Tag Archives: fun

Decisions, Decisions

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I have a really cool idea for one of my plot bunnies, the one where the two best friends make a pact.  I haven’t looked over my notes or anything, and it’s been a good 2 months or so since I’ve worked on it.  But I still want to go with the idea that she has some supernatural power or something and it ends up killing her.  The only problem is deciding which thing I want to go with.

I have 3 categories- magical beasts and creatures, superpowers, and other.  I want it to be somwhat realistic…or at the very least, the teensiest bit plausible.  Like fairie blood is toxic when mixed with human blood.  Or she can heal people but it shortens her life a little each time she does it.  I definitely want to go with something like that…something that’s she’s done her whole life, something she does not knowing it’s killing her each time she does it, or some kind of magical blood that is deadly when combined with another type of blood.  It’s definitely intriguing, and I’m not sure which one I like more.  Maybe I can find some way to combine both, because depending on whatever creature I go with, there are probably special abilities that go along with it.  I have lists, I just need to do a little more research on some of the creatures to see if anything seems super-interesting.

This is why I like to wing it, as much as possible, because I hate deciding on things!  I know I could change it later, but my stupid inner editor starts harping on me about making sure it’s the right decision, because you don’t want to make the wrong one.  And just when I think she’s gone…she randomly appears!

I think today, I’m going to try working on this plot bunny, and see if I can actually decide on something!

I Got In!

Posted in Harry Potter by

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!

I Love The 90’s

Posted in Music by

I like all kinds of music, but 90’s music is one of my favorites!  One of the local radio stations here in San Diego had a best of the 90’s weekend, and so I just had to listen to it!  This is my list of essential 90’s music:

  • N*Sync:  I have a soft spot for boy bands, in particular the Backstreet Boys, so no 90’s weekend is complete without boy bands!
  • Alternative and Grunge: it was a really important part of the 90’s, and I heard a lot of bands like Garbage, No Doubt and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  And no 90’s weekend is complete without Nirvana- it always seems like Smells Like Teen Spirit is at the top of any best songs of the 90’s list.
  • Will Smith: when he actually had a music career!  Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It is an essential 90’s song, and it’s another fun song.
  •  Insane In The Brain: I love this song, and it’s so fun!  It’s a fun song is something I’ll probably be saying a lot.  Back to the song really quick, it’s insanely catchy.
  • Nothing Compares To You: It’s not a 90’s weekend until you hear Sinead O’Connor!  Of course, this is the only song of hers I know, so I wouldn’t know anything else of hers, but it’s an essential part of any 90’s playlist.
  • New Kids On The Block and Color Me Badd: I have no idea why they’re not included with the other boy bands, but whatever.  Hangin’ Tough and I Wanna Sex You Up…why I like those songs, I have no clue. 
  • MMMBop: I love this song.  So much, in fact, that I’ll randomly sing the chorus.
  • Macarena: Oh, macarena.  The macarena was annoying, yes, but oh so fun!  They played it, but I missed them playing it.  😦
  • Spice Girls: I’ve mentioned a bunch of boy bands, it’s only right I mention the Spice Girls.  Girl power!  Sadly, I never heard them play the Spice Girls…and I have no idea what they were thinking.

I noticed they tended to repeat certain songs and artists.  I was sad I didn’t hear Aqua, Right Said Fred, and Kris Kross. At least they played TLC.  Waterfalls is a good song.  Actually, there were a bunch of songs I never heard, but since I wasn’t glued to the radio for the whole weekend, it’s possible they played it when I wasn’t listening…if they played them at all. 

It was fun listening to 90’s music almost all weekend, and I found myself singing along quite frequently.  Have a great day!

Yesterday Was A Smashing Day

Posted in Camp NaNo by

In terms of writing, yesterday was a really good day.  I’m currently at 7,759 words, well ahead of where I should be.  Yesterday was just one of those days where I couldn’t stop writing, and I figured I might as well take advantage of it.  I’m definitely going to keep up the pace, if I can, because you never know when you’ll need those extra words.  Maybe I can use the time to work on my other stuff…

There’s all kinds of things in store for this novel and I’ve even added a few new characters.  I’m hoping I can remember them all.  If not, I’ll pretend like I remember their names. 

According to the stats page, I wrote 3,871 words today!  So if I keep up the same pace (or at least somthing very similar), then I’m set to finish on August 19. 

Like that would actually happen…not in a million years would I finish *that* early.  It’s likely, but…I tend to be a procrastinator, and if I do finish early, it’s likely to be a day or two early, not close to 2 weeks early. 

On to…baking!  It’s been way too hot to bake, although I could default to the middle of the night, which isn’t too warm.  And honestly, I prefer baking in the middle of the night anyway.  But lately, I’ve been feeling…weird.  And I haven’t really felt like it anyway, but I want to, since I’ll have to return the cookbooks I have soon.  Unless I can renew them, of course, which I’ll try to do. 

I think that’s it for today, so have a good one!

Ready For Another Session!

Posted in Camp NaNo, Harry Potter by

I have a very vague idea for my August novel, so I’m just going to write and see what happens.  It’ll be fun, I think, as long as I don’t get bored or anything.  Even if I do get bored, I have a list of back-ups.  And this month, we get to be a part of cabins, which seem to be a more toned down form of the NaNo forums. 

I’m currently at 3,888 words, and I’m having no problem keeping things moving.  I doubt it’ll last very long, but if I can keep up this pace, I should be good for the rest of the week!

And Pottermore!  I got in!  On the first day!  I checked it sometime after midnight, and the clue was up, so I figured it out and got my registration email, and validated!  Now I’m waiting for the welcome email, which will come sometime this summer.  I can’t believe I finally got my letter to Hogwarts!  I’ve seen some sneak peaks of Pottermore, and it looks amazing!  I’m seriously excited about Pottermore!  I even did a happy dance after registering, and I did another one after I validated!  I’m pretty sure I’ll be talking it about it once I get my welcome letter.  I’m really excited, can you tell by all the exclamation points?  I even love my username, which is SpiritCharm15, so if anyone’s going to be doing Pottermore at some point, look me up!

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

Harry Potter Round-up!

Posted in Harry Potter by

Today’s Harry Potter related post will be about some of my favorite Harry Potter things!

  • The Last Muggle: It’s a great blog, about this girl reading the Harry Potter series for the very first time.  I haven’t read all the way back to the beginning, but she shares her predictions about the books, and all sorts of other thoughts about Harry Potter.
  • The Harry Potter Lexicon: It has everything you need to know about the world of Harry Potter.  From magical beasts to the characters we know and love, and everything in between, it’s a great resource, and helped me out a lot back in November.
  • The Harry Potter Companion: Another really cool website!  It has really cool artwork, and covers the Harry Potter series chapter-by-chapter.  Plus, there are essays to read.
  • Mugglenet: It’s one of several sites devoted to Harry Potter, and the news surrounding the books, movies, and (I think) the videogames.
  • Potter Puppet Pals: I’ve only seen The Mysterious Ticking Noise and Wizard Swears, both of which are hilarious, and the 2 videos that introduced me to Potter Puppet Pals. Maybe I should watch those other videos.
  • Starkid Potter: They are the geniuses behind A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel.  The soundtracks are amazing, and there are so many great lines (Daddy, I have mastered the use of the potty!), plus they’re hilarious.  How can you not love the scarf of sexual preference, or Draco rolling around on the floor?
  • Fanfiction: I like fanfiction, and I am not ashamed to admit it.  I’ve said before that Harry Potter fanfiction is the first thing I wrote, and I still write it.  I don’t read it as much as I used to, but I love seeing the different ideas fans come up with and ways people were inspired by the books.  Yes, there are some not-so-good stories out there, and yes, you have to sift through that to find the things you like, but I’m fan (of fanfiction, heeheehee).
  • Wizard Rock: I know I’ve beaten wrock over your heads, but I’m growing to love it more and more.  I love the creativity of it, and it’s very good at calming me down.  Plus, it’s fun to listen to, and whenever I listen to it, I wanted to start singing and dancing.  In fact, as I write this, I’m listen to Oliver Boyd and The Remembralls.  And it’s so hard to not love wrock when the genre as a whole has done several compilation albums for charity!

So, I’ve mentioned wizard rock a lot, and some are probably really familiar to HP fans, but I hope you find something new and interesting to look at!

Random Thoughts About The Harry Potter Series

Posted in General by

Since the last movie came out, a few things about the series have wandered their way into my head.  The movie review will come sometime this week, once I’ve seen the movie for a second time.  So, onto the things I’ve wondered.

  • Why didn’t Mrs. Weasley get a job?  Seriously, this randomly popped into my head over the weekeend.  The Weasley’s are known for being poor, and if money was such an issue, why didn’t Mrs. Weasley go to work?  I get that she has 7 kids to raise, and so it wouldn’t make a lot of sense for her to get a job, but once Ginny went off to Hogwarts, why not go to work?  It’s very odd, especially since she seems to be a stay-at-home mom.  Granted, it’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but you really do have to wonder…
  • Getting a job as a teacher: How exactly does this work in the wizarding world?  It seems like a position for life- once you get a teaching position, it’s yours until you die or retire.  I’m curious as to how one would go about being a professor.  You clearly need to have a pretty decent knowledge of the subject you want to teach, but exactly how long do you need to study, say, transfiguration, before you can teach it?  Do you get a job where you use potions or charms or whatever on a regular basis, and then go into teaching?  This is really random, and something I can probably figure out myself, but still, I find it rather interesting.  As for substitute teaching, Snape did teach a DADA class during PoA, and Professor Grubbly-Plank filled in for Hagrid several times, so is there a pool of teachers they can choose from?  Calling in sick clearly isn’t an issue, since a lot of the problems can be solved by magic, but when it can’t, how do they know who to choose as a substitute? 
  • Speaking of school, we’ve only heard of a handful of other schools, the most notable being Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.  There’s a school in the U.S., and Bill wrote to a friend in Brazil, so there’s a school there, but it would seem like there aren’t very many wizarding schools.  It does make sense there aren’t many, as the wizarding population is a lot smaller than the muggle one.  I’d like to know more about the different wizarding schools, like how many are in Europe, and the differences between the different schools.
  • I’m also curious about the muggle-born students.  We know someone comes to speak to them and their families when they get their letter, and I would assume that the person sent to the muggle-born students would should them to Diagon Alley, explain the monetary system, and help them with their school supplies.  The thing I wonder about is the paper-trail.  It can be explained by their families as going away to boarding school, but are there records of their grades and such for the muggle world?  I don’t know why there would be, because why would a student want to go back to the muggle world after knowing about magic?  But if they were to be expelled and have their wand snapped, or sent back to the muggle world for whatever reason, how would they prove that they had an education?  Hogwarts doesn’t exist to most of Britain, so they’d have a tough time explaining transfiguration and potions to the muggles.

That’s all I managed to think of, but I know there’s a lot more that I forgot to mention!  I’m sure I’ll think of them later, so I may have to do another post on this.

Yesterday Was Hilarious

Posted in Camp NaNo by

It’s time to share some of the funny stuff I’ve accidentally written so far!  I managed to get all caught up, which made yesterday even better!  So here we go:

  • “so why are you here earler?” aske gibbs.  (I know gibbs is a man of few words, but you’d think he’d be one to speak clearly.)
  • “There is ziva,” tim whispered. “Mcgee’s hjere, and he looks happy wjch might not last very long if he’s sees us at his desk.”  (I feel the need to bang my head against a wall repeatedly after noticing I typed this.)
  • “You know about abby, boss,” tony said.  “She things somethings wrong.” (I should hope Gibbs knows about Abby.  They’ve worked together for years now).
  • “If I don’t have to hide someone, then I won’t.”  (I would hope you’re not hiding anyone…)
  • “I could use another set of eyes,” abgy said.   “Time are you doing anything important?” (I’ve come up with a new character!  Meet Time, Tim’s evil twin.)
  • “Chasing down leads bossy,” gibbs sais.  (This made me laugh.)

The best thing I noticed from yesterday was the fact that I named my novel July 2010!  Which made me laugh, because I laugh at everything.  I’m going to keep it as is, because it’s too funny to change!  Yesterday’s final wordcount was 8344, and hopefully I can stay on track.

Things Are Getting Interesting!

Posted in Camp NaNo by

Here’s my Camp NaNo update!  I’m still behind, but slowly catching up. 

It’s certainly getting interesting, and Gibbs is certainly suspicious of DiNozzo and Vance.  He also knows they met with SecNav, and doesn’t believe the answers Vance and DiNozzo gave him.  I’ve narrowed down who I think the mole is to 3 people, so that helps a lot.  Plus, I have a few other things that I’ve written down.  Unfortunately, I keep coming up with more questions, so I’ll try to solve as many of those as I can.  I have come up with a few ideas that are very plausible, so I’ll have to work on those a little more. 

I haven’t mentioned my word count yet, which is 3386, putting me a day behind (according to my handy-dandy spreadsheet), so I definitely have to write as much as I can in order to catch up.  If I can add 53 words, then I should be okay.  But if I so happen to write more than that, I’ll be pretty happy.  In fact, if I can write as much as I can everyday, I should be good. 

I also have plenty of typos to share- we’re on day four, and there are a bunch of them.  They really are entertaining, and they become even more funny when I write when I’m tired. 

I think that’s it for today, so happy July 4th everyone!

Food Update Plus Harry Potter!

Posted in Food, General by

I didn’t cook nearly as much as I had hoped, but at least I made a couple things.

Brown Butter Blondies

I made Brown Butter Blondies, which I found over at My Baking Addiction.  They were pretty good, although I’m not the biggest fan of butterscotch.  It was also my first time making blondies, and I’m definitely making them again.  I don’t know if I’ll use this particular again soon, although I probably will just to get rid of the butterscotch chips.

Rotini With Salsa Di Limone

I also made Rotini with Salsa di Limone, which I found over at the food network.  I didn’t have any tomatoes, so I opted not to use them, but it still came out yummy.  I guess you can’t really call it Salsa di Limone, since there’s no tomatoes in it, but the oil and the cheese and the lemon made it yummy!  After spending some time recently watching the food network, I’ve decided that I like Giada.  I checked out a couple of her books from the library, and I’ll probably review those in the next few weeks.

And of course, I have to talk about Harry Potter!  I finally got my tickets for it- I had a slight change in plans for it though.  I was going to go with friends, but I waited too long to get tickets at the theater we were going to, so they sold out.  😦  But I still want to go at midnight, since it’s the last Harry Potter movie ever, and if there’s a good time to see a midnight movie for the first time, it’s going to be for Harry Potter!  So I’m going with my mom instead.  I’ll try and get some pictures.  At the very least, I’ll bribe my mom with cookies or something to get her to take a picture of me, because I’ll be going in costume!  I’m super excited!  So excited, in fact, that I may see it twice, which is something I so rarely do.