Weekend Reviews #26, #27, and #28 {Catch up post}

It's been a while since I did one of these, so here is a bit of a catch up post about the last few weeks.

Jan 26-31

Monday I had a test in my Psych class, volunteered at the library, and went to dance.

Tuesday, I mostly just hung out at home and did homework, and then had ballet in the evening.

Wednesday was school and parkday.

Thursday I taught some Latin, and then did homework for the rest of the day.

Friday, I went to school, and then worked on an essay for my English class about the stuff going on in Ferguson.

Saturday was a pretty boring work day too. I finished the essay, did some reading for my psych class, and worked on math.

Feb 1-7

Sunday I babysat in the morning, then went to a Superbowl party in the afternoon. The party was fun, though I actually watched very little of the game. I did however, play Magic: The Gathering for the first time, and other geeky games as well, such as 7 Wonders.

Monday I had school, volunteered at the library, and went to dance. After the superbowl, the mood of the entire town was so different. It was like the energy was drained from everything.

Tuesday I had a bunch of homework to do, then had ballet in the evening.

Wednesday, my Psychology class was canceled, so I just hung out with people for a few hours until English. Then there was park day, though it was wet and cold, and few of my friends were there, so I went home early.

Thursday, Isabelle and I had dinner with our dad, then I went to an talk on sex trafficking in the Pacific Northwest, which is apparently actually a big issue.

Friday I had school, then we had current affairs at our house. The topic of the week was Net Neutrality.

Saturday, I went to the YA Review Committee meeting, then we went to Bellevue to visit a friend of ours who is in a medical facility there.

Feb 8-14

Sunday I didn't do much. I had homework to do, so I did that, but I wasn't feeling very well, so I didn't do much else.

Monday there was school, and the library. I ended up having dinner at Chipotle with a mom from our homeschool group, and then meeting up with my mom at a college event going on at a local highschool. The event was alright, but probably not worth missing dance for.

Tuesday I did homework and went to ballet.

Wednesday I had a test in Psychology, then went to game day (once a month in the wet/cold season, we have indoor parkdays where people bring board games and card games to play).

Thursday, Isabelle and I went to see the movie The Theory of Everything (about Stephen Hawking) at the community college with our dad. It was an excellent movie, and I'd highly recommend watching it.

Friday, I had school, then went to a game day at a friend's house. They have been doing these "boy game days" for a while now, so I was a little nervous about being the only girl there, but I like playing all the same games as most of the boys (though I'm not all that into Magic, and I don't really like Halo), and no one seemed to care. One person told me that I was filling out the gender ratio for online games and stuff, which is usually 10:1. In the evening, a group of us all went out to dinner and then went to see our friend in a musical version of Romeo and Juliet, which was a lot of fun.

Today, I'm mostly doing some homework, and then I'm babysitting tonight.

There you have it, what I've been up to for the past few weeks.

Blogs I Read

There are, at last count, 71 blogs on my blog reader (I use feedly, in case anyone is interested). Not all of these are active blogs, and there are some that I added in there two years ago that haven't posted since. But there are a lot of great blogs I read every day, and I thought I'd share some of them with you.

Some of these blogs are huge blogs with big followings that I really like, and others are the undiscovered tiny blogs of my internet friends which are still awesome, even if they lack a large audience. I follow a few pretty specific types of blogs, so I'll try to roughly organize them by type.

First, the homeschooling blogs. There are many, many homeschool blogs on the web, and I find them very interesting to read. While I read a lot of them, the ones I'm highlighting here are by families in my local area.

Little Earthling Blog

This is the blog of a homeschooling family with 14 kids, who actually live in my local area. I was in Girl Scouts with several of their kids at one point, and though we don't really know them personally anymore, I enjoy following Renee's blog. She has lots of great photography, and a lot of honest commentary about what it is to raise 14 kids, particularly since several have special needs that have changed their family's life considerably. 

Classically Homeschooling

This is the blog of a homeschooling family that I have known for many, many years. Sara only started blogging pretty recently, and she blogs about all sorts of things related to homeschooling.

Next, some writing blogs. I follow a lot of these, but here are just a few highlights.

Dragons With Typewriters 

This is the blog of a friend of mine, who I have known since I was about 7. His mom actually writes Classically Homeschooling, the blog highlighted above. Ian writes about writing, books, and more. 

The Mind's Elbow

This blog, also written by a mom of one of my friend's from our homeschool group, isn't actually active anymore. It has a great backlog of writing prompts and stories to read, though. 

Now, for some blogs that aren't actually written by people I know. These are kind of miscellaneous blogs about various topics, and are all large, popular websites.

Forever Young Adult

I know I've talked about FYA before on this blog, but it doesn't hurt to say again: I love this website. They have amazing reviews of new young adult books, plus they talk about TV shows, movies, and more. 

Doctor Grumpy in the House

This is a humorous blog written by an anonymous doctor. He tells stories about amusing events in his practice or stories that readers have sent in, and they are pretty hilarious, though they might not appeal to everyone. Unfortunately, the RSS feed on his site hasn't been working for a while, but hopefully he'll be able to take care of that soon.

WIL WHEATON dot NET

This is the blog of the amazing Wil Wheaton: actor, writer, and geek extraordinaire. This is definitely the biggest blog I am linking to today. Wil is really an amazing writer, and his blog is written in a very personal fashion, making it feel like a lot of the smaller blogs I read. He tells a lot of personal stories, talks about his kids and his dogs, and occasionally promotes his work. I highly recommend following him if you are into geek internet culture. 

There you have it, some great blogs you should read. Obviously, I read a lot more blogs than just this, but these are definitely ones I recommend you read too.

Weekend Review #25 {Radio Interview and Professional Dancing}

I had a pretty interesting week with lots of stuff going on.

Monday we went to UVic, as I covered in the last post. Apologies on not having a post up about that yet, but it's coming.

Tuesday wasn't too busy, I just had lots of homework to do at home, an ballet in the evening.

Wednesday I had classes at the college and then went to park day. In the evening, we had the final rehearsal for our upcoming dance performance.

Thursday, I taught Latin, and did a bunch of school work. In the evening, I was interviewed on the Chuckanut Radio Hour about the experience of being in the YA Review Committee at Village Books (the local book store the radio show is run by).

Friday, I had classes at the college as usual, then came home for current events class. Our topic of the week was Cuba.

Saturday, I danced at the local Robert Burns dinner. There were seven of us who performed that night, and we each got paid $25 by the Scottish Highland Games society, making us officially professional dancers. :)

Sunday morning I met up with a friend of mine I haven't had a chance to talk to since the summer, which was fun. In the afternoon, I babysat. It was so sunny (probably close to 60 degrees), that I took the kids and both dogs on a walk down to the beach by their house to play.

Weekend Review #23-24 {Winter Quarter, and UVic}

The past two weeks actually haven't been that busy, surprisingly enough. They've been busy, for sure, but it's all been normal, regularly scheduled events. This level of busy is the new normal for this quarter, it seems like. This upcoming week is actually going to be pretty crazy though, so I want to get this post up before that begins.

Classes at the community college started up again on Jan, 6th, so I've been getting back into the swing of things there. Of course, being on a quarter system, I have a whole new schedule and set of classes now. I'm taking Pyschology 100, which is a general psych class, and English 101, a basic composition class. This is about double what I was taking last quarter, and it's been more work, but certainly not unmanageable. 

For the rest of that week, it was mostly normal stuff: teaching Latin, going to a YARC (Young Adult Review Committee) meeting, and babysitting. I also went to the asthma doctor, and I am now back on a low dose of an inhaled steroid, this time for an indefinite period of time.

Last week was a good example of the "new normal" as I like to think of it. It's a busy schedule, but it's the one I have every week.

Monday I had classes at the college, volunteered at the library, and went to Irish dance. Tuesday, we went to the new Trampoline place in town, which was fun, then I had ballet in the evening. Wednesday was classes at the college, then the homeschool gameday. Thursday I taught Latin, Friday, I had classes at school.

We spent the weekend working on my bedroom. I have literally moved out of it: all my stuff (almost all my stuff) is currently in the family room. I'm going to be moving back in after I get a new bed, and get some other things switched around.

Downtown Victoria at sunset. It's a beautiful city.

Monday, we visited the University of Victoria. It was a very interesting school, and it left me with a lot of things to think about. I'm going to start a new series on the blog here of college posts, discussing each of the colleges I visit. This blog has been a lot of things over time, and it changes depending on what's going on in my life. This is the next big thing for me, so it makes sense that the blog will change accordingly. I'll try to have a post up about that in the next day or two.

Weekend Reviews 19-22 {Christmas Break!}

Happy 2015! Sorry for the radio silence, it's been a busy month. Here's my summary of the break, plus pictures, which are sort of organized, and sort of not, because I don't feel like dealing with Blogger

This is the twelve boxes of English Breakfast tea that a few friends and I bought for one of our friends for Christmas. This was the picture I took after the package arrived.

The first week off was a busy one, with the Whatcom Homeschool Association's annual Christmas talent show, Current Affairs class, and the annual Homeschool Christmas Party. That weekend was the first weekend of Nutcracker performances, and that took up all day Saturday and Sunday.

The second week of break was filled with illness. I was sick all week, and couldn't get out of bed for a few days. Mom and Isabelle went to Seattle on Thursday with friends while I stayed home, but I managed to leave the house Friday night to see my friend's dance show. That weekend was the second weekend of Nutcracker performances. This time, as Isabelle and I were both sick, but recovering, we only went right before the performances themselves. That weekend is honestly a bit of a blur. 

Backstage at the Nutcracker. This was the weekend we were sick.

The week of Christmas itself was busy with family celebrations. Tuesday we went to my dad's family to visit the relations of that side. Thursday we were at my mom's parents house for Christmas itself, and Friday we were back with my dad's family to visit with a different set of people.

New hat, new sweatshirt. 

A confetti selfie! This was all put in my hair by friends before I left the New Year's Eve party. This picture was taken after I got home.

The week after Christmas was a little more low key, with normal things like the volunteering and dance. Wednesday was New Year's Eve, and we went to an awesome party at a friend's house. Friday night there was a crazy sleepover (at the same friend's house, her parents are saints). Saturday was spent trying to fix my computer (which had decided to stop turning on properly), and sleep deprivation did not help. Eventually, I handed it over to my dad, who proceeded to fix it, but had to reset it to factory settings, which meant that everything was lost. Luckily, all my documents and things were backed up, but there is a backlog of 126 Windows updates that will be done with the next automatic update. 

A selfie the morning of the sleepover. This was about nine in the morning, and everyone was very tired, as you can probably see. Flattering? No. Fun? Yes.

It's been a good break, but it's almost over. Classes at the college start again on Wednesday, so I have just two days left until then. I'm taking English 101 and Psych 100 this quarter, plus doing Geometry and History at home, so it should be busy.

I'm also still doing Irish dance and Ballet, and hoping to start work on the 2014-2015 Homeschool yearbook soon. In addition to this, my room is being totally rearranged and that means that all of my stuff is currently out in the family room. Hopefully I should end up with a new bed and some other new furniture soon, and then things can get back to normal with that.

I'm also being interviewed on a local radio show on January 22nd for the YA Review Committee I am part of through a local independent bookstore. I don't know yet quite how it'll work, but I am excited for that.

My Favorite Book

For years, when people asked me what my favorite book was, I would get annoyed and skirt the question. I could list off a few books I'd enjoyed recently, or I could give personalized book recommendations, but my all time favorite book? No way.

“You can’t make a race horse of a pig.” “No,” said Samuel, “but you can make a very fast pig.”

Recently, I've slowly come to realize that I do indeed actually have a favorite book. It's a book I read a few years ago, and loved, and still love. It's East of Eden by John Steinbeck. There are so many things I love about this book, and I'm going to try to explain a few of them here.

“You must not forget that a monster is only a variation, and that to a monster the norm is monstrous.” 

One is it's epic quality. It's not the story of one person (though it basically takes place over the lifetime of one character), it's the story of a diverse and lifelike cast of characters. It's a tale of many years and many people. It's a story of good and evil, a story of life. Many things happen throughout the story, but the message in the end, at least the one I took out of it, is that life goes on.

“It takes great courage to back truth unacceptable to our times. There's a punishment for it and it's usually crucifixion.

Another reason is the characters and the symbolism. I love character driven novels, and this one is about as character driven as you can get. I also love the overt symbolism in the character's names: Adam and Charles, Caleb and Aron, Cathy and Abra. My favorite characters, though, didn't follow the C and A pattern, and are Samuel Hamilton, and Lee. They round out the world so completely.

“These too are of a burning color--not orange, not gold, but if pure gold were liquid and could raise a cream, that golden cream might be like the color of the poppies.

I also really like John Steinbeck's writing. This book is very quotable, and there are quotes from it scattered throughout this post. All passages in italics are quotes, pulled from the East of Eden Goodreads page.

“It would be absurd if we did not understand both angels and devils, since we invented them.” 

It's long. I know a lot of people don't like that about books, but at about 700 pages, it feels substantial. I don't think it could have been done any shorter, and it certainly wouldn't be the same if it were not so long.

“It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world.”

I love the descriptive passages of the Salinas Valley. It's obviously a place Steinbeck loved very much.

“But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—‘Thou mayest’— that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.” 

Lastly, the ending is wonderful in my opinion. It ended the perfect way for the story (not necessarily the perfect way for the reader), and the last pages are beautiful.

Weekend Review #17 and 18 {Thanksgiving, Winter Break, and YARC}

I got pretty behind this week, so I'm sorry for the lack of blogging. I'd say that it'll get better now that we've hit Christmas break, but that's probably not actually true.

Two weeks ago was Thanksgiving break. Monday, I had school, but was then off for the rest of the week. I spent a lot of the week working on a final project for my study skills class. Thursday was Thanksgiving, and I went to my grandmother's house (which is less than an hour away), and saw my aunts, uncles, and cousins who I don't usually see too often. That weekend, I did a lot of work, hung out at a friend's house (he was appalled I had never seen the Incredibles, so we watched that, plus he had new kittens). I also babysat on Sunday, and won NaNoWriMo.

I finished NaNoWriMo on November 30 at about 9:30pm, after a day on which I wrote 6,500 words. It was quite a finish, but I managed it.

Last week, I had a group presentation, plus a research paper, and a shorter paper all due for my Study Skills class on Monday. I volunteered at the library and went to dance as well. We also started rehearsals this week for a show we are doing in January. I love this choreography, and it's definitely one of the coolest shows we've ever done.

Tuesday, I didn't do much, and then Wednesday I had my Study Skills final, and then park day. Thursday was current events, and on Friday, I went in to school for a final meeting with my Study Skills instructor. I got A's in both my classes this quarter, which I am very happy about.

Saturday was the meeting for the YA Review Committee, which was fun. I had a great discussion with four of my friends about whether or not Atheism is a religion. For the record, four of us thought it was (following the reasoning that a religion is a belief system), while one of us refused to agree (on the reasoning that a religion is belief in at least one higher power). That night, Mom, Isabelle and I went to the Lights of Christmas with two other families, which is a beautiful display of lights at a church retreat near us. It was a lot of fun.

Sunday, I babysat in the morning, then went home and didn't do much the rest of the day, as I wasn't really feeling well. In the late afternoon, we went and got our Christmas tree.