Goals For 2015

It's almost the new year, so that means it's time to think about what changes I want to make for next year.  The following post will be blogging goals and life goals and I'll do my best to keep track of them here.

Blogging Goals

1. Read Freely.  While this is considered a book blog, this year, reading isn't going to be my top priority when it comes to this blog.  So there won't be book review posts every week like I've done this year.  I'll say more about this if you keep reading.

2. Blog More About Life.  Post pictures, stories, poems, videos... that type of thing.

3. Blog in Different Forms.  Videos, pictures, etc.

4. Read More Classics.  Keep up what progress you have.  You're probably going to need the classics when you take your GRE test someday (but right now, we don't like to think about that day).  To make this goal measurable, let's say: I will resolve to read 7 classic pieces of literature in the year 2015.  More is good, but seven is the minimum.

5. Read The Books On Your Shelves.  I have so many books on my shelves and a lot of them, I'm a little ashamed to admit, I haven't read yet.  As I read the books on my shelves at this time, I will make decisions about whether or not I will ever read that book again and either put them back on my shelf or put them in a box to sell or donate.

Life Goals

1. Write More.  In the past for NaNoWriMo, I've done written updates over the course of the month.  I want to do written updates like this every couple of weeks throughout the year.  I think this will help me develop a routine and stick to it because I'll feel like I'm answering to someone, whether that's actually true or not.

2. Develop a Routine for Exercise.  I think I'll have an okay time with this.  In the spring, I'll be living at home after I return from my Netherlands adventure.  So when I commute to school, I can check my calendar and pack not only books on a given day, but also clothes that I can get sweaty in and shoes that I can be active in.  I can make that a routine.  I should have been able to do that while living at school, but a lot of the time that didn't happen.  It's silly, because I lived across the street from the gym.  Now that won't be the case, so I'll be likely to plan going to the trip since I won't have easy access during the week nights any more.

3. Find a Study Spot and Make a Routine.  I want to find a place that's not at home where I can spend time working on my own with no distractions.  I have a desk at home, but I have a feeling that I'm going to have some trouble working there because a) it's the resting place for idle objects and b) home comes with a lot of distractions.  I'm thinking a secret place in the library will be nice.  But I'll do a thorough inspection.  I'm planning on taking a J-Term class (two days after I come home from Europe... call me crazy) so I'll have time to look without a ton of people on campus.

4. Move Into My First Off-Campus Apartment.  My significant other, Jack, and I have been talking about doing this.  We would like to move in together into an apartment that is close to both of our campuses.  We have quite a bit to figure out regarding this goal, but I'm going to keep this in mind any way.  We're going to look for places in the spring, but I think a lot of places won't let us move in until after school ends or right before the new school year will start.  I do hope this goal pans out this year.  It'll be nice to have a place of our own, to not have fire drills at 5:30 am once a semester, and to not have to move out during winter holidays or summer.  Rent will be a new thing, but I think I'm getting to a point in my life where I do want a place I can call my own.  Even a small place.

5. Make A Donation.  I've been thinking about this for a while.  I've been volunteering for a couple of years now, but I want to do more in the world.  I'm one person and I can't do too many things in the world at once.  So I want to find a charity that I can help out once a month.  I mean, my donations will be small (maybe $10-$15) each month, but it'll add up to quite a bit.  If you have charity ideas, I'm all ears.

I'm hoping for good things this year.  What are some goals that you have for yourself?

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

A Peek Inside My Head: 'Murder by Rulers'

I'm sure that I've mentioned this before, but when I was in seventh grade, I began a story called 'Murder by Rulers.'  Since then, I have finished a draft, added to it, scrapped that entire draft, and started writing the same story (yet a completely different story) from the very beginning again.  In order to focus my thoughts some more, I decided to have a coloring day (when it was still summer) and work out what I thought some of the main places looked like.  I just wanted to show you what I've been working on since posting has been so scarce (save for the scheduled posts).  Enjoy!

 In 'Murder by Rulers' my character Kieran (originally named Edward, until I realized that half of my cast of characters had names from 'Twilight') works in his family's coffee shop called A Cup for Joe.  I described it in the story, but this is my visual representation of it.  I might have to redo that description, but that'll just have to wait until I get into editing mode.  Right now, I just want to finish.

 I tried to think of how I would design my own coffee shop and then couple that with places that I've already been to before.

 I had an upper area where Ella and Kieran played numerous games of Sorry!  They're later joined by Angela, who later becomes Kieran's love interest, though I still have to write those scenes.

 I love it when coffee shops have fire places!  They're so classy!

 This is the high school where Emmett (who later becomes Ella's love interest), Angela, Ella, and Kieran all go to school.  This isn't how I originally imagined it, but pretty close.  I guess this pictures is set inside the retaining wall of the school.  Yes.  Let's go with that.  I might have to go through and give this picture another try.  Maybe even make it lighter and easier to see.

 I want to make the front door much bigger and also higher off the ground.

I could even add in a more defined garden as opposed to this one that's just kind of thrown in wherever it fits.

So, that's all I have for you today!  I hope you liked it, and if you didn't, well, that's okay.

Thanks for reading!

--Jude

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister: A School Project

Last year in my English class, we had these projects that we had to do. We had to pick a book by an America author, read it, take notes, then find the major plot points (Rising Action, Climax, etc.). I picked 'Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister' by Gregory Maguire and I came up with this project:

WARNING: If you haven't read this and you don't want the story to be spoiled for you, I suggest you stop right here, because there will be spoilers ahead. You've been warned.

Title Page with the glass slipper on it because this book was everyone's favorite Cinderella story re-written.

Exposition:

When Margarethe, Iris, and Ruth move to Haarlem

Rising Action:

Upper Left: Meeting (or attempting to meet) Clara

Upper Right: Caspar and Iris beginning to fall for each other

Lower Middle: Clara Declaring that she is Cinderella

Climax:

After meeting the Prince, the house where everyone is gathered catches on fire. The fire is spread because the painting of Clara and the tulips is first to burn.

Falling Action:

Clara rushes home so that Margarethe doesn't find out that she left the house in the first place. When she is found out, however, Margarethe stand in front of the kitchen door criticizing Clara while Clara vows never to leave the kitchen again.

Resolution:

Upper Left: Ruth is the one that started the fire

Lower Left: Margarethe is the one that killed Clara's mother

Right: Iris and Caspar are married

And, you know, since they're in Holland, I had to add a windmill. But there is a scene involving a windmill, if I remember correctly...

Thanks for looking and reading! I hope you liked them!

I'll have to post the pictures I made for my Government/Econ Project. I got full credit, and even though I'm not satisfied with how the actual story came out, I'm happy with how the pictures turned out. Both of these projects were procrastinated on! Hurray!

--Jude

Happy Halloween!

This is really late... if I was a little more prepared, I would have come here before trick-or-treating started and then I could tell everyone to be safe and not talk to stranger and stuff like that. But I didn't. I hope everyone was safe any way.

I decided to post pictures of my pumpkin (all four sides) both in the day time and when they're lit. I rather like these picture montages. It makes my posts a little bit shorter.

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow! Or, tonight at midnight, if you're planning on being an overachiever (I'm certainly not. I like my sleep, thank you very much!). If you know (and are willing to share) what is your NaNoWriMo topic? I'm just curious. I won't steal anything. Either way, good luck, you crazy writing fiends!

--Jude

Decision-making

Guys! It's almost November! If you would like to join in the craziness, there's still time! Click here if you absolutely want to do this (or if you want to know more). I have set my word count goal to 30,000 words. I've written that much before, but it was a while ago, so I'm really out of practice. Throughout the month of November, I will force myself to write 1,000 words a day! To all of those that are embarking on this quest, I salute you and wish you luck.

I have also made a decision to make another video over this long weekend. I'm going on another adventure, so it'll definitely be more interesting than the last video I did. I might even go outside! Oh my goodness that's unthinkable!

I must go and prepare now. I will leave you to wander the blog, make a decision on NaNoWriMo, and/or just go back to what you were doing. Either way, have a great week(end)!

--Jude

P.S. Just because I will constantly be writing next month doesn't mean I'm going to let this go to the way side. I'll try and update on the weekends in November. But they might not be as long (good thing? Bad thing? I don't know...).

An Experiment With Video-Blogging!

If you hear many clicks and beeps, you're not going nuts. That's just the crappy quality you're hearing.

The Trebuchet that that Stranger Above Spoke Of!

I have taken a few pages out of a couple books today... one out of Wheezy Waiter's and the Vlogbrother's books because of the style the video is in (although, I do blink... several times...) and also Hyperbole and a Half's book because of the pictures I made on MS Paint (although hers are ten time better and more creative... they also illustrate funny anecdotes of hers!).

Sorry for the weird post! I'll choose one medium to tell you stuff in next time! If you have a preference, please share!

Derniere Danse

Here it is!

There is so much wrong with this video... while I was at school editing this, I found out that it didn't match up with the verses that the pictures were supposed to correspond with. That's okay. That was the least of my worries. When I got home and uploaded it to YouTube, I was really excited. The synchronization issue wasn't enough to get me down. I started to play it on my computer and it was incredibly blurry. Also, some of my edits (I'm sure I edited everything that I could) didn't adhere to the exported version. I have the Ken Burns effect (this really weird zoom-in feature that I really, really wish wasn't automatically put into pictures) in really inconvenient places.

Other than those things, I'm pretty happy with the final product. I'm going to try and go into the Mac Lab during lunch one day and fix the things that went awry. Then I'll re-upload it and share it with you again! For now, here it is (er, up there).

P.S. I looked at it again, and the grainy-ness seems to have improved ever so slightly. It's better than nothing, I guess.

Sock Monkeys!

One of the things I wanted to do before summer ended was learn how to make sock monkeys. I have done just that in about 24 hours! Here is the result:

Created with a pair of old knee socks, thread, buttons, and felt!

Since I'm not smart enough to come up with a way to create a sock monkey, I consulted my best friend the internet and found instructions. You too could make a sock monkey by clicking here!

--Jude

YouTube Time Capsule!

And this is why I am not a video blogger!

Oh, how I wish that the second take made on my lap top worked! This version doesn't seem to get out of sync, but it sounds like I have a lisp, which I don't. My voice sounds higher than it is (or so it seems). I will never make another video on my regular camera again... I'd rather have the lack of synchronization....

I also say "um" and "I don't know" a lot in this video... makes me want to give it a fifth take... but I won't. I'll just wait until the next opportunity to make a video and redeem myself!

In case you did not catch this before, I was watching Charlie McDonnell's video 'Dear Future Charlie' and I got inspired to make my own. You can watch his video below...

Charlie's video is so much better. That's why he's a video blogger!

--Jude

P.S. Is it too fan girl-like that I'm really excited that my picture is on the same blog as the amazing Charlie McDonnell? God that sounds so creepy... I'm not a stalker!

Characters

This is just in case you were wondering what the horror novel characters looked like!

This is Hugo. This picture took a couple hours to draw and ink. He's still very disproportional (but I guess that's my style). I have never been good at drawing guys. So here's my attempt! I based his jacket off of a picture that my friend Rosemary drew for my birthday several years ago. To me, he looks like a cross between Gerard Way and Harry Potter...

This is Mary. I was initially going to draw her with a phone in her hand, but it was really late when I started drawing this and I didn't really want to get too technical. Especially at that hour. So she looks very simplistic-- compared to Hugo, she's bare bones because I didn't use any color or shading, really. And her hair didn't show up like I thought it would. So I bet you can tell which drawing I am more proud of :)

This will be a multiple post day, so stay tuned for another one!

--Jude

As a Consolation...

I have not posted chapter four yet. I'm really sorry... but! I have something that may or may not make up for it! Below, you will see a picture that I drew of Mary and Hugo's house. You can make it bigger and perform a good inspection by clicking right on the picture. I would also like to know your thoughts. So leave comments, if you please!

I was trying to digitally render something like this on the computer using Google Sketch-Up (it's a free download if you're curious and really want to try it!). Long story short, it's still in progress and not even close to completion. So last night while my undiagnosed insomnia kept me up, I found a pencil and I went to work. I did the very crappy inking job this afternoon.

Also, I may have found a last name for this family. I was making name tags for VBS (Vacation Bible School) and I came across this little girl's name. I love her name so much, I could cry. But I won't instead, I'll tell you the last name that I fell in love with: VanRossum. It's not the most common name around, but I love the elegance of it. Then I was putting Hugo and Mary's name in front of it and I felt that it worked quite well, considering they have pretty old-fashioned names (well, Mary does. I'm not totally sure about Hugo...).

Today, I applied to work at Target. There was a questionnaire at the end of the application and some of the questions and answers were quite amusing. My favorite: "What is your work station usually like? 1. Very Clean 2. Messy, but I can find everything! 3. Very messy. I put in bold my answer :D So, we'll see what becomes of this possible job. I really hope I get it. I'm tired of filling out applications... stupid economy... Oh well. I shouldn't complain. It's a necessary evil no matter where you go.

Thanks for reading!

--Jude Rosenberg