Back again!

This time I was in Wisconsin. xD

Anyway...apparently the U.S. Women's Gymnastics Team that won gold is now called the Fierce Five. Even better. xD

In other news...my forms for the semester program I'm attending arrived a few days ago. One of the questions asks, "What is your definition of a clean room?"

...

There is a reason why I often say that no one can look into my closet. I'm clinically OCD, but unfortunately my OCD tendencies DON'T extend to room cleaning.

Fortunately, there's one exception--when I have a roommate who isn't related to me. xD (Read: who's not my sister.)

Days until I leave: 24 O_O

THIS IS CRAZY. In 24 days, I will be going to live in another state for THREE WHOLE MONTHS. That's the longest I've ever been away from home without my family. I've really enjoyed my summer, but I'm looking forward to this program. It'll be a nice balance between classes and studying, free time, adventures (like camping and hiking and hot springs and museums and horseback riding and the like!), and work. ^_^

Sadly, I'll only have internet once a week, so if you guys want to talk to me, you'll have to be on Skype at a certain time every...Saturday, I think? I'll let you know.

Letters are also fine--I'll send you guys the address ^_^ Something tells me I'll be sending a LOT of mail. Fortunately, the program provides stamps! xD

In other news, I've started a new writing project. I know, I know...I'm already writing two novels, neither of which is very near completion. But I have a good feeling about this one. Here's a short excerpt, if you're interested:

They walked through the plain iron door, and Kat gasped. The place was beautiful. The floor was marble and covered in exquisitely ornate patterns and images. The Corinthian columns holding up the ceiling looked as though they had been brought straight from ancient Greece. A statue of a brave knight facing a dragon stood on a raised platform in the center of the room.
“That’s St. George,” her father told her, indicating the statue. Kat noticed that St. George was smiling benevolently as he raised his sword, and that the dragon looked ferocious and villainous, more so than any picture she had ever seen.
“What kind of dragon is that?” she asked curiously.
“Hm? Oh, that’s an English Captor Dragon. They died out a long time ago--as a matter of fact, the one in the sculpture? That was the last one.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes.” Her father grinned at her. “Hence why we have the sculpture of St. George here. It’s a great honor to rid the world forever of an entire breed of dragon.”


Hopefully I'll have a lot of this book finished by the time I leave. That is, if Pinterest doesn't eat me first. >_>

More to come later, probably.

That is all (for now). U_U

The Fab Five! ^_^

Testing, day one: COMPLETE.

It was surprisingly easy. The visiting master let us sit and rest a lot, which I very much appreciate. So far I haven't done the board breaking and whatnot, but all the hard stuff is tomorrow. v_v And tomorrow comes in less than an hour. So this probably won't be a very long post.

Anyway...what am I doing right now? I'm actually sitting on my living room floor, borrowing my sister's computer, and shouting with joy every time one of my favorite characters makes an appearance in From the Mouth of Elijah. I just bought it off of Amazon and I'm reading it with the Kindle Cloud Reader. I'm planning on purchasing a hard copy as well; I just didn't want to wait for shipping. v_v I'm very impatient. And the cost of my impatience was just $8, and I have an Amazon gift card (ironically given by the former principal of my old school, the one who drives the green Honda Accord, Jamie! xD)...so all is well! ^_^

Anyway (second "anyway"...) You might be wondering about the title of my post. I borrowed it from the U.S. Women's Gymnastics Team from this year's Olympics, a team of five fantastic athletes who are known as the "Fab Five". They...

(spoiler alert)...


(scroll down...)


.....won the team gold medal. I was so excited! ^_^

But anyway, at my karate studio, there are five of us testing for our second degree black belts. And the other day, I jokingly dubbed us the Fab Five. I told only my family, and my one friend. And voila, in the middle of the test today, the visiting master joked about us being the Fab Five.

Hence the post title. I love being on a sort of team with other people, cheering each other on and whatnot. It's so much fun!!!

Anyway...I really want to find out what happens in the book! =O I only bought it a bit ago, and after skipping the first chapter, which was the book preview that I read a LONG time ago, I continued on. I've read 42% total of the book now. v_v xD

So I'll post pictures and everything as soon as I can. Maybe I'll get my hands on some video, stick it on Youtube, and post it here. We'll see, I suppose!

Pray for all of us--the "Fab Five", as well as another person from our studio, who's testing for her third degree black belt! Tomorrow is going to be hard...

*yawn*

That is all. v_v

One. More. Day.

That's right. Tomorrow begins my test for second degree black belt.

What will this test consist of, you might ask? Well, that's a good question. And the answer is...

EVERYTHING I HAVE EVER LEARNED DURING MY KARATE TRAINING, AND THEN SOME.

I'll have to do some sparring, some board breaking, some running, and the many dreaded pushups and situps. v_v

I'm looking forward to the board breaking. Not so much the other stuff listed above. (Except the situps. Those are fine. xD)

Anyway...today I'm resting, because tomorrow begins the TORTURE. xD I pulled a muscle in my leg the other day, so I'm trying to let that heal, so I don't get hurt during the actual test.

Meanwhile, I'm reflecting on how fun it is to break boards.

As a matter of fact, I have a box full of boards in my closet, some broken, some not yet snapped in two. About five minutes ago, I wandered to the closet, pulled out a board, went to my dad's office, had him hold it, and broke it with an elbow strike.

Here's a picture. xD

Anyway...tomorrow I should be doing what's called a "three-station break". That means that I will have three groups of people (well, two groups and a set of cement blocks this time around) holding a total of four boards. I'll do two breaks of one board each, then one break of two boards placed on top of each other. It should be so much fun!!! ^_^ (I'll try to post a video tomorrow, if I can get one.)

So anyway...in other news, I'm spending my day watching the Olympics, and reading Echoes from the Edge and a book called "How Would You Move Mount Fuji?" (The latter is about the crazy questions job interviewers ask, puzzles and the like. It's quite interesting.) I had a dream last night that I'd just about finished writing my book...something which I'm afraid isn't true in real life. But that should be remedied soon!

*comes back to this post at 11:11 PM the next day* That is all. u_u

Home again ^_^

Progress report: 1 week, 3 days (I think) until my black belt test. v_v

Anyway...today I shall quickly fill you in on today's happenings, before moving on to the more pressing pieces of information, that is to say, my trip to Florida.

So today I went to the beach. It was really nice there; the sand was nice and warm, the water was...warm enough...and whatnot. I went boogie boarding instead of surfing today. I'll probably opt to surf more often than not now, though, despite the fact that I've been boogie boarding since I was about eight. The reason? Well...my boogie board has become a bit small. xD

Anyway...then I went home. I had only about ten or fifteen minutes to change into my karate uniform, because I needed to pick up a friend on the way to karate. I took four of the six classes offered today. The other two were spent eating dinner (salad and breadsticks, yum! xD), studying the written test questions I'll need to answer in *gulp* just over a week, and reading Beyond the Reflection's Edge by Bryan Davis.

(Side note...I still need to order From the Mouth of Elijah. It's on my to-do list for tomorrow. xD)

So now I am home, 180something pages into my book, so sore I can hardly walk. Yeah. xD

Anyway...I'm sure y'all want to hear about my several escapes from death. Death by lightning, no less. So here goes xD

For once we didn't really have many delays on the flights. That happens to us a lot...we get stuck at an airport for a while while they clean the plane, or wait for it to get there, or fix it, or something. v_v But this time we probably only had a half-hour delay where we were waiting for the plane. (The other delay was when we were already on the plane, and they were trying to sort something out with the caterers providing the food for the flight. Sitting in a plane seat when you're not going anywhere isn't very fun. Especially when your iPod is threatening to keel over and die at any moment. v_v)

So anyway...once we were in the air on the second leg of our flight, I caught sight of a beautiful, MASSIVE thunderstorm outside the window. It wasn't too far from the plane, lightning was flashing every few seconds...it was incredible! ^_^ I'm counting this as brush with death by lightning #1, considering we were flying in a metal plane, and we had to descend through some clouds to get to the airport, and whatnot. xD It wasn't as close of a brush with death as the other two times, as you will see!

So anyway...we start driving to the hotel. It's really late at night at this point...about 2am Florida time. And I decide to text my dear friend Jamie. And of course the first thing she says when I say "Greetings from Florida!" is along the lines of this:

"WHY AREN'T YOU IN BED?!"

(Not a direct quote. I don't have the iPad with me, so I can't check for the exact one. xD)

So I explained that we were driving to the hotel, and she says something like...

"Texting while driving? >=("

Thank you, Jamie, for providing me with a humorous outlook on driving through heavy rains in Florida in the middle of the night! xD

Anyway...

So we get to the hotel, check in, go to bed, et cetera. The next day we spent working on ye olde undisclosed projects (email me for more details if you'd like xD)...and the next day was the same...and the next...and the next.

Well, I wasn't working, more like watching and talking to the people we were working with. xD But it was fun!!!

So anyway...our first official day off is Saturday. So we decide to go to Sarasota and do some shopping and go to the beach.

Well, we do our shopping. And as we do, a thunderstorm starts up.

We're really hoping to go to the beach, though, so we all get into the car and drive there. (I was navigating...naturally, as I have very little skill with map reading, I managed to make a couple mistakes. Fortunately, we were using the iPad GPS, so I could follow the little "You are here!" thing. xD)

Finally, we get to the beach. It's supposed to be the most beautiful beach in the U.S. Apparently a tropical storm might've wiped out some of the beautiful, white cake batter powder like stuff that was once there. Because it's not particularly pretty, there's a lot of seaweed, and whatnot. xD

Anyway...we're hoping the thunderstorm doesn't come back, so we can enjoy the beach, maybe dip our feet in the water, et cetera.

That's when I notice my sister and my mom's hair standing on end.

Then the hair on my arms starts standing on end.

Every book and article I've ever read on the subject states that at this point, the wisest thing to do is to make sure you are as low to the ground as possible. LIGHTNING IS COMING.

But we disregard the advice a little bit, and hightail it back to the car. xD

There you have it, folks. Brush with death by lightning #2! xD

So the next day, we were going to have the day mostly off. But early Saturday we got a phone call. Apparently something went wrong with part of ye olde undisclosed projects, and we had to go back and work again. (Well, once again I wasn't working. But I went with my family. xD)

So, as others are working...a large thunderstorm rolls in.

The thunder gets louder...and louder...and louder.

At this point, I am really enjoying the weather. So I say, "I'm going outside to watch." And I do.

About two minutes later, there's a huge flash of lightning, almost precisely at the same time as an enormous boom of thunder. The lightning might just have struck the building we were in. The PA system went out. xD

My mom pokes her head outside and tells me to come in. I do, exclaiming "THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!"

It was awesome. And loud. And awesome.

That was brush with death by lightning #3, everybody. xD

Anyway, the rest of the work went well. And over the course of the vacation, we managed to do some touristy things like shopping and going to the beach. (The water is so warm in Florida. It's awesome. ^_^)

And we fly back, with no problems aside from the aforementioned catering thing.

And now, I'm sitting here at my desk at home, exhausted from karate and my trip to the beach and the trip and everything. xD

Oh, and one more thing before I sign off: My class ring came!!!! =D I'll post a picture as soon as I get a decent one. xD It has my name, the year of my graduation, all the usual stuff. And it has those decoration carving things on the sides. I picked one that represents my academic side, and another that technically means journalism, but to me means the KotoompaA. xD It has a feather pen, a scroll, and a computer. ^_^

And the stone...is beautiful. It's a tourmaline, probably made in a factory or just a stone made to look like a tourmaline, but to me it counts. DioM fans, you may know that rubellites are a type of tourmaline. xD

So I basically have a rubellite ring, only the stone is greenish/multicolored in some lights rather than red. xD

Anyway...*yawn*...I'm quite tired now. I must adjourn and head off to the land of dreams. Before I keel over from exhaustion.

I'll blog again soon. ^_^

And I look forward to reading y'all's next blog posts!!! =D

That is all. u_u

A Quiet Summer Day

Hi everyone! I'm currently sitting in my room at my computer, which is something I've been doing for most of the day. The grand total of things I've done thus far include:

Check my emails
Check my other emails
Check Facebook
Play Minecraft
Check my emails again
And so on...

Can't you tell I'm having quite a productive day? >_>

Anyway...As I'm currently sitting at my computer, I realize that there are quite a few things I could be doing. Like writing my book. v_v Unfortunately, I'm feeling sort of at a loss as to what should happen next. I have a rough idea...but I'm not sure! D""""= I suppose I'll be inspired soon...I hope v_v

Also, I've been trying to write more songs on the piano. I've written one more, which I performed at my baccalaureate...I'll have to make a decent recording of it sometime, I suppose. xD

*Checks clock* *is supposed to go driving in 40 minutes*

With regards to the driving...There was a time when I EXTREMELY DISLIKED IT. I mean...I didn't even want to be behind the wheel. There's something intimidating about driving a huge vehicle and putting yourself and others in danger...everyone's lives are in YOUR HANDS...that's the general feeling I get. I tend to feel responsible for things, even if they have nothing to do with me, so driving = not so fun sometimes. xD But as of a couple days ago, I got behind the wheel...

AND ACTUALLY *GASP* HAD FUN.

Yes, you read that right. I ENJOYED DRIVING.

I suppose that's a good thing. I'm going to have to enjoy driving someday; I'm going to have to get used to the feeling of steering a giant machine that runs on gasoline and has four wheels and is made (mostly) of metal...

In other news, I am beginning to be extremely frustrated with ye olde computer, which I long ago dubbed Lois -2.0, due to it's *gasp* being pink. (Sometimes I wonder why I got a pink computer. I guess it's because the yellow, which I was also considering, made the computer look like a bumblebee, the black and grey and white looked too ordinary, the blue wasn't my preferred blue, the purple was too dark...et cetera. The pink isn't a particularly bright pink, anyway. It's a sort of...purplish pink, I guess? Though it's more on the pink side. And to make it a bit less...pink...I added a Hyper sticker to cover the Dell logo. Suffice it to say that I will probably NEVER get a Dell again, unless I somehow get enough money to get an XPS, which has good graphics and stuff.)

Anyway...enough of that tangent. My computer has become EXTREMELY SLOW due to the myriad photos and videos and old school assignments that I have stored on it. It's become so slow that even though I deleted both my flight simulators, most of the games, a lot of the video conversion programs I'd attempted to use, many pictures and videos, and whatnot, I can still barely install things on it any more. I can't even play Minecraft without it freezing up. Which is not a good thing, considering that the slowness of the game and the fact that I can't really walk or see what I'm doing half the time makes it hard to fight monsters...and not drown. (Yeah. My computer literally KILLED me. xD Which is annyoing, because I lost all my armor! D""""=)

So I went on Craigslist to look for computers in good condition, but I'm finding them...well, I'm not really finding them. You see, a good computer is usually pretty expensive, and I don't really have the money for it at the moment. Ah, well, I suppose I'll just wait until I head off to college. I've talked to my parents, and they've said that that's probably when I can get a new computer.

And when I do, I'm hoping to get a Mac, instead of a Windows computer. Not that I have anything (much) to say against Windows...they just have a lot of problems. I've used them since I was...four?...so I'm really familiar with them, and they usually cooperate with me, unless they happen to be my computer (or just really old). I think a Mac will be a) a nice change, and b) the solution to my electronics-caused woes. v_v Our iPad and my iPod like me, after all. xD

 By the way, Jamie, as regards the potential for working at the Apple vs. Windows store, I feel that if I were to work at the Apple store, I'd actually *gasp* have a bigger headache. Why, you ask? Well, because there are just so many people in there...it's SO LOUD...the Windows Store is peaceful in comparison. Still has customers to help and such, but it's a lot quieter, and therefore will wreak less havoc on my sanity. xD

Although working at the Apple Store would be AWESOME. (Not to mention I might be able to get a discount on the stuff there...I don't know if that happens, but it would be really nice if it did. xD)

So anyway...I've joined a local fitness center and I'm planning on going there a lot to do weight training and stuff, I'm going to karate more, we're planning for a trip next week, I've been riding my caster board, reading Red (still...I know...), I've bought some new drawing pencils, and I am really looking forward to watching the Olympics. The scary part about the Olympics is that a lot of the people competing are actually younger than me now! Some of them are even fifteen! It makes me feel so....OLD!...o_o

*looks at clock* *25 more minutes*

I've been reading your blogs, Jamie and Rachel. I must say I'm really enjoying Jamie's recap of her trip. And Rachel, when are you going to post again? xD I think a cloudy Sunday is an oxymoron, by the way :P

We should do another Skype chat or freewrite party soon. I miss you guys! And I hope I'll be able to visit both of you sometime in the near future ^_^

*really needs to start writing letters*

*answers Jamie's blog poll* Well, I suppose "a few times a month" would be an accurate response to how often I journal. I really should journal more. My last entry was on...let's see...*looks it up* March 19, 2012.

Has it really been that long? O.o

Wow. I really need to write in there more. I guess this blog sort of took over for it. But I suppose I should journal about the strange dreams I've had (one of which involved my being able to turn into a white poodle) and the other things which would, dear readers, either bore you or rather frighten you. xD

So until next time. Maybe I'll be reading White by then. Who knows?

That is all u_u

One month and counting...

Nearly a year ago, I had a dream that I was three months away from my second degree black belt test, and I couldn't yet complete the endurance requirements.

One month and counting until the actual event. I am even farther behind on my endurance requirements than I was in my dream.

I can barely run a mile. (Well, I can run two, but not without some asthma.) I can't do  that many pushups...not nearly enough...the situps I can do though! xD And I don't know about the requirement of doing a whole bunch of jump front kicks in a row (Google it if you don't know what I'm talking about)...or if that requirement even exists any more, for that matter. >_> *feels really out of the loop*

Anyway...for my test I also have to spar two people at once. Considering my relatively abysmal sparring record...I'm not looking forward to that >_>

But in other news, life is very good! I have good books to read, some inspiration for the book I'm writing, I'm enjoying playing the piano, sketching, being outside, going to the beach, looking forward to going boating on the lake with my friends, the Olympics in less than a month and the Olympic Trials now...I am REALLY having a fantastic summer!

The other night I attended a freewrite party! ^_^ I hadn't been to one in a while, and this was the first time my sister joined us! I had a fun time trying to explain the various emoticons to her xD (My thanks to Cece, if you read this, for explaining them to her. v_v I wasn't doing a very good job, I'm afraid.)

*Looks at clock* *decides to go to karate at 6:15-ish* It's 5:15 now. If I go at 6:15 I'll get three classes in, including Certified Instructor Training, which should be fun. We should be doing the unit on injuries soon! I've missed almost every single class where that unit is covered, and apparently it's lots of fun. Someone will pretend to pass out in class, or something likewise entertaining, and we'll have to pretend like it's really happening. (The other entertaining class is the one where half the students pretend to have ADHD, or at least act on their already slightly ADHD tendencies. I have to admit, I have a LOT of fun getting to be rather more my normal self during that unit. xD)

*looks up at blog post* WOW! I'm actually improving at writing more on my blog! (Let me know if I'm being dead boring, of course. I don't want that!)

Short tidbits of news/random stuff
I went to the library the other day and found a Complete Works of Shakespeare for only three dollars at the used bookstore!!! I was so excited and bought it immediately!

My high school diploma still hasn't come. xD

I love honey-flavored Greek yogurt. I had it at my cousin's house a few months ago, and a couple days ago my mom let me get some from the market...and I've almost finished all of it already. It's DELICIOUS!!!! I would mail some to all of you, but I'm afraid it would spoil on the trip to y'all's houses v_v

I still haven't applied for any jobs. I'm hoping to work either at the library, Barnes and Noble, the local coffee shop, the Apple Store, the Windows Store, or Verizon. xD

Er...Well, that's all I can think of for the moment. I'm sure that once I click "Publish" about sixty other things will pop into my head. Ha, ha.

Oh, by the way, Jamie, sorry for being a day late posting this xD

And Rachel, I hope you had fun reading yesterday, and that the sun came out for you! ^_^

By the way, who is Shadow Uname? I've been wondering. xD

That is all. u_u

SUMMER AT LAST

(This post is dedicated to my dear friend Jamie. ^_^ Hi, Jamie!)

So...it's SUMMER AT LAST. I don't think I've had a summer this awesome since...well, probably since the summer before I started high school. Take last summer, for instance. I found out that I needed two more Bible credits to graduate...and I only had one year left. So I did a WHOLE YEAR'S WORTH OF BIBLE over the summer. It was an awesome summer, I was just studying. A lot.

Anyway...this new sense of summer, the sort of summer that comes with no school, is filled with all sorts of things. I have time to write and draw now, and paint and such! ^_^

I've already been to the beach twice, which is as many times as I went last summer. And as many times as I went the summer before. And it hasn't even been a whole month of summer! ^_^

Plus, I've been going to the library a lot more! Right now I'm reading the Circle Series by Ted Dekker...and it is AWESOME!!!!! They finally got Black in, so I finished that a few days ago. Right now I'm reading Red and thoroughly enjoying it. x)

(Side note: The day I finally started reading Black again, I went on Google News, and found a whole bunch of somewhat featured articles about the potential for a new strain of bird flu that could become a pandemic. As far as I recall, a similar phenomenon occurred when I started reading Black the first time. Coincidence? I THINK NOT!)

So anyway...I've also gone to the nearby boba place twice. If you're wondering what boba is, it's like giant tapioca. And you get it in these sort of Icee-ish drinks that come in all sorts of flavors. So far I've tried vanilla, chocolate, and cookies and cream. I have to say that chocolate is my favorite, and vanilla my least favorite. xD

Yesterday some friends and I went to the beach (this is the second beach trip I was referring to), and we rented one of those six-person bikes, and a two-person bike (there were seven of us). We rode around for about an hour, had a blast, and got a great workout in the bargain! xD

It's getting late...I have to go to bed in eight minutes (yes, it's the More Normal Bedtime once again!)...but I just don't want to get off the computer! I want to work on my novel, and read everyone's blogs, and Skype people, and email people...(speaking of which, FC Summer has also struck, which means nothing ever happens on NSA. >_> xD Somehow I find myself spending more time on Facebook...which is unusual for me...)

*sits in the darkness with only the light of my clock and my computer for company* *tries to think of what more to write*

Four minutes...*listens to clock tick* *feels poetic* xD

Ah, well, I'll probably come up with something more to write about tomorrow. xD Until then, dear readers! x)

That is all. u_u