Hey everyone! Happy Saturday!
I am delighted to say that a few weeks ago, I was nominated for the Liebster Award! This is so exciting to actually be nominated for something, especially because I'm new to all this and don't exactly know what I'm doing (LOL). In fact, I didn't know something like this award even existed before I was nominated! (That should tell you how inexperienced I am, judging how popular this award really is). But I'm learning a lot of things I didn't know before, and of course, expanding my blog and writing to the best of my ability. I've only been doing this for less than a month but it's already been quite the experience, connecting with other wonderful bloggers. Speaking of amazing bloggers, I'd like to thank Tiffany Day, from https://redwineandbluemom.com/. She's the one who nominated me. Go check her out! She blogs about motherhood and parenting, ranging from helpful tips to quick and easy recipes. I highly recommend reading her post about the extremely interesting Sunday afternoon she had: https://redwineandbluemom.com/2018/01/17/a-shattered-moment/. I had quite the time reading about her hectic day! So what exactly is the Liebster award? The Liester Award, as I found out a few weeks ago, is an award given by bloggers to other bloggers. It's a lovely gesture, knowing that someone took the time and nominated you out of a million other bloggers for the award. It tells you that your content is being appreciated and enjoyed, and it's great for helping to expand your blog and getting to know other bloggers. And of course, it's awesome to be nominated for something once in a while. Moving on to the rules:
Now I have some questions to answer!
So those were all the questions and answers. Now it's time for me to nominate other bloggers and create some questions for them to answer. My nominations:
You guys will have to answer these eight questions:
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I don’t know very many people who have never read this series before. These books are pretty much a STAPLE in one’s childhood. I remember reading them in seventh grade and absolutely loving this series. I reread it about three weeks ago, and I can say that I still admire this series as much as I did the first time experiencing it.
So there are five books in the series. Each book is interconnected, so the major antagonist that is introduced in the first book prevails throughout the whole series. It’s not the type of series where each book has a different story or plot or different characters. Everything is intertwined, which makes it in my opinion much more interesting. If you didn’t already know, this series centers around Greek mythology, which is another reason why I love this series so much. These books are both delightful yet informative. I’ve learned a bunch about greek mythology and the subject also heavily interests me. It’s like a two in one: I’m getting educated but entertained at the same time. Percy Jackson isn’t your average kid. He’s dyslexic and has ADHD. He’s been kicked out of many boarding schools. Oh, and did I mention that he’s a son of Poseidon? Since he’s a product of both a god and a human, that means he’s something called a “demigod.” Yup, being half god, that means he also has some amazing water powers. If there’s any sort of water source nearby, he can control it and use it as a weapon. How cool is that? Throughout the books, he has to go through many different quests, all relating to one final goal in the end: to stop Kronos, an evil Titan god that wants revenge on his children (the gods we all know such as Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades) for destroying him in the first Titan War. Some of Percy’s quests include retrieving the famous Golden Fleece, finding Zeus’ lost thunderbolt (called the Master Bolt), and even locating Daedalus, the inventor of the labyrinth. Percy and his friends go through a lot in each expedition. With each mission comes a lot of risk, sacrifice, and hardships. We get a lot of fighting in the series, especially in the last book, but overall the books are still very lighthearted and have almost a humorous tone, because these books are aimed towards a younger audience. Although these books are again written in a way that draws children, it is still enjoyable even if you’re a bit older. If you haven’t already read these books, try it out for a light read. I guarantee that you will not regret it! *image was taken by me in my lovely backyard! Hey guys! Now that finals are getting scarily close for me, I thought I would share some tips and tricks I have learned over the past few years. I go to a school where finals are after Winter Break, which I extremely dislike because that means I have to study during the actual break, but I know my school is trying to change that, so I can’t complain. These tips don’t just apply to finals; try them out on tests and even smaller assessments like quizzes. 1. Start studying early. I think we all know to start preparing early for bigger and more important assessments, such as midterms or finals. A lot of people, though, don’t start studying for regular tests or quizzes until the day right before! If it works for you, GREAT! Some people are able to study the day before a test and STILL score pretty high. Well, I can’t say I’m a part of that lucky bunch! What works best, for me at least, is to try to study at least three days ahead of time. That way, I’d have more time to really absorb the information. I understand that a lot of you probably don’t have the time I have to start early, but if you can, it’s worth it. For bigger assessments, for FINALS, I start SUPER early, depending on the subject and what I know is going to be on the test. If the final is an in class essay, I can’t really do anything to necessarily STUDY for that, so I’d review any material that my teacher recommends and hope for the best! For actual exams, though, I start prepping my study materials and forming my study guide probably about a month before the actual test. For example, for this semester’s AP biology final, my teacher gave me a handy dandy paper with a list of the subjects that are going to be on the exam. Using that, I started reading the textbook and taking notes on those subjects on a google doc. It’s been about two weeks and I’d say I’ve completed about ¾ of the material on the study guide, and the final is in another two weeks as well. I’d been really productive during winter break in terms of studying for finals and I’m really proud of that. All in all, just make sure to start prepping early, whether it be a regular test, quiz, or especially a final! 2. Don’t study on an empty stomach. The worst thing is trying to stuff facts and information in your brain on an empty stomach. You’re already not feeling energized because of a lack of food yet you’re trying to push through prepping for a test you have the next day. If this is the case, please put down your textbook and GRAB SOMETHING TO EAT!! Aim for healthy snacks. Instead of grabbing some cookies or some chips and dip, try some veggie sticks, hummus, or apple slices and peanut butter. The options to healthier foods are endless! You’ll feel so much better with brain food in you instead of unhealthy junk. By saying this I guess I’m kind of being hypocritical. I’m guilty of grabbing delicious chocolate chip cookies when I’m feeling a little hollow myself. I know that it’s extremely hard to go for something healthy when there’s a nice fresh bag of chips sitting right there on the countertop, easily accessible to fulfill your hunger. I’ve been in this situation plenty of times because I’m always hungry (no joke), but just try your best to choose a snack that is better for you and it’ll leave you feeling great both physically and mentally, and therefore will help you with your studies! 3. Have a quiet and organized study space. If you’re like me and you prefer studying at a desk than on a couch or a bed, make sure it’s nice and organized. If you study at the dining table or anywhere that’s not your personal space, just make sure the space is clear and not cluttered. A messy work space is detrimental to your study process. I personally cannot work in a disheveled area littered with papers and trash so I always keep my desk nice and tidy so that I’m motivated to actually study. 4. Make sure you have all your materials with you before you get comfy. If you’re NOT like me and you love studying in a comfy area such as a couch, check to make sure you have all your textbooks, notebooks, other study materials, and even snacks, before you get TOO comfy. On the rare occasion that I move to my couch downstairs from my desk for a snuggier study space, I ALWAYS forget something, usually a pencil, and I get really annoyed because I’d have to go all the way back upstairs to grab such a trivial item. It’s even worse if I’m in the middle of my studying that I remember I’ve forgotten something. It disrupts my review process and basically dampens my mood. I sound like such a child complaining about something as shallow as this but hey, I’m telling the truth. 5. Use online material. I never realized how much the internet really helps with review. It wasn’t until this school year that I started taking more online practice quizzes and tests. It’s fast, simple, and easy. Just search up your topic, type in the word quiz, click one of the links, make sure the site doesn’t look sketchy (LOL) and you’re good to go! Other sites that most people already use such as Sparknotes and Shmoop are obviously great as well. 6. Don’t be afraid to ask help. If I’m stuck on something, I don’t hesitate to ask my friends who have taken / are taking the same classes. I actually have a funny story to tell you guys relating to this. I have a study buddy for precalc this year (math is one of my worst subjects) and EVERYTIME I have a question or I need to clarify something, I message her for help. But the thing is, after I text her, I immediately realize how to solve the problem I had a question on. So then I go back and text her “NVR mind”. It’s happened so often that it has developed into sort of an inside joke between us! But yeah, don’t be scared to ask a friend, parent, older sibling, or teacher for help. I think it’s always best to ask a teacher but obviously they’re less accessible if you’re at home, unless you have their phone number or you can easily contact them. So I always text my friends, but sometimes I ask my parents. When it comes to getting help from my mom or dad, I assume that they aren’t knowledgeable in the topic I need help on, but I’m always highly mistaken. They end up knowing more than me! 7. Most importantly, TAKE BREAKS. Please, please remember to take breaks. Breaks are essential to a healthy study routine. You may be thinking, “I don’t have time to take breaks!” To answer that, I’d say that even a quick one minute breathing session can help you get back on track with studying. Remember Tip #2? You can treat getting yourself a snack as a quick break as well if you really want to maximize your time. I like to lay on top of my bed for a minute every now and then while I’m studying to stretch my back and rest my eyes. I also treat my shower time as a relaxing break as well. I have a waterproof speaker in my shower that I use DAILY so that I can listen to music while I bathe myself, which is refreshing and clears my mind. Sometimes I like to reward myself too by indulging in a chapter of a book I’m currently reading at the time as another effective break. Breaks are crucial and necessary to prevent you from exhausting yourself too much. Take it from a person who’s had constant headaches and tired, red eyes from studying for prolonged times without stopping. I’ve definitely learned my lesson! So that was my advice for preparing for assessments! All of this I’ve learned so far my three years in high school, and I hope they help! Now it’s back to studying for finals… *picture: https://www.gijobs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/textbooks.resized-1.jpg Hey guys! So it’s Tuesday, and I just got home from school. I’ve been back at school since yesterday. I have been dreading yesterday since my last week of break. Sunday night, I didn’t want to go to bed, because if I sleep then it would feel like school is nearer, but now that I’m actually back, it’s not TOO bad. I admit that there are some positives of going back to school. I guess seeing my friends again and being able to chill with them during lunch is nice. Oh, and how I’m back to my normal schedule. Did I ever mention how I’m a very schedule-orientated person? I need to have a productive, organized list of chores and things to do, or else I’ll feel weird, and I won’t be able to function. And I have to stick with whatever plan or schedule I made for the day. This is why I absolutely loathe unplanned events. If we’re gonna hang out, you better make plans with me at least 24 hours ahead of time. No, I can’t just drop whatever I’m doing just to go to the mall with you. I have things to do! I’m a very busy person! I stick to my schedule, and that’s that. With school, and finals around the corner (the big bad finals), I’ll be able to plan out my day with no interruptions because everyone will be busy studying. How great is that? As an antisocial person, that sounds like heaven. Unfortunately, without break, that means there’s less time for Netflix and video games. I finally got Minecraft for Mac recently (I’ve only had the pocket edition) as a Secret Santa gift, and I’m addicted. All this stuff will have to be pushed back to the weekends, once again, and I’m devastated about that.
With me back at school, what does that mean for this blog? Don’t worry guys! I’ll still try my best to update as much as I possibly can. I’ll probably be less active on twitter and on this website, but entries and posts will still be coming!! I’ll have a lot to balance, as again, I have finals pretty soon. I had one of my finals before winter break, my French final (thank god for that) but I still have US history, precalculus, english, history, and AP biology to study for (yikes!) and on top of that, I really need to start self studying AP macroeconomics since I’m planning to take that test during AP week. It’ll definitely be crazy because I’m a junior and this is my first year taking APs, but it’ll definitely be quite the experience! Not gonna lie, I’m kinda scared about uni, because if I’m already swamped with work my junior year of high school, and I already feel like I’m dying inside, then when I’m in college, I will actually physically be dead from even more work. But yeah, my next blog post will probably be on Friday (ish) and I’ll probably update my design page of this website with another digital imaging project (probably Thursday). Stay tuned for that! I hope you all have a lovely week! Hello!! In today's post, as you can guess from the title, I will be sharing my last six resolutions for the new year.
1. More socializing! I’ve always been a very quiet and shy person when I’m around people I don’t know. Around my friends and family, though, I’m a totally different person. It’s extremely hard for me to make new friends. I’ve been with the same group of people for about 5 years now. And I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I love my friend group so so much. But they all have other friends they hang out with, and guess what, ya girl’s options are extremely limited! It’s funny, because even when my friends suggest going out and doing something together, I’ll find an excuse not to go, because I thrive off of being alone. I think that to start off this resolution, I should work on the easy stuff first. That being said, I need to start hanging out more with my friends and not bail at the last minute (yikes). 2. Read more. This is the only resolution that I don’t think will be too difficult. I LOVE to read but I don’t have much time to do so. When I do have free time, I spend it watching Netflix and YouTube. Pushing myself to read new novels would be a good use of my time and would be something that I would enjoy doing. 3. Less overthinking. Overthinking. Something I always do. I overthink mostly school, especially presentations. I absolutely HATE presentations. Each and every time before the day of my presentation, I spend a lot of time worrying and stressing. What if I forget my lines? What if my powerpoint doesn’t load? What if people get bored? I go through my presentations literally HUNDREDS of times to make sure I memorized the lines. Even then, when everything is ready to go, I myself don’t feel ready at all. I spend so much time overthinking this that when I go up and actually speak in front of the class, I realize it’s not so bad. And when my classmates clap for me, I realize that I’ve been stressing and wasting all that time for something that was easier than I thought. You’d expect that, after a couple of presentations, I’d stop overthinking before the next ones. Nope. Not me. I always think that something bad will happen next time I go up in front of the class, and therefore I’d have to be incredibly prepared for the possibility. You see, the cycle never ends. This is something I really have to work on. I have no idea how to improve this, "condition", of mine. Maybe more practice? 4. Be more informed about current events. In some of my classes, we always discuss current events. From politics to feminism, we talk about everything. I always find myself going “Oh, that happened?” or just being extremely confused because I never know what’s going on. I’m very ill-informed about world events. I guess that makes sense because I rarely watch the news or go online and find about what’s going on. It’s important to be informed and knowledgeable and not live completely under a rock. I should start keeping up with the news and since I’m on facebook and snapchat so much, I could customize my social media feeds to make my several hours a day scrolling through these sites more informative and productive. 5. Write more. I really want to improve my writing skills. Updating and keeping up with this blog will definitely help with that. Some people can make phrases and sentences sound so beautiful. They can literally make music with their words. I want to be like that. I’m definitely going to need to practice and refine my skills A LOT MORE (LOL!). 6. Quit nail-biting. This is a nasty habit that I have been trying to quit since 8th grade. I was actually able to stop chewing my nails for a period of time in 9th grade, but for some reason, this habit started up again, and ever since then, I couldn't stop it. Some people only bite their nails when they’re frustrated or nervous, but I do it ALL THE TIME. It doesn’t matter my state of emotions, it doesn’t matter what situation I’m in, I just do it and I can’t quit. It’s literally impossible to stop. This is going to be a hard goal to accomplish. That was it for my new year's resolutions! I had a whole list but I narrowed it down to these six and the six from the last blog post to make a total of twelve resolutions. I'm going to try my best to stick to these goals and hopefully I'll be able to accomplish some! Have an amazing day! Hey everyone! I know that it’s already the fourth day of 2018, but I decided that for today’s entry, I would talk about some of my new year’s resolutions.
This is actually going to be my first year where I made a legit list of things I want to accomplish or work on. We’ll see how I do and I will of course make sure to keep you guys updated on the process. Let’s get onto some goals. 1. Exercise more! Exercising and working out at home is something that I’ve always done, but in minuscule amounts. My house has its own little workout room at my leisure yet I’m just unmotivated to get myself moving. I have never set up a work out schedule. What I have been doing so far regarding physical activity is that I exercise during the weekends, only if I have time. What I mean is that if I am overloaded with schoolwork and extracurricular activities during the weekend, I will not touch the equipment. I go weeks at a time without exercising. This year, I’m hoping to work out at least once a week at first, and I hope it’ll increase as the year goes on. 2. Drink more water. This is definitely something I need to work on! Each day, I bring up a regular 17 fluid ounce plastic water bottle (about 500 mL) and by the end of the day, there’s usually some left over. It’s a good day if I’m able to finish one bottle. I started working on this goal a few days before 2018 using a couple methods. I realized that the main reason why I don’t drink much water is because water is boring. There’s no flavor, and without flavor it’s hard for me to force anything down my throat. Therefore, my favorite method is to mix a little something extra in my water. I like to mix 1 part lemonade (or limeade, orange juice, and other citrus drinks) with 3 to 4 parts water, and I add plenty of ice. This way, there’s a little something something in my water that makes it tastier. I have this huge hard plastic water bottle that fits about 34 fluid ounces (1000 mL) that is perfect for this. 3. Drink less boba. Boba is delicious. If you don’t know what boba is, it can mean two things. First of all, the word “boba” actually refers to edible black chewy spheres made of starch, sweet potato, and brown sugar. Boba is usually consumed with a drink called milk tea, which is exactly what it sounds like. It’s just tea (it can be any tea, but I personally prefer black tea) mixed with a touch of milk. But the majority of people call the milk tea and boba combo as just “boba”. For example, when my friends and I want to get those drinks, we would say, “Hey, let’s go get boba!” and most of us would be referring to the drink combo, not just the boba itself. But yeah, the reason I want to consume less boba (and I am referring to both the boba itself AND the drink) is because of the SUGAR. I’m talking about more than 2 tablespoons of sugar for a 16 ounce drink. Yikes. But it is SO good, so much so that I could probably drink it every single day and not get tired of it. 4. Keep this website running and don’t quit halfway. I have a problem with “continuing” things, if that makes any sense. For example, I would start writing a story and run out of motivation halfway, and I would quit. That’s why I want to succeed in keeping this website / blog running as long as I can and update it a reasonable amount of times per week. It will be fun! 5. Reach at least 100 followers on Twitter. With this, I also mean followers and subscriptions of this website. I really want to expand this website and make it more popular, you know? I don't know if 100 is an unreasonable number, as this is the first time I've done anything like this, but we'll see how it goes. 6. Be more vocal. This is something that I’ve been meaning to work on since 8th grade but I just never actually tried accomplishing this. By this resolution, I mean participating more in class discussions and voicing my opinions. I usually just go with what other people say, even if I don’t necessarily agree with their opinions or thoughts. I never express my own thoughts and feelings because I’ve never been great with words, if that makes any sense. If I’m talking in front of people that I’m not familiar with, I’ll forget what I’m saying halfway and I end up sounding like an idiot. I stutter quite a lot as well. So I usually keep to myself and let other people do all the talking. That’s the same reason I don’t participate in class either. I just don’t trust myself with words, and I’m afraid of being embarrassed. Well, I really need to change that this year. I really do. And I’m going to make myself speak more in class when school starts on Monday (I’m on my break right now). That's it for part 1 of my new year's resolutions! I'll be posting my last 6 in the next couple of days. Have a great day everyone! Hey guys! I hope you all are having a great 2018 so far! Alright, so regarding my home page cover photo, which is this image down below... ... it's not the best looking thing, obviously. I created it in less than a minute right when I decided what my name and my slogan would be for my website. I'm going to be keeping the purple-yellow-black scheme though, because I don't know, I really really like the color combination. So yeah, I have plans to definitely improve that image. I'm also going to be making an actual logo for my website as well! Right now, my logo is just a bunch of smiley faces, which I also hastily created. I'm going to change it up and make my website look a lot better!
As for the page title images, I think I'm going to be keeping them just the way they are, maybe altering the fonts, but again, I'm going to be keeping the color scheme! Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know what is going on and what I'll be changing so that you won't be totally surprised when my website might look a little different. If there's anything else you guys might want to see changed or improved, let me know! Shoot me a private email by clicking the "Contact Me" box above or publicly comment down below. Thanks everyone! Hey, it’s Mel! Welcome to my new blog page! Let me tell you a little bit more about myself. The first order of business: my name. Mel is just an alias, a pseudonym. You know how some authors use a pen name instead of their real name? Like, the author of A Series of Unfortunate Events Lemony Snicket’s actual name is Daniel Handler? Exactly. Except Mel is all there is to my own pen name. Perhaps one day I will reveal my actual name, if you guys pressure me enough. Oh, and, by the way, Mel isn’t short for anything. Just thought you should know.
Oh yeah, before I forget, HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS!! 2018 will be our year, I can feel it! Alright, let’s get to the origins of this blog. Much like the creation of my pseudonym, my idea to start a blog basically sprang up, just like that (imagine me snapping me right now). I was in class one day, thinking about how my classmates were beginning to do something with their lives, something with their skills and interests, and I began to feel sorry for myself, as I basically have no talent at all. I still remember it like it was yesterday, practically because it was literally yesterday… okay, it was a few days ago (I have always been the type to act on an idea as soon as I have the opportunity to). So I was in history class. We were watching a video about American expansion, how people moved westward for new opportunities. For a new life. To start over. That idea, combined with my previous thoughts of how I felt so behind everyone else in terms of finding my passion, was, I’m not going to lie, incredibly frustrating. How was I supposed to get on with my life? It would take plenty of time to develop something, to discover more of my interests, of which I don’t have. And then it just came. I have always loved writing. I wouldn’t say I’m the best at it though. There are people who can make words sound like music. Me? I don’t think I’m that talented. I’ve written fanfictions (yes, even though they were pretty bad…), and I’ve also tried coming up with original stories (keyword: tried). Nonetheless, I’m satisfied in my creativity and my ability to express thoughts on a page. So why not start my own blog? It was a genius idea. I could incorporate elements of my own life in each entry, write about topics that interested me, all while challenging how far my creative capacity can prosper. It was all so exciting...until I realized one thing. I mean, all along, from the very first second I had this idea, I knew that I was a junior currently attending high school. I knew that I had a lot of work to do, balancing classes and homework with participating in other activities that interested me, such as art and literature. Yet the fact that I thought that I would be able to create this amazing, diverse blog that would be updated every single day, all while, again, balancing my daily life, was obviously flawed. In that exciting moment of wanting to create a heavily maintained blog, I forgot that I had other duties and responsibilities. But don’t worry, because that won’t stop me from updating AS MUCH AS I POSSIBLY CAN. I can tell, that from just writing this first piece, that I am going to love this. That this will change me as a person. Now I truly have a platform where I can build on old interests, yet explore new ideas as they come. With this blog, I can find myself, more than I ever have. Well, that was my intro/debut/first entry!! I hope that you all, my amazing readers, will continue through this journey with me. Keep in mind, that this is my first blog. If you have any private questions, comments, or advice, please, please, PLEASE leave a reply by pressing the "Contact Me" button above, or if you want to make a public comment, please scroll down. I want YOUR opinions. I will happily take any critiques you may have, because I really want to improve this blog as best I can. I truly believe that this is the start of something wonderful. With that said, I hope you all have an amazing day, and I know this is just the beginning, but I love you all already. Stay tuned for updates! |
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Blog posts basically about anything remotely interesting going on in my life.
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