I'M NOT ACTUALLY DEAD!!! Big surprise, eh? I've just kinda been ignoring this part of the internet, since stuff has happened since my return from Mexico.

For one: I HAVE A ROOM MATE!!! Whom I've been getting to know through the wonders of e-mail. Actually, since residence assignments came out I've been buzzing around Facebook "meeting" people. It's really hard when they're all from Nova Scotia and 3 hours ahead of you.

For two: Calculus is like a Dementor. Sucks out your soul and leaves you an empty shell that can no longer enjoy life, happiness, warmth, etc.

For three: Grad planning. Grad dresses (eee! I HAVE MINE! I JUST NEED SHOES!!). Staving off the "suggestions" of male classmates that I (and the other girls) bring a date to the grad. I don't want to, you can't make me take that.

For four: Criminal Minds can be really addicting.

For five: Writing. Yes, it is happening. Things shall be posted to the internet when the aforementioned calculus spits my soul (and free time) back up.

So, yes, I am alive. Beware...

I have returned from the lovely heat of Mexico to the frozen wastes of Canada (a total over-exaggeration, I suppose, BUT IT WAS SNOWING. GRRRR)(and it wasn't even that lovely powdery type...it was just hail pretending to be snow)

Pictures and such will be up once I get my camera back. My brothers...I don't know what they did, but it's dead. Won't respond to the charger, won't even turn on. But that is a woe for another day.

I am back, I am tanned, I have craploads of homework to catch up on. But for now, sleep.

Yes, that's right. I leave crazy early tomorrow morning for a week in Ixtalpa, Mexico. The cell will be switched off and left on the kitchen counter, and I'll be disconnected from the internets for a while. So e-mails naturally won't be answered, comments won't be replied to, etc.

So, things I'm hoping to accomplish in Mexico (besides insane amounts of relaxing, swimming, sunning)

First off, all those






will hopefully be read. Or at least started on. I want to get a few finished, though. I've been putting off Pride and Prejudice since December. (the bottom 2 are star gazing books, which I'm also hoping to do)

Secondly, writing. Yes, I always say this. But this time, I'm meaning it. Being at a resort may just inspire me to write some Stoked stuff. And if I can get that done, then I can finish up some other projects (Jealousy) that's been sitting on my hard drive/random notebooks for the last few months.



Alright, and other new besides Mexico! The Athletic director at our school is good friends with Carla Macleod, who was a defender on Team Canada's female hockey team for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and Torino 2006. And today, she came to our school, bringing with her gold medals from both these 2010 Vancouver Winter games and from Torino.

She gave a little presentation about her history playing hockey (she didn't make the national team the first 2 times she tried out. The first time, they had to jump the boards and she was just a little too short to do that. Second time, she crashed and broke an ankle). Then, she talked about Torino and just casually pulled that gold medal out of her pocket and passed it around. Then followed the amazing, wonderful, completely amazing gold medal from this year.

It was quite the experience being able to hold that medal, one of the 14 record breaking ones we won this year. It sounds kinda cheesy to say that it gives you this amazing sense of nationalism, but it actually does. (and that thing is heavy!). Thing 2 got a picture with her, him wearing the Vancouver medal around his neck. But I got her autograph:




(there it is, proudly displayed on my desk!)

in the next 1.5 hours:

1) finish these dratted bio questions that have taken up half my day. Admittedly, most of it was me procrastinating.

2) Try those bloody calc questions about related rates and max/min values. 

3) PACK FOR MEXICO, HECK YA!!!! (lesse--sandals, shorts, bathing suit, tanks, skirts, books, sunscreen, writing. Toque? HAHAHA I defy you winter!)

4) Find all parts of the basketball uniform that will be worn for the offiicial last time tomorrow. (seriously, what? Where have those last 8 years of my life gone? Why are they finished already?) 

I have seen Billy Talent live in Concert.

I have seen Great Big Sea live in concert.

I have seen the Tragically Hip live in concert.

All I have left to see is U2, and then my concert list of life will be complete.

Billy Talent, by the way, rocked! The lead singer has such amazing stage presence and can be so funny (slapping Dallas Green on the ass-<3) (crazy dancing and strutting- <3)! Plus, he gave a shout-out to Iggy and Team Canada, which just made the 'Dome go crazy! I just wish I hadn't been sick, though, because yelling at the top of your lungs results in spastic coughing fits and a completely demolished throat.

...I wish I could give this epic breakdown of the concert, but it's midnight and I have a long bus drive tomorrow for basketball provincials. And I haven't even packed yet.

Just putting these here for now. Actual typed entry coming tomorrow.

FANDOM: Class of the Titans
PAIRING: Archie/Atlanta
SUMMARY:  19/50 of the 1sentence prompts (set Alpha)

( Read more... )

I have recieved my math and ELA diploma marks back! And all the stressing and spazzing over the ELA one, the one you legitametly have no way to study for? Not in the least productive, but totally worth it. Because the final mark? 93%. Ninety-freakin'-three percent. I honestly was not expecting a mark this good. In my wildest dreams, I was expecting maybe an 80. But a 93? Yeah, I'm blown away and over the moon. That diploma mark only bumped my final mark in English down from a 96% to a 95%. 

I didn't completely bomb math either, like I thought I would. Diploma mark was 86%, bringing my mark to 89%. Not bad, considering it's math.

Next thing to do? Find the freakin' address for Acadia's admissions department and send my transcript off.

Ok, enough about life. Now, a fun thing: I haven't updated any of my ff.net stories since August. Yowch. That isn't to say I haven't been working on them- I have. Just at a rate of about 2 words per day. (I'm not the most efficient, focussed person, ya know?). But I feel kinda bad for leaving people hanging with no reason why. No, this is not a reason. This is just a sort of thank you for being patient.

So, for the benefit of at least one ff.net person who follows me here (THANK YOU!), an upcoming-ish snippet for the next chapter of Jealousy. And I really do mean snippet. Hopefully it satisfies something?

( It's been a long, long, time coming...and it's not even finished... )
Now to go finish studying my brain....

Axa101, being of arguably sound and stable mind, is diluted by 10 pages of math homework that she missed the note for and couldn't get from anyone else, spanish homework that chances are no one else will do and want to copy from her, 10 chem "review" questions that are mangling her very soul, worry about the bio homework she didn't learn about until today (due to missing the class because of basketball) and therefore doesn't have the textbook for, stories she hasn't updated since August that are weighing on her conscience, and a severely messed up sleep schedule.

Calculate how much of her is actually left. The mark you get on this will count for 200% of your next week.




......I really just need to sleep. For the next month. In a humongous bed with 9 million pillows, a very warm comforter, and a cat that will curl up beside me. And Mark Salling

As of...6 and 3/4 hours ago, I am officially done writing essays at the high school level. Next up: university level. (Wait, what?)

The diploma, despite what my panic attacks and general spazz outs to various people would indicate, wasn't actually that bad. The topic we got wasn't something convoluted like: "Consider the ideas of self-respect and injustice in your chosen piece of work. What does the creator suggest the role self-respect plays when an individual faces injustice?". That right there? That's evil. (at least to me. Devote English lovers could probably rattle off at least 3 books and/or plays that would apply to that topic perfectly)

No, our topic was something a little more simple. "Consider the ways in which individuals pursue or compromise happiness." Not easier, per se, but much better than I could have hoped for. With a topic like that, you don't have to grasp at straws to fit your chosen piece of literature to the topic


The one thing I'm now worried about is the mark itself. Yeah, the topic seemed fairly simple, but when in a situation like the diploma, I tend to get a little stressed out. The Personal Response aspect (which people say is the easiest) actually took more time then I thought, and I tried rewriting it 3 separate times. (The final result? Something that starts out as an analytical essay but turns into something resembling me comparing myself to one of the characters. I'm not entirely sure what to call that.)

The actual Analytical essay didn't take as long as I thought, though.  Considering the idea of happiness in Wuthering Heights was actually a fairly simple task Unfortunately, being who I be, pressure got to me. And when that happens, my vocabulary tends to degrade itself. And the thesaurus is out because I'll probably try to find synonyms for purple. So I'm really hoping the mark for vocabulary doesn't sink too far down.

Next up: Math and English part B (which you legitimately can't study for. Truefax)
In other news: Glee? It's taking over my life. And I've only seen one episode. (But c'mon! It has singing. And Mark Salling! Who could resist?)

In one week, I will be (nearly) finished with high shool English. But it's kind of a double edged sword. On the one hand: YAY! I will have officially completed 1 and a half senior high courses.

On the other hand: NO!! ANOTHER FREAKIN' DIPLOMA.
 
For those of you who don't know, diploma's are the Alberta governments way of testing us on what we know. And you get one for every core subject (Math, English, Social, Chemistry, Bio, and Physics) It's our big final test, worth 50% of our final mark in that class. Which, if you ask me, is too high a percentage. For English I've spent the last 3 years reading and analyzing books, poems, and movies.  Heck, in the last 5 months, I've read Wuthering Heights, King Lear, and Night. All quite heavy books(and plays) (But for Night, I'm talking more in terms of content than actual weight). And yet, those 5 months, with their many essays, journals, and assignments,  are only worth half of my final mark.
 
Meanwhile, some unknown teacher in Edmonton is going to read 2 essays that I write in the span of 3 hours next Thursday. 2 essays that I can only partially prepare for, since I have no clue what the topic is going to be. And whatever mark I get on those is going to be worth another 30% of my final mark.

(the last 20 percent comes from the other half of the English diploma, which is basically a multiple choice reading comprehension. I'm not as worried for that one. Yet...)

There's a bit more math that goes into marking the diploma's and coming up with the other half of my final mark, but that's the gist of it. Part A (writing) is worth 30%, Part B (Multiple choice) is worth 20%, and whatever I get in my actual class is the other 50%. Like I said, unfair. Half my mark is determined from 6 high-pressure hours.

(It was like that for the Social diploma last year. I practically bombed the writing portion, since I despised the 2 topics we could choose from. The only thing that rescued my mark was the multiple choice part)

Plus, English is a big, important mark. Unless (and even if) you're going into a specialized course, English is the one course you need to have a certain mark in.

Besides that, it also means NO MORE ENGLISH. Which means no more awesome English teacher, no more in-depth discussions of The Matrix. No more half-assed acting of King Lear.  No more of her stories about how her husband can't bring her to movie theaters anymore.

Ergh. So, that is my "one week 'till" thing. Next week, there will be posts in which I do nothing but post whatever comes up when I slam the keyboard hard enough. Such is my fear.