STARSTUCK

On Tuesday I got to meet one of my all time favourite authors. And I was completely and totally starstruck!

Kenneth Oppel came to our local library, and he will be staying here and doing various workshops over the next couple months.

It was great just to here him speak, and read a bit from his newest book, Half Brother.
He spoke a bit about his another of his books that isn't yet published too.

I'm VERY excited to get my hands on that once it comes out!

It was pretty inspiring to just listen to an accomplished writing talk about himself and his books. Now, after seeing him, and having him sign my books, all I want to re-read my favourites by him, and get back to working on some of my own writing.

Trapped

By Michael Northrop

  The day the blizzard started, no one knew that it was going to keep snowing for a week. That for those in its path, it would become not just a matter of keeping warm, but of staying alive....
Scotty and his friends Pete and Jason are among the last seven kids at their high school waiting to get picked up that day, and they soon realize that no one is coming for them. Still, it doesn't seem so bad to spend the night at school, especially when distractingly hot Krista and Julie are sleeping just down the hall. But then the power goes out, then the heat. The pipes freeze, and the roof shudders. As the days add up, the snow piles higher, and the empty halls grow colder and darker, the mounting pressure forces a devastating decision....

    I was told by my teen librarian not to read this book, but after she told me what it was about, and how good it was, and that she couldn't put it down, how could I not?

    I loved it.
    The suspense was good, and the characters seemed so real. I was able to sympathize with their situation, and it really made me think what I would do if I was in a similar crisis.
    It's a hard book to put down, so it's good that it's a relative quick read.
   
I would highly recommend this book to almost everyone. It's sad, and you can feel the desperation that these kids are experiencing.
It's a compelling read that is definitely worth pulling off the shelf.

Winter Blues, and other various colours of sickness

I'm sick.
Again.

And that really sucks since I was supposed to be singing at a fundraiser tonight.
Apparently it's a pretty casual thing, but I was really looking forward to it.

Oh well.
I'd rather get better, then  push to hard and not get better for a longer time.

The worst part is I was just getting better from my last bought of ickyness.
I got sick at the beginning of December, and it's been holding on since then.


I just want to be over this and feel healthy as soon as possible.

Nothing

As everyone is crazily getting ready and getting done exams, I'm just kind of in a lull of nothingness.

I have one exam that I'm getting ready for with my on-line course.
But I'm not too worried about that.
I really should be studying, but I haven't really done much of that.
Maybe this evening... or any other time before Friday.

Some of my evening activities have been cancelled because of exams, and that makes me kind of sad, since I would like to be able to get to do something fun... and when I don't have stuff to do in the evening I end up feeling very disconnected from the world.


AN EXCITING BE OF NEWS!
I got an e-mail today about the show I auditioned for this season.
I got in!!!
I'm part of the ensemble, and I get to be a slave!
So it should be pretty exciting.
:)

This just about gets it right.

I found this  video about homeschooling on youtube today.
I mostly agree with everything this girl says,maybe the "terms" she uses aren't quite what I would use... but at least she says it.

I love homeschooled stuff.
It's a bit of an obsession.

For rather obvious reasons.

BOOKSBOOKSBOOKS

I have been reading lately.
Not as much as would like, especially over the holidays.
But I have been.
And I have a pile of library books waiting to be read.

In 2010 I read 66 books.
In 2011, I would like to read(at least) 80.
We'll see how that goes.

Some of my favourite, and more recently read books, are:

Dust City - Robert Paul Weston
Clockwork Angel - Cassandra Clare
Extraordinary - Nancy Werlin
Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson

Right now I'm reading How Not To Be Popular, by Jennifer Ziegler and I'm LOVING it.
It's a quirky little book.
It reminds me of Susan Juby's, Alice, I Think.
The protagonists do very similar things, but for very different reasons.

There might be a review in store.
Maybe not.
We'll just have to wait and see.

TOOTHBRUSHBRACELETS

So I was browsing around youtube, and I found a video with one of my favourite youtubers making tooth braceles. I thought that was totally awesome, so I seached a bit further and found this cute little tutorial.

I tried making one with my friend. We were SO excited.
But we failed miserably.
I bought 2 packages of 5 toothbrushes from the dollar store.
Let's just say, that REALLY didn't work out so well.

I went back to youtube and looked through some comments and what not, and found that you have to use certain kinds of toothbrushes.
I guess the dollar store toothbrushes use a plastic that's too hard or something.
So I bought a couple REACH tooth brushes.
You can get them at Zellers for about 2 bucks each.
And then I tried again, and it worked wonderfully!

A few days later I got some friends together and we had a toothbrush bending party.

Things you need:
REACH toothbrush(there probably some other kinds that work, but these are the ones I used)
pliers
pot of boiling water
tea towel
tongs
bowl of ice water


The first step of the bracelet making is pulling out all of the bristles.
Needle nose pliers work best, but you can fake it with most other kinds.
Just try your best to get the bristles out right from the base.
Having little plastic stubble sticking into your wrist isn't very comfortable.

 This step makes kind of a mess.
You can either pull them out over a garbage can, or, lay down a sheet of paper to keep the bristles from going everywhere.

 After you pull out all the bristles you drop the toothbrush into a pot of boiling water, and leave it in there for 5-7 minutes, or until it's soft.

 Then you take the hot toothbrush out of the water, with tongs, and you place it onto a tea towel.
You have to do this part quickly so that the toothbrush doesn't harden or cool off before your done.
Using the tea towel you bend the toothbrush into the shape you want.
Don't worry too much, if you don't like the shape, or it's not the right size for your wrist, you can just drop it back into the boiling water and reshape it.


After you've bent it, put your bracelet into a bowl of ice water.
This will help set it, and keep it from changing shape.

Leave it in there for a while, and once it's cool, take it out and try it on.

 It should be about this shape.

These bracelets has actually become a pretty big hit with most of my friends.

Several people are now sporting them.
And I have a couple more that will be given to people at some point.

Youtube, you are wonderful.