Wheee!

Today is a good day, and I feel verbose. There's no point in feeling verbose if you can't talk, so here's a random blog post all about how happy I'm feeling.

That and other things, by the way.

I have 624... or whatever... books on my GoodReads to-read list.

This is a really scary number. I've officially passed the "100-books-past-500-books" point. I think once you pass that, there is very little chance you'll get below 500 ever again. Ever. Each book leads to another fifteen books. Each person you know might have loved or hated a certain book... and then you have to read that book yourself, to find out why.

Since I have... 5 books to read and little time in which to accomplish the feat (we leave Sydney, and a great deal of books behind, at 8am on the 16th), I've made a plan.

I'll be reading a few books, prioritizing others, and setting lots of time limits in order to accomplish it. Vitamin-R, a new Mac application my wonderful daddy bought for me, will be helping. A lot.

Reading is going well. It's really strange/comforting to be taking notes while I read. For some reason, I feel a lot better about the fact that I might actually remember what I'm reading. On the other hand, I'm using up my notebook, and I can't carry around a notebook and a book and a pen around all the time.

This will have to be figured out. Even if my handwriting sucks, I tend to prefer handwriting to typing when I'm reading. It's more... simple, especially when I'm reading on a screen. Writing, on the other hand, is much simpler when I'm typing. I'm faster that way.[397 words

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I feel really bouncy for absolutely no reason, and my head hurts a bit from trying to remember all the books I'm going to simply have to read now.

Does anyone else get this? It should be universal, I suffer from it so much. I have allusions to a billion different writers and books running around my head, along with a very, very certain-sure feeling that I simply have to read Ulysses now.

Back to How To Read Literature Like a Professor, Macbeth, and The Witch of Portobello! Wish me luck. Perhaps I might even start one of the last two tonight!

—

But I promised updates:

April 22^nd (for me… for the rest of the world it will be April 21^st at ten AM, to April 22^nd at ten AM), I'll be participating in You'll Love This One!'s group Toppler.

The point of a toppler is to read books that are already on your shelves. To facilitate reading, there are certain awards which you can receive, from the most ridiculous to the most interesting.

For example, in the February Toppler (theme: classics), one award was for reading a book written during or before 1^st century BC. In April (theme: read books you've wanted to for quite some time), one award is for reading a book in a new way. I have a fantastic idea for how I'm going to read The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway. I won't say a word now, though.

The fact that it's on a Sunday, that I told my dad the toppler would be on the 21^st, and the idea that this particular one is of a 24-hour variety (thus necessitating a loong day spent at home) makes my parents wonder, yet again, exactly from whose side of the family I descend. It doesn't bother me. I'm going to enjoy myself with Wuthering Heights, The Sun Also Rises, The Old Man and the Sea, and as much of Ulysses as I can.

The motivation for choosing these particular books is because of the awards. Otherwise, I'd be reading The Absentee, And Then There Were None, etc, which are for another challenge (which finishes June 30^th, and which I've read only 2/13 books for. Lovely, eh?). It's all planned out, particularly how I'll actually (hopefully) sleep in on Saturday.

And I'll be blogging during my break times— about a great deal of things, probably, including how tired I am. It will be very interesting, for posterity, to find out what on earth I was thinking at 17.

Er...

I must be a really bad person because I haven't even attempted to figure out what to post here for the past two months.

I'm not going to attempt to explain why (it's a mix of plain laziness and a lack of will), but I will say that I'm not going to worry about it.

I'm seventeen years old. I've decided I'm not going to bog my life down with things until I absolutely have to. I'm on the road trip of a lifetime and I'm not going to worry about anything except writing my worlds and reading all the books I can before college.

Which brings me to the fact that, even though I've finally almost-kind-of gotten out of the Riddle Rose rut I've been in since early January, and though I haven't read The Absentee, which has been on the to-read list since late January, I'm not going to worry about it.

Instead, I'm going to focus on finishing the books I've picked up in New Zealand backpacking camp book exchanges. These are the greatest inventions known to mankind.

And I'm going to focus on reviewing those books.

And then I'm going to figure out how to make them qualify as proper blog posts.

Or, in another turn of events, I'm going to finish Riddle Rose. And then I'm going to drop it for a while, perhaps pick it back up in a year or two when I feel properly fortified enough with forgetfulness to read it through. When I finish Riddle Rose, possibly by the end of April, I'm going to work on Pirate Prince. And when I finish that, possibly by the end of May, I'm going to get ready to write a proper novelette. I'm going to aim for 60,000 words for Camp NaNoWriMo, I'm going to figure out what works for me best-- I'm not going to plan the ending, I'm not even going to plan out the first chapter-- just a few characters and a basic plot line. Once I write the first chapter, I'll figure out what happens next. I might even blog about the writing of it.

Or, perhaps, I'll just stare at my laptop screen and reread the PDFs I have on it. It may not be a particularly productive use of time, but... I'm still seventeen, and I won't have the time to do this when I'm eighteen next time this year.

I'll be in college. I still have no idea what I want to study-- perhaps something with education or development. It seems so much easier now to just head off to college than it was five months ago.

So?

What's the fate of this blog going to be?

- Temporary updates on my reading life, rants on reading life, ideas as to why I want to read so many books, books people should read, books I've read and reviews of them... etc.

- Temporary updates on my writing life, rants on writing life, rants as to why I think I can actually write a story... story ideas, possible other stuff.

- Temporary updates on life in general-- like stuff I'm going to do with it.

101 Random Things About Me

Since Bouchra over at Pink, Purple and Fuchsia did this… and I thought it was awesome, here's my own list!

1. I'm a mother hen according to my main Tae Kwon Do instructor.
2. I'm a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
3. I'm an Eastern Orthodox Christian.
4. I speak Romanian fluently.
5. I was born in Romania.
6. I was born six days before Christmas.
7. I get presents August 15^th for my name day, which basically means that I get celebrated because the Virgin Mary, who I was named after, has a holy day on the calendar. I also get a lot of calls from relatives. -_^
8. I'm ridiculously practical.
9. I'm a stickler for rules. I'll bend them every once in a while, but on my terms only. Seriously, a stickler.
10. I'm a chronic overachiever and planner.
11. I get really nervous before big events.
12. I like Easter more than Christmas.
13. I don't like decorating the Christmas tree at all.
14. I love listening to old music like Buddy Holly, The Beatles, ABBA, etc.
15. Anything with a sweet melody and sweet lyrics will be on my 'favorites' list.
16. I'm teaching myself French by reading Les Trois Mousquetaires.
17. I think 17 is a beautiful number, and not just because I turned 17 in 2011, but because 1 and 7 in combination are just… beautiful.
18. I'm most like my dad's grandmother in a lot of ways. (Awesome fact: she's 97 but looks 80.)
19. I like spring because of the tulips and the temperature.
20. I love tulips, but not the red or yellow ones.
21. From the age of ten to the age of fourteen, I was obsessed with creating genetic strings for made-up animals.
22. After 14, I became a tad more normal.
23. I participated in NaNo'08 at the age of 13, won in 19 days, and then wrote 100k in NaNo'09. Both books sucked. The last two NaNos I have not managed to finish by Nov 30. They sucked too. But less.
24. I've been on an airplane more times than I can count.
25. I love to read.
26. I read War and Peace for fun to procrastinate on studying for the ACT.
27. I got a 35/36 in ACT's reading section.
28. I used to like rabbits, then dogs, then horses. Now I like cats. They're the quietest and the sleepiest.
29. My legs are in an 'O' shape. It's annoying.
30. I drank orange juice almost every morning with a sandwich for years. Then we left America for the trip.
31. I'm really interested in how the mind works, and what people think about things.
32. I can't decide if I want to go to college in America or in Romania.
33. My life plan is going to college to be a doctor (psychiatrist, possibly) or a teacher before getting married to a bilingual and having 3-4 kids and homeschooling them. 
34. I like getting told what's wrong with my writing by people I don't know. It annoys me when people say it's 'perfect' because I know it's not true. Saying it's 'awesome,' though, bolsters my spirits.
35. I used to sulk all the time until my dad promised me the game Rush Hour for not sulking for a week. I haven't sulked since, and I played that game for perhaps a week. I lost one of the pieces at a friend's house.
36. I was a really skinny kid with big teeth and glasses. The days of my bangs were terrible.
37. I used to have hair down to my hips before my great-grandma told me it was too long.
38. Whatever my great-grandma comments on about me usually ends up changing (she told me I needed something red, I ended up buying a red jacket… and then an entire red outfit two years later… I got a haircut.)
39. I once hit 122 wpm. For about one millisecond. Usually, though, I write 50-70wpm. I can hit 80 if necessary.
40. I was homeschooled from kindergarten to second grade, skipped third, took fourth in a public school (as well as part of fifth), was unschooled until 7^th grade, and then was homeschooled from 8^th to 12^th grade. I taught myself for practically the last two-three years.
41. I'm the oldest grandchild of my paternal grandparents, as well as the oldest great-grandchild of my parental family.
42. I have a ridiculous amount of connections in Romania which I know nothing about.
43. I ramble about things I like, things I don't like, and things which annoy me. I barely talk at all about subjects in the middle.
44. I need deadlines.
45. I love romance novels.
46. I'm a hopeless romantic.
47. I love reading classics. 
48. Once I start reading something, it's hell getting me to give up on the book. I only did this three times in my entire collective memory.
49. One of my goals is to beat my dad's score of 350ish (300-400) books in a year. He was 17 when he did it… I'll be eighteen.
50. I lose interest in things pretty quickly.
51. I sold an online adoptable once for $100— I was approached about them and I sold them. I spent maybe $20 ordering the lines… and I've never made that big a profit since. On anything.
52. I'm frugal. Give me a box of chocolates, it'll be there a month later. Give me $100, it won't be spent for a while.
53. I love the library.
54. My laptop was an early sweet 16 gift. I paid for 33% of it without knowing.
55. I wrote 15k in a day once when I was 14, and I haven't beat that record since.
56. I don't actually mind bugs until they're within six inches of my person. Ants and ladybugs don't count.
57. I love groundfighting.
58. I'm a very 'hug' type of person.
59. My love language is 'words of affirmation' and then 'physical touch.' I couldn't care less about 'gift-giving' (books are awesome, though!) or acts of service (I am the one who can do it best!). But I do enjoy quality time, sometimes.
60. I do not understand the allure of video games and don't want to. 
61. I have trouble giving up control.
62. I can be suffocating. I'm not sure if that's changed yet or not.
63. I realized I 'had to be a doctor' when I realized I needed a high-paying job (relatively), and that I could only be a lawyer, doctor, or businesswoman. I couldn't stand being a lawyer (fighting all day!) or a business woman (marketing!), so I realized I had to be a doctor.
64. I love babies. I could live with a sleeping baby on my chest and a book.
65. I love little kids.
66. I'm more comfortable with guys than with girls because of the mean girl cliché.
67. Guys also seem more socially awkward than me, which is always a plus.
68. I don't understand Facebook. I wouldn't even be checking FB every day if it weren't for my writing group and going around the world.
69. I can lose hours surfing things I already know about on the internet.
70. I want to become polyphasic so badly. So I can read and write more.
71. I want to learn to cook, but never could because our kitchen is small.
72. I have a talent for wasting time.
73. I'm ridiculously practical. My favorite gifts are those I can use for years to come.
74. If I could be clean without showering… I'd never do it.
75. The pool isn't very interesting for me.
76. I used to play Petz 5 all the time. Then I grew up. Sometimes I wish I hadn't.
77. I'm extremely loyal.
78. If anyone attacks my family, I get really mean. Not rude… but cutting.
79. I was a nightmare before my birthday for most of my life. The past few years I've holed myself up before, though, to prevent myself from hurting anyone.
80. I don't get sick often. When I do get sick it's the runniest of runny noses and the worst of coughs.
81. I have one sister, 14 (she sings), and one brother, 12 (he… is awesome. He doesn't do much else).
82. My sister and I are absolutely completely total opposites.
83. I don't mind talking about normal life processes at all.
84. I can't stand talking about injuries— I get all empathetic and imaginative and it's… ugh.
85. If something looks like a human body part it's harder for me to eat it.
86. Sometimes I start wondering why I'm putting something into my mouth. Like cheese. Or chocolate.
87. I don't like things too sweet, too salty, too spicy… too anything, really. Chocolate is too sweet. 
88. I love pickles in brine. I hate pickles in vinegar.
89. I used to hate jeans, and then I loved them. Now I like my travel pants and my wrap-around skirt.
90. I could wear a shirt for a week without caring.
91. I love apples, but only certain kinds. And bananas. I used to hate bananas, but now I don't.
92. I stopped drinking milk at the age of five when, no matter how much honey I put into it, it still wasn't good. I still remember the incident and my dad telling me to stop and just drink it.
93. I don't understand the point of dairy any more.
94. I once ate an entire plate of green tomatoes so sour neither of my parents could stomach it. I was two years old.
95. I've never had a cell phone. I don't want one either.
96. I talk a lot when I'm happy. I also bounce and hug people.
97. I get the urge to tell people I love them when I'm happy. Then I have to stop and not say it because you never know if they'll take you seriously or not.
98. I tend to criticize people I know before I think about it.
99. I don't like big changes. I don't like schedule changes. I don't like big changes of plan.
100. I can't wait to get my own house. I've actually started planning it.
101. 101 random things looked much smaller to me from the other end of the list. I don't usually like lists, unless they're to-do lists.

Wow… 1776 words for… random things. AWESOME!