Blog? What's a blog?

Do I even remember how to do this?  I'm not quite sure.

Hello, friends and family.  If anyone still reads this...

Anyway, my intentions were good.  I really did want to post weekly and I stuck with my blogging routine for a full semester.  But second semester picked up a lot and before I knew it, I hadn't updated my blog in months.  So here is the valuable lesson I have learned: blogging regularly and school are not compatible in my life right now.  However, finals are next week and after that I am on summer break, so I will have more time to blog--but I can't promise that I'll post regularly.  It's past the point where I can promise that, haha!

I think I'm getting back into the flow though.  I'll try to post some writing at some point this summer as well as other things.  Thanks for bearing with me,

Blue

Catching Fire

Being sick and on break last week, I didn't post.  I feel like a little kid making excuses every time I post here, sorry!  Today I have a movie review for you.  Here is my opinion on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

The actual love triangle dynamic, which is not accurate in the movies at all but much better in the new movie.

Beware: spoilers ahead!

I have read all three books in the Hunger Games series and have seen the first movie, which came out in March 2012.  The first movie was all right pretty close to the book but there were some differences that were pretty significant (Peeta didn't have his leg amputated, for instance).  But right now, I can honestly say that there is not one thing I didn't like about the Catching Fire movie.  You will hear no complaints about this movie from me. And the reason I'm reviewing this, though I could stop there, is because of why it was so good.  Director of the Percy Jackson movies, I'm looking at you.

First, it was 99% the same as the book.  Take note, directors who are not the perfect person known as Francis Lawrence. People want the movie to be an accurate representation of the book.  Aside from things they had to leave out in order for it to make sense with the first movie, and several things they added that made it better, like the reason for Gale's whipping (protecting someone being threatened by a Peacekeeper rather than poaching) and the little girl who told Katniss that she was going to volunteer for the next Hunger Games, just like Katniss had.  Bottom line: fans would rather have a longer movie (this one was about 2 and 1/2 hours) that is accurate than a short one that leaves too much out.

Also, Katniss had a personality.  In the first movie, she was fighting for her life most of the time. I get that. But she had so much more emotion (including some hilarious expressions during Johnanna Mason's famous elevator strip) in this movie.  Not to mention Jennifer Lawrence makes Katniss so believable. 

The other actors, old and new, were absolutely amazing.  Jena Malone (Johanna Mason), Sam Claflin (Finnick Odair),  Lynn Cohen (Mags), Amanda Plummer and Jeffrey Wright (Wiress and Beetee) were perfect.  Returning stars Josh Hutcherson and Woody Harrelson (Peeta and Haymitch) also did a wonderful job portraying their characters for a second time.  

I feel like I'm reviewing for a newspaper, bear with me though. Sorry for the gushing over the actors...but at least I'm not using a thousand exclamation marks, heart emoticons, and "omg"s, right?

My final word of praise is just for the entire thing together.  Much of the script was straight out of the book, which I loved, the film crew did an excellent job of capturing everything, the actors were so talented and really showed their characters, and overall it was hands-down the best book-to-movie adaptation I have ever seen, and most people I've talked to have said the same.  Fingers crossed I'll be able to see it again, this time with my dad!

Thanks for reading, everyone.  Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I'll try to remember to post again next week!

-Blue

Still Alive

Believe it or not, I'm actually still alive...even though I don't exactly feel like it today.  I'm a little tired. Well, maybe a lot.

Since high school started, I've learned a few things about studying and thought I would share. Here are my top 10 studying tips!

1. Listen to music.  It helps tune out other distractions, especially if it's instrumental or a song you don't know well.  Turn it to whatever volume you prefer: I like mine in the middle, because loud makes it hard to concentrate and when it's too soft I strain to listen instead of working.

2. Break.  The way I break up my studying is by doing homework for thirty minutes and breaking for anywhere between 5 and 15 minutes, depending on the amount of work I have.  During that time I go on instagram, tumblr, or I get up and walk around.

3. Ask for help.  Sometimes you don't have time to copy down the homework or don't understand the way the teacher explained the lesson.  Don't be afraid to ask a friend for help!  As long as you're not asking for the answer, only an explanation, it's not cheating.  My friends have helped me a ton by explaining things I don't understand.

4. Know what your teacher wants.  Let's be honest: if your teacher wants you to copy straight out of the book, you can do that.  If your teacher wants you to use your own words, do so.  Follow their preferences of how to do your homework and it can potentially create less work for you.

5. Study all week.  Test on Friday?  Start studying Monday or Tuesday.  You won't regret it.  There is nothing more stressful than doing an entire project or cramming for a test the night before--or worse, the morning of.  I've been there and can say it's awful.  If you study all week, you might not even have to study at all the day before!

6. Make time for yourself.  Maybe it sounds cliche or insignificant, but it's actually really important--especially if, like me, you get stressed easily.  Read a book, watch a movie, write a blog post (this one has been a work in progress for a few days)...do something for you at least once a day.  If that means waking up 15 minutes early or staying up 10 minutes late to take a little longer in the shower or write an email to a friend, it's worth it.

7. Weekends are for chilling out.  Do your weekend homework ON FRIDAY.  I always try to reserve Saturday and Sunday for family and friends.  Who wants to worry about homework on a beautiful Sunday afternoon?  Not me, for sure.

8. Push yourself, but know your limits.  Don't be afraid to do the maximum--in fact, go for it!  But if you don't have time or really can't think of enough information to write 10 pages, don't worry. Maybe you're really good at history but can't write fiction to save your life.  Make your history summary the maximum amount and be excited that you know the information!  Your short story is a minimum of 4 pages?  Try for 4 and a half and don't beat yourself up over it.

9. Eliminate distractions.  There is a mirror that I keep on my desk which serves as a handy tool for when I do my makeup in the morning, but once the music turns on and I start my homework, it's only useful for helping me think my life is a music video, and that's not great for my focus.  Now it has a spot on my dresser in the afternoon for this very reason.

10. It's okay to have bad days.  We all do and it's fine.  You might even have a bad week.  The math lesson didn't make sense and you got a C on the quiz, or your English homework fell out of your binder and is lying on your floor.  Most teachers are understanding and though they probably won't let you turn it in for full credit, if you're normally good about turning in your work they're not likely to get mad.

There should probably be an 11, which is don't blog while you should be working on homework, but this post was long overdue and I'm nearly done anyway.  Thanks for reading, everyone!  See you next week--and that's a promise, as it will be my Thanksgiving break.

Hopefully my iPhoto will be up and running again soon (we got a new computer, yay!) so there can be more than just me jabbering on forever.

-Blue

We're All Mad Here.

I thought there would be a whole post involved, but really we just had dinner and I hung out with friends.  It was fun, but my posts have been slacking big-time and this wouldn't make it much better.

When I went to Wonderland on Saturday it reminded me of that time I tried to write Alice's daughter falling into wonderland...

“Oh, bloody...I’m late!  They were expecting me to be there 20 minutes ago!” the rabbit said.  Then, he saw me, took out a pocket watch, and tapped it.
“My dream.  Is this a dream?” I asked under my breath, but I knew better.
He scampered off, and I tried to follow him.  He quickly vanished, however, and I had only the rustling in the bushes to follow.  I saw him dash around a tree, then I heard no more.  Tiptoeing over to the tree, I found a large hole.  Leaning down on my hands and knees, I called down, “Hello?  Mr. Rabbit?”  
Suddenly, a large chunk of ground crumbled from beneath my hand, and I tumbled down into the gap.

***

“Ahh!” I screamed as I fell, my dress flapping around (though luckily not flying up) and my shoes falling away into the darkness.  I saw all sorts of strange things, from a bookshelf to a piano that nearly took my head off to a floating tea set.  Down, down, down I flew, gravity playing with me while I shrieked and plummeted literally head over heels towards an unseen floor.

I'm pretty impressed with my use of "gravity playing with me" at age 11, but other parts of that story shall never see the light of day (fewer things are more embarrassing than the majority of my elementary school writing).

Hope you enjoyed this post, even though it was short.  Thought you might enjoy some dusty old Blue stuff, pre-Misadventures :)

-Blue

Busy Bee

My homecoming is today, and hopefully it will be super fun!  Sorry for not posting lately, we were in Los Angeles and I had lots of homework to make up for the days I was gone. I'll post about homecoming tomorrow--you'll get a full report :)

Thanks for being patient with me, everyone!

-Blue

Math Blogging

I tend to do most of my blogging after math tests, because we have extra time to do whatever (quiet) activity we want.  Also, blogger isn't blocked on the school's internet. 

I suppose that a life post is in order, because all of my posts have been school, school, and school.  Here is an update for you all!

Choir is fun, and I suppose it counts as school. But it doesn't feel like it. We had two concerts last weekend, thanks to everyone who came and to those who didn't, there's always the Christmas concert!

Hello, new followers!  I've never actually had followers on my personal blogs who are not my family.  What would you guys like to see?  Comment ideas. 

Halloween is coming up (how did it sneak up on us so fast?) and my current idea is to be a fox. And not because of "What Does the Fox Say"...I haven't even seen that video.  It's mostly because foxes are cool and it's a good idea that has been suggested by my friends.  Another suggestion was a pumpkin cat, but that might be a little hard to pull off.  My third option as of right now is to be genderswap Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes.  What are you gonna be for Halloween?

It doesn't feel like fall and it's mildly upsetting. Fall is supposed to mean sweaters and tea and rainy days but all we've gotten is 70-80 degree weather.  It's October, we shouldn't have to wear tank tops!

We had to write a short story for English class and if you want me to post it, I will.  It got 100% so maybe it's good enough for people to want to read.  Let me know :)

Finally, we have a four-day weekend which is awesome in so many ways.  Although I will most likely spend it babysitting my siblings and catching up on TV shows, maybe somehow human interaction will happen. 

Oh!  We're going on vacation next week, so I don't know if I'll be able to post.  If not, then I apologize in advance.  If so, then I'll just talk to y'all then!  And I apologize for the lack of pictures, it's a combination of me blogging from the iPad and my iPhoto refusing to open.  Dad is working on fixing it. 

Thanks for reading, everyone!  Have a great rest of the week :)

-Blue

One-Fourth

As of next week, we will be done with the first quarter of the school year!  I find that a little bit insane. Of course, all the teachers are cramming in as much homework as possible, as well as tests and projects that need to be done by the end of the quarter. This means that I have to write a paper, make a brochure on Ancient Greece, take the unit one history test, a literature test, and finish other assorted things in the next five(ish) days.  I just took my math quarter exam, and luckily it wasn't too hard...but it might be a little easier on the kids if everything wasn't crammed into the last week of the quarter! 

However, I really do like school.  I have great teachers, interesting subjects (mostly), and amazing friends to laugh with through it all.  So all in all, I think it's been a successful one-fourth of the school year.  Here's to three more that are just as great :)

I'll try to be back next week!  Things this month are going to be very crazy, though.  I promise to at least post short things, like this, as often as I can. 

Until next time!

-Blue