Every Colour

The three last January crafts

2012-02-07T18:08:00.006-07:00

Here's how the rest of January went in terms of crafting:
Day twenty-one:

I had lots of purple yarn left over from my bangle project, so I saw this project I got very excited. It’s lots of I-cord (a tube of knitting) sewn together, so I figured it would be a really easy but interesting new thing to make. I’m thinking of making a tea cozy instead of a mug cozy…so, lots of I-cord to make! Here’s how it looks so far:

Day twenty-two:

I (finally) managed to successfully explore a new type of knot.

This is my tiny pouch, made using this video. I found it several days earlier, but I didn’t have any of the recommended cord, and I didn’t want to use polypropylene or yarn again, so I spent the next few days making two long knotted chains from craft thread. Something that is made so fast in bracelet-form feels so much longer when you need to make twelve feet of it! I ended up running out of thread at around six feet, so I made a very short pouch. Technically it isn’t finished, because I’m trying to decide if I should add more thread to the ends.
It’s made from a combination of slip knots, which is really awesome because it’s rarely used as a decorative knot (you often use slip knots at the beginning of knitting and crochet projects). I also liked how fast it was to make, and how pretty it looks at the end.

("Octopus bag will eat you!")

The one downside is that my knotted cord is very bumpy, and doesn’t show off the knot texture very well. Also, like I said, it’s too short to actually hold anything. However…I didn’t want to abandon the idea of a knotted pouch, so…

Day twenty-three:

I wanted another knotted pouch. My problem: I didn’t have twenty-four feet of smooth cord that would show off the stitches nicely. I thought, “What is the recommended cord made out of?” Well, I’m told it has some sort of solid core, but the outside looks woven or braided. Hmm…braiding…didn’t I make a braided cord on day one?

Sorry for the blurriness. I was trying to show the pattern, but my camera was having none of it. You get the idea, I hope.

I'm making it using an easy kumihimo pattern I found online. It’s similar to the first one I made, but it uses fewer threads. Since I’m using full skeins of craft thread, I should have enough to make twelve feet.
As you can see, I went all high-tech and used bobbins. I practically need a wooden stand, like all the professional kumihimers.
It’s only about a foot and a half so far, so I’m going to need to make a LOT more (and then I’ll have to do it all over again to make the second cord). It’ll be a while before you see it again, but I think the pouch is going to look awesome. The cord is exactly what I need. It’s really fun to be resourceful about this, instead of having to wait to buy paracord. See? My artisan dreams are already coming true!

And that concludes the January edition of the daily artisan challenge! I feel it was a good establishing month. I've gotten into the habit of making stuff, and I know how much time it takes me to make a blog post. Over the next few months (hopefully when I'm more free), I want to try to make more diverse crafts more often, instead of falling back on the "new technique" thing every day. I was also thinking of writing some more wordy posts, where I either explain/discuss a technique, or philosophize about crafts or life in general. And...who knows...maybe even a video at some point?
We shall see how the project progresses from here! Watch this space.

The bangle that was so awesome that it warranted a seperate post (and not because I'm too lazy to take photos or anything)

2012-02-03T19:44:00.006-07:00

January 28 – Day twenty:

Look familiar? It’s the cable from day twelve! Day twenty’s project was to furiously sew it onto its bangle, and deliver it to my friend on the same day. Not a super new technique, since I can make cables now and I’ve sewn knitting before…buuuut…I’ve never sewn a knitted cable onto a bangle, so there!

I’m really happy with how it turned out. I was afraid I’d made it too narrow (the cable caused it to pull in. Guess what, guys? Cables are ribbing! Except they pull in even more!), but it stretched perfectly over the bangle.

I was sad to give it away! Now I need to make some more bangles.

The pattern I used, by the way, is the awesome Swatch Bangle.

Sorry for the short post today. I'm trying to post every day so I can catch up, but I always start writing posts too late. Hopefully I'll be caught up in the next few days!

D.A.C.: Eighteen and nineteen existentialism

2012-02-01T20:27:00.007-07:00

After all the paper stuff from the past few days, the next week was a return to the “fiber arts” area. It was fun to put a new spin on familiar stuff.

All this crafting makes me wonder…

Why am I doing this challenge at all?

(Day eighteen: “plarn” = yarn from a plastic bag. It turned out quite pretty! If anyone knows what one would make from plastic bag yarn, I'm open to suggestions. I think making a bag defeats the purpose.)

I don’t mean to be existential here. It’s not like I’m starting to doubt the project. I’m more trying to answer the people that think it’s too much work for little result (you know who you are).

(Day nineteen: “Box” finger-loop braid. Made from five strands and a similar technique to the day two braid, but the turnout is much tighter and three-dimensional. Weird how passing one loop through another changes everything so much!)

Here’s the thing. I’ve never really seen myself as “crafty” despite going through phases of making stuff. To me, a crafty person is the kind of person who can solve problems by making things instead of falling back on “I’ll just buy a new one”, making something awesome and new out of an unwanted thing, or making presents and cards for friends. You can do a lot of that by just knowing how to knit, or crochet, or macramé, but the Ideal Crafty Person has an arsenal of all sorts of different crafts and is able to call them up when it suits the occasion. The Ideal Crafty Person can make the wrapping paper as well the present.
I want to be that kind of person. Learning different crafts is, I think, a step in that direction. Having to do it every day forces me to think laterally and always keep my eyes open for new crafts, and to do research. It’s like writing a novel in a month – you have to make progress every day to keep your momentum, and by the end of it you will have learned some things and achieved something awesome.
That’s why I’m doing this.

(Normal posts resume tomorrow.)

Days 15, 16, 17: the Paper Days

2012-01-27T19:19:00.011-07:00

I never was a fan of crafts that involve paper. Either they're too fiddly and precise, or else they involve glue (sometimes both). But I knew that if I was going to be at this for a while, I would soon come across things like origami. Which, I figured, is a good opportunity to get better acquainted with paper (and glue).

So, first of all. Day fifteen: Paper beads.
I found instructions in one of my craft books for rolling pieces of paper and making jewelry with them. On day fourteen, I picked the paper I would use (an extra copy of a Knit Picks catalog), then cut the paper intro triangles. Picking the pages I would use and cutting the colorful yarn pictures was probably my favorite part of the process.
The next day, I glued and rolled up the triangles to get these elongated beads.

I like that it looks like an abstract pattern, and you can't tell what the original page was. They're also really solid for paper and glue. I still wish they were more bead-looking, but I think that's more down to my technique than anything else...they started to look a lot better once I stopped squishing them with paperclips and started to puff them out. I've also heard that coating them with nail polish makes them look really glossy, so I might try that.
I haven't made enough beads to actually make jewelry yet, but I'll let you know when I do. I'm thinking earrings or possibly a hair clip.

Day sixteen was my first origami project: petals for a kusudama ball (thank you, Dot, for the suggestion!). You make individual petals, then glue them together into flowers, then glue the flowers together to create this fancy ball. I like this style of origami, where you make lots of little segments and then attach them. It feels much less fiddly than larger-scale folding.

I'm in the process of slowly gluing the petals together, so it doesn't look like much so far. More on this front as well.

Day seventeen was the Day of Many Stars. I learned how to fold these little origami stars from strips of paper. It's super easy and super fast, and I couldn't stop making them! I'm envisioning making a billion and putting them in a vase.

Those are all my paper projects so far. I don't think I'm done with origami (and similar stuff) yet, so expect to see more in the future!

Before I go, I have two questions: one, how much skill do you have to acquire before you can call yourself a [insertcrafthere]er? I've been knitting for over a year, and I could definitely say I'm a knitter, but I've been into macrame for far longer and am not sure I'd call myself a "knotter" or a "macrameer"...maybe because most of the knotting I've done falls into a very small niche. No real right answer here...I'm just curious.
Question two is: what crafts would you like to see me do in the future? I have a few ideas still, but I need some suggestions before I descend into "and today I did this kind of braid, which is totally different from my previous five thousand braids".

My week in D.A.C.

2012-01-23T18:30:00.019-07:00

...Wherein I discover that it's not a good idea to let a week pass without posting.

I have to admit: I'm not totally sure I remember everything I did since my last post. Making a big catch-up post is, it turns out, not very beneficial to my project, mostly because I don't have time to focus on each craft in my attempt to catalog everything.
I'll give it a shot, though:

Day eight: The Suspended Mitten Cuff

I have this thick blue yarn that's leftover from a hat, and I always wanted to make mittens from it. Unfortunately I don't think I have enough for mittens, so instead my plan is to just make cuffs from the blue yarn, while the body will be made from something similar. I figured that now was a good time to get on it, since I could learn a new stitch pattern and complete my project for the day.
Because the yarn is fuzzy, it's pretty much impossible to unravel, so I had to use a totally different yarn to test the pattern. I tried to double the substitute (to simulate bulky weight), but using my size 7 needles and the "twisted rib" stitch pattern I ended up with an impenetrable fortress rather than a swatch. So I used a single strand and tried again:

I know, it's kind of hard to see. Trust me, there is a (new) stitch pattern there. I need to get bigger needles before I can work on the real yarn, so call this one a suspended project. I'll get back to it after I get those big needles.

Day nine:

I made a ribbon rose!

I saw a video online on how to make these a while back, and thought it looked totally adorable but really hard. I had some grosgrain ribbon (the recommended kind), though, so I decided to try it. I got so into following the video that it didn't occur to me until several minutes in that the technique isn't as precise as I was making it out to be. Basically, you wrap the ribbon around itself and make folds to create the flower petal effect.
My rose didn't turn out as well as the video's, but it was my first. I didn't glue it together, either, so it kind of falls apart if you handle it too much. I think I'll sew/glue/attach it once I figure out what to do with it...maybe a bouquet?
Oh yeah, and grosgrain ribbon is really the only way to go when you make these (at least, when you first start out). I tried it with other ribbons, but they were just too slippery.

Day ten:

I made a braid.

Not too exciting, but I ran out of time. I kind of like the woven effect...it reminds me of a friendship bracelet. And it totally counts as a new craft, because the other braids I did were finger loop and kumihimo, while this was the classic "single strands hanging down" braid! Totally different.

Day eleven: Linen stitch number two

Remember that neckwarmer-cowl-scarf thing I started on day four? Yeah...I kinda unraveled it. I had a new and exciting idea for this yarn: why not make a kerchief thing (Baktus, more specifically), in linen stitch? The "new" part of this project would be figuring out how to make increases on one side while keeping with the linen stitch pattern. I did a lot of scribbling on paper, but it didn't really click until I actually tried it with a test yarn. Don't ask me how it works...I couldn't tell you. It involves slowly including the extra stitches into the pattern, and...yeah. Maybe I'll actually write it down sometime.

I love the way the colors change for this one, but I'm starting to freak out because IT'S TOTALLY CURLING. Will it block, or is this like stockinette stitch in that it just curls and can never be fixed? Should I knit on a border? Do I just leave it, because it looks kind of cool? Many questions that will hopefully be answered once I get the needles back.
By the way, the reason this project doesn't have needles is...

...Day twelve:

I'm making this bracelet for a friend's (very belated) birthday present. Part of the reason for the delay was my fear of trying cables, which look Too Professional To Be Easy. Have you started to notice a pattern with my crafting? I'm always afraid something is more difficult than it is!

In this case, doing the cable was a LOT easier than trying to figure out the "mock cable" rib. And it looks soooo good with this yarn. I love it.

Day thirteen:
Saturdays, I'll warn you, are usually the days where I have no time to craft. Saying that, I made a valiant effort and made...

A wrap bracelet. I've tried them before, but this time I tried to do this crisscross thing with the yellow craft thread. It kinda failed, but at least I tried. And shortly after I made this I found a pattern that suggested wrapping embroidery floss around ear-bud cords to decorate them. I must try this!

Day fourteen (yesterday):

I wanted to try something new. If I'm going to get stuck in my quick-braided-or-wrapped-bracelet-world on Saturdays, I need something interesting to make up for it on Sundays. I went and dug around in my craft books (of which there are many. I was a really crafty kid, surprisingly. More on this topic in a less catch-uppy post), and found instructions on how to wrap beads from pieces of magazine paper. So last night I cut up lots of paper into triangles:

That's as far as I got, though, because I went to bed after that. However! Today I will actually roll the beads and try to make some kind of jewelry out of them. I know, I know, the same craft in two days sounds like cheating. I have two responses to this: One, nobody reads this blog anyway, so I can do whatever I want. Two, cutting up paper and rolling them into beads are totally different skills. This is my defense and I'm sticking to it! Maybe I'll start themed weeks where I do one step every day. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE THAT, VOICE IN MY HEAD?
Sorry. I've been writing this post for...a while. I was going to philosophize today, but this post is already long enough, so it'll have to wait for another day.
See you tomorrow!

D.A.C. Days six and seven

2012-01-17T19:20:00.007-07:00

...Also known as the Beading Expedition.
On day six (Saturday), feeling slightly demoralized from the previous night's failed knotting, I decided to try something new. Since I was pretty busy last week I never really branched out from my "fiber artist" sphere of crafting, and what's the point of this challenge if not to branch out?
So, I dug through my closet of kits and craft stuff and found a pack of beads. I used to be really into beading when I was eight, but I dropped it at some point and never got back to it. So on day six, armed with a craft book and a teeny needle, I decided to try making a beaded bracelet.

I made several attempts at this triangle bracelet: one with fishing line that wouldn't go through the seed beads, a second with beading thread that tangled horribly, and the (successful) third with really thin fishing line, as well as several attempts in between where I experimented with the beads and was unsatisfied/got tangled in the thread.
It's really weird how similar beading is to sewing. You have a needle and thread, and you have to insert it in the correct way or it'll mess up. And it's so. Fiddly. Beads are so pretty, but seriously...yarn doesn't scatter and disappear if it falls on the ground!
Despite all of the mess, though, it was surprisingly fun. I remembered why I liked beading in the first place - you get to play with colors, and the end result looks really good. It's also a lot faster than knotted bracelets.

On day seven (the first week of the project!), I continued with the beading thing. I remembered receiving a bead loom for a birthday present. I had used a shoebox loom before, but by the time I got the "professional" one I had stopped beading, so the loom waited patiently in the craft closet.

UNTIL NOW.

I was afraid it would be too complicated, but I actually like bead-looming more than normal beading. I guess it's more like weaving than sewing, but I've never tried weaving (or sewing, for that matter) so I'm not sure. The pattern is mostly from my beading book, but I added the little center diamonds in my version.

Bonus craft from days five and six:

I made an amazing discovery: you can finger-loop braid with polypropylene cord. (You still end up having to knot the ends, but it's some progress). This is a harder finger-loop braid that involves putting the loops through each other while trading them on your fingers. It took me a couple of tries to get it, but the result is worth it - it's all twisty and looks like some sort of complicated knot. I'm really liking finger-loop braiding...I'm glad I decided to try it. Apparently it was popular in Medieval Europe...who knew?

D.A.C. Days three, four, five

2012-01-13T20:16:00.014-07:00

Day three:
When I proposed the idea of my challenge to a friend, she suggested baking as a craft. Since I know basically nothing about cooking, I think there's a lot of potential in this area.
So, on day three of the craft challenge, I made brownies (with advice from my bakey mother).

They're made with oats instead of flour and eggs, so they're supposedly really healthy.

They turned out awesomely gooey and chocolatey.

Day four:
My first knitting day. I decided to try a new stitch pattern, the linen stitch, since it's supposed to go well with crazy variegated yarn. (Which I have a tendency to buy because of "Ooh, pretty! Lookit the colors!")

I'm not sure what it is. It was supposed to be a scarf. I cast on enough stitches to make sure the blue didn't line up, and it turned out a little wide. Maybe a neckwarmer/cowl thing?

There's the back. I'm liking it so far, and the linen stitch was really easy to learn.

Day five:
I tried to learn this using this polypropylene cord I bought a while ago when I was trying to do more macrame. The polypropylene? The bane of my existence. It's stiff and slippery, and can barely hold an overhand knot. One day I'll find a use for this cord. (Maybe it can be knitted?) Weird choice for material, right? Well, I figured maybe it would work since the guy in the video was tying his cords loosely.

Nope. It just slipped apart before I could get anywhere.

Okay, so I needed something thicker. What about yarn? I have lots of it.

Well, it's better. The knots stayed, and I managed to get through one full set of knotting. But it looks pretty fuzzy and doesn't show the pattern well. I would have tried with a smoother yarn, but pretty much all yarn has some fuzz, and I needed something really crisp like the cord.

Oh, I know! I'll use DOUBLED polypropylene cord. If I tie each color together, they'll make one strand and won't slide apart, plus this way it'll be thick like the yarn! HAH!

*sigh*. See you on day six.

D.A.C.: Day two

2012-01-10T20:08:00.010-07:00

Today's craft, along the same lines as yesterday's kumihimo braid, is finger-loop braiding!

I remembered seeing a Youtuber that I follow make a tutorial for these, so I figured now was a good time to try it.
It looks like a basic three-strand braid, but it's actually made with five loops that you hook on your fingers and shift around. (Apparently these were popular in camps...I never went to camp so I don't know.)
Today's craft was, evidently, also Creative Thinking Photography. How do you take a picture of yourself when your hands are keeping the braid from unraveling?

These things are SO FAST to make. I made my first in about ten minutes.

Then I made a second one.

Then I made a third one.

They're not really bracelets, since the ends aren't long enough to tie. I just braided until the embroidery floss ran out. Maybe I'll make them into keychains.
I didn't expect to like finger-looping as much as I did. It's fast and easy. Unlike most friendship bracelets, they're quite tactile, so it's possible to make one by touch while watching videos. And it also uses shorter lengths of embroidery floss than a knotted bracelet, so I was able to use up some scraps. Yay!

Tomorrow I'm going to strive to make something that isn't a friendship bracelet. Not sure what that is yet, but we'll see!

The Daily Artisan challenge: Day one

2012-01-10T15:50:00.012-07:00

Day one:
I started this challenge because I'd been itching to try some new things. When I get into something (like knotted friendship bracelets), I go a little insane. I do lots of research on the thing, lurk on forums, and generally build up a mental system. Anything outside the system (non-bracelet macrame, bracelets that don't use the right knot) will be determinedly ignored (note that I still do other stuff besides that one thing...I just ignore similar crafts). Eventually, I expand the system to include other stuff (the square knot), and usually at this point the whole thing breaks down and I move onto a new interest. This happened with all sorts of stuff, from flowers to fantasy to bracelets. Most recently my obsession was knitting (which works a lot better than an obsession with knotted friendship bracelets), but recently I found myself wondering what it would be like to try something new (even contemplating...*gasp*...crochet).

Enter day one's project: the kumihimo bracelet.

I found a foam disk in my bag of macrame stuff, along with the beginnings of a bracelet. I had bought it several years ago during another "let's-branch-out" phase. Unfortunately, it messed up after the first centimeter and, frustrated, I abandoned it in my bag. But yesterday I rescued it, undid my work, and restarted.
The label just said "friendship bracelet maker", but I found out it's a fancy Japanese braiding technique called kumihimo. They're traditionally made on a frame/loom called a maru dai (according to Google), but disks with slots work quite well.

The bracelet is made by removing threads from their slots...

...and fitting them into new slots on the opposite side of the disk.

The bracelet grows through the hole in the middle.

Basically, it's 3D braiding without having to hold all the strings. At first I would keep getting confused with all the strands, and had to repeat "right to right", "left to left" all the time...but after a while I got into the rhythm. The whole thing only took me a couple hours, and that's including the unbraiding I did from my first attempt.

Final product:

Pros: I like that it looks like knotting, and that it's fairly fast while still looking intricate. Cons: it was still a little slow, though, and I got bored as I was nearing the end. Overall, pretty cool. I'd be curious to try this with more colors.

The Daily Artisan challenge

2012-01-09T21:07:00.005-07:00

Hello! Sorry I disappeared for a year. To tell you the truth, I've been having doubts about what this blog is supposed to be...about. I mean, nobody (from my limited experience) is interested in reading a "general life stuff" blog, but I don't want to just limit myself to one topic, and if I do limit myself to one topic maybe I need a separate blog, in which case there will be nothing to write about here... *angst* *ponder* *philosophize* *reminisce*

Anyway. Blog-existentialism aside, I came up with a challenge for myself: try one new craft/art a day, and write about the experience. Originally I was thinking of making it into a vlog, but I realized it wouldn't make a very interesting video. I think the blog medium works better for this kind of challenge.
More on this later, but the guidelines I will follow are:

1. The craft doesn't have to be something I haven't ever tried, as long as there is something new to it (for example: I knit quite a lot, but have never tried the technique of making cables).
2. No repeats. I can continue something if I find I like it, but it won't count if I write about friendship bracelets twice.
3. I have to blog about every craft/art/technique, but I don't have to write every day. I can make one huge post a week, if I want.
4. By now you're probably wondering how long I'm going to do this. My first idea was to go for a full year, which I think will be entertaining once I start running out of crafts ("Today I learned how to...rake leaves..."). However, I don't want to be stuck doing this for so long if I start to hate it, so my current goal is "go until I fail", and we'll see from there.

If you're interested in my idea, I would appreciate suggestions for crafts/arts/artisan-things to do over the [undisclosed period of time].

Sorry this post is rushed. I wanted to get the introduction out of the way so I can move on with the challenge. Wish me luck!

Script Success! (and the return of Nano 2010)

2011-05-01T20:31:00.004-06:00

I would just like to say that Screnzy 2011 was a success!
I reached 102 pages on the 26th (or maybe the 27th. I can't remember), right at the end of the climax. Then I wrote the last scene (AKA the epilogue), and my final total was 111 pages. Crazy! When I started this I was afraid I wouldn't have enough pages (how long can you make a script about a beach trip?), and later I was afraid I wouldn't finish the story itself in April, but fortunately the story wrapped up at just the write time. I think I'm getting better at estimating length.
So...hooray for Bright Lights! Next challenge? Writing some one-acts. I've tried long plays, but I have yet to see if I can do short ones.

Also? I finally did a preliminary edit on my NaNo from 2010 (Tunnel's End): I removed all the random notes-to-self, changed the name "Carlie" to "Sharli" (I changed her name halfway through the novel), and filled in things like [sun] and [planet]. It's just the first part of editing, of course...but I'm glad I finally got around to it, because I'd forgotten that I'm actually pretty pleased with this one. Next challenge? Do a full edit, and write a sequel to Tunnel's End (knowing me, those two should go in the opposite order).

Anyway, that's my writing news! Do you have any?

Script Frenzy 2011

2011-04-15T20:52:00.003-06:00

I tried Script Frenzy in 2009, and sadly it turned into epic fail at around 12 pages. I had never written a script before, and telling the story through dialogue and in a limited space (it was a stage play) was very hard. I was surprised, since dialogue is my favorite thing to write. Narration can be annoying (even inner monologue), description is...necessary, but dialogue just flows for me. But in "Seashore", the dialogue didn't flow. It staggered around and fell over. I decided to give up, because apparently script writing isn't my thing.

This year, since I'm doing WriYe, I figured I might as well try again. I haven't been writing as much as I should (I think I'll have to push my word goal back to something like 70,000 instead of 150k), so this would give me a push in the right direction. I've been adapting one of my novels into a play, and it's been working well, so I thought I might have gotten the hang of it.

And actually...I was right! For Screnzy, I'm adapting another novel (called "Bright Lights") into a stage play. Unlike Dream RELM, it was just in its early phases. I had two developed characters and a vague idea of how the plot would go. I quickly transcribed the dialogue from the first few scenes into the play, and then I was on my own. It was challenging, especially introducing characters, but I think I've really gotten into it now. I'm at 58 pages, and the plot hasn't gotten out of control yet. I'm especially excited because writing plays combines my love of acting AND writing. And now I can actually do it!

So...question to inspire people to comment: what do you find the hardest to write? (Characters? Description? Dialogue?) What's the easiest?

Why I didn't become a ballerina

2011-03-15T18:17:00.002-06:00

I used to take a lot of classes as a kid. Ballet, jazz, gymnastics, skating (which is probably why I burned out later and stopped taking classes altogether). Jazz was my favorite, but when I was five or six I also enjoyed ballet quite a bit. My class wasn't competitive: we would just perform something at the end of the year at a showcase. The dances from the various classes usually weren't connected in any way, but twice we ended up putting on short versions of an actual ballet, with various ages and skill levels.
The two ballets we did were "Nutcracker" and (a year later) "Sleeping Beauty". I enjoyed both, but my favorite was Nutcracker. In it, my class (there were a bunch of us...twelve or fifteen little girls) had two parts: as guests at Clara's party, and later as the "bonbons" at the end (which I'm pretty sure was a part they made up for us).
I liked being a candy, but somehow I enjoyed being a guest more, even though there was barely any dancing involved. It was more like role-playing, which was my favorite kind of game at the time (I called them "adventure games" later). I had a lady who was my pretend mom, and me and my pretend sisters would come to the party and play with the other guests via a short dance sequence. I liked the unity I felt with my pretend family, even though it felt weird to have a different mom. I wished I got to participate more in the story (we were pretty much just extras), but even with the small role it was a lot of fun. Before that, my only experience with acting had been a very lame Kindergarten play (I was the sun, mainly because I didn't want to be an animal), but this felt more real. My first actual play would be six years later, but with this I was off to a good start.

And that's why I'm an actor and not a dancer! The end.

The perfect medium

2011-02-22T18:21:00.004-07:00

The first "real" novel that I wrote was called Every Color (sound familiar?). I was eleven, and I'd written pieces of novels before, and lots of picture books (illustrated by me, of course), but I hadn't actually committed to writing (and eventually editing) a full novel. Every Color was total fantasy: portals, other worlds, mysterious dream catchers, some kind of evil "presence". It makes sense, because fantasy was my favorite genre at that point. Around that time I ended up getting into analyzing fantasy too, by comparing all sorts of different books I've read and classifying them into subgenres. And, like I tend to do when I've spent too much time classifying something, I started to go wider with my definitions. Was science-fantasy considered "fantasy"? What about soft sci-fi? What about mostly real-life with a hint of magic?
That's when I got into my slice-of-life phase. I wanted to write a book that was real life, but was steeped in fantasy. Nothing crazy would happen, but there would be an undercurrent of unreality throughout. I was into surrealist art at that time (I was about twelve at this point), so my first attempt was about a gallery. It didn't work out at all, but my second attempt in this vein was also about an art gallery (and, more specifically, surrealism). It was about Andrea, a sporty girl who meets Vega the dreamer. They became friends through surrealist art, and created a club (the "Dream RELM", which is the name of the novel as well) about "exploring" imaginary worlds.
And then Vega was supposed to disappear, to go into one of those imaginary worlds, without leaving any sign of her existence. She was supposed to be the magic element of the book.
Except, I got stuck writing it. It felt too short, and I kept trying to stretch it out and make it into a novel. And then I got bored. It was too quiet, too subtle. I started to write another "slice-of-life-with-fantasy" novel (it's called River Girls), which blended magic with real life in a more fluid, more interesting way. Eventually, River Girls stalled out too, and I tried once more before stopping slice-of-life altogether.

About a year ago, I went back to both novels. I realized that they were destined to be novellas, and I didn't try to force them. I basically finished Dream RELM, but when I read it over I realized it ended too abruptly. Vega and Andrea have their last conversation, then Vega leaves and BOOM: epilogue. So, okay...I just need to fit in some scenes in between, right? But I couldn't bring myself to do it. I lost interest again.
But yesterday, I was talking about plays with my Mom of Awesome (you'll see why she's called that in a sec). I was saying how I want to write plays, but so far it doesn't seem like my medium, and I have to keep trying. Then the topic switched to my earlier novels, and Mom of Awesome said, "Maybe you should make Dream RELM a play."

HOLY CRAP.

It's going great. I would act in it, if I was twelve. THIS is the medium for Dream RELM, if not all my slice-of-life-fantasy novels. And as a bonus, it's adding to my WriYe word count! The only thing is...I'm starting to wonder if I should change the ending. What if Vega reappears near the end, and the play ends as they start talking? (Or maybe Andrea sees her, but decides her life has changed, and walks away?) We'll see.
I'll keep you posted.

New year plans!

2010-12-07T12:03:00.005-07:00

When I was younger, I never understood why people would make New Year resolutions. It just didn't make sense to me. But for the past few years I've started to think of it more as a challenge than a life-changing plan. Last year's resolution was to "be as social as I was in 2009 but read as many books as I did in 2008". I accomplished the social part, but failed on the book part. This year I want to give myself a set of challenges instead of just one resolution. What are my challenges? I'll get to that in a sec.
This year's NaNo was my most successful yet: I had a good novel that didn't stall out and wasn't too long (it was around 51k words), and I love my characters and the setting. I could see myself writing another book that takes place in that world. The only downside to this year's NaNo was that I really miss it now. So when I found out about WriYe, a writing challenge where you set your own word goal and work toward it over the year, I got excited. I've discovered I can only work with a deadline (otherwise I have to wait for that very flighty thing called "inspiration"), so this is a great chance to not only write my originally-planned-NaNo about a collective mind, but also finish NaNos 2008 and 2009, AND maybe even work on one of the many failed novels in my folders. So many options! I think my goal will be 200k words, but that's probably my excitement speaking for me. We shall see.
So WriYe (which, by the way, has to be the most awkward name ever. How do you pronounce it? "Rye-Yee"? "Rye-Yeh"?) is challenge number one for 2011. My other challenge is to do another "blog every day" week, to get back into the habit of blogging. I've recently started knitting, so expect more craft-related posts.
Challenge number three: read lots. I haven't read enough in 2010.
I think that's it for now. Since I've posted my challenges here, I'm less likely to ignore them now. So...I'll say bye now. I'll try not to disappear, but if I don't post anything else this month (which, let's admit it, is quite likely), see you in 2011!

Crazy-fast-novelling wisdom

2010-11-03T12:21:00.007-06:00

Things I've learned from previous and current NaNovels:
1. Light is better than dramatic when you want to write fast.

2. Drama is good for word count, but don't depend on it too often.

3. Good Nano novel does not = good real novel. Don't fight your inner editor, but work with him/her.

4. Good real novel does not = good Nano novel. Waiting is the worst thing that can happen in your NaNovel.

5. Condense, don't stretch. This one is very me-specific, as I have a tendency to describe all the wandering around between exciting things happening, instead of writing "three days later". Does that make a nice, short, 50k novel? Nope.

6. Don't be afraid to do something fun even when you're writing a serious novel. Example: this year I'm writing an apocalyptic novel about miner/spelunker/treasure-hunter people, and about how the main character tries to stop a revolution. I switched perspectives to someone on the surface a few days before the craziness starts, and somehow having my character running around her boarding school trying to sneak after some teenagers going on a road trip is just as fun as end-of-the-world stuff. And I still have to use the line "It's the llama apocalypse! I knew it!" That should be fun.

7. If you have a nicely planned-out but light novel that you're losing interest in, and suddenly come up with a good idea to rewrite your Boulderdash fan-fiction from when you were ten but set it on a colony planet and include an apocalypse, go ahead.
Don't worry, story-about-a-forming-collective-mind, I will write you too after November.

That's all I can think of for now. I think the best thing about Nano for me is that it keeps me writing, and I find out a LOT about how I work under pressure. Since I might become an author, this is useful. 2010 will be my third year, and hopefully my most successful! I will finish Tunnel's End around 50k! I WILL!

Different knotting

2010-07-22T11:07:00.003-06:00

I got a book on macrame recently, and it's given me the opportunity for one of my favorite things: comparing!
It's funny: friendship bracelets are basically a branch of macrame (a rebellious branch, but still), but the focus is pretty different. For one thing, in macrame the spaces between the knots are as important as the knots themselves (negative and positive space, you might call it). Also, each individual knot is key, while in FBs you almost want the knots to fade into the background. In FBs, pattern and color are key. You rarely see bright color in macrame. Maybe that's why I like FBs better.
One thing I noticed, though: in my aforementioned book, the author doesn't really give you any patterns. There are diagrams for the knots and suggestions on what to do with them, but the actual design is up to you. Now, I don't know enough about macrame to guess whether this is the general outlook, but I kind of like the idea of not being scared to experiment. I noticed a lot of knew FB knotters on forums and such are very nervous to try things: "I can't read patterns...I don't know what to do first", "How do you arrange the strings?", "How is this made?" ...and I can say this because I still am pretty hesitant to experiment. I think I've gotten more willing lately, though, and the macrame book helped. And this sounds really cheesy, but you could apply that to life in general. See? I made this post relevant to the rest of the world.

Nano 2009: there is hope!

2010-02-10T19:48:00.001-07:00

Two years ago, after NaNoWriMo (we're talking about 2008 here), I had reached the word count goal in my novel "Two", but I hadn't actually finished the darn thing. I promised myself that I would soon, as well as edit it. "December," I told myself. "Well, maybe January...or February..." It's two years later, and I still haven't finished it.
So last Nano I told myself that I would _definitely_ finish "Jigsaw Cloud", and I would not procrastinate.
Then my Nano took a turn for the worst.
Long story short, while I did reach the word count goal (according to my laptop. My desk top's word count says differently), I was not happy with my novel at all and declared it, to use the scientific term, "epic fail".
Fast forward a couple of months. I was starting to think about Jigsaw again. And I was starting to realize something: I wanted to edit it. While "Two" was a fun Nano novel, it didn't have much potential as a "real" novel. However, with Jigsaw I had had a great idea, and I could think of a lot of interesting ways it could go when I actually put time into it. Sooo...I started editing it a couple of days ago! I started by removing the really bad parts, and now I've rewritten some scenes. Hopefully when I'm done I'll move onto actually continuing the story, and eventually finishing it.
I wanted to post excerpts with comparisons, but this post has turned out longer than I planned. So instead I'll just leave you with "It's not an epic fail! WOOHOO!" and do the comparisons later.
Wish me luck!

2010 updates

2010-02-09T21:35:00.004-07:00

Hey everyone! I'm really sorry there haven't been updates in a long time - I was planning on writing a post summarizing my latest NaNoWriMo experience, but I had to force myself and ended up not posting anything at all. Whoops.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that I'm not going to vanish like I did in 2006, and I'll continue making posts soon. For now, have some bracelet photos:

Week three fixes everything

2009-11-15T13:09:00.003-07:00

Last week I was stuck in my Nano novel. I felt like it wasn't going anywhere: I still had to wait through a few days (in my book) before my main character started actually doing stuff, I didn't know what do in the meantime, and in the long run I wasn't sure how the story was going to continue. I got my character stuck in an attic and had no clue what to do with that afterward. I resorted to writing complaints in my document to keep up the word count*.
But then...I got my character out of the attic (non-too-smoothly, but it's Nano so what do you expect?), went to a write-in, got through a few dream sequences, and finally revealed The Big Revelation (which is only a revelation to the readers, not the characters). I switched perspectives, and when I came back to Davis I was no longer annoyed with him. He has a lot to go through, poor guy. I like torturing him.
So now...it's going much better. I think it's going to turn out longer than 50,000 words, but that's okay...I'll work on it after November. It was supposed to be slightly post-apocalyptic, and I'm thinking of making it a post-apocalyptic-apocalypse. We'll see how that goes, but I just wanted to post this to say that I'm doing way better, and I'm more determined than ever to reach 50k! What's Nano without a little drama? It makes it more fun (I think 2009 is more fun than 2008 just because of the drama).
So...thanks for reading. Wish me luck!

*Although I would like to add that I was never actually behind in the word goal...I just like complaining.

I'm a fortune teller (Nanowrimo from a week 2 perspective)

2009-11-10T13:35:00.002-07:00

My novel this year is totally different from last year's in structure. Last year's novel ("Two"...yes, that's its name) was basically a series of events that were related to each other, that eventually formed a cohesive whole (sort of. I haven't actually finished it yet). It was fun because I liked my characters and if it was getting boring, hey, I could just add another event.
This year's novel ("Jigsaw Cloud") is completely different. One of my characters (Mira) goes on an adventure, but I'm actually writing about her younger brother (Davis), who stays behind but ends up going on an adventure of his own. It sounds kind of cheesy, and the Mira-going-on-adventure thing is supposed to be a little that way, but after she leaves for her adventure Davis is supposed to realize something important and the adventure is supposed to really begin.
I say "supposed" because I'm totally stuck leading up to that.
See, Davis is going to have several strange dreams, the last of which will bring on the "realization". I can't find a way to fill in the rest of the time. I got him arrested (sort of), and then trapped in an attic (which is related to the former), which was fun at the time, but now it's gotten me even more stuck.
Basically, I really need to rethink my options.
Instead of working on the story, I have one "letters between the main character and the author" segment, and one essay that basically explains what I've talked about here. It's pretty funny, actually.
But I want to work on the story. And the structure I've invented is not a Nano-speed structure, it's a work-on-it-for-half-a-year structure.
So, basically: waaahhh, Nano is too hard this year.
Aren't I just the amazing fortune-teller?

P.S. I might post my "letters" segment later on my blog, because it's kind of funny and sad at the same time.

November approaches...

2009-10-24T19:56:00.003-06:00

It's almost November, and you know what that means! No? It means NaNoWriMo is coming up very soon! And as you can tell I'm super excited about it.

For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a challenge to aspiring writers (and experienced ones too, of course) to throw caution (and perfection) to the wind and write a novel of 50,000 words or more by the end of November. That sounds hard, but it's actually a good amount: it's doable even if you're busy, but it's not so easy you end up procrastinating because "Oh, I can work on it at any time" (Like I did with Script Frenzy). Plus it's a lot of fun. I think I might try for 60k words this year.

This is my second year doing Nano. Last year I wrote a light SF-ish story about a girl and some...strange occurrences in her family. It turned out really well...I had a lot of fun with it (mostly because of the characters, I think), and I reached the word goal. I have a cool idea for this year's novel, and I hope it'll be as fun as last year's (Well, I guess if it isn't I can just make a big plot twist and change the story completely. Heh heh).

So good luck and have fun to all the participants! It's gonna be fun.

(I can just imagine my next post being "Waaaahhh, I hate Nano...it's so hard this year..." ;) )

100 posts and a first sentence

2009-09-29T13:46:00.002-06:00

Two things today.
One, I've reached 100 posts! Thanks so much to everyone for reading, and for sticking with me while I try to figure out this whole blogging thing. Here's hoping I reach 100 more! :)

Two, as you know I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year. I have no ideas what my novel (or "NaNovel"...just made that up) will be about. And while some people have outlines, or character ideas, or just vague plots, I have a first sentence: "It happened the day I got sick. Figures." It just popped into my head today. Now...I just have to figure out who's talking, what happened, and how I can turn that into a novel. By November. Wish me luck!

Perspective

2009-09-22T20:52:00.002-06:00

What's your favorite perspective in books?

There's 3rd-person perspective ("he said", "she thought"). Some books focus on a large amount of characters and don't really talk much about their thoughts, which makes me feel disconnected. The more specialized "limited 3rd-person", where the narrator only focuses on a few characters (or just one) but goes deeper, are more my thing.

There's 1st-person perspective ("I went"), which can be very interesting if the main character feels real. My mom said once that she generally didn't like 1st person as much as 3rd, maybe because it feels too intimate?

And there's the rarest one, 2nd-person perspective ("you said"...or usually, "you say", since 2nd-person is almost always in the present tense). I don't care for it much in the "Choose Your Own Adventure" kids books, because they try to make the main character as neutral as possible so you can implant your own thoughts into the book. There are a couple of short stories (and books too?) out there, though, that are in 2nd-person. I only read one (something by Ray Bradbury), but it's different because the main character isn't actually you, but by reading it you sort of pretend to be him. And I love this kind of "ultimate-being-in-someone's-shoes"/roleplay. When I write my own "Choose your own..." games (I actually call them "Pick Your Own Path Adventures"...or, PYOPAs) I try to create a character for the reader to become. This character is obviously not as detailed as 1st or 3rd person perspective (maybe it can be, though...I should read more books like that), but it's vague enough that you can put a bit of yourself in it.

Next time: present tense, past tense, or future tense? Heh heh.

Words

2009-09-02T19:37:00.002-06:00

Do you have any favorite words? I'm not really a word-collector, but there are some that I think have an awesome sound: spontaneity, cacophony, crystalline.
I'm not sure why I like them...they just sound cool. Too hard to spell, though!
How about you?

Photos from vacation

2009-08-31T20:03:00.004-06:00

Yeah, I know. I'm a procrastinator. Moving on...
So, our vacation was totally awesome. We went to the Gulf Islands, which are these little islands between Vancouver Island and the mainland. A picture is worth a thousand words, apparently, so here are some photos from our trip:

Back

2009-08-29T22:22:00.001-06:00

Hey! Just posting to say that I'm back, I'm alive, and I'll post photos and thoughts soon.

Vacation interlude

2009-08-18T19:48:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone! I'm going on vacation to BC tomorrow, to one of the Gulf Islands. If we're in an internet cafe and I'm not lazy I'll make a post, otherwise see you in about a week! I'll make sure to post some photos when I get back.
*goes to pack*

New one

2009-08-15T13:10:00.003-06:00

I made this slightly psychedelic freestyle bracelet yesterday. It was originally going to just be chevrons, but I decided to make it more exciting. What do you think...colorful enough? ;)

100 words

2009-08-10T12:46:00.006-06:00

I was looking at this list of "150 things to do when you're bored" and one of the things was, "write a story in 100 words". Sooo...I tried it. This micro-story is based on a plotline that was floating around in my head. This is the most minimalistic version of what I was imagining, and I might expand it (maybe for NaNoWriMo?), but I thought I'd post it here first.

If you could dream about anything you want, every night, what would you pick? My mom said we didn’t always have this choice, and that we shouldn’t really have that choice. I wonder why?

Last night I decided to have a dream about being a goldfish. I couldn’t see past my bowl: just these weird blurs moving around. I wonder if that’s how my goldfish sees.

Books you read in your dreams are the most amazing books ever. Shame you can’t remember them.

I think I know what Mom meant last year. With perfect dreams, we forget to live real life.

...And that's it. Feel free to interpret, or whatever. Leave a comment! Maybe I'll post more about this story if I get feedback.

To vlog or not to vlog...

2009-08-06T21:24:00.002-06:00

I've been thinking of getting a Youtube account lately, and starting a vlog (or maybe even a collaborative vlog with several people. Anyone interested?). For the uninitiated, a vlog is the same as a blog, but in video form. Anyway, I've been a bit unsure about it because A) I'm shy to have my face on the internet (read: paranoid), B)I'm lazy to do video editing and the like, and C) I know it'll make me blog less. Ignoring A and B, let's focus on C.
Would I blog less? I'm not sure what's more work: editing and posting a video or typing an entry. That'll be an important factor for me. But what about the content?
There's actually a difference between vlogging and blogging. For one thing, rambling is usually a no-no on a vlog, but it's that kind of thought process that makes for an interesting blog entry. So I guess I'd talk about serious rambly things on Every Colour, and more regular life stuff on my vlog? I dunno.
So...would you guys think? Should I start a vlog? Would you watch it?

"Um...bless you?"

2009-08-05T18:53:00.005-06:00

So, yesterday I was just sitting at this desk in the library and reading, when this girl sits down at the desk behind me. She was only a foot or two away, but the way the desks are turned we were facing opposite directions, I just ignored her.
I had gotten to an interesting part, when the girl sneezed really loudly.
And then came the mental conflict.

Oh crap...what do I do now? Do I say "bless you"? I dunno...I would get embarrassed if someone did that, but some people are annoyed if you don't say anything. Ack, now the moment's passing...I shouldn't say anything. But she's right behind me! Oh well, it's way too late to say it now. I hope she didn't think find that awkward...what if she thinks I'm weird for ignoring the sneeze?

So three seconds passed, and I'm just getting over it, when...she sneezes again. And it started all over:

Ohgod, not again! I can't say anything now since I didn't say bless you the first time...aghhh...

And the moment passed. Again. As you can see, I'm kind of oversensitive to social situations (which makes me good at interacting with people, but can lead to stuff like this). How about you? Do you ever get similar problems? Would you rather someone ignored you if you sneezed, or if they acknowledged it somehow?

Memory lane (again)

2009-07-17T18:12:00.006-06:00

I've officially beaten my record for most posts in a year! The previous record was 34, in 2006. 2006 was my the last year of my first blogging phase, and since it's been a while, I decided to go take a look at what Every Colour was like back then.

2006 was a weird combination of enthusiasm and discouragement (is that even a word? It doesn't feel like one today). On one hand, I was getting better at writing thoughtful things (mostly about the Myst series*). On the other hand, you could tell the novelty of having a blog was wearing off fast (there were lots of posts that started/ended, "I know, I know, I haven't written much. Must write more!"). 2006 was also when I started making lots of lists...like the fan-made Ages I loved to find, and internet "adoptables". What can I say? I like lists.

I think my main problem was (and still is) thinking of something to say. You don't really know what will make a good post and what won't. Plus, since I didn't have any commenters back then, I didn't feel encouraged to write anything because I felt like it didn't matter (like talking to an empty room). Plusx2, I ran out of ideas after my fan Age list was done. However, near the end of the year you can see the blog picking up a bit...not much, but it was the start of hope. (Ironically, the last post before my second blogging phase ended with "must post more! Gah!").
And here we are, three years later. I'd say I've gotten better. I ramble more, but that's what blogging is about, isn't it? ;)

*Speaking of which, I'm planning to write a post about that soon. [Narrator voice] Watch this space.

Background-y goodness

2009-07-17T17:55:00.001-06:00

I finally figured out how to change my background! Yay! So...what do you think of the new one? It's similar to the old background, and it's not hard to read anymore. I'm keeping it for now...I might change it again if I find something better.
Longer post coming up soon.

Cookies

2009-07-15T20:47:00.002-06:00

Want one?

I speak for the books!

2009-07-13T21:01:00.005-06:00

Two posts in one day! Do I rock or what? ;)

I find that people are often biased when it comes to things they aren't familiar with (I'm like that too). I especially notice it when it comes to books genres. I used to think SF was only really tech-oriented space opera kind of things (which it's totally not...although space opera can be kinda fun). The sad thing is, we don't realize what we're missing unless we really investigate the genre...looking at titles in a chain bookstore won't cut it.

This is a very general topic, so I'm going to focus on one specific thing...let's say "YA books" (I'm not a fan of labeling, but I'll ignore that right now), since I've been thinking about it lately.

I hear negative things about teen fiction, on the internet and occasionally from people I know. People seem to focus on the fact that teen fiction produced Twilight (and many Twilight-wannabes), and not so much on the actually deep, good books out there.

Yes, some YA books can be shallow and focus too much on romantic relationships, but so can adults books. And teen fiction has many really interesting books that explore things that books for other ages don't. Self-discovery, other people...and a lot of it feels fresh, since the characters are often finding out these things for the first time. And, I find that books for this age (and younger) are more positive than adult books (but I'm no expert...this is just from what I've heard about various adult books).

And that's just realistic fiction. Fantasy teen fiction (when it's good) is, in my opinion, the best kind of fantasy fiction. It's sophisticated, but it's not as restrained to a genre as an adult book might be.

So...that's my defense of teen books. I'd love to hear your opinion on similar subjects...what genres/ages groups/writing styles/whatever do you love, and why should I love it too?

Titus Andronicus

2009-07-13T20:49:00.003-06:00

I went to see Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus yesterday evening. Holy cow...so intense, so unsettling. But so good. Like I said after it was over, "I think I'm traumatized, but in a good way."

I really didn't expect to like it very much...while I'm into dark books, I'm not into dark movies (so I figured it was the same for plays). I expected to hide behind my program for most of the play. But no...I was staring intensely at the stage. Even for the parts that I had to look away, I ended up looking back with horrified fascination.

Congrats to all the actors, including the understudy who had to play with a script but was still really good.

I also loved the music...it fit very well. And the costumes were awesome. The play was set in a sort of post-apocalyptic Rome, so the costumes were a mix of ancient Roman toga-type outfits, and modern punk and army clothes.

So...Titus: really dark, really intense, really powerful.

There once was a flying SmartCar...

2009-07-07T21:30:00.002-06:00

That was the beginning of a story we attempted at the daycamp. We were playing one of those "one-sentence-at-a-time-story" games. It was supposed to involve the Himalayas, too. That's one story I would've loved to hear. I think it would turn into a story about the Magic School Bus' sidekick, the flying Smart Car.

Anyway. Although I missed the first day of the camp, today was awesome. It's an acting camp, and we're putting on a scene from Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors". I got the character I wanted too, so yay! I do kinda wish I had gone to the first day, because then I would've gotten to know the people a little more, but I'll catch up.

As you can see by this short post, I'm much better at theorizing about books and the like than talking about my life. Oh well, hope you liked it anyway!

BTW, I have a longer post coming up at the end of the week. See you then!

Letters from bed

2009-07-06T21:13:00.002-06:00

Dear germs,
Please go away. I already missed one day of this cool daycamp, and I don't want to miss any more.
Sincerely,
Nicole

Dear stomach,
Just so you know, a cold does not mean I have food poisoning.
Nicole

I'll have some more meaningful posts up soon (maybe tomorrow). Until then...bye!

What do you look for...

2009-07-01T12:53:00.004-06:00

...In a book or movie? I know there are a lot of different aspects, but what is one thing (or two things) that you find you can't read a book without?
For me, it's story and characters. I used to think that I found the story the most important thing...and it is very important (that's why I barely read non-fiction). But I recently found out that if a book has characters that I love, I don't mind if the story sucks.
One thing I can do without in books are descriptions of places or things. I have a greater tolerance for them if I'm listening to an audio book, but for some reason I just get bored reading about the surrounding area, unless it's really really unusual or exciting.

With movies, though, it's different. I really like visuals (at least if it's fantasy or SF), and setting takes a bigger role in a movie than it does for a book. Story and characters are more equal, because it's harder for me to really love a character in a movie (maybe because I can't get in their head? Well, maybe I'll post about that later).

So...what about you? What's important for you in a book, and how is it different in a movie?

Blogging challenge: OVER!

2009-06-29T14:10:00.002-06:00

The blogging challenge is officially done!! Thanks to everyone who participated. This has encouraged me to try to blog more often...because it turns out I have lots of things to say!
So, here's a little survey for you guys to fill out. You can either reply in comments, or make a new post on your blog.

Would you do WLBC again?

Would you want to make it a tradition? If so, how often would you want to do it? (Annual, bi-annual, monthly, etc.)

How long should the blogging go for? (A week, two weeks, a month, etc.)

Should you have to blog daily, or once every two days, or once a week?

Has this challenge helped you increase the quality of your blog? If so, how?

That's all. Thanks for filling it out! Maybe I'll reply to it myself later.

Sunday: Auditions and the good old days

2009-06-28T18:17:00.006-06:00

The last day of WLBC! We made it! I'll write a "closing notes" (as well as a survey) post tomorrow, so I'll just make this a quick "yay": Yay!

Now, onto today's post. I actually have two things to talk about, but I'm not sure which one to go for first. So...I'll flip this pencil. *flips* Ok, auditions it is.

The next play our teen acting group will be doing is The Tempest (which I might blog about later, but I want to keep this short). And this time there'll be auditions. I'm really worried, because, although they changed two roles to girl roles (so now there are three), one is already taken, so that just leaves two. And there are, what, eight girls auditioning? AND we can't play for guys. So...seriously nerve-racking. Good luck to the people auditioning, even though 99% don't read my blog!

The second thing I wanted to mention was that I've been re-reading a lot of my early posts from 2005. It's funny how my writing style changed in three years. I think back then I viewed a blog like a diary: where you write about stuff that happened to you...or, failing that, you write about current interests. I talked a lot about Myst, and internet adoptables, but you somehow never really found out what I was like. What I thought about the world, or WHY I liked the Myst series so much (hmm...that could make an interesting post, actually). That's what a blog is to me now.
So...what about you? What makes a blog interesting for you, and (if you have a blog) how is your style different now compared to your earlier entries?

Well, I'm done with the blogging challenge! See you tomorrow, where I talk about celebratory things and plan for future challenges. =)

Saturday: The big picture

2009-06-27T14:12:00.005-06:00

I've always been competitive. I compare a lot of things, and usually it's fun, but sometimes I compare myself to other people.

I remember I used to worry I'd be the last among my friends to lose all my baby teeth. Ok, I only have 4 baby teeth left...if I lose this one during our vacation I'll have caught up with so and so... Ok, maybe not quite like that, but it was close.

And then...we all finished with our baby teeth. And my competitiveness seems really silly now. I lost track of the big picture: that in the end most of us won't remember how we lost our baby teeth anyway, and we'll all be adults with normal adult teeth. Does it matter who lost what when?

Now that I'm almost done growing, I compare heights a lot. Oh no, I'm shorter than X but at least I'm taller than Y...and I'm not sure about Z, but I think... But, you know, who cares? The height thing will probably seem just as silly in a few years.

I'm sure there are other things like that too. Friends on Facebook. Or how many commenters I have. I generally don't do that, but I can't help it sometimes. But I need to realize that even if I don't have a lot of readers/followers/commenters, there are still people who read my blog. And not just random people, either...they're my friends. I think that's better than a lot of internet strangers.

Friday: Recycled content

2009-06-26T12:37:00.006-06:00

Don't worry, this isn't going to be a post about something I've already talked about.
Today I'm actually going to post about recycled content.

When you read a label that says "80 percent recycled content", you think, "Yay! It's environmental!" But what if you read that in a book review?
That was the title of a review on Amazon.com. I'm reading the book ("Juggler of Worlds" by Larry Niven and Edward Lerner) in question, so I've decided to write about that today.

What, exactly, is a book with "recycled content"? In my case, it's a book with certain plot points that have been used before, in short stories (and occasionally other books) by the same author. As in, the actual plots of the short stories. In LN's defense, he did write those parts from different perspectives than the first time, which seemed to change it enough, plus the way he fit all those different plots into a whole was interesting. But still, it's recycled.

When I heard it the first time, two thoughts came to mind: "That's kinda lazy", and "So am I supposed to read all those stories first?" That's my question today: would a new reader want to read the original stories first, and then the book? Or just the book itself?

On one hand, if you just read the book you get the end result either way, and with less effort because most of the plot points are shortened. But that way you probably won't want to read the stories afterward, because the endings have already been spoiled. And not just that: since the plot is condensed, it's not as full and interesting in the book as it would have been in the story.

On the other hand, if you read the stories first, then the book won't be so interesting. And, again, since all the side-plot things will be shortened, it won't be as cool to read as it is in the story.

I think most LN readers ended up reading the stories first, just because they were published a long time before the book. Since I'm new, I actually had the choice. What did I do? I only read some of the short stories. So that way it's only 20-40 percent recycled content, and yet I know the kind of thing I'm missing. So if I'm interesting in something, I can go look for the short story to get the full version.

So, I suppose in the end it depends on how dedicated you are. What would you do? What if you didn't have the choice of a mix? (If I didn't, I'd probably read all the short stories first, but that's just because I'm a fan of the author.)

This post was freakishly hard to write for some reason. I guess I'm not in a writing mood today. Oh well, I've finally got it out of my head! Thanks, as always, for reading. Bye!

Thursday: Audio books

2009-06-25T11:20:00.005-06:00

Thursday already? We're halfway there, guys! Keep blogging!

When I'm reading a book that isn't going well for me, but that I have to read (for the book club, for example), you'll often hear me saying, "I'm not getting through it, so I've ordered the audio book from the library."

Sometimes I wonder why I find listening to audio books more engaging than printed books. Is it because if I find a description boring, I can just not pay much attention to it and it'll go by? Is it because I can multitask while I'm listening?

Well, yes, but I think there's more to it than that. I'm very people-oriented, and when I listen to someone I pay attention. Certain things seem more interesting when I hear someone talking about it.

Technically you could say that just reading a book is sort of like listening to someone talking (the narrator, the characters). It is, and that's why I love to read (especially dialogue). At the same time, it's not as close to the real thing as an audio book. And I think that's the reason I like audio books so much.

I know this isn't the same for everyone. My mom, for example, prefers reading to listening.

What do you think? Do you like audio books, but for a different reason? Do you hate them? Discuss!

Wednesday: Ages

2009-06-24T15:29:00.009-06:00

I'm at day three in the week-long-blogging-challenge, and while I'm not sure what to write about (especially in the coming days), I'm sure I'll figure something out.
A couple of years ago, when I was still really into the Myst Series games, I used to make "Ages" (other worlds) using two very different programs: Photoshop and Terragen.
With Photoshop, I'd combine elements from different photos to create surreal-looking images. Here are some of my favorite ones:

There's also Terragen, which...um, generates terrain. The Ages I made with Terragen look more alike, but they have a more uniform realistic look, since the lighting is all the same. Although I started out making more Photoshop Ages, once I got the hang of Terragen I liked it better. Here are some Terragen Ages:

As you can see, I like to work with lots of water, but you can also make terrain without water.
Well, thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for commenting!

Tuesday: Star Trek

2009-06-23T12:06:00.008-06:00

Herein lies day two of the "WLBC", as Dorothy called it. (BTW...yay, three people are participating in it!)

Well, my nerdiness is complete: I watch Star Trek on TV. It started when I went to see the new Star Trek movie (which was really good, by the way). Soon after, I found out that the actual TV series (two series', actually: the original and the Next Generation) was showing in the late mornings. So, I was curious and started watching it.

The "first generation"...that is, the original, is very...sixties. The music is really cheesy ("dun dun...DUNNNNNNN!"), the acting isn't great, and the planets they go to look a LOT like movie sets (maybe because they are? Dun dun DUNNN!). But the funny thing is, it kind of grows on you. I wasn't around in the sixties, and I haven't watched it until now, so there isn't any nostalgia for me. But it's kind of sweet. And some of the episodes have really interesting stories.

I was more into "The Next Generation" when I first started watching. Despite the fact that I was unfamiliar with the characters, I began to like them quickly. It was also somewhat more...believable, I guess. Graphics, music...it absorbed easier. Now I like them equally, because their so different from each other despite having the same setting.

I haven't seen any of the other Star Trek series' (I heard Deep Space Nine is darker in storyline, so that might be interesting), but maybe I'll look for them on YouTube.

Anyway, I'm one of those people that like SF for the story and the characters, rather than the ideas and the science. In some ways, Star Trek reminds me of Larry Niven's "Known Space" universe. Both things seem to put more emphasis on the "science" than the "fiction"...although, I still somehow really like both. I guess I can find enough character to be interested, even if the creator didn't put it there. (I'm talking more about Known Space here than Star Trek...I think Star Trek has some really cool characters, especially TNG. Although so does Known Space.)

And that's it for now. As always, thanks for reading.

Dun dun DUNNNNNN!

Monday: blogging and hair

2009-06-22T12:28:00.004-06:00

I was just looking over the comments in my previous post. Thanks for giving me your thoughts, guys...I'm always interested to read them. I actually got inspired to write in my blog more, inspired enough to try something I've been wanting to do for a while: a post-every-day-for-a-week challenge! What am I going to talk about during that time? I have no idea, but hopefully I'll come up with something. I've been wanting to try this for a while, just to see how long I could pull it off. I'll try for a week, and maybe I'll extend it if I feel like it. So...might as well start now! (If anyone wants to take part, feel free.)
So...here's one thing that's on my mind right now. Does anyone watch video blogs (or "vlogs") on YouTube? I do, sometimes. It's interesting that in some ways it's really similar to blogging, but it's also quite different. It seems like if you want a successful vlog, you have to know what you're saying in each entry. Rambling is just kind of boring to watch. In blogging, there's more wiggle-room in terms of how much you want to talk. Or maybe what sounds like rambling in a video sounds more structured in a blog post. *shrug*
Also, I'm getting a haircut today (don't worry, this isn't going to be a rant about the style). It's going to be "medium" in terms of length, and I haven't had hair like that since I was six. Actually, when I was six and decided to grow it I claimed I would never have short hair again. Heh, things change. Well, this is supposed to be the age when you try things! I might go even shorter if I like it a lot. Ok, you probably didn't want to read about that. Oh well!
Well, that's about it. Tune in tomorrow, when I talk about...other random things!

A lot of questions about "classics"

2009-06-18T20:33:00.005-06:00

Book critic mode...engage!

This month my book club was reading "Uncle Tom's Cabin", by Harriet Beecher Stowe. I thought it was kinda boring until the halfway point, then it got really good. Wasn't a big fan of the dialogue, though...but you learn to ignore that. But that's not what I wanted to talk about.

I have a friend who couldn't get through it, and we had an interesting discussion over the phone about classics and books in general. At the book club meeting, the conversation turned in that direction as well. It seems like all of the members, whether they like classic books or not, agree that reading a book just so you can say, "I read this! I'm so scholarly!" is not why you should read it. I think the best way to put it is: classics for the sake of classics is entirely missing the point. I think lots of people, even if they try to avoid it, usually read a classic book with that kind of thing in mind (I know I do!). I'm not saying that it's the only reason someone reads a classic, but it's often there under the surface.

So...that leads to the question: how do you define a classic, then? It seems to be a really subjective thing. Is any book a classic if it's old? Do you have to learn something from a classic? If so, then there are a lot of modern books that have powerful messages. And, as my friend was saying, sometimes modern books are more relevant to real life because they are written by people in our time, who are faced with more or less the same problems.

But...does a book have to be relevant at all? What about fantasy? I guess you can say that fantasy has a lot of symbols for real life, but what if a book wasn't written that way? What if it you don't learn anything from a book that can be applied to your life, but it was powerful in a different way?
I'm kind of going off in various directions here, but what I'm trying to say is: does a book always have to "teach you something"? Is it only a classic then? Or is it just an old book? Or is a classic just a book that you love, for whatever reason? (That makes it a more personal definition, of course.)

So...what do you think? Do you know what I'm talking about? Agree? Disagree? I'd love to hear people's opinions.

Done!

2009-06-07T19:09:00.002-06:00

Here's the 19-thread bracelet I was talking about earlier. I think it came out really well. I wore it when I went to my grandma's house and she said it was really pretty, so...yay! What do you think of it? Comment! *smiles eagerly*

More bracelets

2009-05-28T20:45:00.004-06:00

A friend told me that she loved looking at my bracelet photos, so why not? Here's a few more:

Two more diamond patterns. The lower one is one of my favorite bracelets. So many diamonds!

I made these earrings (along with a matching bracelet) for said friend for her birthday. These are the first earrings I made, so I think they turned out pretty well.

This one has the most threads I've worked with in a bracelet (19) and is also the most complicated...there are a few mistakes, but it's coming together. I'll post pics when it's done!

And that, my friends, is all. More later! :)

Epic bookshelf quest...completed?

2009-05-17T19:51:00.004-06:00

Remember a while ago I was looking for a bookshelf picture that kind of fit me in personality?
Check this out:
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/onblack.php?id=3008001862&size=large

(Um...I keep trying to add a link but I can't figure out how to do it. I'll have to show it like this, but if anyone knows how to add a proper link, let me know.)

Woo! I think we have a bookshelf! At least for now. I'll keep looking, of course.
Ok, that didn't sound nearly epic enough. Ahem...QUEST COMPLETE! Or...is it!??! Dun dun dun...

Sci-fi lists part two

2009-05-14T18:16:00.003-06:00

Yay, I actually posted soon after the first one! Good for me.
So, here are a bunch of other science fiction books that I've read recently:

1. Fahrenheit 451 (By Ray Bradbury)
This one is more of a "social sci-fi" book than the other ones, and because of that I didn't love it, but it was good. I think the stuff about censorship and the pretty clueless society was very important. Did the people even know about the war going on? I don't remember. I listened to the audio book, and I can't remember who narrated but I thought his reading style really fit Bradbury's writing style.

2. The Giver (By Lois Lowry)
This was a book I'd been planning to read for ages, and I finally did because of my book club. It's another dystopian book (weird...my spell check doesn't have the word "dystopia" for some reason), although this one is more anti-utopian than anything else. It's kind of creepy and the writing style is uniquely vague...although sometimes I did want the author to elaborate on things more, especially the ending.

3. 2001: A Space Odyssey (By Arthur C. Clarke)
Because of this book I learned how to spell "odyssey"...yay! As with Fahrenheit, I listened to it on audio book. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I just might because of the book. I actually wasn't too impressed with it...I thought it was a bit boring, even the whole "HAL" thing (not because the events were boring, but because of the writing style)...at first. Then I got to the ending. I stayed up really late listening to the ending, and after that I lay awake in bed thinking, "WOAH...that was...WOAH". I don't really think I'll be reading the sequel, mainly because I loved the open-ended conclusion, and I don't want that to be spoiled. Unless the sequel is really, really good...(?)

4. Sphereland (By Dionys Burger)
This book was written in Dutch (or something like that), and I was reading the translation, but I can't remember who the translator was. Anyway, this isn't so much science fiction as "math fiction". It's a sequel to "Flatland" (by Edwin A. Abbot), a book about shapes living in a two-dimensional world. "Sphereland" further explores that concept, with some new ideas about curved space and other cool things like that.

There are still lots of books sci-fi books I want to read...right now I want to focus on various classic authors like Orwell and Asimov. Maybe I'll blog about that, too! Oh, and more Larry Niven, of course. Wish me luck!

Sci-fi lists part one

2009-05-12T21:24:00.005-06:00

Since I love reading and I love to make lists, I'm going to make a list of some recent science fiction I've read. WARNING: If you don't like lists, don't read this as you'll find it boring.
I'm generally a fantasy-reader, but recently I've started to love science fiction as well. It actually started through my obsession with the Lord of the Rings movies last fall (still haven't read the books by the way. I know, I'm a bad fantasy lover). This January, I was looking for an online audio book to listen to when I came across "Ringworld" by Larry Niven. I thought, "Oooh...it has 'ring' in the title! Like 'The Ring'! Awesome!" So I downloaded it. I had no clue what it was about, and I'd never heard of Larry Niven, but I saw it had won a sci-fi/fantasy award, so I figured it must be good.
Let's just say I found a new obsession. So...from classic fantasy to hard sci-fi. Kind of a big leap, but I have to say that sci-fi really isn't that different from fantasy. Anyway, it turns out that not only is Larry Niven famous among the sci-fi crowd, but he's written a lot of books and short stories. So, here are the books I've read so far:

"Ringworld" and its sequel "Ringworld's Engineers"
(Ringworld was awesome, the sequel not quite as great...and I'm afraid to read the third one as I've heard lots of negative things about it)

Fleet of Worlds
(I was very excited to find out about this one because it was about one of my favorite characters from Ringworld. It's really good too! This one is co-authored by Edward Lerner)

Protector
(I mainly read it as background info for "Ringworld's Engineers"...I didn't like it as much, but it was still fun for its ideas)

And these ones I'm still reading:

Neutron Star
(I'm actually almost finished with this one. It's a good short story collection that would make a great introduction to Larry Niven's universe)

Three Books of Known Space
(An omnibus with two novels and lots of short stories. I wasn't too impressed with the early stories, but I'm reading the first novel and it's very interesting)

Juggler of Worlds
(Sort of a sequel to "Fleet of Worlds"...not as good as Fleet but not bad so far. It seems to contain a lot of stuff about Niven's short stories, so I want to read lots of those first before finishing this)

This turned out longer than I expected it to be, so I think I'll split it into two parts and make the second post (which will be about various non-Niven books) sometime soon (if not tomorrow, then this week). I may also make a more in-depth post about Ringworld or one of the other ones...I dunno. Would you want to read it if I post it? Leave a comment.
Seriously, if anyone reads this blog, leave a comment. I'd like to know who reads it. I don't bite. =)

Diamonds

2009-05-03T17:47:00.004-06:00

Hey guys, can you guess what my favorite shape to knot is? ;-)

Hathaway House

2009-05-03T17:27:00.005-06:00

Hey, sorry I haven't written in a while. It's not because I can't think of anything to post (that's usually what happens)...I've just been lazy. I have a bunch of things to write, and I promised myself I would write them this weekend. So...here we go. I'll just split the things into several posts because then it looks more productive. :)
First off, I wanted to say that my friends and I are putting on a play, called Haunting of Hathaway House. I can't remember who it's by....*grabs script*...ok, it's by John Murray, apparently. I haven't heard of it before we put it on, but I'm not really a script person (as you might've guessed from my "Script Frenzy" post), so that's not saying much. Our play is actually part of 3 one-act plays. I like the idea of a bunch of short plays, rather than one long play, if only because more people get to take part.
Hathaway House is sort of a ghost story, but it's not very typical for one. It's more about the atmosphere than the story, and the 3 scenes don't really connect all that much...well, they do, but not as much as one would think. It's pretty creepy, too...that's always a plus in my book!
I've been in two plays before, but it feels like the last one was ages ago...I've really missed it, so I was super excited when I was invited to take part. I love acting (although I don't know if I'd want to do it professionally). For me it's very much about making friends and having fun as well as the actual production. So...yay!
Wow, this post sounded so much better in my head...oh well, it's not horrible and it kind of makes sense. That's always good.

Script Frenzy

2009-04-07T20:02:00.004-06:00

Spring is here! Finally!! The snow is melting and it's warm and other such awesomeness.
Anyway, moving to the topic at hand:

So, back in November I did NaNoWriMo, a challenge to write a novel (at least 50,000 words) in a month. I thought it was crazy, but fun (and I succeeded, as did many of my friends!). Really awesome...check out the website.
Now fast forward to April...Script Frenzy (AKA Screnzy). This time you have to write a script in a month (at least 100 pages). I'm not that familiar with writing scripts, but I figured, oh well...might as well give it a try. I'm good at writing dialogue in my novels, and I don't like descriptions...so this should be fun. Right?
Let's just say it goes fast when it goes well, but when you're on page 10 and already tired of your idea it...doesn't go well.
I think I might just give up on the whole thing and write a novel instead.
I hope I don't sound depressed or anything...I'm actually kind of relieved, and excited about starting a new book.
And, who knows, I might suddenly decide that I love my script. It's happened before. :)

Friendship bracelets

2009-04-07T19:52:00.003-06:00

I've been making friendship bracelets on and off since I was six or seven. My last phase was about a year ago, but recently I was looking at one of my bracelet books ("Friendship Bracelets" by Camilla Gryski) and found myself doing them again. By the way, for those that don't know what they are, friendship bracelets are knotted bracelets made from embroidery floss or craft thread. Like this:

Anyway, my problem right now is that I've done all the designs in my books! I've been redoing lots, but they're pretty easy. So I went searching on the internet, and found several cool sites with lots of patterns (most of which are kinda hard, but I'll get there). I've also ordered several new bracelet books and am eagerly waiting for them.
So I was thinking I'd post some of my bracelets here. Maybe not right now, but at some point. What do you think, my faithful readers? (No, seriously...comment please!)
Ok, now to post about Script Frenzy...

Misc. weather thoughts (plus book club)

2009-03-11T16:16:00.003-06:00

It got up to -30 degrees yesterday (Celsius, obviously). It's quite a bit less now, and hopefully we won't get any more of that this winter. Um...can it be spring now? Please? Usually I don't mind waiting for spring because of skiing and other wintry things, but this year I'm getting really sick of snow. I remember last year April was insane...first it was really cold and snowing, then the next day it would be 20 degrees, then it would snow again, then summer again, then...well, it was crazy. Maybe this year it'll be more summery?
On another note: yesterday was my book club meeting. We talked about "The Giver", and decided the next book to read will be "Born on a Blue Day", which is a memoir. I might blog about "The Giver", but I'm not sure. Wait and see, I guess. =)

Rants of a future librarian

2009-03-09T19:05:00.003-06:00

You know what annoyed me today? When I found that someone had put checkmarks next to certain characters' names in my copy of "And Then There Were None". Was the previous reader checking off who dies or marking possible people who might've "dunnit"? I'm guessing the first. Luckily I only caught one name before I stopped looking...but seriously...use a list instead of marking a library book! *sigh*

My thoughts on Walden

2009-02-26T20:03:00.005-07:00

Ok, so I finished the book Walden (by Henry David Thoreau) a couple of days ago (just in time for my book club meeting), and I was intending to post, but I never got around to it. So, here's my thoughts on Walden:
I didn't like the first chapter. First of all, I didn't agree with Thoreau. He's opinionated. He's critical. He seems to think that everybody will all be like him when they "live up to their potential". He wants everyone to go live in the woods and not interact with each other much. Second of all, the chapter was 60. Pages. Long. I couldn't believe I'd have to read this thing in time for the book club, which was in the end of February (I started late too).
But...once I got past the first couple of chapters, I noticed something weird was happening: it was starting to grow on me. Once Thoreau was done being opinionated he started to actually describe his life in the woods near Walden Pond. I liked his descriptions of nature, especially when they were less descriptions and more like anecdotes (Thoreau chasing a loon on the pond, an epic ant battle). I even started to agree with him on some points.
So, by the end...I liked it. I didn't love it, but I liked it. I can see how it's a classic. It's sort of unique too (I think...I'm not really familiar with this genre).
I don't regret reading it...if only for the bragging rights. ;)

The next book we're reading is "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. Fiction and sci-fi! Woohoo! Maybe I'll post a "my thoughts" on that as well.

Skiing

2009-02-18T18:42:00.002-07:00

I went skiing yesterday. It was a really nice day...not cold, but not so warm that the snow melted and got all slushy.
Some interesting things that happened:

1. When I was going up the chairlift I saw somebody had written "please 33" on the seat. I have yet to google it. I wonder what it means.
2. I talked to a friendly ski lift attendant that was reading Kurt Vonnegut's Hocus Pocus. Yay for literary lift attendants!

I noticed that when you're skiing on your own you (or at least I) notice stuff more...you pay more attention to surroundings. The ski lifts feel slower, even. I guess that makes sense.
So yeah. I'm going skating tomorrow...if anything interesting happens, I'll report. Bye!

Epic bookshelf quest - continued

2009-02-16T16:18:00.004-07:00

Oh yeah, and here are two cool bookshelf pictures I found while wandering around. They could be quite fitting for some people (not me, though).

My epic quest for the perfect bookshelf pic

2009-02-16T15:10:00.009-07:00

Ok, so a little while ago my friend Dorothy from A Brick Short of a Load (link in my sidebar) posted a picture of her laptop skin:

(I actually found that picture off the web...you can see a close-up of it if you go to Dorothy's blog)
I think it's the most awesome laptop skin ever, and I think it really fits her personality. So that got me thinking, "So what would be the perfect bookshelf pic for me?"
And thus began my quest.
Last night I started by searching "bookshelf" on Google Images. Better to start vague, I guess? That gave me a lot of photos of (surprise!) people's bookshelves. They were very average bookshelves, though, and not very characteristic of anybody (unless you start reading the titles, but that wasn't what I was looking for).
So I decided I need to figure out what kind of picture I wanted anyway. Well, I wanted something like the above pic, but maybe a little neater (to fit my personality), but preferably kind of surreal. So I searched "surreal bookshelf". Ok, that was better... there were some cool ones...but it still wasn't quite what I needed.
"Fantasy bookshelf", perhaps?
Nope, no luck. Mainly just fantasy books.
Maybe something a bit more vague? "Magic bookshelf"?
Nope.
That's where I gave up for the moment. Maybe I will spread my search to a photo website like Flickr. Maybe you people that know me can help me out?
Thank you for listening to my ranting, and I'll post if I find something interesting.

Photos from yesterday

2009-02-16T14:58:00.002-07:00

A quickie. Don't worry, I'll post a longer one soon

2009-02-15T19:35:00.005-07:00

Just a quick post. I upgraded my blog today so I can change my template and add new links now. Yay!
Also, I went to a small lake near my house today to take photos...it was cold, but fun. I'll post some of the photos later...
EDIT: Ok, I added a new background! You like?

Summer, games, and Walden

2009-02-10T13:02:00.006-07:00

It's a nice day today. It kinda makes me miss summer. I mean, I like winter and all (I like to downhill ski and skate), but I would like it to be summer soon. This might be because I've been making plans about what I'm going to do this summer.
So. What else?
Well, I haven't posted in three years, so I might as well say what I've been doing.
I still really miss the Myst series, but I'm more into action-type games now. Especially platformers and the like. I watch "Let's Plays" on Youtube, and I wonder if maybe I should give it a try.
I'm reading a book right now called Walden (by Henry David Thoreau) for this book club. I didn't know it was a classic...maybe it's more popular down in the U.S. For those who don't know what it is, it's about Thoreau himself when he goes to live in a cottage in the woods. It's about nature, and his philosophies in life.
Anyway, Thoreau and I aren't getting along very much...he seems a little judgmental to me (like, "we should all live like THIS and everyone who doesn't is WRONG.") but I do agree with some of what he says (it's still relevant today even though he wrote in the nineteenth century! Maybe that's why it's still around), and his descriptions of nature are really cool. I'll tell you my full impression after I've actually finished it.
Ok, that's it for now. I'm going to go reread my old posts now...maybe I'll post on that later. Bye! =)

Let's try this again

2009-02-09T21:11:00.003-07:00

Ok. Time to get this back up. If only for a few months. A friend of mine has a blog now, so I figure I should have one again too.
I'm thinking of going in a more "book" direction now, but we'll see how it goes.
More posts to come.

Syberia

2006-12-21T15:29:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm back! Gosh, the past few months have gone by so fast. Christmas is so soon!!!
Do you remember, in my previous post, when I was talking about the fact I was planning to play a game called Syberia? Well, I got it...a while ago...and I played it, and finished it sometime in late November/early December. It's sooo good! I wasn't entierly wowed by the "worlds" but it was really cool anyway!
Another thing: There's a of new version of blogger out...and I'm probably going to switch to that soon.
Ok, that's all. Bye!

P.S. Note to self: Post more often. Post more often! More...often. Post more! Post post post post post! Gaah...gotta remember I have a blog!

Ages beyond Myst...not in the Uru way either.

2006-10-16T12:32:00.001-06:00

Today we've gotten the first snow of the year! Yes, it is a bit early. But I don't think we'll get "official" snow until...I dunno, mid-November.
Anyway,I have something more to say than just "blah" or "I should post more often". I've been thinking of the Myst games and I've decided that it doesn't really matter that it's finished (although in ten years...we'll see!), since there are lots of other fantasy adventure point-and-click games out there. I've decided to make a list of the ones I played, and what I think of them:

1. The Journeyman Project
I didn't like the first much (I gave up at the beginning...I couldn't really go anywhere), and the second was annoying with all the ways you can die (how was I supposed to know there was a guard right behind that door??), but I loved the third. Too bad there are only three in the series.

2. Schizm: Mysterious Journey
Well, the places are cool...but...well, let me explain what I mean with this little play I wrote:

Player 1: Wow...nice graphics!
Player 2: Let's explore!
(Players 1 and 2 run around, exploring.)
Player 2: Hmmm...we can't really go to a lot of places, can we?
Player 1: Not until we solve this puzzle, anyway!
(Players 1 and 2 fiddle with the puzzle, then go and look at the walkthrough and solve it.)
Player 1: Gosh...that was hard!!
Player 2: Well, now we can actually do something!
(Players run around some more.)
Player 2: Oh...it's...another puzzle.

Um...yeah. In conclusion: Schizm is great for puzzle-fans, and not so great for explorers.

3. The Neverhood
Totally awesome!! It's fun to explore, and the puzzles are about ten times easier than in Myst! Plus, it's hilarious! You actually have the same wandering, not-sure-what-you-have-to-do feel as you do in Myst (the first one). The only bad part is the sequal is a platform video game.

4. Crystal Key
I got this one a long time ago. It didn't work on my computer, actually. I was disappointed, obviously...but when I found out you can die if you solve a puzzle wrong...yeah, no thank you. (Still...maybe it'll work on my current computer...)

Well, that's all I can remember for now. The games I have my eyes on right now are Aura: Fate of the Ages, and Syberia. Especially the latter. (Or however you spell it.)

September again!

2006-09-01T20:16:00.001-06:00

Well, once again it's fall. So far it still feels like the end of summer, but I'm sure it'll get colder soon. Hmm...I think this means that my blog has turned one year old...and I didn't even notice!! Well, I'll try my best to post soon...it's just that I can't find anything that interesting to write about. I don't know...we'll see. Maybe I'll start posting more links like I did with Ages, but with something else. I just need to find an interesting topic. Well, bye! I'm going to go celebrate Every Color's (late) first Birthday.

San Diego

2006-08-04T16:55:00.001-06:00

I'm leaving for San Diego tomorrow. I'll be a week. Last vacation of the year. Yeah.

More camping

2006-07-23T09:13:00.001-06:00

Well, I'm going camping again. I'll be back on Monday 24, but I might not actually post for a while. Or maybe I will...who knows...

Flash

2006-07-12T12:43:00.001-06:00

Hello! What is my excuse for disappearing this time? I've been camping! Well...actually I came back a few weeks ago, but it's still a good excuse.
Well, here's a piece of info that I think you'll be interested in: I'm starting to learn Flash! So far I'm at the very early stages, but I'm moving fairly quickly, so hopefuly my first game will come much sooner than I thought! Well, actually I thought my first game will come in like...10 years. Now it seems I might have my first game in a year! Well, if you are thinking of something very simple, then it will come sooner, but I mean the adventure or escape-the-room game I was thinking of before.
Well, I'll go and continue Flash now. Wish me luck!

Final Age

2006-06-13T12:23:00.002-06:00

D'oh! It turns out I posted an Age twice! Humph...
Anyway, time to post my last Ages.

Wow...I only had one left to post! Well, here it is:

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/3493/journal.html?200523

This actually isn't an Age...it's a journal. Well, a story in the form of a journal. It's about a man who lived in D'ni. I don't think it's finished, though. What I read is very interesting so far!

And those are all my Ages. I guess I'll have to search on for more Fan-Ages.
Bye!

Time to take a look at those Ages!

2006-06-13T11:53:00.000-06:00

Hi there!
Sorry about not updating, I've been sick for a few days. I'm going to look at some previous posts now to see how many Fan-Ages I have yet to add here. *blows nose*

Not sure what to call this post...

2006-06-09T12:18:00.000-06:00

Sorry that I didn't add any Ages yesterday. I was having some problems with my blog and I got sick of trying to fix it. It seems to work now, so I'll get back to the Ages soon. Oh, and I'm going to delete one of those double posts this evening, don't worry :-).

Another Age post

2006-06-08T15:27:00.001-06:00

Ok, since I haven't posted in a while, I figure I should do something to make it up to...anyone who reads this blog.
So, I have a bunch more Fan-Ages left in my collection. Let's see...

http://www.mystrees.com/

Mystrees is an Age east of Niagara Falls, as the introduction mentions. It consists of a complex of treehouses, with bridges connecting them. The website has a great collection of pictures, so go take a look!

http://dni.kasha.net/index2.html

Here we have a collection of stories and images from various Ages. I recommend checking out "Ages" first. There are some very beautiful Ages...

Ok, now I have to check what Ages I already put here, so I won't repost one. If there are any Ages I haven't shown yet, I'll post them today.

Tiny update

2006-05-31T16:38:00.000-06:00

Note to self: Must remember to update more often.

Adoptees up!

2006-05-09T20:05:00.001-06:00

Ok, I officially have three adoptees on my website. These adoptables can also be found here, but I figured I should start with what I know works.
So, as promised, here is the link: http://fairy.niki.googlepages.com/home
As you can see, my username there is a bit different.
I hope I can get all my adoptees there in the near future!

Website update

2006-05-07T11:00:00.001-06:00

Ok, the website is up (!!!), but I just have the introduction for now. I have to go do other things now, but I will add some adoptees to the site later. Once I get some stuff in I will post the link here.
Bye!

P.S. I noticed that when I play Myst IV Revelation I miss the Myst series, but when I play Myst V End of Ages I feel a sense of accomplishment. Kind of weird.

P.P.S. I actually have an excuse this time for not posting much this last month or so: I was practicing for a play! I'm finished now, so hopefuly I will post more often now. (Yeah right...)

New website coming up!!!

2006-05-07T10:24:00.000-06:00

I am making my first website using Google Pages! There I will put my adoptees (yeah, the Adoptees of you-know-what-by-now didn't work out so well...) and other things I want.
I'm still thinking of the title...maybe the Every Color Realm.
Anyway, I will post more updates later.

Easter!

2006-04-16T14:50:00.001-06:00

It's officially easter! All my egg decorating finally paid off!

Yet another group of Ages

2006-04-07T11:54:00.002-06:00

Well, after my short and kind of random posts I'm glad to get back to the Ages.
Since I haven't been on in a while I hope I can remember what Ages I already added.

http://www.looriva.com/index.asp

Looriva is a pretty well-known fan-Age but I thought I should post it here anyway. There are a bunch of islands you can explore with mini-games and (of course) journals. I think Looriva is translated from German because some of the journal entries don't really make sense (and because you have an option to switch to German). It's not really my thing but it's still cool.

http://www33.brinkster.com/kehnithra/LoK_BookRoom.htm

The book room has linking books to three Ages. This was one of the early Ages in my Age hunt and I really enjoyed exploring all three Ages. I'm hope there'll be more but I doubt there will. *sigh*

http://members.tripod.com/~guildboy78/age.html

GuildBoy has some sort of Age contest going on. The site hasn't been updated in a while so I'm guessing there was an absense of compitition. Oh well. I liked reading about The Magnetic Age though.

I am nearing the end of my collection of fan-Ages...just a bunch more to go!

Five

2006-03-23T12:12:00.001-07:00

5 is a cursed number among games.
Myst FIVE was the last Myst game.
Ball Revamped FIVE will be the last Ball Revamped game (NO!!!).
The escape the room game series Puzzled has four parts (ok, not exactly 5...but it's close!).
I hope that my favorite TV series will have more than 5 seasons.
For now I'll just have to wait...
More Ages coming up!

Another Age (Note: Possibly my shortest post ever!)

2006-03-12T20:13:00.001-07:00

Sorry about the long wait! I suppose you're used to it by now...
Since I still don't have any inspiration, I'll just post a link to a fan Age.

http://www.fantastdesigns.com/wp_index.php

This is a neat site. It has a small Age to explore and by the looks of it it will expand. Not much there right now, but still...

And that's about it. My inspiration didn't run too long, did it?

And again...

2006-02-26T10:25:00.001-07:00

I'm back and I'm ready to post more links to fan-Ages!
Ok, let's get right to the point:

http://expage.com/mtar1

If you've been to the Oceanic Age (you can access it on a previous Age post) and found a journal, you probably now about M'tar, the Age of Awe. Well, here you can check it out. Again, you have to use your imagination to see the Age, but the description is very nice.

http://www.aveara.com/console.htm

Aveara is supposed to be an awesome Age...but for some reason I can't do anything on it besides read a neat story. I do that by clicking on "chapters" and then "launch chapter". I'm not sure if Aveara's supposed to be a game or an Age or what, but I would really appreciate any enlightenment.

http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Castle/9071/

This is L'halaa V'road, the land of purple nights. It's another PYOPA-style adventure (like the Oceanic Age), but here there are dead-ends and a plot. It was one of the first fan-Ages I found, and I really enjoy playing it. To play it, scroll down to the picture of the rose. From there you can get to L'halaa V'road.

http://dni.kasha.net/ages.html

This website has beautiful Age pictures. A must-see if you like Age pictures! The only sad thing is that you can't walk around in it.

http://www.geocities.com/randylazenby/?200519

This is the Age of Serenity. Here you can read about yourself exploring it. It sounds very nice, but I can't help imagining Serenia, from Myst IV Revelation. But I think the Age of Serenity was made first. Anyway, the person who made this obviously had a clear image of what the Age looks like.

Ok, that's all for now. But still more to come!

Quick spring thoughts

2006-02-24T15:08:00.001-07:00

I'm going skating in a few minutes, so I better make this quick.
First of all, I wanted to say that soon it'll be spring. I'm pretty happy about that.
Another thing I'm happy about is pretty much opposite: snow. This winter has been very mild, and recently it snowed. It's beginning to melt again, but at least it's something. I'll just stretch the scattered days of snow we got over the whole winter. That will require a lot of stretching, but oh well. Today, or at least sometime this week, I will also post more links to Ages. Coming up is M'Tar the Age of awe, the Age of purple nights, and others.
Ok, I really have to go now.
Bye,

Nicole

Even more Ages

2006-02-21T17:22:00.001-07:00

Wow, that was quick, huh?
Here are some more fan-Ages:

http://www.dnilegacy.com/

This is the first game I found in my Age Hunt, and maybe even the first Age. You can play online or download to play offline...I know, kind of obvious. D'ni Legacy has really neat Ages, nice graphics, great storyline, and it even continues the Myst tradition of tons of journal-reading!

http://www.tsahno.com/

This game looks awesome, but unfortunately it's not out yet. Still, you can look at the screenshots and trailers on the website, and there's even a (rarely-updated) newspage.

http://www.agesofilathid.com/

The Ages Of Ilathid is another awesome-looking, not-out-yet game. I am totally amazed by the screenshots, by the way. There are going to be NINE Ages, too. At least that's what the introduction says. I hope it comes out soon!

And that's it for now! But I'll keep posting, just you wait!

Ages

2006-02-20T17:45:00.001-07:00

Today I decided that I'm definitely not a journal person ("journal" including blogs). However, I think you already figured that out.
I made a new notebook escape the room game today. There are two rooms in it, making it the largest notebook escape game I've made so far...except for maybe the Arcade Escape one.
Maybe I should start making escape the room games on the computer based on these notebook ones. That would be cool.
I'm really starting to miss Myst. That's rather strange, because I have gone for a long time without Myst games. I guess now that I know there won't be any more I miss them. Well, at least Cyan is still making games. And there are lots of fan-Ages.
Speaking of which, I have been meaning to post some links to various fan-Ages at some point. I have some free time and desire now, so I might as well post some now!
Here are four:

http://members.aol.com/kirb9701/library.html

This one links to two Ages: Nightglow and Greenstone. There isn't a whole lot to do but there are is a great description and cool drawings of the islands. Definitely worth a look!

http://web.interware.hu/frenzy/myages/

When I first came to this Age there was just a desert, but now you can go to several Ages. When My Ages gets some sound, puzzles, and more Ages then I will officially call it a game. For now it's a fan-Age with really good graphics!

http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Labyrinth/7077/reefage.html?200519

The Reef Age is another Age you can wander around in. Lots of stuff to explore here! The graphics are ok, but the Age itself is pretty cool.

http://expage.com/0ceanic

The Oceanic Age is what I call a PYOPA, a Pick Your Own Path Adventure. In other words, a choose your own adventure game. There isn't a lot of exploring, but it's nice all the same. There is a journal that seems to hint at something bigger intended for this Age.

That's all for now, but tune in next time, when Nicole will post links to some of the better-known Ages that all Age Explorers will need to visit!

Adoptees of Whenever I Want To

2006-02-18T16:46:00.001-07:00

Hi!
Sorry for the long absense, I was uh...trapped in an alternate world where there are no adoptables...yeah... *shifty eyes*
Anyway, here's my next set of adoptables.

(Left to right) Zhara, Iris, and Lyndie were (also) adopted at An Orange October:

Games

2006-01-29T18:49:00.001-07:00

Hmm...there hasn't been much to write these past few weeks/days/whatever.
Today I finished this really cool game called The Neverhood. I've been stuck on the second-last puzzle for quite a while.
The next Adoptees of Whenever I Want To should be coming soon. Maybe next weekend, and possibly earlier.
I really hope Ball Revamped V will come out at some point. It's such a cool series.
And I wonder what Cyan will make next, now that they finished the Myst Series. Hopefully it's good! Well, if there's a lot of exploring then it'll be good for sure! Even without...without...Ages! There, I said it.
Oh well, that's about it. Bye!

Adoptees of Whenever I Want To

2006-01-21T16:52:00.001-07:00

Finally, here is my first Adoptees of Whenever I want To!!

Leelu (left), Alana (center), and Luna (right) were adopted from Anastasia at Orange October:

Sorry that the logo above isn't animated, but I don't think you can do that in a blog. Expect to see more adoptees soon, especially fairies!

A few more various thoughts

2006-01-20T11:47:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I have a LOT more posts in January than any other month! Yey! Keep the post flow coming, eh?
I forgot to mention one other thing: I will post the links to some of the Ages I found on my Age Hunt at some point. Phew, confusing sentence! In other words, I'm going to post my Age Hunt finds here, at some point. That's better.
Not too bad for someone who didn't know what to say? Two posts in one day, and the day isn't half over!

Various thoughts on various matters

2006-01-20T11:36:00.001-07:00

Ever had one of those times when you want to write or type something but just can't think of what to write/type? Yup, that's what's happening to me now.
Ok, ideas...well, I was just playing Ball Revamped III, part one and two, and I finished it. This is about the 5th time I finished it. It's cool, but I don't like the big levels. They feel confusing.
I hope Cyan's new game will be just as good as the Myst series. And I hope it envolves exploring...and other worlds...and books that transport you to those worlds...ok, ok, I want another Myst game. Well, at least there are some fan games (and Ages) out there. One day I might make my own Myst game, but I need to start with something more simple. Maybe an Escape-the-roomer. Or I could make a fan Age that you can walk around in. I have enough knowledge to make a small, simple one. That would be cool.
Now, one more thing...uh...um...just let me think of one...OH! I thought of something: expect my Adoptees of Whenever I Want To sometime this weekend (hopefully).

Hunting down the Ages

2006-01-19T21:08:00.001-07:00

Well, now I'm on an Age hunt! What's that? Well, it's a game where you look around the internet for Ages made by Myst fans. It can be just a description of an Age, a few pictures, or a whole game, it doesn't matter. Where did I hear of this game? I made it up! So far I have, um... *checks*...20 links in my "Fan Ages" folder. Hopefully I can find more (*hint hint*).

Ball Revamped IV adventures 2

2006-01-16T14:08:00.001-07:00

YAHOO! I DID IT!! I was about to give up after catching the portal 4 times, but I decided to keep going, and won soon after! Yey for balls! Yey for level codes! Yey for stubbornness! Yey for over-excited Nicoles! Yeah...
Oh, and it said in the credits that there may be a Ball Revamped V later. Will there really be one? Will the series end at 5 like a certain other series? Or will the ball never be needed again? Yeah, I know, I'm reading too much into it.
Bye!

Ball Revamped IV adventures

2006-01-16T13:20:00.001-07:00

COME ON BALL! Get that portal! Careful! AAAARRRGGHHH! *crash*
That's better! Go go go! YES! Now, get the portal agai-aaaaahhh! *crash*
Well, I got to the portal once. I'll keep you updated on my progress!
No, first I'll have lunch...

Ball Revamped IV

2006-01-16T13:10:00.001-07:00

Well, Ball Revamped IV is out and it is great! I have made it to the final boss now (level 101) and it is SO hard. I got frustrated and gave up for now. Luckily I have the (previous) level code written down so I can get back when I want to. Oh well, I can do it. Right? Right!! GO BALL!!!

N.

Now I really am getting the hang of this blog!

2006-01-15T16:35:00.001-07:00

The end of Myst series sadness is starting to get to me. *sigh*
Oh well, onto happier matters:
First of all, Ball Revamped IV, the last (not again!!) part in a cool series is coming out really soon. Here's the link to the site: http://www.jmtb02.com/
Actually I should probably add it to my links section.
Another thing is, a couple of days ago (I think it was on Friday. Yes, that's when it was), I managed to convert the classic escape-the-room games into notebook-form with page numbers and stuff. Instead of items, though, there are clues to a code. I have made two so far. Maybe later I will learn how to make a real notebook escape-the-room, with items.
Wow, that's a long "onto happier matters" compared with the sad matters. Yes, you could say I'm optimistic.
I really have mastered the blog! Wahoo!