NaNoWriMo November 9, 2009

November. The Month of Sunset Leaves. The month that the cool breeze of autumn begins to turn into a winter chill. The month that holds us back from our long awaited Christmas break. The month that nobody really remembers come spring and summer.

Some of you may or may not have heard of this wonderful thing called NaNoWriMo, short for National November Writing Month, or in some cases, National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo is a non-profit organization that challenges all minds, young, old, creative, bland, everyone, to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. Now, this task seems rather frightful at first, but I have to assure you it’s not. Most of you probably haven’t ever written more than a short story, maybe a few pages, for some literature class you took in high school or college. I’m willing to bet that it wasn’t a very fun experience. This time,  your novel can be about anything you want, any subject you care to set your mind to as long as you can finish it by 11:59 PM on November 30th. Still, it’s a harrowing task. I’m about 13,000 words behind right now because of my schedule. However, I’m determined to complete as much of it as I can.

The goal of NaNoWriMo isn’t to create a fantastic piece of work that will go straight to a publisher’s office. You aren’t even supposed to have any good piece of writing whatsoever. The goal is to write, write, and write some more. You’re attempting quantity, not quality. Now, most people aren’t very happy about that either. Nobody wants to pump out meaningless, awful, illogical words. Trust me, I hate doing it. It drives me insane. But the objective is to jump start your novel process. If you don’t commit yourself to typing without second guessing or doubting yourself, the novel will never end up how you want it to be. Editing, revising, and revamping is all for December, for now all you have to do is write your heart out. While it’s a bit late to be starting now, (to be on tally for today you’d need to write a whomping 15,000 words) start thinking about what you may want to do next year. Just remember, you have to start an entirely new novel starting on the first of November 2010. No half finished manuscripts!

For all the info that I blatantly forgot to mention, you can check out the website at http://www.nanowrimo.org

However, I must say that as of write (get it?) now, it has crashed due to server overload.

 

 

Only 5 More to Go… August 7, 2009

A few months ago, at the insistence of various members of pwnt, I joined swagbucks. Basically, you use it in place of Google, Bing, Yahoo, whatever search engine you use. According to swagbucks, their search results are exactly the same, and it has no impact on the search quality at all. While I can’t exactly agree with that statement, swagbucks does deliver similar results as Google. Randomly when you search, swagbucks will award you with up to 5 Swagbucks. Once you collect enough of these things, you can purchase a variety of prizes from their shop. The idea appealed to me, even if I only use it sparingly.

First off, the search results aren’t exactly the same. It’s to be expected from any search engine, but what annoys me the most on swagbucks are the sponsored results that show up and look like normal results if you don’t look closely under the link. While they are real links and completely legitimate, they may clog up your results with commercial sites rather than actual helpful results. However, most searches provide exactly what I’m looking for. If not, then I just go to Google and type it in quickly to get the answers I want.

The actual process of earning swagbucks is pretty simple. You randomly are awarded when you search. Now, they say it is random, but after much experimentation, you discover that it really isn’t. To be honest, I don’t use swagbucks for anything I really need. I use Google. BUT, I do enter one search term a day. Usually, your first or second search results in a swagbuck. If not on the first try, I click the “image” link at the top, which then acts just like Google’s “image” link, and go back to web results. If those three clicks still don’t produce anything, I stop. Generally, you can earn every couple or hours or so, but I only do it daily. I know that if you used swagbucks as a complete replacement for google, you could probably be earning up to 4 or so swagbucks a day.

The prize section is probably the most worthwhile part of the entire site. I mean, if not for the prizes, why would you be using it at all? The SwagStore has everything from paypal cash to music to DVDs to tradeins to vacations. While most of these things are ridiculously expensive in terms of swagbucks, most is still reachable by the average computer obsessed person. I myself am just 5 swagbucks away from a $5 amazon giftcard. Not bad considering I barely use the thing.

If you wish to check it out, you may sign up here.

Yes, this is a sort of referral post. But it is worth checking out. Free stuff is always better, right?

Schedules August 1, 2009

Hi!

So you know how you commit yourself to a schedule, any type: work, vacation, day-to-day, and yet you always manage to end up behind, no matter how hard you try? Yeah, it happens to everyone. So today I am officially 2 days behind schedule for summer work. I have it all planned out, essay to essay to essay to chart to chart to terms etc. and yet I’m two days behind. It’s not even hard. I gave myself extra time! I don’t know how this happens. This was supposed to be longer and make more sense, but now I don’t have time. Oh well. Something else another day.

June 7th, 2009 June 7, 2009

He strolled through the lush greens, looking this way and that at the endless meadow that was stretched before him. Bending down, he examined a flower, scarlett ice in color, with narrow, long petals stretched towards the sky, and wafted the scent towards his nose. As he took in the aroma, he couldn’t help but notice the exotic, uniqueness of it; yet it somehow smelled like home.

Almost Summer May 25, 2009

Not many posts in here recently, eh? Well, I guess I’ve been sort of busy. Lots of fun things towards the end of the year, but also lots of work. Depending on the outcome of this math test, I can cruise the last month or so and just relax. Yayy.

Summer is going to be pretty fun, although I haven’t exactly planned what I’m going to do. The Friday immediately after school ends will be the day when my family and I go to the beach for a week. It’s always fun. Last year we didn’t spend as much time on the actual beach as compared to going out on the island. Beaches are fun, but there are only so many things to do. We actually got into this fun thing called GeoCachers. There are these various containers (anything from tins to mayonaise jars) and people basically take something from them and put something in it, then put it down in a log. You can find out where they are from the website then go hunt them down. Very neat. Last year we ended up getting a bumper sticker and left some origami bird.

After the beach, I’ll probably do some tennis camp for the first half of the day. Usually the same camp, but I may switch this year because it’s getting a little old. That usually lasts till about 12:30. This year, I’ve convinced myself that I will be out much more than last year. Last year I ended up getting on the computer, but there’s just not enough stuff to do. I can barely stand half an hour on this thing. So I think I may swim/run from lunch to dinner. Exercise is always good, plus I’m hoping that by slowly introducing a more cardio-related activity, I can build up endurance to my asthma. They say it’s possible, so I hope so.

Later in August, I go on a trip to the Poconos with my dad’s side of the family. We’ve been to this place before, so I’m really looking forward to it. There’s a great fishing spot, a bumper car/swimming place, some rock wall climbing places, plus lots of nature trails. I ALWAYS look forward to these trips, but last year we had to forego it because of my mom’s health. So this year I am completely ecstatic.

I’m getting a little ahead of myself. Oh! I’m having two parties in June, within a week of one another. One wasn’t really mine, I just volunteered my house for it. We’re going to have a mini Drama Club Reunion. It’ll be a BBQ and we’ll hang out and chat. I think it’s like…10 people including me. 7 girls, 3 guys. It should be fun. The next one is for my graduation. Little over-hyped if you ask me. Rented out a luxury suite in our local AA Baseball park. I think it’ll be around 20 kids. Should be pretty awesome. The weekend before school ends.

Anyways, I think that’s about it. I haven’t had any views to this thing for a week. Sorry that it’s not too exciting. Don’t really have any internet things to ramble about. This is more for me to just organize all my thoughts and get them written out. ‘Til next time.

Hi Nexy May 6, 2009

Hi.

Pwnt May 5, 2009

Okay, I’ve been avoiding this topic. So here’s one blog post to just summarize some things and opinions and apologies.

If you haven’t noticed, I’ve become rather disattached with pwnt. Caused quite a ruckus, too. I don’t like pwnt, so I am no longer actively visiting it. Simple as that. Not going to go into an entire rant on how it has changed.

The other week I requested to 1337 that Joosh and I (myself included just to see if he would do it) be upgraded to L7 without a formal level adjustment. I gave a list of reasons, but the main points were that there was no reason not to, there was a lack of L7s, we would never actually get a full vote, and it didn’t do any harm. He said he would put it to a mini-adjustment, whatever that meant. Two days ago I logged on for about 5 seconds to find that I was upgraded to L7, yet Joosh was not. To those reading that voted for me, thank you, but I didn’t really even care for it. I did it for Joosh, who cares a lot more about pwnt right now than I do. As annoying as he can be, he deserves it.

To those still actively playing: Have fun. I’m sure that you’ll get some enjoyment out of it. I’m realizing that it was not pwnt that changed, but the people who played. Pwnt progressed like any other site would; it expanded. The original people playing it were mainly from Neomia and JN, people who wanted to escape the real world in search of a place where they would not be judged. But in reality, it was impossible. Because through the two years, those people began to interact with each other, and it was just like real life. They were isolated within a certain group with people: they made friends, they made enemies. And so the harassment and drama began. Which is why so many people complained. Because what they sought was something that was impossible for them to obtain in real life, and yet they found that it existed elsewhere. We all came together for our own reasons, and we all split up for our own reasons. Some people, like myself, found that if you really tried to change, real life was not as difficult as it seemed. In fact, having friends could be extremely fun. Others thought that the internet life was just the same, and gave up in disgust. And some trudged on, despite the hardships that they endured. Pwnt, the people, everyone helped me develop faster than I could have if I didn’t join. I learned certain lessons earlier, and I learned what not to do with real friends. With real enemies. If there’s one thing I gained from joining that hell-hole, it was a lesson.

On Drama: Yes, we all hate it. Who doesn’t? We try to kick it out, to forbid it from entering, to pretend that it isn’t there. We can’t. Own up and realize that drama is always going on. It’s what makes things alive. Think about a book. Every single book has a conflict, a plot. Without the plot, the book isn’t interesting.
“Once upon a time Little Red Riding Hood went out looking for food for her sick grandmother. She stayed on the path, picked some berries, and returned home. After eating the berries, Grandmother made a speedy recovery. The End.”  Wow. That was exciting. Do you see what I mean? You need drama for pwnt to survive. Embrace it. Love it. It’s not permanent. Rivalries come and go.

To the Friends: Thank you. It was great getting to know you guys. We had some great times together, and I will never forget them. While I may not have been the best friend, I hope I was a fair one. Although I eventually grew distant, I hope to remain in contact. Who knows. Years later we could bump into each other and not know that we knew each other through pwnt.

Some People May 5, 2009

Gossip. No matter what stage of your life you are in, it is always there. I find that in school, gossip is a constant thing. People blow it out into huge proportions, and over the smallest things, too. “Oh my god, did you hear that Peter was asking Julie to the dance?!?” Fuck off, people. Sorry, but I really had to get that off my chest. When people go around gloating that they know secrets, they want to tell someone.

“Oh, well I know who she’s going out with but I can’t tell you.”
“No! You HAVE to tell me. Like, I am going to DIE if you don’t tell me.”
“Well…I don’t know. She promised me to secrecy.”
“I promise I won’t tell anyone, you know me.”
-continue back and forth for up to 5 minutes-

“Okay okay. So she’s going out with Dune!”
“NO WAY.”
“I know, right? But remember, you can’t tell ANYONE.”
“Oh, don’t worry. You can trust me. I promise no one will find out.”

-5 minutes later-

“Hey, did you hear that she’s going out with Dune?”
“Really? Wow. Her and Dune…”
“I know. Oh, just remember not to tell anyone.”
“Oh sure.”

You know how it goes. Just like spreading rumours. But man, how annoying. Someone trusts you enough with a piece of their personal life. Well, at least we hope they do. And now you go and tell everyone you can? Some friend you are. I’m the kind of person that will gladly give someone advice and never speak of it again. I’ll offer people help, but I won’t nag them if they don’t want to share anything. And so I end up with a lot of information. But I don’t go gloating it around. It’s just asking for people to inquire about it. So today, I made the mistake of letting something slip during our Cinco de Mayo festival. Nothing big, but in middle school, any snippit is huge news. We were talking about our upcoming formal, and so I ask someone who they might be going with. And I mistakenly told them I knew who one of my friends is going with. Now, there are people that are completely open, but this one doesn’t talk about it a lot. And so it immediately set off the gossip chicks. You know the ones, those girls that were obsessed with the going-ons, and made sure that they could play matchmaker for people. Well, now they haven’t stopped bugging me. There are two of them. And they offer gossip in exchange for mine.
What really ticks me off is the fact that you say
“Okay, I promise I won’t tell anyone.” And yet, there you are, offering that piece of information for someone else’s. So I get into this whole big thing where I start to give, and now I know I’m in trouble. This is an absolute “avoid!” situation. So finally I screw them over by giving them false info. They’ll figure it out as soon as they talk to each other.

Thats all really. Nothing important. Just a bit of a rant.

City of Heroes, Illy, Notes, Facebook, Drama, Hey Wait…this isn’t tags! April 20, 2009

Oh jeez. I haven’t  blogged in quite a bit, have I? Well, let’s start from Spring Break.

New Jersey is just beginning to reach spring-like temperatures. Mostly in the mid 40s and low 50s, but the other day we had a high of 70! Woo hoo. Otherwise it’s typical April weather: showers, showers, rain, showers, oh hey, the sun!,  showers. But at least we’re showing signs of spring. It’s always been my favorite season; not too hot, not too cold. Plus, all of the trees are blooming. Such a beautiful sight. My backyard has these two huge cherry blossom trees that were brought up from Washington D.C. by the previous owners over 50 years ago. When the warmer weather hits, the blossoms are just gorgeous, and they stay for a week and a half or so. They’ve begun their descent, slowly falling down whenever a gust of wind passes by, making it look as if a tree spirit from Narnia was swirling around you. I really wish I had gotten a video of them in full bloom, but I thought most people have had enough of those.

My friends and I have begun our spring fishing trips to the local lakes now that they’ve been stocked with trout. Unfortunately, two of them have been cancelled to rain, and the others have been unsuccessful because the lakes haven’t fully turned yet. Tennis has also started, which is exciting. I really need to get some practice in before the serious games come in, because I barely played last summer due to an asthma flare-up. I’m also hoping to start going on some longer biking trails over the summer, and maybe hiking too. Nature is always nice.

Unlike being outside, Illy convinced me to download City of Heroes over Spring Break. We never got to hook up, but that was mainly because I only went on once or twice. The graphics were pretty good, but the game itself failed to hook me. I attempted some quests, but the whole fighting thing got on my nerves. I was some controller person with mind control and stuff. It was a tad bit odd, and my attacks failed to do much damage against foes my own level. It ended up being a big long thing to even fight one opponent. Maybe I should have trained more first…By now I think my trial has run out, so I’ll uninstall instead of letting it take up 3GB of my hard drive.

Now, I’m about to go steal a note from Illy who in turn stole it from Jen. I’ve seen this on facebook before, though. So not entirely new.

A
Are you available?: Yeah, I guess.
What is your age? Oh…somewhere between 1 and 1000. Give or take a few hundred years.
What annoys you?: A lot of things. I could probably make an entirely new list of A to Z annoyances.

B
Do you live in a big house?: Not particularly. It’s a split level, 2 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths. Average size I guess.
When is your birthday?: September 23rd

C
What’s your favorite candy?: Gummy bears. Soooo good. I just found out those clear ones are Pineapple flavored! o:
Who’s your crush?: I’m a sucker for Scarlett Johansson.
When was the last time you cried?: Hmm..not sure.

D
Do you daydream?: Yup. Love to daydream. I remember some… Giant marshmallows, flying, shooting energy beams like on DragonBall Z. Oh wait. Did I just type that out?
What’s your favorite kind of dog?: Beagles
What day of the week is it?: Monday

E
How do you like your eggs?: Scrambled. With cheese. Or an omelette. Did I spell that right?
Have you ever been in the emergency room?: Yeah, a lot when I was little.
What’s the easiest thing ever to do?: Blink. Breathe.

F
Have you ever flown in a plane?: Yes.
Do you use fly swatters?: No. I usually use the nearest flat object.
Have you ever used a foghorn?: Yes. They’re fun.

G
Do you chew gum?: Yes.
Are you a giver or a taker?: Completely and totally a taker. Not gonna lie. I take more than I give.
Do you like gummy candies?: Who doesn’t?! But it has to be real gummies. Not those fakes. Gummy worms and gummy bears. Maybe extending to sharks and frogs. But those sour things coated in sugar? FAAAAKES.

H
How are you?: A bit tired. Hungry.
What color is your hair?: Black. But some people say it can only be dark dark dark brown.

I
What’s your favorite ice cream?: Vanilla
Have you ever ice skated?: Nope.
Do you play an instrument?: No.

J:
What’s your favorite jelly bean brand?: I only know of the Jelly Belly brand
Do you wear jewelry?: No

K
Who do you want to kill?: In real life? Well..terrorists.
Do you want kids?: Sure
Where did you go for kindergarten?: I’d say, but some stalkers out there would google it.

L
Are you laid back?: Sorta kinda maybe no?
Do you lie?: Yup.

M
Whats your favorite movie?: I don’t like this question. Just throw any good non-horror movie at me and I’m good.
Do you still watch Disney movies?: Heck yes.
Do you like mangos?: Yes, but they’re not the top fruit.

N
Do you have a nickname?: Mike, Mikey, Mikey B, and Mikill to a few of my odd friends.
What is your real name?: It is…ToastBot
Whats your favorite number?: 14. Been that for a while. I have no clue why. It’s even. It’s not prime. It’s divisible by 2 which is 7 which is lucky.
Do you prefer night over day?: Yeah.

O
What’s your one wish?: I want an amazing super power like on heroes…I know. xD Pathetic. But it’s true.
Are you an only child?: No

P
What one fear are you most paranoid about?: Other people being somebody dangerous. I always scan an entire room upon entering it. Oh, and break-ins. I’ve told Megan about this. I have an escape route out of every room, a designated hiding spot, and a designated weapon. I also house a lighter and a condensed can of something in my closets in case I have to make an impromptu flamethrower.
What are your pet peeves?: People who are smart yet have this incredibly low sense of self-esteem on purpose.
What’s a personality trait you look for in people?: A genuine sense of trustworthiness.

Q
What’s your favorite quote?: “Stealing the ideas of one is plagiarism. Stealing the ideas of many is research. ” I stole that from Sci’s status message one day.
Are you quick to judge people?: Yes. But I think that people can change and be someone entirely different than you see them to be.

R
Do you think you’re always right?: Only when I’m always right.
Are you one to cry?: I used to be, but now close people to me die and I can’t shed a tear if I want to. =/

S
Do you prefer sun or rain?: Sun  sun sun.
Do you like snow?: In moderation. Once or twice a year with a big storm.
What’s your favorite season?: Spring. Reason stated above.

T
What time is it?: 5:03 PM EST
What time did you wake up?: 6:30 AM EST
When was the last time you slept in a tent?: Never.

U
Are you wearing underwear?: Yes
Underwear or boxers?: Boxers

V
What’s the worst veggie?: Onion
Where do you want to go on vacation?: I want to live in Switzerland or Sweden or the Netherlands something. America is so polluted and failing. I’ll move back when it gets better.

W
What’s your worst habit?: According to my friend, it’s fiddling with my shirt when I have a presentation. xD
Where do you live?: Central New Jersey
What’s your worst fear?: Hmm..being kidnapped and tortured. House fire. Falling from a high place.

X
Have you ever had an x-ray?: Yes
Have you seen the x-games?: Yes
Do you own a xylophone?: No. (Darn, almost 2/3)

Y
Do you like the color yellow?: No. It’s an icky color
What’s one thing you yearn for?: A successful future

Z
Whats your zodiac sign?: Zodiac…that’s horoscopes, right? I’m on the cusp thingy so I’m a…Virgo/Libra
Do you believe in the zodiac?: No. And I hate horoscopes, but I read them all the time. xD
Favorite zoo animal?: TIGERS.

*grumble* April 8, 2009

*grumble* Stuck in a sack. For weeks. I nearly died! DIED! That’s what you get for going to make peace with Bucketon. You get kidnapped by one of their crazy, malfunctioning machines, and you are thrown into some rotten old closet. Well forget peace. Forget all about peace. Let me tell you, Bucketon is not a nice place to live. They have some crazy issues to work out there. Starting with their janitorial department. Yes, this entry is written in fragments. Anywho. Bucketon is not fun. And all I got was a stupid bucket. Well, that bucket is the new outhouse in my spaceship floating around Yaeness. Or maybe it should be called an inner outhouse… So. Stay away from everyone living in Bucketon. They’re just all evil. Suzuka’s cats are up to something, and I don’t know what happened to JP’s mind after the entire event. It just shook him to the core. I might have to go consult the lolruses…

Until the next time
~Michael