Weekend Review #25 {Radio Interview and Professional Dancing}

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Weekend Reviews 19-22 {Christmas Break!}

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

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

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

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

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

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

New hat, new sweatshirt. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

My Favorite Book

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Weekend Review #16 {Homework, Portland, and NaNoWriMo}

On Monday, I went to school, volunteered at the library, and went to Irish dance class.

Tuesday, I did homework, and stuff around the house.

Wednesday, I had school, then went to Park Day, and then went back to campus later to work on a group project.

Thursday, I taught Latin, and did homework.

Friday, I had school, worked on the group project for a while, then went to hang out at a friend's house for a few hours, before going to ballet class.

Saturday, we left early for Portland, and got there close to noon. My mom went to a memorial service for a friend of her's from college, and then we all went out to dinner with some of her college friends. We stayed the night with friends in Vancouver. I had intended to do some writing while mom was at the service, but ended up playing Portal 2 instead, with the son of the friends we were staying with, who is about my age.

Sunday, we hung out with our friends for a while before heading back up north. We stopped at Seattle Children's Hospital on the way home to visit our friend there.

I finished reading Robinson Crusoe this week, and started Last of the Mohicans.

I'm at about 30k with my NaNoWriMo novel, which is 10k below where I should be at the moment. Today is my last day of school until next Monday, though, so I have high hopes for getting caught up over Thanksgiving break.

Weekend Review #15 {Veteran's Day, Pianos, and Seatle}

Here was my week:

Monday: There were not any classes at the college that day, so I stayed home and did stuff here. I went on a walk with some friends, went to the library and cleaned books, then went to dance class.

Tuesday: Mom was home since it was Veteran's Day.

Wednesday: I had classes at the college, then had lunch with my dad, and went to park day. I came back to campus later to work on a group project for my Study Skills class.

Thursday: Taught Latin in the morning, then had Current Events class at our house in the afternoon.

Friday: Had class at the college, and stayed late to work on the group project. Then I went to a friend's house for the rest of the afternoon. I was feeling really fluish and generally terrible, so I skipped ballet.

Saturday: Went to lunch at the Bagelry, then took a "behind the scenes" tour at the library. I then had a Nutcracker rehearsal for the rest of the afternoon/evening. 

Sunday: We had a piano delivered in the early afternoon, and then went down to Seattle to visit Spencer at UW, and see a friend at Children's Hospital. We went to dinner with Spencer and his family (who we went down with) and the family of our friend at the hospital.

That was what I did this week. Not super exciting, but there it is. I have two books I am reading that I will review once I finish them.