September!

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We’re in September now…and I have no idea what to do with myself.

I got so wrapped up in going to Camp that yesterday, I felt the need to add onto my story, which I didn’t.  Because I wasn’t sure what else to add, and I didn’t really feel like adding onto it.  So I wanted to write, I just didn’t feel like it.

November is two months away!  Goodness, is it really that time of year again?  I don’t know where the time has gone!  I suppose I should get reading, I still haven’t decided how much time I’m going to spend reading in November, or if I should read as much as I can this month and next month.  I’d like to not have to worry about reading 9 books during November, so if I add on a few extra books in the next couple months, I should be good.

Speaking of doing things during November, I still haven’t decided how much I’ll be cooking.  I will be making a couple things, but I’m debating whether I should make a bunch of stuff during October and freeze it, just in case.  I think this will be the year when I actually have a stockpile of snacks and stuff.  The key words, of course, are “I think.”  Because I tell myself I’m going to have snacks and that I’m going to cook in advance every single year, and I never do it.  If I were going to do it, this year will probably be it, and hopefully it’ll work out.

Actually, wasn’t the whole point of me cooking new things every month to find out what I should make during November?  I think it was, but I actually can’t remember!  Oh well, I have of things to make, and I think I’m going to work on a November one.  I’m set for September, and maybe October, but I definitely want some stuff that I can freeze well, so I can just stick in the freezer, and then take it out, and thaw it out and stuff.  That’s the plan anyway, hopefully it’ll work out.

That’s about it for today, I think, so have a great day!

Camp Is Over

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Yesterday, I finished camp!  I’m a winner, and I have mixed feelings about it being over.  I’m glad, because I’ve been writing a lot this summer, and I don’t know if I would have written much of anything otherwise.  I got some ideas out of my head, which narrowed down my list of ideas for November.  And I did get a lot of writing done, which is always good.  I’m relieved that it’s over, because of the writing I’ve done over the last couple months.  I like writing, don’t get me wrong, but writing everyday for two months…I’m not used to it.

It’ll be weird, not writing so much, but I’m going to need some of that energy for November, and now I can focus on side projects and planning plot bunnies.  I’m serious this time, I really am going to pick up the planning again, and I’ll do some writing.  Just not on the same level that I’ve been doing for the last couple months.  It’s like, Camp’s over, now what do I do?  Still, I liked going to Camp, and I proved (to myself, of course) that I can write at other times during the year, especially if I decide I’m going to do it.  But overall, it seems like I need some kind of event, like NaNo (the original NaNo) or a Camp NaNo, to do it.  Maybe I’ll try it at some random time and see if I can get to 50,000 words.  I certainly have enough ideas out there to do it.

I won with 50,282!  And here’s my winner icon, to prove I won:

I Won Camp NaNo In August!

That about wraps it up, I’ll be back tomorrow!

Why Is It So Warm?

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Goodness, it’s been a very warm summer.  It’s annoying, and all I want to do…is nothing!  Which is something I’ve been doing a lot of.

I’ve been writing, and I’m currently at 48,554, so I’ll be finished today!  Thank goodness.  As much as I love NaNo (and Camp NaNo too), I’ll be glad when I’m done.  I don’t know which is more exhausting, 2 straight months of NaNo or 3 novels in one month.  Maybe they’re on the same level…I don’t know exactly.

I’ve been going back and forth between the sims 3 and pottermore.  I’m still trying to get the hang of potions, but at least I have a couple of them down.  And all the comments on the website too!  It’s cool talking to people, and I’m definitely interested to see what they’ll be adding as each book comes out.  And the more time I spend there, the more I feel like a Hufflepuff.  Which I always was…so don’t huffle the puff!  Seriously…badgers are scary.  Don’t mess with us!

I think that’s it for today, so have a great day!

It’s Almost Over

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Camp will be over in a couple days, and I’m relieved.  I like writing, and I’m glad I got these 2 fanfics out of my head, but after 2 months of writing pretty much everyday, I’ll be glad to take a much needed break.  I’m at 46,717 right now, so just over 3,000 words and I’ll be done.

As for my other writing, I didn’t do any last week.  I’m not too worried about it, since I’ve been doing more than my fair share of writing.  And I kinda wanted a break from the other stuff I’ve been working on.

Honestly, I didn’t realize how draining writing everyday was until I did it for almost two straight months!  I feel drained, and it really hasn’t been on my mind.

Not much else has been going on, otherwise.  I’ve been doing some reading, but I’ve read so much this month, that I need a little break from that too.  I do have several books I’m reading, and I’m on a waiting list for a few others, a couple of which I’m waiting very impatiently for.  So next month, I’ll probably have quite a few book reviews too.

I think that’s all for now, so have a great day!

Fruits Basket, Volume 8

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Book: Fruits Basket, Volume 8

Pages: 192 (Paperback)

What Did I Think? In Volume 8, Hatsuharu destroys a classroom because he gets dumped by a member of the zodiac.  She ends up in the hospital with injuries.  We meet Ritsu, who worries a lot, and tends to freak out about everything.  Parent-teacher conferences are coming up, so everyone has to think about their plans for the future.  The Sohmas are particularly worried because the curse of the zodiac limits them.  Kyo, Yuki and Tohru celebrate the start of summer by going to a haunted house.  We also meet Rin, another Sohma, at the very end of the book.

I like that we get to meet a new Sohma every volume.  There are so many characters that it would be overwhelming, so the fact that she eases us into such a large family is a really good move on her part.  I also like the pacing of the series- it’s paced pretty evenly, and the plot moves along pretty well.

There’s the requisite fan art at the end, plus we have 2 pages devoted to 2 different years of the zodiac.  One page covers the year of the dragon, and the other page is about the year of the ox.  As usual, I like the artwork, and it something tht keeps getting better as the series progresses. 

Rating: Another 5 out of 5.  My love of Fruits Basket gets stronger with each volume.

Baking: From My Home To Yours

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Book: Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Pages/Format: 514/Hardcover

What I Thought: I kept hearing about this book on different food blogs I follow, including Tuesdays With Dorie, and I figured I might as well check it out from the library.

I loved the random tips scattered throughout the book, and in general, I liked how the the book was organized.  There was a breakfast sweets section, cookies, cakes, spoon desserts, and a few other sections I’m forgetting.  The only issue I had with the organization of the book was that each section had different subdivisions.  Like, the cookie section had one part for bars, and two different sections for cookies.  Actually, a better table of contents would have been helpful.  At the very least, each section could have had a listing of the different categories.

Another issue I had was her usage of the chocolate baking bars instead of cocoa powder and/or chocolate chips.  There’s nothing wrong with the bars, but spending a few minutes chopping up chocolate when I can just use a bag of chocolate chips?  Really?  Granted, she does offer chocolate chips as an option for some of the recipes, but why would I want to buy 12 ounces of chocolate (in bar form) when I can get the same amount in chocolate chips for the price of one bar?  I think she said that the quality of chocolate chips isn’t very good, which is why she prefers to use bars, but I haven’t noticed any difference between the 2.

Like I said a couple paragraphs ago, there were random tips scattered throughout the book, and those were pretty helpful.  With a lot of the recipes, there were different variations you could do, and it had instructions for how to freeze and store the desserts.

Rating: 4 out of 5.  There were a lot of good recipes, but I felt like the table of contents could have been better.  The amlount of recipes and the sheer number of variations and add-ins were slightly overwhelming.

Still, I definitely want to get my own copy, because I loved it.

I Got In!

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Yesterday was monumental…I got my Pottermore welcome letter!  I was checking my email (one of them, I have 2), and I was surprised to find an email from Pottermore.  I completely forgot that I had originally registered with my yahoo email; there were some weird issues going on the first day with Yahoo, and felt confused as to why I hadn’t gotten after an hour.  So I signed up with my gmail, got that confirmation email, and impatiently waited for my welcome email.  So imagine my surprise when I got my pottermore welcome letter!

I jumped up and down screaming, and calmed down long enough to log in.  I still wasn’t sure what to expect, but you go through the entire book chapter-by-chapter.  Within each chapter are “moments.”  And within the moments, you can collect items and galleons and you can click different things to learn more about the characters and places.

I’m really impressed with all the art: it’s beautiful, and whoever worked on the art did a fantastic job.  I have my wand, Cypress, 11 inches, Phoenix feather core, slightly springy.  I have a cat, and most importantly…

I’m a Hufflepuff!

I was hoping to be in Hufflepuff, and failing that, Ravenclaw would have been my second choice.  Gryffindor would have been disappointing, and Slytherin would have been a shock.  It’s nice to know that the House I feel the strongest attachment to is the house I ended up in.

For both the wand and the sorting, you answer a bunch of questions.  For the wand, I remember there being a question about my height and my eye color, and a few other random questions that I don’t remember.  For the sorting, some of the answers, you could pinpoint to certain houses, but there were others that were super random and you couldn’t attach them to any of the houses.  Or at least, I couldn’t.

It wasn’t as interactive as I thought, and certainly not in the way I was expecting.  The story itself (Philosopher’s Stone) wasn’t very interactive, but the wizard’s duel part seems to be pretty interactive.  And you get to make potions and practice spells!  And the common room and Great Hall seem to be a mix between Facebook and Twitter, although I’d say that it leans more towards facebook.  Some of the pages are a little awkward, which I’m hoping they change for the next 6 books.

I think that’s it for now, so have a great weekend!

Just, You Know, Writing

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I, of course, did some writing yesterday, and now that August is coming to a close, I’ve been trying to stay on target.  It’s working, and I’m definitely glossing over things at this point.  I don’t particularly care if I skip things over, because I’m skipping ahead to the action.  I’m throwing in more than a few placeholders in the event that I actually want to go back and edit this thing.

Doing NaNo two months in a row…it’s definitely different.  You think one NaNo, with 2 novels is hard, trying doing one novel two months in a row.  It’s a lot more exhausting doing it 2 months in a row, believe me.  I’m glad I got the 2 ideas out of my head, and I’m glad I did fanfiction both times.  I just wasn’t up to doing anything original, so I should be ready by November.  I’m ready for a break, and it’ll be nice working on my plot bunnies, which should be a lot easier to focus on because I won’t be focusing on writing…at least too much.

I’m at 40,367, and if I keep writing a couple hundred extra words, I’ll definitely finish early.  Finishing early is a slightly weird concept to me still, but it does happen every once in a while, and it’s a nice change from writing until an hour or two before midnight.  Plus, if I finish early, I don’t have to worry about something happening and not being able to get that wordcount in.  That’s, like, my biggest fear, so finishing early definitely minimizes that.

I’ll keep writing, and it’ll be fun crossing that finish line again.  And it’ll be a big relief too.

Fruits Basket, Volume 7

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Book: Fruits Basket, Volume 7 by Natsuki Takaya

Pages: 192 (Paperback)

My Thoughts: Here’s another review of the Fruits Basket series!  We’re now on Volume 7, where we get introduced to another member of the Chinese Zodiac!  We meet Hiro, who confronts Tohru, and he steals her mother’s photo.  Tohru gets it back with the help of Kyo and Momiji, and Kisa makes Hiro apologize.  Hiro distanced himself from Kisa because he told Akito that he liked Kisa.  Akito beats Kisa, and Hiro feels bad.  He tells Tohru that he wants to grow up faster so he can protect Kisa. 

We also learn how Tohru and Arisa meet for the first time and how they became friends.  Yuki’s fan club also make an appearance when they try to find out who will be on the student council with Yuki.

This is another great installment of Fruits Basket.  I don’t particularly care for Hiro, because he is pretty rude, but at least he knows he needs to mature.  Yuki’s fan club is always hilarious, but the president of the fan club is particularly interesting.  She seems to be in love with Yuki, even though she barely talks to him, and doesn’t want to pick her replacement.  I don’t know what to make of this, other than she, and the rest of the fan club, are particularly obsessed with Yuki.  And not only that, but they are pretty starstruck, and remind me of rabid fangirls that you’d see of some celebrity.

The artwork is great, the fanart at the end is cool, and in the sidenotes, we learn that Takaya had surgery on one of her hands, and chronicled her hospital stay.  They definitely add to the coolness that is Fruits Basket.

Rating: 5 out of 5.  It keeps getting better!

The Dreaming, Volume 2

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Book: The Dreaming, Volume 2 by Quennie Chan

Pages: 192 (Paperback)

My Thoughts: In volume 2, we learn more about the school’s history.  Classes are suspended indefinitely, after Millie’s body turned up in Volume 1.  Only 40 students are left behind at the school, plus Ms. Anu, the only teacher left at the school, and the vice-principal, Mrs. Skeener.  All of the girls who went missing (23) mysteriously show up, coming in from the bushlands.

I liked this volume a lot better than the first one, and found it moved a lot faster than volume 1.  It was definitely a lot more creepy than volume 1…and mostly importantly, we learned about the students that vanished.  The first group of students vanished when the school first opened, along with the headmistress at the time…and Mrs. Skeener was the sole survivor of that incident.  She lost her twin sister, and her aunt, who happened to be the headmistress.  This is why Mrs. Skeener didn’t want Amber and Jeannie to be there, especially since their aunt is the current headmistress and got them into the school.  We also learned that Ms. Anu went to the school, and had a friend who vanished. 

There’s all kinds of crazy connections going on, and I’m really curious as to how they’ll all play out. 

The artwork was about the same as it was in the first volume, and it’s definitely creepy, especially the way the school is in the middle of nowhere, and is surround by the bushland.  The school is definitely isolated, and it’s no surprise weird things happen, and that the school has a weird past.

My Rating: It gets a 4 out 5.  I’m really glad I decided to read this volume, and I can’t wait for the next one!