College Packing Tips

The following are a compilation of packing tips that I tweeted over the past few days. I just finished packing for college, but most of them still apply to regular packing.
Enjoy. . .

College Packing Tips

1. Finish unpacking first.
2. Give up. Your books will not fit into one box.
3. Don't throw your boxes into the furthest reaches of the attic. You will regret it in three months.
4. Blasting Enchanted helps.
5. Save the knick knacks and shove them in the small spaces later.
6. Always tape the bottom of you boxes before you move them. The consequences aren't pretty.
7. Don't forget your light saber.
8. Don't pack the Sharpie.
9. Trash bags are your new best friend.

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9)

I hope these help with your packing. You may not have started yet, but you will soon.

Love,
Alora

The 12th Doctor Revealed: Do we really want to know?

This Sunday during a live broadcast the actor(ess) in the role of the twelfth doctor will be revealed. Everyone is very excited. Fans are ready and waiting to watch the live stream on their computers, but why?

I have never watched the regeneration episode without knowing, that this was it for this actor and so and so was going to take their place at the end. The episodes were still exciting and sad, but not surprising. Everytime, I knew exactly who was going to take their place and when: so and so, at the end of the episode.

Wouldn't it be amazing to not know?

********************

You sit down on your couch, with your computer/TV in front of you to watch Doctor Who. It is nearing the end of the season, so you know it is going to be intense.

The day is saved, but the doctor is injured. He can't die. They haven't announced the next one yet, you think.

But that doesn't stop the regeneration. 

He throws his arms out and light streams from his fingertips. You can't breathe, desperately wondering how he will come back from this.

He doesn't. 

The regeneration completes and someone you have never seen before is standing in front of you. A couple of quick, witty lines are spewed and the episode ends. 

It is silent. You are still sitting on the couch. Shocked. 

********************

How much more emotional and exciting was that? Wouldn't it just be grand if the BBC could keep even the regeneration a secret? Emotions would fly so high.

What do you think? Do you want to be completely and utterly surprised? Is the knowledge and anticipation more fun?

Will you be watching the announcement on Sunday?

I'll leave you to your thoughts.

Love,
Alora

Victory is at Hand! (A.K.A. I won Camp NaNoWriMo)

I did it. I’m done. I just finished the very first draft of my very first novel. I wrote fifty thousand words in the month of July and completed Camp NaNoWriMo.



I have close my manuscript and I am not going to open it again until I go back to school in two weeks.
It is so weird to not have something to do. I don’t have a daily word count to reach. I have no looming goal. I am done. I finished my first draft with about 50,300 words and I am going to let it sit. However, when I pick it back up I am definitely going to add more before I finally start to edit.

I still am not used to the insane lack of things to do in the evening. I can get on my tumblr and reblog whatever I want and not have to worry about not hitting my word count for the day. It is very freeing, but also scary. What will I do now?

Thankfully, I am planning a web show in the near future that still has no script. I have things to do, but I have no major deadlines to reach. I should probably set them.

Love,
Alora

P.S. I actually won last Sunday on the 28th, but stay tuned I have two NaNo-related videos coming tonight.

Camp NaNoWriMo: Why Hello Week Two. Why Don't You Punch Me in the Face?

          So, if you haven't seen my most recent videos, which are now available in the handy video bar above, then you may not know that I am doing Camp NaNoWriMo this glorious month of July. Camp NaNoWriMo is an extension of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Camp NaNoWriMo is, unlike NaNoWriMo, not in November. Instead it is in April and July. Also you can choose to work on something besides a novel or revise, or continue previous work. With this addition users can also make their own word counts besides the usual 50,000 words. The people who take these options are called NaNoRebels. I am just doing the traditional fifty thousand words this July which is a lot of words so I am very busy.
          Every day I go to work and write on the drive there and sometimes on the drive home. I usually spend about 9 to 10 hours at work, so as soon as I get home, I sit down and write. This is my schedule for the day, so as you can see I do not have much free time to do things like blog and make great videos. I am still uploading a quick vlog every Tuesday, just to stay in the habit of vlogging. If I stop again, it may take years for me to start back up, again. So the next few July videos aren't going to be that great, but I will be editing more once August starts. However, I will not be editing that much until school starts again. I will still be working for the first half of August, and still busy. The only reason, you all got the Wizard Duel is because it was already mostly edited, and I finished it up in the car on the way to work one morning.
          I am going on a road trip on the first week of August, so I do not know what my video that week will be, but on the 17th I am going back to school and the land of free time. Next semester I will be busier than I was last semester, but I will still have more time to edit than I do now.
         Next semester I will also be filming a web show, that I am producing. It is as yet, nameless and scriptless, but if everything goes according to plan episodes will start rolling out in January. I will try to release a few trailers beforehand just so you all can get excited, but until then just imagine a X-men on a much lower budget and with mostly girls. I am excited for it, and I hope that you all will like it.
         So, if you have read this far, I love you, but I have to say good bye. I am very far behind on my word count, thousands of words, so I really need to nail it down. If you want a bad explanation of my plot, click on the first video in the bar above. This is my most recent video, to watch it on YouTube click here. The video will open up in a white box, that you can close at any time, by clicking "I'm done watching this." I hope you enjoy the upgrades. Also, clicking the Camp NaNoWriMo banner on the side takes you to my novel page that has a synopsis and excerpt.

Have a wonderful week guys,

Love,

Alora

What You can Buy With $2000

Hey, I haven't blogged on in a while so I have a lot to catch you guys up on.

First:
My job is going great. I got my first paycheck a week ago. My first whole month at PatientFocus is inclosed in the two thousand dollars. I am so happy. I can do so much! I know that I can't really do that much, but think of how much stuff I can buy.

40 pairs of nice shoes.
200 yards of fabric. (Joann's)
33 swim suits.(Land's End)
500 gallons of gas. ($4.00)
29 tanks of gas (17 gal.)
100 t-shirts (Think Geek)
1 acre of pasture (US average (http://dft.ba/-landdata))
18 bitcoin (http://dft.ba/-bitcoin)

That's a lot of stuff. (Each is how many of that object you can buy with $2,000)
I am going to have the ability to buy so much stuff at the end of the summer. I am thinking about getting a car. I have to learn how to drive first. I am quite terrified of driving and only have a few hours logged.

I have learned so much at PatientFocus. I am excited at all of the new possibilities. There are so many opportunities for developers and techie people, and look I am becoming one. Slowly but surely I am joining the tech community. It is awesome! I am going to do fun things with the Tumblr API later.

Until the next time:

Love,

Alora

P.S. These are my two most recent videos. Enjoy.

Apologies, Weddings, and Videos

Hey guys. I have been very busy with my new job. I started last Tuesday and then this weekend I spent three days without internet and in Atlanta for a wedding. I posted a new video a week ago and I will be posting a new one tonight as well.
Last Week's video:

This week's video:
(not up yet, sorry)

My cousin got married on Saturday, so I got to see a bunch of family and friends. Many of which I haven't seen in years, especially since before I went off to school. I learned that a bunch of my family. Way more than I thought reads my blog. Hi guys!

I am kind of taking a break from working right now, but I wanted to give you all my thoughts on weddings. My dad has promised to either pay for my wedding or pay the down payment on my first house. When he first told me this many, many years ago it seemed like a no brainer. Why would I want a big fancy single day, when I could get a house and many years? The economics of the choice is simple, but emotionally a wedding just seems awesome. There is a ton of stress in the planning and beforehand, but on the day of it just looks like fun. I won't have to decide between these two for many years, but every wedding makes me think. Do I want a house or a wedding? I have argued each side a countless number of times and I will most definitely decide and redecide before the actually decision is made.

That is what is going on with me right now. I am super busy working 12 days and busy, busy weekends. This is Alora getting back on schedule and signing off.

Love,
Alora

The Skunk Adventure

I am going to begin this adventure by asking you all to imagine skunk smell. All of you have probably smelt it in passing a one time or another. So think of that smell and then forget it. That is far away skunk smell. Up close skunk is so much worse it does not compare. It smells like burning rubber, onions, and gas and chemicals. It burns your nose and your eyes. Every theory you have about it is wrong. It is so much worsethan that. If you hav smelled a skunk up close before or even been sprayed I am sorry. I'm so so sorry. We can hide together. Nothing can keep out the smell. We went to the store to gt cleaning supplies and the car smelled like skunk from our clothes. It is so completely disgusting.

So now that you are maybe imagining the correct smell I will tell you the story.  So Hops really wants to touch a skunk, so she sends Zinny in to touch it while standing a safe distance away. Zinny gets sprayed and Hops is safe. The both ran into the house before we found out what had happened. Zinny went to every single floor before we found out it was her and sent her outside. We all hid in our rooms and Mom and Dad did research on skunk smell. The grossness permeated the whole house no matter how much we tried to hide from it. We reached the Publix approximately ten minutes before it closed. We manage to get all of the stuff and mom is currently washing Zinny with peroxide, hand soap, something else. I really hope we don't have to go find somewhere that sells tomato juice at eleven pm.

Try not to get sprayed by a skunk.

Love,
Alora

100th Post! *Band (that you should be in) Plays Fanfare*

(I only technically have 95 published posts, but I have five drafts that will one day be posts, so they count.)

          Yesterday, I had band practice. As most of you know, I play the alto saxophone in my school's band. The school year is technically over, but the entire band, corps of cadets and senior class has to stay until Saturday or Sunday. Graduation is technically on Sunday, but on Saturday we have commissioning and the VWIL change of command parade. In commissioning, from what I understand, the graduating seniors that have been commissioned to the Army, Marine Corps, etc. are recognized. I am not entirely sure if this is true. Feel free to correct me and I will correct myself on Saturday if need be. Change of command speaks for itself.
          In band practice on Wednesday we had fourteen people show up. The full band is slightly larger than that, but not by much. We should be bigger on a campus of 1,000 people. The fact that our numbers are so small is very sad. I love band with all of my heart and I wish that more people participated in it. I started playing when I was in third grade and I have loved band ever since. I know that all of the music nerds who read this are wondering about my views on choir and orchestra. I love choir too. I have never been in orchestra, but from what I have heard it is just as awesome as band and choir. I am mainly pushing band right now, but any music group that you love works too. I say band because it is my favorite, but you can substitute orchestra or choir if you want.
          Band is awesome. First of all, band equals music. You and your friends spend hours making and perfecting music. At the end of a song, right after the conductor cuts you off, if you are lucky, and you listen close, you can here an echo of the last note you just played. The cymbals still ringing and the epic song dying as you listen. It is a fantastic feeling. Second reason band is awesome: social opportunities. I have made wonderful friends in the musical world. Band pushes people together and makes them cooperate. Band is like free friend land. A group of people spend a lot of time together and just from familiarity become great friends. Third reason, satisfaction. I get a lot of satisfaction from band; there is a lot to be gotten. I have been playing for almost six years and the satisfaction at the end of every performance has not decreased. The satisfaction that comes from the applause of your audience is unparalleled. You just sit there as the echo of the song dies and the audience claps and cheers. It is one of the best feelings ever.
          I could go on for hours and hours with pros of band, but I want to address your inevitable cons. The point of this post is to convince you to give band, or chorus, or orchestra a try. I have been trying to convince people to join band for years, so I am very familiar with the excuses people give for not trying band/orchestra/chorus. They say that they do not have enough time, or they will be no good. They can't read music. They can't sing. They don't know how to play an instrument. In response to this I say:

SO?

It does not matter whether you can or can't sing. If you know how to read music. Whether or not you can play an instrument. The learning curve has to start somewhere. You are no good? That is because you haven't tried. Practice more. Give it your all. Band is not my "way of life" per se, but I still love it. I still try to push it on other people. Band is a great way to meet new people, learn new things, relieve stress, and be happy.

          Band is something that I plan on doing my whole life. It is a wonderful hobby. I encourage every single one of you reading this post to go try something. You don't necessarily have to do band, but try something new. I hope you join me in the band, but sometimes you honestly just don't want to. I understand if you do not like music, but please try something else. Join a dance team, a fencing club, a gamer's guild. Try something new. It does not matter whether you are good or not. Do it for the fun and satisfaction that doing it brings. That is why I am in band. I love it. 

Find something that you love.

Love,

Alora

P.S. Sorry I didn't post this yesterday. Tumblr and season finales ate my face.

P.P.S (I am such a child. :P) Also, I edited this one, so any mistakes are on me.

Happy Mother's Day and Roller Coasters

Happy Mother's Day to all moms. I went to Kings Dominion in Dosewell, VA yesterday as part of a school trip and I made this video for you guys. It will not embed, but you can watch it here.

This blog is going to be short today because I am not feeling so hot. I rode a bunch of rides yesterday and I vlogged about it so once I am feeling better I will put that up. I am doing an end of the year video on Tuesday so look forward to that and I should be all caught up on stuff by Wednesday.

Ride on.

Love,
Alora

Prospective Student = Fun Times

         Last night Cassie hosted a prospective student. Her name is Edlene and she is pretty awesome. She showed up yesterday around three and went on a tour of the building. After her mom took her out to dinner she came back to the building and we (Brittan, Cassie, Edlene and me) all hung out in Cassie's room. I was working on my homework, Cassie was editing a video, and Brittan was on tumblr. I do believe that Edlene was playing around on Youtube. Around nine o' clock Chanelle came in and the five of us headed downtown to Split Banana. It was a very amusing trip. I filmed parts of it which, once edited, will be linked to. After ice cream we walked back to the dorm and I hung out with just Cassie and Edlene. It was nice. I got some quality roommate time with Cassie. The next morning, Brittan and I took Edlene to breakfast and then dropped her off at her first class and then picked her up for her second class. She came to ECON today to join us for the "fun part."
         In class today I was strangely excited. I still am. Today is a good day and I am just happy and full of energy. We were doing an economic experiment where we separated into groups and each group had to choose how much to contribute to research in development to possibly win a 150 million dollar patent. The paper said that we were looking for cancer vaccines, so I decided that we were making zombies and got really excited. It was super fun! Edlene got to play with us. She was pretty quiet, but she seemed to have fun. After class we headed up to lunch. There was a group of PEG's already up there and we sat with them.
          There were two juniors, two sophomores, Brittan and I, and Edlene. They were all really excited about meeting a prospective so we had a pretty fun time. After lunch, Britt and I dropped her off with her mom and Margie (PEG staff) and came back to the dorm.
         She is gone now. I will hopefully see her next year. She seems like a good PEG. This is the story of what happened, but it really isn't all that interesting. I kind of skimmed through it. Mainly I want to talk about the things that experienced people do to noobs. I am not going to address major hazing, just little pranks. I recently watched an episode of Merlin where Arthur had a new knight and it was his first patrol. The king and his knights were teasing him by making him ride his horse backwards. He was so eager to please them. It was adorable.
          I think that this is an interesting phenomenon  The newbies always want to impress their elders. It can be very funny to see and everyone goes through it. We all understand coming into a place and trying desperately to impress our elders. Then, the next year, we are the elders and we play pranks on the newbies. It is an interesting cycle. Consider the psychological roots of this reaction to elders. Evolutionarily,  it was probably adaptive to impress elders because they will protect you from predators or maybe teach you how to protect yourself. Socially, it is definitely worth it to try and impress your elders. They can help you make new social connections and having a good relationship with them can be useful too. I do not know anything about the possible biological side of this. Although psychologically, it probably boosts your self esteem to have your elders like you.

          So those are my thoughts for the day. Granted I have taken one psychology course and done no research on the subject.

Have a nice weekend everyone. Talk to you on Sunday.

Love,
Alora

Reader Appreciation and Catch-Up

Hey guys.
          First of all I want to thank all of you for reading my blog and putting up with my gaps between posts. I know that most of you probably know me in the real world and this is just an update for you. However, for those of you who have never met me, thank you. Seriously, I really appreciate all of the views. I am trying to bring my YouTube channel up in viewers, but I know that if that fails I have all of you guys to be here for me. So I am just wondering, I have some demographic data about who reads my blog, but not much. Also, I don't have much feedback on my posts besides page views. So, if you guys would take a minute to tell me why you read my blog and what you would want me to post about, that would be really, really awesome.

          Now, update time. I know that I posted yesterday and then promised to post last night, but I didn't get a chance. I put up a video today that has more information on my YouTube enterprise. Also, it is a look into why I do not have that many stories on my channel.

Here it is for your viewing:

          So, that is pretty cool. As I say in my video I am going home soon because Mayterm is ending. Mayterm is a short three week mini-semester that my college does. After spring semester, we tack three weeks of Mayterm on. It is almost over, but I have to stay a few days afterward because of band. The band is playing at commissioning and the change of command parade. This is for The Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership. I sort of explained it earlier, but the link takes you to their about page on Mary Baldwin's website.
          That's what is happening after Mayterm, but right now I am enrolled in Experimental economics. It is pretty sweet. It is every single day of the week from nine to noon, but it is my only class. My days go like this:
I get up and eat breakfast.
Then I go to class and we go over last night's homework.
Then we do an experiment.
Then we go over how to do tonight's homework.

          It is really, rather awesome and we usually get out early. After class I go to lunch, then work, and then I do homework and hang out until bed. The next day it starts all over again. Tomorrow class is delayed until ten thirty because we are only working on our group projects. Speaking of which.

I have to go. Good night and I hope you find good YouTubers.

Love,
Alora

P.S. My favorite YouTubers are: Danisnotonfire, AmazingPhil, GeekandSundry, ItsWayPastMyBedTime, KickthePJ, JacksGap, Jenna Marbles, Meekakitty, Nanalew, and many other webshows and vloggers. I just found a bunch more funny vloggers to watch. Check out my channel feed to see what I am up to in YouTubeLand. Bye for real this time.

Quick Update: Youtube, Tumblr, and Schedules

Hey, guys. I haven't been blogging much recently. I have really missed it and I am going to try and post more, but I have also started to work more with other social media. I got a Tumblr, and as you know I have started making Youtube videos again. Last Tuesday I posted a video about hive and allergies:

I have started an official video schedule. Every Tuesday, and probably some other days, I will post a new video. I think I am going to try a blog schedule too. Lets try a new post every Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday. This is at the very least. I am trying to get back in the habit of blogging. I miss talking to you guys.

I have to finish my Economics homework. I will try to do a fill in blog tonight. Please check out my Youtube channel.

Keep Daydreaming.

Love,
Alora

Impossible Astronaut Day

All whovians unite! Today is the day where we run around looking like idiots covered in tally marks. I made a video of my adventures.

Have fun confusing the non-whovians.

Remember the Silence.

Love,
Alora

P.S. There is an explanation of all of this at the end of the video.

Finals Week: How Procrastination Killed the Motivation

This is a story I would like to tell you about a certain college student (me) going through their second ever week of finals.

          The week before finals, hell week, this student decided to not only not study, but to start watching a new TV show as well. Then, when finals week rolled around, she spent most of the weekend beforehand studying for her easiest exam. On Monday she took two exams her easiest and an essay exam. The essay exhausted her and she spent most of that night watching her new TV show. The next morning she started studying for the exam she was going to take that afternoon.Her third exam went well, but again she was tired out and spent most of the night watching television. Then Wednesday morning she got up bright and early and began to study for her notorious chemistry final planning to take it that afternoon. Around 11am she realized that she wouldn't be able to take it that afternoon and would have to take it on Thursday. Again, her studying deteriorated into TV watching. Finally, this morning she finished, sort of, studying for chemistry.
          I took the exam and hopefully I didn't fail. I will most likely get a good grade in the course, but only an A if the teacher curves the final. The idea of not getting an A has really stressed me out and it is all my fault. I have caused myself so much extra stress, by just not studying. I still have a final portfolio to work on that is do tomorrow. I like to think that this experience will teach me not to procrastinate, but most likely I still got an A in all of my classes. A.K.A. no harm done. This also means that it is harder for me to convince myself to study.
          This blog post is actually procrastination, but it is procrastination for a good cause (he he I just keep telling myself that). I started out writing this blog post to convince people to not procrastinate. Look how well that turned out. I cannot even convince myself to stop procrastinating. Well, even if I have not convinced you of anything at least you have been given some insight into my life and the horrible cycle of endless procrastination.
          The constant procrastination is probably also due in part to the source of my motivation. The main reason I want to study is to keep my 4.0 GPA, not because I think studying for chemistry is the most interesting thing ever. I would rather be doing so many other things. That variety of what I can do makes it that much harder to convince myself to study for my classes. So far I have been able to succeed, but I have usually started studying with not enough time to finish. What will happen next semester when I am taking harder classes?

Chew on that for a while. Share it with friends. Any funny stories about times you barely or didn't make it because of procrastination? Comment below.

Be safe.

Love,
Alora

Boston Marathon Explosions

I was busy taking a glorious exam today when the explosions rocked Boston. News continues to come out, but from what I have heard on Twitter 12 are dead and over a hundred are injured. Three bombs went off, two by the finish line of the Boston Marathon and one by the JFK Library. A fourth bomb apparently was defused by the police.I have heard people are blaming muslims because they have not caught anyone yet. More information continues to come out, but we will probably not know the full story until tomorrow and more information will continue to be uncovered after that. Many of these stats will probably change, but this is how it is right now.

Stay safe Boston.

Love,
Alora

Why Twitter is Better Than Facebook.

I have had a Twitter account since 2009. I have had a Facebook for about a long. For the longest time I preferred Facebook over Twitter, but I have recently changed my mind. I just figured out why. Facebook doesn't have as fast of a post rate. I have 400 friends and I have liked tons of pages, but I get a new post about every five minutes. Whereas on Twitter I am following 200 people and I get a new post to read every 30 seconds on a slow day. I know that this is showing my age, but sometimes I just want to waste time burying myself in posts. That is when I go play on Twitter. That is my revelation of the day. It is only a blog post because I couldn't get my thoughts out in a tweet.

"Stay square and fight the robots." -- Squaresville

Love,
Alora

Upgrades

So I haven't blogged in a while because spring break happened and then hell week ensued like a month early. I have been quite busy, but today I want to talk to you all about upgrades. Everyone is constantly upgrading. Upgrade Chrome. Windows updates (bane of my computer productivity). Upgrade to a smart phone. The word upgrade means move up. I recently have "moved up" in the small universe of the Early College Office at Mary Baldwin College. My supervisor is taking about a month off and I get to sit in her chair, use her computer (like I am right now) and answer her phone! It is the best thing ever. I am so excited, but when I was reading The Oatmeal I was prompted to think about my content on here. I just have been blogging about myself lately and not ideas or funny stories. From now on Letters to the Parents will be less focused on me and my life and more on life in general and my ideas and things. If that makes any sense. I will still be updating my life and stuff, but I am going to provide more content that is more relate-able than just "I did this today..." So Letters to the Parents is upgrading, sort of. I have finals in a two weeks so there won't be much change for a little while, but after that I will be moving stuff around and having a new content party. Feel free to join in on the comments. Please share and check back often it really helps keep the blog alive.

Thanks,

Love,
Alora

Home Sweet Home and Dentistry

          I am home for spring break and loving it. So far I have hung out with my family while cleaning the house, watching movies, and just playing around. Yesterday, Jamie (Brittan's boyfriend) came over and hung out for a while. Before he did we cleaned the house up. While we were cleaning (by we I mean Mom, Maxwell, Zara, Me, Brittan and Dad) Dad realized that Brittan and I clean the house really well. His exact words were: "I had forgotten how much of a positive contribution [Brittan and I]. . .made around the house." I felt so loved when he said that. It made me happy inside. On another note we also went to McKay's yesterday. Jamie and I helped Brittan find the plays she needed for her theater class because she doesn't want to buy the textbook. I didn't get any books, but we found most of Brittan's plays.

          Today I went to the orthodontist for a consultation. I have a cross bite and my top jaw is smaller than my bottom jaw. I have horrible teeth. Yay! Also they took pictures, like actual with a camera ones, of my teeth. It was super painful. They stuck mirror in my mouth and pulled  my cheeks apart. Now I have a really small mouth so the mirrors didn't really fit: at all. It was super painful. In the end they used a small kid one. I need a small kid thing when they draw blood too. I have to ask for a baby needle because I have small veins. Also, they are really hard to see through my skin. At one point I was trying to get blood drawn and they stabbed each arm twice before finally finding a vein. It was not fun.

          Tell me about a time you had fun being tortured by your doctors or maybe sometime you cleaned the house.

Try to refrain from falling out of trees.

Love,

Alora

Sometimes, I Wonder

          Sometimes I wonder if I am too much of a mediator. I work hard to try and give people good advice and to listen to them, but then others come along and put their moral foot down and I wonder if maybe my advice would work better if I did that.

          A few minutes ago my friend, lets call her Bianca  came in complaining about her mom. Her mom was forcing her to give up her Facebook password and Bianca is convinced that over spring break her mom will go through her laptop. Now she has somethings that she does not want her mom to see which is understandable. She came in to complain about how she then had to delete all of those things. She was then talking about how much she hated her mother. My other friend, Beatrice, got frustrated that Bianca hated her mom at all. I tried to mediate and make the two of them feel better, but they both walked out frustrated, at life, if not each other.

          Beatrice was defending her beliefs. I know that I try to defend my beliefs, but do I really do a good job. I need an opinion on some of these things. I have to hope that Bianca will grow out of her parent hate, but I do not know. I do think that family is family, and I have unconditional love for my family. I will love them forever I just do not know what to do about other people's families. I cannot fix families. I cannot help them. I can help teenagers and that is about it. I give advice and homework help, but not much else outside of that.

          I wonder, if I really do have as my teachers say "a strong sense of right and wrong." What does that even mean? Every day I try to hold up these morals that I have developed, but sometimes they do not fit the situation and I do not know what to do.

That is my look into my mind for the day.

Love,
Alora

Thursday, Again?

          I feel like just yesterday it was last Thursday. Where has this week gone? Oh, yeah, the homework monster ate it. I have tons of work to do and I have been YouTubing. Yesterday/early this morning I finished editing my most recent YouTube video. Check it out:

I also convince my friend Cassie to join YouTube. Lookie what she has made. I am so proud.

Yeah so my week has been sucked into a black hole of homework, but it is almost spring break. Week after next I will be blogging from home.

Don't kill people.

Love,

Alora

P.S. I have Twizzlers!!!

I am a Superwholockian.

          Do you want to know why I haven't blogged in a while? I have been watching Supernatural. Netflix is awesome, but I have now become part of the big three. I am a Superwholockian. I am scared. There are so many people in this fandom. I love Supernatural so far, but I have many seasons to go. I am only on the second season. No spoilers. Yesterday though, I was looking through a Doctor Who Facebook and I found a but ton of awesome pictures. I am going to share the best with you guys.

So I had some cool pictures up here, but I had to take them down due to copyright. Sorry guys. If you want to though I found most of them through the Facebook page, Doctor Who and The T.A.R.D.I.S. Have fun wasting time.

Love,
Alora

Doctor Who Episode Ideas

         Season seven has been quite intense and very dark. There is a major battle approaching on the field of Tensalor (sp?). I think that Matt Smith will soon regenerate into someone new. I have not looked anything up, but I am just guessing. On this thought of regeneration I have had a marvelous idea. I do not know if I am the first to think of it, but I know that no one has enacted it.
          Before I get into my great episode or special idea, we all must be clear on the facts. Everyone knows that when the doctor regenerates he has the same memories and even though he is genetically a different person his personality is quite similar and he has all of his memories. On this note it would be very fun to have multiple doctors in an episode. Different incarnations, but not all at the same time. It would bump the doctor count up, but it would be very fun.
          Say it is some really bad times and the Doctor is fighting a horrible war. He is on the front lines and gets shot. He regenerates. His new body goes back to the war and he gets shot again. He regenerates, again.  Over a span of a few weeks or a month or two we could go through a few Doctors. This would be centered over a huge battle, and it would emotionally scar the Doctor without a doubt. The final regeneration that wins the war will have the split second memories of countless regenerations that lived a matter of days.
         I am not sure how he would react to those huge emotions, but it would be a very fun special. A long invasion maybe, but not destroying Earth. Maybe he gets stuck in World War Two. Possibly he gets trapped in a concentration camp somewhere and he is somehow contained. Obviously we can't use the Silence because they fall with the fall of the Eleventh when the question is asked. Later maybe. If someone, somehow gets a hold of him and they are trying to harness his regeneration energy. They could play on the number of regenerations that River apparently had before she saved the Doctor. Does he have a number of regenerations? Does every new Doctor that quickly dies lessen his number of possible regenerations?
         I cannot answer any of these questions. It is all up to the writers, but I think this would be something fun to play on.

Run clever boy and remember.

Love,
Alora

Band T-Shirts and New Uniforms

          Yesterday band let out early and the trads ("traditionals" AKA non-VWILS in this case) headed over to VWIL Supply House for  new uniforms. We got fitted for our dress mess tunics (jackets) and we got our dress mess pants. They are white and brand new, so they haven't been fitted to anyone. Mine are huge on me because the size smaller didn't fit at all, but the seamstress when we take them to get hemmed will take them in. We also got windbreaker pants and jackets. The jacket is the warmest jacket of all time and I can wear it in regular daily life if I want too. Yay. We also got PT uniforms: basketball shorts and VWIL t-shirts. All of this stuff took about an hour to get for the tenish band trads. Band ended at 7 yesterday and I didn't get back to the dorm until 8:30 ish.
         I did get my band t-shirt though!!!!! Picture time!

This is the front of the shirt. Everyone has there last name on theirs, but Brittan didn't want us to have the same shirt so we got initials too.

This is the back of the shirt. In case you can't read it, it says "We Lure You In, We Take You Out!" We are apparently the Sirens.

This is  a close up of the mermaid in the middle.

          I am wearing my shirt today and it is kind of hard to tell in the pictures, but it is navy blue with white lettering and green designs. I love it!

Have a terrific Tuesday.

Love,
Alora

P.S. For those of you who do not know VWIL is the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership. They are basically ROTC. Their marching band is the only one on campus so it is what I am doing. All of the traditionals have to get the uniforms and follow the dress codes for parades or we make the core look bad.

Poem Edits

          A few weeks ago I wrote a poem entitled "The Beginning of All Art." I blogged about it and shared it all with you. Now at the request of my teacher to edit one of my poems (AKA homework) I have revised this poem. It now reads like this and I have changed the title. Pleas read, comment, compare the two. Suggestions, praise and criticism are all welcome.

The Father of All Art

The painter licks his lips, and dips

Into a brimming pit of thought.

The brush whips over the canvas creating.

Marking out a new form. Will it be

A person, dog, or tree?

Options are open.

Maybe just a pile of purple puzzle pieces

Stacked in such a specific way.

An author primes her pen,

Swirling it over an abyss of idea.

What shall she scribe?

Opportunities are endless.

Construct courtyards

Of crying cherubs, tears unexisting

oOn their rough unmoving cheeks,

Or take a boy on an unexpected adventure.

Now you get ready to create

Reach for your instrument.

A camera, a pencil,

A carver’s blade?

No matter. You are

Jumping into the pit.

Swimming down into the abyss.

What drives you, also

Powers the writer while she furiously clacks away at the keys,

And

Sustains the painter’s muscles when his hand grows heavy.

The father of rhyme and alliteration.

Imagination.

Thanks for reading. On a side note you should go check out my friend Sarah's blog, Bawks of Chocolates. It is hilarious and I will be appearing in one of her videos sometime soon. More details later.

Try not to eat all of your children.

Love,

Alora

Girl Scouts Science Day: My Saturday

Yesterday morning from 9:30AM -- 1:00PM I worked a booth at Girl Scout Science day. A whole bunch of Cadets and Junoirs came to MBC and we set up 18 booths of experiments for them to do, watch, etc. My booth was the egg in a bottle trick that I ran with my friend Cassie. The link has two different way to do the experiment and we showed the girls the first one, but we tried the second one with some of our broken eggs. At one point a group of girls came back to talk to us and we showed them the upside down one. They loved it.
I also got a cool water bottle for volunteering. We all did. It's a nice big, red, metal one that says girl scouts on it. It makes me happy. I have three water bottles now!! Yay.
So I learned yesterday that young little girls are quite smart. I mean I knew that already, sort of, but I really learned it. Cassie and I had at least three groups of girls explain pretty nearly how the experiment works. One group did it spot on. Others, instead of mentioning the pressure directly said that the fire consumed the oxygen and lowered the pressure. I loved being there with all of those girls. I got to see kids and young adults probably only a few years younger than myself get excited over science. I also got to show all of those girls a super fun experiment. I loved explaining it to them and I got Cassie to explain it too. She is not a sciencey person, but I taught it to her and she explained. I had so much fun. Just writing this is making me excited again!!!
After the Girl Scout thing I went back to my room and watched Merlin. I am now done with season four and I also watched Brave with all the rest of us girls. It was a lazy day.

Have fun doing science.

Love,
Alora

P.S. That is what I told every group as the left. It is really fun to say out loud. Try it. No really, try it.

Thanks.

D&D. AKA Best Game Ever!!!!!

          Yesterday I went to rm 407 of the academic building and played Dungeons and Dragons with some of my friends. The highlights include: touching scene number one, getting out of the dungeon, Moira killing the wolf, Slespigam being saved, and of course the random telepathic moments.
          We started this module about five weeks ago and we are finally done. We get XP and I am excited. Last night was very adventurous too. We started the day where we had ended last week: in a room with a hyena/coyote/wolf/bad puppy. Lele (Brittan) tried to open the door on the far side of the room and woke it up. Cue touching scene number one. Kanlis-Aerren (Jessica) was bitten on the shoulder and both her and Moira (ME) thought she was going to die. Now throughout their time in the dungeon the two of them had become very close. So close in fact that when either one of them is close to death the other goes into rage mode. When Kanlis-Aerren lost conscoiusness Moira believing her to be dead, killed the wolf hyena thing and ripped its throat out. Also luckily for Brittan she was heartbroken. Now if I haven't told you before, on a promise she made to her goddess, Lele had to break three hearts before she could leave the dungeon. She broke Kanlis-Aerren's the first day and then Moira's. In the end her third heart was her goddess, Jinx's.
          Besides all of us, but Magnus (Jennifer) almost getting killed we made it out of the dungeon alive. Now we are standing in a desert ready to walk in any direction and but tired and exhausted.

I wish you many halaflings.

Love,
Alora

P.S. I started this blog on Saturday and finished it today on Sunday. Oops.

Strange Snow

          No it is not telepathic. I promise. It is just new and unexpected. It fell some time last night and now it is slowly melting. I am not sure if it is below freezing because the snow is watery and sticky. Very good for snowballs. Mwhahahah! I went to breakfast by myself this morning though because Brittan decided that she was to tired to get out of bed. I sat alone thinking and eating french toast sticks. Surprisingly Hunt did not mess them up this morning. Usually they are really hard and slightly burnt. So today has been good so far except I realized this morning that I totally forgot to buy sleds when I went to Walmart yesterday. I bought snacks, a computer mouse, gum, and mouthwash, but no sled. I didn't even see any which is sad even by Walmart standards.

          OMG!!! Band shirts are here today. I am going to go pick mine up later. They are super cute. I will add pictures when I get it. So check back around 1PMish (EST).

          So no sleds, but I did get a 102.5% on my Psyc test. Yay! My mouse is super useful too. I can scroll easily and just yay! I love using a mouse. Track pads get super annoying some times. And it works on almost any smooth surface!

          Also tomorrow I am going to be doing experiments for Girl Scouts. Girl Scout science day is tomorrow and I have volunteered. I will be running a demonstration of air pressure with the egg in a bottle trick. I get to do it with Cassie too which will be fun. I can't wait.

          I have to go to class now. I have a poetry test. Wish me luck. :)

"Don't kill people." -- Sarah

Love,
Alora

Signature Ball

          Last Saturday we had the Signature Ball which I forgot to mention in A Very, Very, Very Long Week. The Signature Ball was sort of the college version of prom with tickets that cost only $12 bucks and fun college people. It was super fun. I wore an orange strapless dress with rhinestones on the top. Brittan did my hair in a super cute bun. Look at the picsures!!!!

TJ watching everyone else get ready before she puts on her secret and adorable dress.

Brittan doing something for getting ready.

Brittan's hair that I did. Sorry that it's sideways I didn't have time to rotate it before I published it.

Gorgeous Mimi, sadly also sideways.

Brittan doing TJ's make up.

Glorious Mimi once again.

Brinley putting Anneliese's makeup on.

Hannah in Brittan's dress. Also sideways

Hannah's super cute eye shadow.

Meme's making silly faces

TJ's make up in progress.

Mimi  borrowing my camera to take her picture in my mirror. I am behind her on the left/bottom of the screen.

More silly faces.

Chanelle curling Cassie's hair with a straightening iron like a boss.

I think Cassie was looking in the mirror for this one.

As you can see we had tons of fun getting ready to go to the ball. I did not get any pictures of myself, but other people did. The ball was super fun. Yummy food, hours of dancing and beautiful friends to hang out with. I did the Wobble, and the Cupid shuffle in a ball gown that night. I had tons of fun even with my aching feet.

Keep dancing.

Love,

Alora

Very, Very, Very Long Week

          Last weekend I did absolutely no homework. I watched a ton of Torchwood which was a bad idea. I haven't had time to blog since then because I have bee doing homework constantly. I had two tests last week and a paper due. It was not the best idea to procrastinate. I still got everything done, and this weekend I am getting back on track. I may be starting to make some Youtube videos soon because I want to film and show everyone my Dungeons and Dragons group. I just have to clear it with my DM first. I had a pretty fun week last week. I wrote a good English paper in roundabouts of a day. I played in the snow that fell. I think we have had snowfall three times this week. Sadly it has all melted within a few days. We had snow yesterday, but today it is all gone. Also, at home, in Tennessee, they have gotten tons of snow and it lasted a few days. Why, Virginia, why? I am so frustrated. I miss Nebraska winters so much. Ahhhhhhh! I need snow! I have been tweeting about snow, but it is little baby snow. I want big mamma snow. :( Sadness.
          Also, yesterday I finished what I can watch of season seven of Doctor Who. I am currently listening to Chameleon Circuit on Spotify. It is super fun. I love all of their songs. Hehehehe. Doctor Who band. Who'd a thunk! Well I have to go. I have homework to do as I said.

Watch for the blue police box.

Love,
Alora

Maddening Migraines

Yesterday, I was going to go to track practice at 6:15 AM, but when my alarm went off at 5:50 AM I was held in bed by a terrible migraine. I turned my alarm off and told Brittan that I would be going to practice. She decided to not go either, but she was just tired. I went took some ibuprofen and went back to bed. At this point I was feeling kind of nauseous (which I cannot spell without Google), but I managed to fall asleep, at least for a few minutes. At six fifteen I got up, ran to the bathroom and the contents of my stomach said hello to the toilet bowl. I managed to sleep until eight after that and I felt better. I went about my day with the threat of headache and nausea, but neither reappeared until early yesterday evening. Around 7:30 last night I got extremely dizzy and motion sick while sitting on the couch. I have no idea how that happened, but against my wishes the combined forces of Mom and Brittan convinced me to go to bed. So last night I went to bed at eight o'clock. Luckily, I did not puke during the night and I felt much better when I got up at eight this morning. I got twelve hours of sleep last night which is awesome. I am writing this blog now, though, because my migraine has reappeared. I am not dizzy my head is just pounding. I took some ibuprofen this morning, but I guess it has worn off. I love ibuprofen. It makes my head stop hurting.
          I am really frustrated because I cannot figure out what is causing my migraines. I got glasses in fifth grade to stop my migraines, and it got better for a while. I have been wearing my glasses lately I guess I just get migraines which totally sucks. Why do I have to get migraines? Brittan doesn't get migraines. Humph.

Until next time, wear your glasses and love Wil Wheaton because he's a boss.

Love,
Alora

Tired to my Bones

It is Thursday, but there is no break for me. All that I want to do is sleep, but I can't. I have so much work to do: two essays, a project, two tests, and other homework. Why oh why must the semester be this way? I almost missed an entire problem on my math test today because I was so tired and hungry that I misread perpendicular as parallel and used the wrong points. As it is I am not entirely sure I got them all right. I have been tired and hungry for most of this week. I try and eat plenty of food, but I always seem to be hungry or when I am not hungry my stomach is suddenly too full. My body is being dumb. I know that I just started a new exercise routine, but I shouldn't be this tired. My first two hellish weeks of the workout are almost over and all I want to do is sleep. I truly am, as the title of this blog states, tired to my bones. I will try to survive tomorrow and then sleep all through the weekend if I do.

Remember, tomorrow is Friday.

Love,
Alora

Quinn Branch Farm Eggs

          Due to a decision made by our parents to not give us allowance, ever, my siblings and I start entrepreneurship young. When I was in seventh grade my twin sister and I started a business called Twinnies Cookies. We made cookies, wrapped them up, and then walked around the neighborhood selling them. The dough we made was pretty substantial especially for sixth/seventh graders. We did this on and off throughout the first two years of our middle school career. Before that we gathered up random stuff throughout the house and made necklaces and things to sell in our front yard to people driving by.
         My little brother and sister have been doing that for sometime now, but not many people drive by our road. They are in fourth and second grade, but they have a monetary advantage over Brittan and I. The two of them have eggs to sell. We have tons of chickens at my house and since I have gone off to college the two of them have started selling eggs. They even have a twitter, @QuinnBranchFarm, which all of you Nashville readers should follow for updates on the egg selling. Apologies to everyone else who is far away and can't get our delicious eggs.

Love,
Alora

P.S. They may not count as organic, but they certainly are homegrown and free range. You should see them run through the woods in my backyard.

My Two Wonderflonium Wednesdays

          So last Wednesday I created this blog post and never published it. I took some notes on what to say and never fleshed them out. Here is a shortened version of last week's Wednesday and a longer(ish) version of today.

Last Wed.
          I have an English class at ten o'clock on Wednesdays and despite my going off on English teachers in the past (click here to read) I really like this class. Last week I walked to the dorm from the academic building with a girl in my class and found out that she was an at-large PEG a.k.a. seniors and PEG's that are out of the PEG dorm. In fact she lives off campus. She was super nice and quite funny.
          Next I wanted to mention the poem that I wrote last week. It is super fun and has some cool allusions. You should go read it.
          Another thing that happened last Wednesday was that I fixed an equation in Chem 122. Long story short the teacher got confused about a certain equation because it was printed wrong in his book and I pointed it out and explianed why his correction to the right equation was wrong. I just got excited that I could think fast enough to look at the equation and then derive it while he was "fixing" it.
          I was also supposed to talk about last Tuesday, but lets just say I had a fun time and figured more cool stuff out in chem lab and I was really hungry. Same goes for that Monday. It was a good day.
          I also got new movies last Monday. Don't worry I have seen them before I just only have them at home in the family collection. I got The Matrix!!!! and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Original Movie!!! That is the one with real people. I love them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
          I also did track on Monday. Now I have caught you up on what I didn't post about last week. If I did please tell me. On to what has happened so far today.

This Wed.
          Today I have eaten chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Although I only ate half of one because I couldn't get it to cook all the way through. Since then I have blogged and checked my email. I should be heading to class right now, but I'm not because my English class was cancelled and now my essay isn't due until Monday. It is the BEST day ever. This is the same English class with the senior PEG from last week which even though I like it I am happy that I don't have to go to it.
          I kinda half to go do homework now, but before I go I am warning you all that I will be sore and tired tomorrow and Friday. Apparently in Fitness we are doing a glute workout and my friend is super sore from it. However on top of that Jasmine, who is running track on Thursday, told me last week that we will be doing a killer ab workout tomorrow at 6:30 in the morning. I hope I don't die or freeze to death.

Stay warm, but try not to burn your tongue.

Love,
Alora

P.S. Do not bounce.

Merfblurger

I have gotten some stuff done this weekend, but not as much as I had hoped. Hopefully tomorrow I will get more done. I will also work more on the essay I have for English. I have also started a short story trying to convince people that not everyone who wants to share their grades with you is bragging and to not automatically assume that they are excited because they got a higher grade then you. They may yet be, but be glad if people are happy to beat you then they put you in some way above themselves, and they are happy to have beaten above themselves.

That's all for now.

Merfblurger and go read Shades of Earth by Beth Revis.

Love,
Alora

PS I am going to read it now, but I must resist.

Sunday, The Day of Rest or Not

I have spent the entire day working. I did not go to track today because I was too busy working. Tonight I will do some push-ups and crunches and core things to make up for not running today. Last night I was so tired and sore that I went to bed at ten o'clock. I know that may not seem early to any readers who are not or never have been in college, but usual bed time around here is about 12AM to 1AM. I went to bed early, and I slept like a rock. I got up at nine this morning still tired and sore. I tried to do work in my room, but I ended up moving out into the second floor lounge were I have been ever since. I had ramen for breakfast, and then I worked and went to lunch. Hunt lunch today was sloppy joes and sweet potato fries both of which weren't half bad. I came back and sat down to work again. Around two I took a break and watched the most recent episode of The Guild and Tabletop two of my favorite Geek and Sundry shows. Sadly season six of The Guild is over, but the show will continue. I was totally afraid for the end of the show, but the comments below the video assuaged my fears.

Right now I am drinking hot chocolate and working on the explication of a sonnet that I have due on Friday. It is much harder than it may seem. I am good at math. It is easy. English is hard. Luckily I have questions to guide me so I am not just wading into it blind. Much cheering and applause for my textbook. Thank you. I am resisting the urge to snack. It is almost dinner time and I must get back to my homework.

Rest for me.

Love,
Alora

P.S. You know half the time when I sign my name I type so fast that it comes out "Alroa" and I have to try again. Once I even published a post before I noticed that I had spelled my name wrong.

Sore Muscles

So as I told you all this morning I went to track today. We ran about 2 miles. I think. It took about twenty minutes, and then we stretched and talked for a little while. I am really, really sore now. I also have a blister on my foot. I have track tomorrow too. Yeah! Not. I have not gotten any homework done today and I think I am going to go to bed early. By early I do not mean midnight, but rather around 10. I am going to get up early tomorrow and work all day. Nice and fun. I will take a break for track at some point. I am going to be so sore on Monday. Getting in shape is so painful.

It is good though. Getting in shape that is.

Love,
Alora

Errors in my Blog

Mom is on Skype with Brittan and nagging me about errors in my blog. Silly errors. There, their, and they're. Hear and here. I apologize. I really am sorry and I feel quite embarrassed. I make these errors because I write my blogs fast and stream of consciousness. Please feel free to comment any errors that you find. I have a hard time editing my own work. I apologize again.

Go do laundry.

Love,
Alora

Lyrica Falls Down the Stairs. Everyone Dies.

          Yesterday was one of the best days of the week, Friday. I had a busy, but fun day. Once my classes started at ten I wasn't done doing stuff until 11pm. However, I was doing fun stuff. For example I worked from 2-4 which was fun. I got to meet my boss's daughter who is adorable. Her name is Kelsie (spelling?) and she is in fifth grade. I helped her work the TV.
          I left work early to get dressed and run up to the PAC (gym) for track practice at four. I got there about 2 minutes late. We did 200 m relays. Person A (Brittan) ran the first 200m of the track and then tagged person B (me) on the opposite side of the track from where A started. Then while B ran her 200, A crossed over the field in the middle of the track. Each of us did this four times so the team did a mile and the two of us did two laps each. Brittan and I were last. Our time was 7:45 min. I think we did pretty good and Brittan didn't come to track last week and she was having some trouble breathing. After the relay we took a quick break and then split for sprints and stairs (long distance workout). Brittan, Sophia, me and a girl whose name I do not know did sprints. Just so you all know I haven't run since the end of eighth grade -ish. I haven't actually run and practiced for track since seventh grade. I think we did like two days of track, I don't remember why I quit, in eighth grade. Either way I sprinted faster than everyone I was running with and Sophia is the president of the track club. I know that she is more of a long distance person, but nobody else passed her. We sprinted three times and then did some core workout: crunches and planks.
           I had some soreness yesterday during D&D and I was super tired. Now my legs, my but, and my stomach hurt. A lot. I was going to get up at 9 and go to the 10 am track practice, but instead I am going to the 3pm one because I could not get up this morning. I was sore, and I stayed up until two AM watching The Matrix with Mimi. I told you last night was fun.
          Now for the D&D side of the story. Well last week we made new characters. My character is actually cool now (sorry Amanda). She has a cooler back story which makes for a more interesting game. So last week after we made our characters we started our first module which was all of us waking up in a jail cell chained together with about 50 other prisoners wearing potato sacks. Yeah. So we tried and failed to breakout last week. I won't give you the whole run down, but just know that I started last night with ONE HP. ONE! Moira, my character has a maximum of four. So needless to say I got down to 1/4 HP this round. Thank you so much Chibi (Dungeon Master) for not killling me. Yesterday Jessica killed half of a giant worm. I passed out. All of the prisoners, but my group died. It was very eventful.

Three sentences. Rope.

Love,
Alora

College Craft Number One

So last night I was feeling a little stressed so I sat down and made this.

Isn't it adorable!!!! I bought some cute fat quarters at Walmart a while back and so I decided to use my monster one to make a ID holder because my other one broke. Just so all of you know I may shortly blog abut this one joining my other one in broken land because I hand stitched it. It didn't take that long. Only about two or three hours. Although I didn't get much homework done last night. I did watch three more episodes of Torchwood though which was fun. I felt much better after making this and I get to show it to everyone today. Here are some pictures of the back and inside.

As you can see, it fits my phone, ID, and keys. The three most important things in a college students life. All I did was cut out two squares that turned out to be different sizes, hence the flap and then sewed them together. I used up almost all of my small supply of green thread, but I love the finished product. I need to work on the ribbon knot because it keeps coming undone, but that's what happens when you don't bring buttons. This is bored college student for you. I hope that I can share more adorable creations with you.
I may need to get more thread first.

Don't forget your buttons.

Love,
Alora

Homework To-Do List

So I have a To-Do list on Google Docs and it has all of my homework on it. Keep in mind that I have 19 semester hours. There are currently 12 items in my homework list and some due until the end of the month. I love my life. I keep getting super ahead on my homework. I am not stressed about it at all. Super excited. I have an essay in Intro to Literature, and poems to revise and tons of other things to do, but I know that I can do them within reasonable amounts of time. I also know that it will be fun. I have one boring class this semester and it is only kind of boring. I am just taking it because it is required for graduation.

Poetry Class with Weeping Angels

So I just got back from my poetry class. It was super fun. We workshopped my poem and I think people liked it. I had a few iffy things that I am going to fix, but the rough draft that I read to the and they looked at is this one:

The Beginning of All Art

The painter licks his lips and dips

into a brimming pit of thought.

The brush whips over the canvas creating,

Marking out a new form. Will it be

A person, dog, or tree?

Options are open.

Maybe just a pile of purple puzzle pieces

Stacked in such a specific way.

An author primes her pen,

Swirling it over an abyss of idea.

What shall she scribe?

Opportunities are endless.

Construct courtyards

of crying cherubs, tears unexisting

on their rough unmoving cheeks,

Or take a boy on an unexpected adventure.

Now you sit down at a table

venturing into the unknown

Jumping into the pit.

Swimming down into the abyss.

Measuring out thought

adding a pinch of it.

It, that fuels your mind on your wondrous journey.

It, that powers the writer while she furiously clicks away at the keys.

It, that sustains the painter’s muscles when his hand grows heavy.

The father of rhyme and alliteration.

Imagination.

I think it is pretty fun and I know that at least some of them liked it. They thought that it was very original except for the "venturing into the unknown" which is kind of cliche and I think I may take it out. Other than that though my professor quite liked it. Especially the sound devices which I had tons of fun playing with.

Don't Blink

Love,

Alora