Winter Songs

I know it's not officially winter until the 21st, but it definitely already feels like it outside, so I've decided to give into it. It's my favorite season anyways. Here's some nice wintry music for your enjoyment.

The Great Origami Giveaway

I have been working hard on my origami flower ball, but it's still not quite finished. I promise I will post a picture of it as soon as it is ready. I have been learning modular origami, though. Here's some of what I've done so far.

I made them out of old sheet music that I wasn't using anymore, which made a very interesting effect on the final product. I would love to be able to make these out of the most colorful origami paper I can find. That way they'll look really spiffy.

On that note, The Paper Place is having a huge Great Origami Giveaway, hence my title :) It is completely awesome. It would be like a lifetime supply of origami paper! Go check it out.

More Cuteness

A while ago I wrote about cute games, including Colour My Heart and Colour My World. There is now a third part to the series, called Colour My Dreams. It is a little darker than the other two, but it still definitely has the "aww" factor at the end, so even if you get frustrated, stay with it. Also, for a little puzzling fun, there is Jigzone, which, as its name implies, contains lots of different online jigsaw puzzles at many difficulty levels. I personally could spend all day on that one. They even have a difficulty setting where the puzzle pieces are shaped like lizards. So cute! That's all for now, but I leave you with even more cuteness to brighten your day.

You can never have too many kitteh pictures. :D

I decided to use humor to cheer myself up. It worked very well, and although I haven't written much yet, I have hope again. Also, Kristin Chenoweth is a genius. Here it is. :)

I am officially way behind in my writing, and I'm very discouraged because I don't know how I can possibly catch up. Every time I think about sitting down and writing, something either happens in my surroundings or my brain, depending on the situation, that prevents my words from coming out. I know I should just do it, and I probably will, but it's just very daunting at this point. Hopefully it will get better soon. Until then, I just have to try not thinking about word count.

I started writing my novel yesterday. I wrote over a thousand words in an hour. I wanted to write about 400 more last night, but I didn't have any new ideas at that point. I never would've been able to write even that much without help, courtesy of my ADD (there are lots of shiny things on my computer), but I started using this program called Write or Die to help me along. You start by setting a time and word count goal, and then you just start writing as you normally would, but if you don't write anything for long enough, there are consequences. For me since I was in normal mode, it just started playing very annoying noises at me, but there are a few other modes that you can choose too. Luckily, the consequences end as soon as you start typing again. It has a pause button, but beware, you can only use it once. I will definitely be using this program for the month of November at least, and probably in my writing endeavors beyond that too. As for proofreading and editing my novel, I've decided that's going to wait until December. I will also try to keep updating here, if only to give me a break from writing my novel. And since it is officially November, here's a little treat.

Happy Halloween!

One of my traditions at Halloween, besides watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", which I'm pretty sure I've watched every year since birth, and have completely memorized, is having my own horror movie marathon after the trick-or-treaters have gone home. Usually I would make things easy on myself and watch Fearfest on AMC, but this year they have decided to show Night of the Living Dead four times in a row, so I am forced to get creative and pull out my own movie collection in search of the perfect movies to give me a nice scare for the season. Even though I have movies of my own, I decided that I would see what else is out there, and I found some great stuff. One website in particular, best-horror-movies.com, was very helpful to me. They have a list of the top 100 horror movies, and they also have one called the Horror Beginner's Shelf made especially to ease novices into the genre, so that they are not scarred for life from the first movie they see (like me, when I was younger, who started with The Exorcist, which I have finally recovered from). Here are some of my personal favorites from the list.

98. The Ring
If the movie wasn't scary enough, there was also the whole legend about the phone ringing after you watch the first time, which is completely true by the way.

93. Salem's Lot
I have a thing about evil / undead children. I just don't like them. The floating boy in this one has stayed with me for years.

91. It
I was terrified of drains for a while after this one.

86. Pet Semetary 
Evil baby. Enough said.

37. The Sixth Sense
This little girl wasn't actually undead, she was a ghost, but this movie would've still been creepy even without her.

17. Ju-On
This is the original Japanese version of the Grudge, and it's just terrifying (to me), and  again there's an undead child in it.

7. Nightmare On Elm Street
This one actually didn't scare me, but it was Johnny Depp's first acting job, so I still manage to watch it every year.  :D

1. The Exorcist
As I said, it was the first major scary movie I ever saw, and it definitely stuck with me for a long time.


Speaking of movies that stick with you, Paranormal Activity freaked me out more than any horror movies have in awhile. I was fine through most of the movie, but the ending definitely stayed with me. If you haven't seen it yet, I definitely recommend it.
I now leave you with something a bit more mellow to start the day. Have a happy and safe Halloween, and have fun!

Ok, so even though the nearest holiday is obviously Halloween, and not Valentine's Day, I just came across two of the most romantic games I have ever seen, and I had to share them with you. They are Colour My Heart and Colour My World. They take you on a journey with someone who is searching for their beloved,  while being cute and cuddly (especially the second one). They also have very nice music. And just because I'm in a mushy mood, here's more.

P.S.: Pride and Prejudice is one of my all time favorite movies.

Sometimes I wake up in the mornings, and I feel like my day isn't going to happen as I want it to. I just know something's going to go wrong. I'm usually right, but sometimes I'm just being paranoid, and on those days, I need a little burst of sunshine in my day. So what do I do? I listen to this.


It works every time :D

I'm home by myself every weekday, so to amuse myself I like to sing along to music. Loudly. If anyone had walked in the house today, this is what they would've heard.


I love enchanted. It's so much fun. In fact, I love most of the Disney songs. They're so easy to sing, and they're very entertaining. I like all kinds of music, including whimsical styles.
I try not to sing Disney songs in front of anybody though. I have performed other styles of music before an audience before, but I would have to be very in character to be able to sing some of the Disney songs. Maybe one day I'll change my mind, but for now, I'll keep it to myself.

Cute Games

I like to play computer games. Not the kind with action and blood in them, but I usually enjoy games that make me think, that are filled with riddles, even if they also make me want to pull my own hair out on occasion. Every once in a while though, I'm the mood for a different sort of game, one filled with all that is cute and cuddly in the world. While there are many games that fit this description, I do have a few personal favorites, some that have stayed in my mind even if I have only played them once. The first is Cats. I have a definite soft spot for things that have something to do with cats, and this is no exception. As an added bonus, it includes some very catchy music that I still can't seem to get out of my head. Another is an adventure game entitled The Blue Beanie. It was designed by Malaysian artist Daphne Lim, and in my opinion it is absolutely beautiful. The last one for today is Learn to Fly, which features a penguin as its main character: a penguin who looked himself up on Kiwipedia (yes, you read that right) and is insulted when the article says that he can't fly, so he decides to prove it wrong. Need I say more? Be warned though, this game is very addictive, and very cute. And just for a last dose of cuteness, in honor of the upcoming Halloween season, I leave you with this, because who hasn't been surprised at some point by those candy bowls?

This is my new favorite song. :D

Paper Craftiness

Sometimes I get ideas that actually do work out the way I want them to (not often, but sometimes). My newest project is an origami kusudama ball, courtesy of Folding Trees. Mine isn't finished yet, so this is what it looks like so far.

Once it's finished, I'll probably hang it from the ceiling or something like that.

I'm also busy preparing for National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo, which is in November. If you are a writer and you haven't checked it out yet, I encourage you to do so. It should be a nice challenge, and it will definitely keep me occupied next month, and then some. Hopefully I can keep the writer's block from getting me too far off track.

Musical Pipe Dreams

A few months ago, I convinced my dad to buy me a violin on ebay. It cost $25. I was determined that I was going to regain the playing ability that I had in seventh grade, and that once I got back into practice I was going to be able to play anything I wanted, like this:

It didn't happen that way. One lesson I learned was never to buy a cheap violin, because it will only cause more problems than anyone wants to deal with. One of these days I will get a good one, but until then I will just dream about what music I could have made...

I'm one of those people who most of the time doesn't say much, but every now and then I get a brilliant idea in my head. Depending on what form it takes once I decide to bring life to it, it can range from something as brilliant as I dreamed up to something completely different than I ever thought it would look like. I may tend to go off on different paths in my writing, depending on how random my mood is, but bear with me, there's usually a point. I don't know if anyone will actually read this, but it will be nice to be able to share my thoughts with the world.