How I did on 2011 goals

It's almost the new year, so before I set any new resolutions, I'm going to see how I've done this year on my old ones:

Write 30 poems, 5 short stories, and 1 novel

According to what I've posted on my poetry blog, I've only written 10 poems, and 2 of those were originally written when I was 15. I started a few short stories, but haven't finished them, and I attempted to write a novel in NaNoWriMo, but that didn't completely work. Well, can't say I didn't try.

Learn about queries and associating with the publishing industry

Nope, sorry. Too busy this year.

Be part of 1 or 2 writing groups. One online, and perhaps one offline.
Well, I joined an offline writing group that meets on Saturdays at my local library, so that's good.

Attend writing conventions and events
Didn't.

Shake hands with more famous authors than I did last year

Wish I could have.

Meet at least 3 of my Blogger friends.
I'm sad that I didn't do this. ~,~

Maintain To-Read list

It's hard enough to remember to review what I have already read, let alone keep track what I want to read in the future.

Read at least 10 TOTALLY AWESOME books

Oh, sure I did that! I may not have read as much as I did in 2010, but I can always manage to read 10 awesome books... It's hard to decide which books were the best, though, because I've read lots of series this year. So here's what I'd say the best ones were: 1~The Book Thief, 2~Anything by James Patterson, particularly the "Maximum Ride" series, 3~I am the Messenger, 4~Anything by Dan Savage, 5~Remember Me?, 6~The "Absolute Boyfriend" series, 7~ The "Chobits" series, 8~Room, 9~Half Brother, 10~Anything by Alex Sanchez, particularly the "Rainbow Boys" trilogy.

Become I-level player in Cashflow
This didn't work out, because I somehow couldn't log into the game anymore, and anyway, I stopped getting addicted to the game. Good riddance.

Change blog layout every 2 months
Well, I wasn't always diligent about this one. I've got a new setup now, but I had my old one for quite a few months.

See snow
No. ~,~ Hopefully in 2012!!!

Become a money-magnet
I've made some extra money, I suppose.

Avoid movie previews
Haha, this was impossible to keep up.

Finish all 10 Toastmaster Speeches

Yes, thank goodness I did this. ^,^

Make at least 1 person (besides myself) happy every day.

No way I could keep track of whether I kept this goal or not. I'd like to believe I did...

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

God, I love this Christmas song. I posted it last year, I realize, but this one's with lyrics. Sing along!~~~I know I've been off blogging for a long time. December has been such a busy and exciting month. It's the last one we have in 2011, and I'm going to make every day of it count.
First of all, I promised weeks ago that I'd talk about how fun the Harry Potter theme park was. Well... what can I say? It was awesome! Here are just a few pictures to illustrate what a wonderful time we had!


Magically, the sky was clear all day. We walked around "Hogsmeade", saw all the shops, went on all the rides multiple times (HP & the Forbidden Journey was the BEST!), and got a taste of Bertie Botts Beans and butterbeer. Now THAT was certainly an interesting taste. Bitter and fizzy on the tongue at first, like actual beer (except no alchohol), but then a sweet after-taste that makes you want to have a little more of it. The 3 of us shared one cup, which was good, because we couldn't finish it all. :P We bought Adam a wand in honor of his 14th birthday, a nice little souvenir.
~~~
Adam's birthday came and went. Now the winter holidays are upon us! Christmas, Hannukah, with New Year fast approaching...

Guess what, guys? My sister has just set off on a road trip tonight with her boyfriend of a couple of months, Aaron, to hang out with his family for Christmas weekend. Yes, you have read that correctly. My twin, Annette, has a boyfriend! And we are going to be separated by many many miles, for the first time in our 20 years of life, for a few whole days! !_! I know I'll get through it fine, and Christmas will be over before I know it. But I'm seriously going to miss her... I hope she has an awesome time with Aaron... (Sorry I never mentioned him, btw. They are such a great couple, tho.)
~~~
In other news, this is also the anniversary of a special friendship of mine that has lasted for 3 years so far. I don't doubt that it will last many more years to come.

Even though he is busy at his job pretty much every day, and he doesn't blog anymore (so sad), and I don't hear from him all that much, Jacoby Nielsen is still one of my best friends in the world. That will never change. I know that I wouldn't be the same person I am today if I didn't have this guy in my life. For that, I will always love him, no matter where life takes us. ^_^ We have talked a little about seeing each other sometime next year, him visiting me Florida and me going to Utah after. No idea when this visit will take place, or what we will do together, but I KNOW it's going to happen.

You might not get to read this, Jacoby (at least not right away), but I'm doing it anyway... WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's my annual shoutout to you, my friend. ^_~ I hope you know that I miss you lots, and that you'll always have a special place in my heart.

So to Annette, Jacoby, and all you wonderful people out there, have yourself a merry little Chirstmas.

Love from your silly girl, Bettina.

Almost over

Wow, it looks November is almost finished. Just one more day, and it will officially be the beginning of the end. One more month, and the year of 2011 will be at a close...

Time is rushing by too fast! Ah, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
NaNoWriMo is almost over now. I unfortunately didn't get to finish the novel I'd set myself. In fact, there have been days at a time when I didn't work on it at all. I've stopped bothering to update my word count on the official NaNo website. But I dont mind. I've actually been keeping a running total of not just words that I've written towards my novel, but EVERYTHING I've written this month. Anything I've typed out or hand-written on paper, I've kept a tally on. That includes journal entries, lists, blog posts, emails, chat conversations, yes, even my Facebook statuses and comments! I know it's not the normal way of doing things, but I really just wanted to see if, even if I didn't write a real novel, with a plot and characters and everything, whether I could write a "novel" with things I write every day.

I'll give the final "official" count tomorrow, because there are a few blog post besides this one that I want to fit in, but if my calculations are correct I have gone well past 45k words. It may not be 50k, but it sure is close to it! So I'm proud. And I'm also proud of the fact that I didn't publically give up this year. ^_^

Hmm... I'm thinking about whether I should mention something now or just wait to talk about it in better detail later... Ah, what the heck. I'll just say it now:

I'm going to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter next week!!! :D

Meet the Little Fellow

My younger brother, Adam, wanted my sister and I to help him make a movie yesterday. So we agreed. He loves Charlie Chaplin, so he came up with a little skit in which he's trying to get a drink from a water fountain. He got all dressed up like Chaplin, we drove him to the park, and together we brought his vision to life.

I did all the filming, while Annette and Adam co-directed and co-starred in the short. Then Annette handled the editing (using Adobe Premiere Pro), we threw in some old-fasioned ragtime music, and voila! We uploaded it to YouTube. ^_^

The first time we set music to the video, we didn't know how perfectly the ragtime would sync to every cut and scene! We didn't have to do any editing at all where the music was concerned. It was such an OMG moment... you just had to be there, I guess...

Because of this video, Adam now has his own YouTube channel! He'll probably make more awesome videos like this, so please subscribe to him! And leave a comment on the video, maybe...

Thanks!

Happy 11-11-11

Haha, let's just pretend I wrote this at 11:11.

This is a very interesting date for many reasons. For example:

It is the last binary date we will ever see again! At lease until January 1, 2100. We would all be senior citezens if we lived up to then! In binary, 111111 equals 63.

This is also the last date in which the month, day, and year all have the same numbers, until December 12, 2012.

I found out that there is a horror/ thriller movie actually titled "11-11-11" that, believe it or not, is being released in theaters today! How many calendar dates can say that had a film made about them? ("2012" doesn't count, because that's a whole year.)


Another film coming out today is Adam Sandler's "Jack and Jill," which my family got to be extras in an entire year ago! I didn't blog about it, because I wasn't supposed to mention it, but I swear I'm telling the truth! I have a friend who can vouch for me. ^,~ No, I didn't get to meet Adam Sandler, but I did spend a whole day on a huge luxury cruise ship. I have no idea whether any of us made it into the movie. We could just have ended up on the cutting room floor. But maybe there is a glimpse of one of us lounging by the pool, or of my dad being a bartender or something. Keep your eyes peeled, whenever you see it. (If you happen to know what I look like, of course. =P)

Today is the birthday of Leonardo DiCaprio (37), Demi Moore (49) and Stanley Tucci (51). Happy birthday, everyone!. ^_^

Another cool thing about numbers composed of ones: if you multiply them by themselves, you get a palindromic number, or a number that reads the same forwards and backwards! Allow me to demonstrate:

1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12,321
1,111 x 1,111 = 1,234,321
11,111 x 11,111 = 123,454,321
Etcetera and so on and so forth. Awesome, huh? It works all the way up to
1,111,111,111 x 1,111,111,111 = 12,345,678,900,987,654,321

This doesn't have anything to do with 11, really, but here is another incredible math curiosity that I don't have to type out!

Thank you for letting me indulge in a little nerdiness. Hahaha. Hope you make today special in your own way!

Lots and lots of writing this month!

Yes, yes, I caved. I'm Definitely gonna do NaNoWriMo this month. I'm quite excited about it, actually! ^_^

The first day I experimented by using Write or Die to see how quickly I could turn out my necessary 1666 words (the per day quota needed to build a 50k word novel in 30 days) and it only took me 45 minutes. So I know that if I just put in a little bit of writing time every day, I can really do this thing. Whoo! Just have to keep plugging away.

This morning I experimented with a desktop application called OmmWriter, which is supposed to be a word processor that plays soothing background music and turns the keyboard taps into other musical sounds. Basically it keeps you from being distracted and makes you focus on what you're writing. It was nice, but I don't think it really improved my writing ability any. I just wrote about 600 words, actually... But I'm not worried. I can catch up on myself later.

I'm not thinking too much about winning that big word goal. I figure that with all the other writing I'm doing this month besides my "novel", such as blogging, participating in the forums, personal journaling, and poems and stuff, I can make it up to 50,000 words in a jiffy. Yeah, im couting the words I type, AND the words I physically write on paper. It may not be official, but still. ^_^

I believe on Friday I might meet a few fellow NaNoWriMo people for a "write-in", whatever that is. I'm looking forward to spending time with some fellow writers, maybe seeing some of the faces I saw on Monday, perhaps making new friends.

Well, as you can see, I'm going to be busy busy busy!

Pretty in... Magenta! ^_~

I didn't expect much this year, but Halloween was pretty fun. In the costume contest at our local town center (still attending that party after so many years) Adam won in the 10 to 13 year-old category as Captain Jack Sparrow, and I placed 2nd in the 14 and up (or adult) category as Pretty in Pink, once again. Yay! (Annette didn't win anything, but she makes a cute pirate girl, no? ^_~)

I had fun strutting myself around the room, smiling to everyone like I was a model. The umbrella just completes the look, I think.

After the contest was over, and I was enjoying the various game booths (whether you win them or not, you always get some candy), a little girl dressed as a cute witch tapped my leg and asked me, "are you Lady Gaga?" I just found that so adorable! :D

I must say, I probably wouldn't have placed if it hadn't been for my mom. She put so much effort into helping me look pretty in my pink getup. In fact, she's the one who found that wig in the first place and suggested that I dress all in pink! So thank you, mom. ^_~

Besides dressing up and indulging in some candy, I got into the holiday spirit by watching 3 classic scary movies with my brother and sister this week: The Wolf Man, Frankenstein, and Dracula.
In my opinion, each film was better than last. (Actually, that's not saying much. =P) None of the movies were as scary as I thought they would be. The stories were kind of bland and slow-paced, most of the characters were dull and forgettable, but there is something about them that makes them so intriguing to watch. Maybe it was the camera work, or the locations/ sets, or the timelessness of the pictures. Looking at these movies from a historical standpoint, you wonder, did these films actually scare and thrill people when they were released? I felt like I was looking through a time capsule, almost.

Dracula was my favorite of the monster movies we saw. The special effects may have been kind of lame (fake bats on strings, come on!), and they never showed the Count in the act of actually drinking blood, but Bela Lugosi gave a grand, commanding performance, as did the guy who played Van Helsing. Also, one of the characters who stood out most in my mind was Dracula's servant, Renfield. That guy was waaaay cuckoo in the head! I think he was scarier, in a way, than Dracula, because he had such a mad manner and look in his eyes.

Well, now that Halloween is over, and November has begun, I think it is time to whip out my pencil! (Hehe, or perhaps my typing fingers. =P)

On writing

I'm not sure what brought about this change in me, but I have noticed that I don't blog nearly as often as I used to. Not only don't I blog, but I also really don't do any writing of any sort. I haven't had the inspiration to write new poems or take on short story side projects in a really long time. I can blame it on a busy schedule and my lazy habits, but I inevitably have to own up to the hard facts.

I like to think of myself as a writer. A person who loves to write. So why am I not writing?This weekend, I decided that I would dive back into the writing world, head first, even if the water is slightly cold at first splash.

I visited a small weekly writing group at my library yesterday (VERY small. It was just my sister, me, and 3 other people) and I had a nice enough time.

Also this morning I got an email from NaNoWriMo (I've been getting emails from them ever since I joined and gave up in 2009) that said there would be a "kick-off NaNo" party at our Barnes & Noble. Up until now, I hadn't even considered spending November to work on a 50,000 word novel, but I really wanted to make friends with other writers, so I went to B&N anyway. There were about a dozen people who came. We all introduced ourselves and talked about the novels we intended to write, or had already written. Everyone was slightly shy, but extremely friendly and imaginative. I suppose that's a pretty universal trait of a writer. Creative minds living inside un-assuming exteriors...

Because of this little meeting, I rejoined the website and have been having fun visiting the forums on this lazy Sunday. I'm still debating in my mind whether I want to actually go the whole 50,000 word hog, or simply resolve to be a better writer this month... Well, those words sure aren't going to write themselves.In other news, Halloween is tomorrow! What are you going as? I dressed up the other day, and I think I had an awesome costume! I call myself Magenta, or Pretty in Pink. ^_~In other other news, please check out the website Damn You, Auto correct. It makes for hours of tear-filled laughs. LOL!!!!!

Gray skies are gonna clear up...

Most of this week has been absolutely dismal weather. Dark, gloomy, rainy, dull. But it appears as if the next few days will be much better. Yay! Finally I will be able to take long walks outside, enjoy the fresh, clean, after-rain air, and feel that deliciously cool autumn breeze.

So yes, for something as simple and random as the weather, I am putting on a happy face. ^_^

As we greet the new year...

For those unaware, today is Rosh Hashannah, the Jewish new year. Last night, while my family and were saying blessings over candles (you do that a lot on Jewish holidays, btw), I heard one of the most beautiful prayers ever. It sounded just like a poem, the way it flowed, and it perfectly embodies the spirit of Rosh Hashannah. I'm going to post it here, so you can see what I mean...

Eternal God, as the new year begins,
We have come together to pray as a family,
Yet each of us is strangely solitary in your presence.

Each of us comes before You with special hopes and dreams,
Each of us has personal worries and concerns,
Each of us has a prayer no one else can utter,
Each of us brings praise no one else can offer,
Each of us feels a joy no one else can share,
Each of us has regrets which others cannot know.

And so we pray:
If we are weary, give us strength.
If we are discouraged, give us hope.
If we have forgotten how to pray, remind us.
If we have been careless of time, forgive us.

If our hearts have been chilled by indifference,
Warm them with Your mercy, and inspire us
With the glowing spirit of this holy night.

Amen.

Trippy optical illusion

What do you guys see? Or think you see, in this fractal? O_O

Late into the night...

Pottermore.com is finally getting good now! YES! ^_^

I finally bought stuff in Diagon Alley (including a Tabby cat to be my pet!), my wand "chose" me, and I got sorted into a Hogwarts house! *sing-songy voice* And guess which house I'm in?!

That's right! GRYFFINDOR, baby!!!

I'm sad that I couldn't join Rainy in Ravenclaw (I believe that's where she is). =( But maybe sometime we can have a wizard duel or something, eh? ^,~

I know it's really late... like, I'm playing this in the middle of the night right now, that's how late it is!... but the site stopped crashing so much, since it's night. And I couldn't sleep anyway! Anyway, I'm pretty psyched. ^_^ I've already practiced a couple of spells (press keys in certain sequence) and right now I'm going to learn how to brew a potion! Whoo!

I'm finally beginning to understand what makes this site fun. It's part reading and learning very interesting stuff from JKR herself, but it's also decently interactive. Mostly you search and collect items, like potion ingredients, books, galleons (I love finding money!), and other interesting quirky objects, but you are also able to practice spells, brew cauldrons, and have wizard duels with friends. (I'm still unsure how friend interaction really works... they really shouldn't be called friends. More like classmates.)

So yeah, if anyone decides to join up for Pottermore when it releases to the general public in October, keep in mind that you have to be very patient. After Chapter 5, however, the experience gets a lot more fun, I promise.

(btw, I was stuck on Chap. 5 for a long time, because I was using our iPad, but it's best when you use a computer to explore this site. Trust me.)

How I like Pottermore so far

Like I said I would, I've been exploring this site some. Or, at least, I've been trying to. It's extremely bothersome how often the site crashes! Honestly, it's been like this all day. >_< But when I am able to gain access, it is a very interesting site... I would call it a kind of game, only I'm still trying to learn the rules.
It seems like it takes you on a journey through each of the books, right from the beginning, at the Sorceror's Stone. Browsing through the chapters one by one is cool, because you get interesting facts about characters and things. For example, when learning about the Dursleys, I read an interesting backstory about how Vernon and Petunia met and got married, and how they interacted with the Potters (or, rather, didn't). I won't say anymore. ^_~ You can see for yourself in October.
As of now, I've managed to get to chapter 5, right after the point when Harry learns he's a wizard from Hagrid. This is when he gets to Diagon Alley. There's no interesting animation or sound effects to this experience, something that it seems lots of users have complained about. My account isn't that exciting yet, but I'm guessing that will change when I "buy" stuff in Diagon Alley, get into Hogwarts, and get sorted into a house. I hope that happens quickly!

I'm not sure how friends are supposed to work in Pottermore world, but so far I got 3 friend requests. I don't know why they want to be friends with me, but okay, they can be my friends. Maybe things will be clearer when I get to Hogwarts? I hope so. (Be my friend, Rainy! I requested you!)

That's it for today. I wanted to post about so much more, but I'm pretty tired now, so I'll blog about the other stuff tomorrow. Good night, then!

Merlin's beard, I'm in!!!

I finally got the email that says I can use Pottermore.com! My "owl", if you will. Well, it's about time. I mean, I was one of the lucky few to get registered early well over a month ago!

Well, it's too late to explore Hogwarts tonight. Don't want Filch to catch me out of bed. Lol. I'll try to write a post about it soon, though. Stay tuned! ^_~

*Hi-five, Rainy! You and I made it, girl!*

Sorry for procrastinating. *_*

I meant to do this a lot earlier, but... you know how it is. I have no excuses.

But now I've put the video of my 10th Toastmaster speech up here! Hope you enjoy it.

(You might have to turn the volume up a bit. =P)

Also, I suppose while I'm at it, I'll go ahead and include the video of my 9th speech, "Why we need friends." This was taken with a different video camera, so the picture is a bit thin. The volume is great, though. It was a pretty decent speech, if I say so myself, and I want you guys to see it. Let me know what you think, my friends!

Procrastinating procrastination

Tonight I'm going to give my 10th Toastmaster speech ever. I am really proud of myself for being so close to achieving this goal. It only took me 2 years to do it, too. =P

Guess what I'll be talking about? Procrastination. Yes, what an utterly appropriate topic for me...

I believe I've done a pretty good job with writing it. Now if only I could keep myself from procrastinating actually rehearsing it! Ooh, like now, for instance. What am I doing, blogging about the fact that I'm procrastinating when this is, in itself, a form of putting my speech off! >_<

It's even harder to resist procrastinating since I've been using the iPad an awful lot. It's easy to jump from web page to web page, check my emails, see silly videos on YouTube. I actually saw a few cute ones about procrastination, including this song.

It is also extremely hard to focus on my toastmaster speech, because tonight something very exciting is happening! I'll give you 3 guesses, and the first 2 don't count.

Glee is coming back!!! ^_^

Yesterday, on a whim, I started a brand new blog just for reviewing episodes of Glee. I hope you guys will give it a look see.

Argh, but I am still distracting myself on purpose! No more thinking of glee and blogging and YouTube videos. I need to get cracking!!!

Got a haircut!

Today's the day! A week after my birthday, I finally get one of my wishes granted: I got myself a new look! A short and layered do, just like I wanted! Annette got a trim too, but she didn't feel like getting so much hair taken off as I did.

Here's a "before" shot of me, with my old long and wavy hair:

Then the "after" shot, 2 or so hours later.

Still me, only with a shorter, blow-dried, and layered cut.

Big difference, no? ^_^

Now you can tell us twins apart easier than ever before! Yay!

That's not why I wanted to get a haircut, btw, to be different from Annette. I've just felt for a while like I needed a different look, to go with my new age.

What do you think? Do I look older or younger with my new hair? I think I look like a really funky, punky, totally awesome chick. LOL! Or maybe that's just me with this particular t-shirt... which I got for my birthday, btw, thank you very much. ^_^

We bought an iPad2!!!

You may not believe this, but I am actually writing this post with my sister's and my brand spanking new iPad2!!!

This is as part of our ongoing 20th birthday celebration, in which we got new clothes, new notebooks, new sets of earphones, the game Apples-to-Apples, and Amazon gift card money. Now I'm finally a proud owner of an Apple tablet!!! it is so unbelievable, and easy to use!

Thank you, dad, for being as generous as you are. I'm glad we waited to get the next generation iPad now.

btw, I also got the gift of talking with both people I'd wished to have a conversation with the other day, so thank you, thank you, thank you, for making my day.

This may be a corny joke, but even though I'm twenty now, I hope I'll never stop looking, thinking and acting a teen. You know why? Because I'm Be-TEEN-ah! Lol.

Again, I'd like to stress that this entire post was written via iPad. Thank you, technology! Good night, everybody! ^_^

Boston, plus b-day wishes!

Wow, a whole month since my last post. Boy, does time fly by quickly! O,o

So I've recently come back from my annual Boston trip with my family, which was lots of fun. The weather was absolutely beautiful (which was very lucky for us, because there was the big hurricane, Irene. You guys hear about that?), we went to all our favorite places, we did lots of people-watching, I hung out at the library a lot (I posted some cool book reviews on my book blog that I think you should check out. ^_~), we stayed at some good friends' houses when we were on the road, and it was awesome!

I probably helped my parents with the driving more than I've ever done before in these road trips. I think I drove over 600 miles in total this trip! Definitely something to be proud of. ^_^

---

Also, you guys should probably know this, but I'll just remind you... tomorrow (September 7th) is Annette's and my 20th birthday.

^___^ Whooooooo-hoooooooooooooooo!!!!! ^___^

I think I mentioned that a few posts back... but now it's closer than ever! I have no idea what we are actually going to do on our special day, though I believe our friends from the beach will throw us some kind of party on the weekend.

I've got a lot of birthday wishes this year. Some of them are pretty silly and outlandish, but I just wanted to put them out there.

• A new haircut. Preferably a short, layered style. Something like this: I enjoy my long hair, but I would just like to have a new look for a while, and then grow it out again. Anyway, if I get it, it will be one more way for people to tell my twin and I apart, because Annette doesn't want one. ^,~
• An iPad 2. Because it's so awesome! I would love to own a tablet, because they're so fun to use! ^_^ My sister and I share a laptop, which is fine, but sometimes I like to surf the web on my own, have chats with friends and such. I find myself borrowing my brother's computer way too often. O_o (Sorry, Adam.) If I find myself getting a new computer, I really don't care what type of machine it is, because I'll very much appreciate it. But... it doesn't hurt to wish for the best, does it?
• The DVD collection of Glee, both the first and second seasons. If you know me well, you know that I'm a major Gleek. ^,^ I am extremely excited for the new season, which I believe starts at the end of August!!! *squee*! I think it would be extremely awesome to own the entire series, though... I know I can borrow the DVDs from the library any time I want, but I think it would be so great to actually have them, you know? Of course, anything Glee-related, like music, clothes or other memorabilia, would be cool as well!
• Always my good ol' stand-by, a new notebook. Nothing too fancy. It doesn't have to have an elaborate cover or anything. Just something I can journal in, because as much as I like to blog, I simply loooooove to write. ^_^
• To see a couple of special friends of mine, perhaps using Skype. I am extremely close with both of them, but also very far apart. One of them you may know about, because I've talked about him a lot in the past... but there's another I haven't mentioned on this blog before... Sorry, I'm not saying anymore. ^,~ You guys know who you are. I don't care if it's one or the other, or even both. It will make me super happy to see you again.

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Shoes!

This is from an email that was forwarded to me. Nothing but pictures of these kooky shoes, apparently made by this Israeli shoe designer. I'm not the kind of girl who is obsessed with footwear, but you gotta admit... they are hilarious!!! XD These are just a few of my favorites.

I'm so happy. ^_^

Sorry it's been a while since I last posted, guys. I thought I'd write something today because I'm feeling so bright today, and I've got some great news to share.

For one thing, it is now August! Just another month until September, which is my birthday month! Guess how old I'll be? 20 years old! Hahaha! ^,^ Naturally, this will mean goodbye to all my teen years, which is sad, because they have been among the best years of my life... especially the recent ones. ~_~

Still, I am very excited! A new decade! Bring it on! I feel I am ready to be another year older! (That's a great feeling, because I don't always feel that way, despite my liking my birthday so much. =P) I'll try to be patient as I can... but I can hardly wait. ^_^

For another, yesterday I finally got a phone call from one of my best friends ever, Jacoby!!! ^___^ I was so happy to hear from him again! It had been more than 2 weeks since our last communication, since before I left for camp! We had so much fun catching up, and telling our stories... so awesome.

Long distance relationships aren't easy, but if you're truly good friends with each other, it is always worth it when you hear from them. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, as they say. I really miss you, my friend, and very much hope you get internet again, very soon!
Also yesterday, I got an email from the woman Annette and I sold our cockatiels to. She said Sasha and Sammy were very comfortable in their new home, and she attached some great pictures, showing how happy they were! ^,^ It was so great, seeing our old boys again. I miss them sometimes... but I know they're in good hands.

(Click photos to make them bigger.)

Oh, and one last reason to celebrate. I am now an early registrant of Pottermore.com! Yay!!!(Again, click on the images to make it bigger. That way, you can read everything.)
From July 31st to August 6, there has been a beta-test promotion for being a part of this site, before it opens to the general public in October. And I was finally able to sneak my way into it on the 6th day! Can you believe it? ^_^

It was pretty hard, too. I tried every day for a while. There's only a limited time every day when that window of opportunity is open, and you don't know when that time is! Then they give you a riddle, to which the answer is always a number. You paste the answer to the end of a special url, which takes you to a random Harry Potter website, and hunt for the "Magic Quill." If you can do all this in that special time allocated, you are then permitted to register.

Well, finally I succeeded! Whoo! I am a virtual witch! Haha!

Well, maybe not quite yet...
Turns out the website is still not quite up and running yet. It says I have to wait a few more weeks, and I'll get my Welcome email. *sigh* I hope it's worth it

Anyway, I'm pretty excited! I feel so lucky! ^,^ When I finally get that email, I bet it'll be like I'm getting the owl from Hogwarts or something. When I first started the books, I dreamed about that as a kid... So here's to continuing to live a part of my childhood! ^_^

If you think you can shake it, try your luck tomorrow, and see if you can get signed up early. You only have one last day! Otherwise, I'll see you in October. ^,~