark Chocolate Promises into my locker while I was in class <3 <3 Yvonne and I are each savoring one as I type this post ^_^ Yvonne's here to hang out while I get ready for class. She also wanted to look at my art magazines. I wish they were also available on my iPad. I bet they would be awesome ^_^ I have no idea where I was going with this post >.<  Maybe I'll remember what I really wanted to say after class tonight.

Still chilly today

I was still chilly this morning when I got up to take the dogs out. I even had to wear my hoodie to school. So much for an early summer. Maybe I shouldn't have opened my mouth about how warm it was o.o Oh well, it still was a nice day once it warmed up ^_^

Mom commented on how light it was getting every day at the same time. I reminded her that the shortest day of the year was back in December, like two or three months ago ^_^ I got curious and looked up when the time changes to Daylight Savings Time (DST). It's this coming Sunday O.O "Spring forward, Fall back" That means I'll be getting up an hour earlier next week O.O But that's cool, next week is also Spring Break for us ^_^ So I'll have a whole week to get used to the time change.

It's cold!

And windy O.O Looks like a front snuck in last night. Mom opened all the windows today and they're still open. But the wind has died down.

Today was productive. After shopping, mom and I did some work on the garden. Well, actually we measured out the garden so we would know how much compost we would need. And we could decide what we would be planting this year. Probably tomatoes at least. We all have tomatoes. Oh, and maybe a Japanese eggplant too ^_^ Mom Thin slices the eggplant, tosses it with olive oil and seasonings, and then bakes it. It comes out so yummy ^_^

- Posted from my iPad

Lazy day

It was a breezy, lazy day, almost like summer today. After Lee went home and I did my run with my dogs, I kind of just chilled out in the backyard with my iPad. It was too nice to stay inside. Around noon, mom decided to go to the butcher, so I went with her. It's been awhile since we have had fresh meat, not that we're pure meat eaters. We occasionally like have meat as the main part of our dinner rather than just an ingredient. After we got back from the butcher, Yvonne and Kyle came over and we hung out in the backyard and goofed off with the dogs ^_^ I will probably have a bruise later from where Jack collided with me on his way to fetch a pine cone o.o

Today I was out on iTunes and discovered iTunesU. So much cool stuff and courses ^_^ I think that I died and went to Heaven ^_^

- Posted from my iPad

Nets

This morning was very foggy. Foggy enough that they closed roads and things for safety. What was really cool was the spider webs in the tips of bushes and grass and tree branches. Normally you don't see them unless you're up close. But, because of the fog, they all collected the moisture out of the air and stood out. I thought it was cool how they all seemed to be built horizontal like trapeze safety nets. They weren't very big, about maybe 15-20cm at most. They kind of reminded me of Christmas decorations ^_^ Nature's Christmas in the Spring lol ^_^

Lee and I are continuing our Doctor Who marathon tonight after dinner. Mom won't be getting pizza tonight, so Lee and I are going to help her cook ^_^ This should prove very interesting lol ^_^

Spring is on its way

This morning, I noticed that the trees are sprouting bright green leaves in place of their dull brown-green ones. Mom's lilies are blossoming too. So much for Winter, Spring is near ^_^ Even the dragonflies and turtles know. They're out and playing at the ponds. Soon, Summer will be here and the beach will be wide open for the weekends! YaY! ^_^ Last summer, my friends and I did a cannon trip and camped out on an island. I hope we can do that again this year ^_^