Personal Addition #39

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chocolate-Candy-Cane-Cookies-233372
Check out the site above to learn how to make these cookies. The inside is peppermint buttercream! Sounds so good. I hope to try it!

Personal Addition #38

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/eggnog-pancakes-3/detail.aspx

Above is a site displaying a recipe for Eggnog Pancakes! I thought it was cool that you can substitute your usual ingredients for something more Christmasy & perfect for the holidays. I really want to try these some day!

Personal Addition #37

I think that if I ever have kids and they are upset, I won’t tell them that people are starving in China or anything like that, because it wouldn’t change the fact that they were upset. And even if somebody else has it worse, that doesn’t change the fact that you have what you have.

— Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I think this quote is funny because that was totally my parents when I was younger and even now. I do understand why people say that, but Chbosky is right, it doesn't change what you're feeling. You should really sympathize towards people who have less, but feelings are huge, and they can be hard to overcome just by sympathizing.

Personal Addition #36

Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.

— Fred Rogers

So, so true! I think this quote is accurate and it's a good way of thinking of things. The end is usually considered negative, but it doesn't have to be.

Reading Reflection #12

If I Stay is going slower than I imagined. Enjoy reading about people my age. Easy to connect to. Also enjoy tragedy. #RR12@Cre8tiveHavoc

Almost the end of the semester, want to squeeze in a really good book that's realistic and easy to relate to. Any suggestions? #RR12

Personal Addition #35

When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That’s the message he is sending.

— Thích Nhất Hạnh

I posted this quote because I have the same way of thinking. There has to be something inside of someone to make them say bad things to someone else. 

Personal Addition #34

If you know yourself, then you’ll not be harmed by what is said about you.

— Arabian proverb

I totally agree with this quote and I think people need to learn this. If you know who you are and you're positive and confident about what you look like, how smart you are, your feelings, etc... how can anyone tell you differently?

Personal Addition #33

Try to make at least one person happy every day. If you cannot do a kind deed, speak a kind word. If you cannot speak a kind word, think a kind thought.

— Lawrence G. Lovasik

I really, really like this kind of thinking and way of life. I think it's a great goal to try and achieve every day.

Personal Addition #32

I’m like that. Either I forget right away or I never forget.

— Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

I really think that this quote applies to me and probably many other people. It's weird to think about but you usually forget what you ate for dinner last week, but you never forget that time you snuck out or that vacation you went on.

Personal Addition #31

http://mehanskitchen.blogspot.ca/2012/02/blog-post_14.html

 
Check out this green smoothie recipe! I really want to try this sometime. Who puts spinach in a smoothie?!

Bucket List

1.      Bungee jump

2.      Learn archery

3.      Go canoeing/kayaking for a day

4.      Become decent at golf

5.      Ride an elephant or a camel

6.      Learn to surf

7.      Learn sign language

8.      Go on a hot air balloon ride

9.      Self teach piano

10.   Go scuba diving

11.   Zip line

12.   Ride one of ten of the world’s largest roller coasters

13.   Cliff jump

14.   Go on a cruise

15.   Visit all 7 continents

16.   Experience the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt

17.   Visit all provinces and states

18.   Learn how to and make wine

19.   Make a list of 100 books to read & read them all

20.   Get a masters degree

21.   Get on the front cover of the paper

22.   Volunteer at a soup kitchen

23.   Build habitat 4 humanity home

24.   Be in a movie

25.   Have a child

26.   Volunteer at a pet shelter

27.   Buy a house

28.   Volunteer overseas for a 6 months +

29.   Kiss a dolphin

30.   Pet a panda

31.   Take up yoga

32.   Try to be vegetarian for a month +

33.   Attend a fashion show

34.   Be in a fashion show

35.   Skeleton sledding

36.   Visit Australia

37.   Horseback ride on a beach

38.   Donate blood (If I ever can)

39.   Have $1,000,000 at one point

40.   Visit a haunted house

41.   Write a journal everyday for a year

42.   Donate $1000 + to charity

43.   Walk the Great Wall of China

44.   Pretend to be a Wal-Mart greeter and hug people

45.   Bike the Copper Harbor trail in Michigan

46.   Visit Tunnel of Lights, Japan

47.   Work for a magazine

48.   Experience a Hindu spring tradition aka Holi Festival

49.   Be a bridesmaid

50.   Play hide & seek in a mall

51.   Visit Titanic in a submarine

52.   Donate hair to cancer

53.   Have twins

54.   Sleep on the beach

55.   Lock a lock on Lover’s bridge, Paris

56.   See Northern Lights

57.   Watch ball drop on New Years in New York

58.   Paint the circles on the twister mat & play messy paint twister

59.   Make a list of 100 movies & watch them all

60.   Go a week without phone or internet or television

61.   Bathe in a mud pool

62.   Record singing

63.   Attend World Cup soccer game

64.   See a glacier/stand on one

65.   Photograph an endangered species

66.   Attend Olympics

67.   Take a 365 photo challenge

68.   Send a message in a bottle

69.   Attend a red carpet event

70.   Go wild in Rio during Carnival

71.   Donate money to have my name on something (scholarship, park bench)

72.   Run a marathon

73.   Create family tree

74.   Sleep in a castle

75.   Get another piercing

76.   Buy a car

77.   Go on an African Safari Tour

78.   Learn to drive standard

79.   Adopt an animal

80.   Do Chinese fire drill at a stoplight

81.   Wear colored contacts

82.   Fly a wish lantern in Thailand

83.   Visit Taj Mahal

84.   Dive into the Great Blue Hole in Belize

85.   Dive with sharks

86.   Visit Redwood Forest

87.   Fire a gun

88.   Work at a restaurant

89.   Become tumblr famous

90.   Drink from a coconut

91.   Get braces off

92.   Hold wild cheetah cub

93.   Manage a retail store

94.   Read the Bible

95.   Throw dart at a map and travel to wherever it lands

96.   Paintball

97.   At parking lot, put sticky notes saying “Sorry for the damage” and watch them look everywhere for “damage”

98.   Picture of yourself everyday for a year

99.   Dye hair

100.  Take a picture with a VS model

Reading Reflection #11

Just finished The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen. Started If I Stay by Gayle Forman. Interesting setup of events. @Cre8tiveHavoc#RR11

Not sure if I prefer a mix of events from the past & present or continuous events in the present. If I Stay is a mix, yet so clear.#RR11

Personal Addition #30

Do not look for a sanctuary in anyone except yourself.

— Siddhārtha Gautama

I enjoy this quote because I see this side of it that's true in my life. It's something I believe in. I think it's far more important to learn about yourself and know yourself than to venture off into finding out about others' lives. I at least think that you should find yourself before trying to know others very deeply or creating a solid relationship with someone. Also, the quote says sanctuary meaning safety or happiness. I think that it is very important to only find safety truly within yourself because you never know what other people's thoughts or plans for the future are and something could not line up properly if you put your safety within someone else. Especially with happiness, you should always be able to find that within yourself.

Personal Addition #29

Good Night
W. S. Merwin
Sleep softly my old love
my beauty in the dark
night is a dream we have
as you know as you know
night is a dream you know
an old love in the dark
around you as you go
without end as you know
in the night where you go
sleep softly my old love
without end in the dark
in the love that you know

I really like this poem because of the repetition. It holds my attention and makes the poem flow really nicely.

Personal Addition #27

Right now, I'm reading the book The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen. It's very different and the things that happen in it are not realistic at all, but they could happen. I like that better than fiction because I like to know that there's a chance of it happening. Vampires and werewolves aren't proven, but having someone appear in your closet could potentially happen. I'm almost finished this crazy, magical book.

Personal Addition #28

This always happens with me. I like to create debate and challenge the other person, even if I believe in what their opinions are.

Reading & Writing Reflection #10

I think overall my Twitter Fiction went fairly well including some successes and some frustrations.    I think I succeeded at writing simple, descriptive single tweets. I think some of my tweets are for an older audience, some for a younger audience which is good that I can target different ages. I think most of my tweets carried out an emotional aspect and they make the reader feel what the character would be feeling at the time. I had a bit of trouble with vocabulary in my opinion. There is lots of imagery but maybe not super unique, over the top, awesome descriptions. Some of my tweets had a boring story line such as love or relationships, but different people like different topics and I learned that the topic of relationships and family is my strong topic for writing. I learned that I still need improvement. I'm sure even the best writers can improve, but I realized what audience my writing would attract and I don't feel like it's strong enough to reach all audiences yet, especially adults. I felt pretty good about publishing myself on Twitter, however, it is nerve wracking at times. I want people to like what I write and feel like the pressure is on. 

I read a few Twitter Fiction stories. One was by Jack Smack @microdito. One of their tweets read, "Holding her head high, she gathered her scattered belongings from the front yard. A heavy glance back at his once sheltering arms." This person's twitter fiction caught my attention because I wrote a lot of relationship and emotional type of tweets and so did they. I like the tweet above because it could be part of a longer story or it could be a vss which is kind of cool. You can also feel the character's pain because of words such as heavy, scattered, and once sheltering arms which all create visual imagery. 
Another Twitter Fiction author that I explored was Karthik M @mysmallstories. An example of her tweets is, "A tiny tale for his little one. Every night is was so much fun. Then she grew big and tall. Now it's the Facebook wall." I think this tweet is so interesting because it's talking about a recent trouble. It creates a big topic of discussion of how kids are growing up these days and what they're being exposed to. They start with bed time stories and suddenly they're reading the drama on their Facebook wall. I also like how it rhymes at times because that keeps my attention and flows nicely. This author also writes, "Calm night. Tired body. Restless mind. Sleepless soul. Moist eyes. Broken heart." I usually like flowing, rhyming, big long sentences, but this tweet has something to it that attracts me. 
I really like these two authors because their writing is what I was trying to go for, so they're like inspiration. It was alright to spend Thursday's class reading Twitter, but I prefer books over short tweets. I was surprised that tweets can bring out certain emotions or memories in just 140 characters or less. I was also surprised that Twitter had this educational/professional writing side to it. I never would have guessed.
Also, I like when authors make characters and their characters have Twitter so you can go into theirs and read their thoughts. It makes the story have different perspectives and you get to know all the information. 

This assignment did sort of change my perspective of Twitter. It showed me people use it for other things besides posting drama and lyrics and their day to day thoughts. It showed a professional side to Twitter that I like, but I'm not sure I'd use. I'm not sure what other ways we could use Twitter inside the class. I'm sure if we all thought hard enough, there could be some super creative ideas. Overall, great project idea!

Personal Addition #26

Here's some interesting words that I've learned recently:

Vernorexia - a romantic mood inspired by spring

Pinguescence - the process of becoming fat and obese

Bailiwick - one's particular area of activity, interest or authority

Personal Addition #25

If you didn't grow up like I did then you don’t know and if you don’t know it’s probably better you don’t judge.
— Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

I like this quote & agree with it. I wanted it on my blog as a reminder to everyone on why judging people doesn't really make sense. We do it so easily, but really it's pointless because we never know what people have gone through, what they're going through or what has made them who they are.