take_the_good

 Anybody among my friends who would desire winning as much as I if not more wanna click here and help me win Korra stuffs? Please?

Join the Korra Nation

( cut for random emotions and family )


Sorry for the strange, rambling, emotional word-vomit. I'll have a more update-ish post later.

It's funny how the "supposed to be normal" days always end up being the ones that are the craziest.  We had science fair projects to do today, which is always a little more chaos than normal. The music teacher ended up going home sick so I was music teacher at the last minute. Then some of the kids/teachers had a special meeting come up so I was math teacher for a little bit too. Then the art teacher tells me she remembers me mentioning that my family weaves baskets and she volunteered me to do a demonstration at Frontier Day in two weeks. And maybe teach some of the kids too.

...I haven't woven a basket in several years.  But still, she's right that I'm interested in this. Apparently they've been looking for staff who would be willing to teach the kids some new crafts on the occasional after-school period and if it worked out for next year it'd be extra money doing something fun (and without having to drive anywhere extra!) so I'm all for it! 

So this weekend will be hunting around Tucson for basket-weaving supplies. Then studying my old baskets to get the measurements and amounts of reeds I'll need. And THEN possibly making a sort of wooden spacer so that it's easier for the kids to set up their frame. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. Please please PLEASE let this work out well!

Tomorrow starts the RPM Challenge and I'm excited to start recording! I already have about 5 songs written up and ready to go! Also tomorrow is ASL class again so wheee another full day ahead!

For now it's plum wine and some relaxation.

Someone please tell me why I can't get to sleep before 11:30 on weekdays (when I have to be up at 5 a.m.), but on my FRIDAY OF FREEDOM I take a nap at 3 and still pass out at 9 p.m. 

Body, you suck. I can never get those hours of free time back ;_;

Great week. Fantastic week. Have I mentioned how spoiled rotten I am at the Elementary School? 

We've pretty much had a special event every day this week, including (but not limited to) petting reptiles from the Desert Museum, visiting chamber orchestra performance, and a traveling troupe that takes students' stories/poems and turns them into short plays. Five of the kiddos got their writing turned into skits. One of the littlest boys had written a really short story about having something gross stuck to the bottom of his shoe. The acting troupe turned it into this giant musical number (a la the Chicago song, "Cell Block Tango") and when they started singing/tapdancing he went absolutely nuts with glee <3

Today was the therapeutic farm animal group coming and visiting. Also, it's up to 70 degrees here. Literally, sunshine and bunnies today (and miniature donkeys, calves, chickens, and goats).

Went to the first ASL class and it was way better than I thought it'd be. I ended up getting really anxious about it that day because I found out the other new aides at the school weren't going to make it that night but luckily Brooks talked me into going (ie: reminded me how I'd beat myself up over it if I skipped it) and I'm glad he did. This year they split up the intermediate/beginner level groups so that really helped. Also, we're not allowed to use voice at all during the class so it's actually really calm and peaceful which is super nice (probably the most calm part of my week, to be honest). It's still slow-going (like any new language) but I feel really good about it. The only thing that has me still a little worried is that I really like the teacher so far, but they're in the process of changing teachers (WHYYYYYY) so we'll see how that goes.

Prepping stuff for Monday, when I'm going to be doing a little treat for the kids for Chinese New Year. Doing some Braille cards so the kids can find which Chinese zodiac year they were born in, and got some festive New Year envelopes to give them all some pennies in. I love that they're the age that pennies are still a big deal <3 There was a big sign on the asian mart door saying they'd be performing a dragon dance next weekend so I'm super excited to take Sierra to that.

In other news, my mother-in-law sent me Science Ink, the book of science-inspired tattoos I'd been squealing over ever since I read the article about it online. SO. AMAZING. I want damn near every single tattoo in here--and I don't even LIKE the idea of me getting a tattoo. Just so pretty *swoon*

How's everyone else doing?

 I've been awful at updating, I know, I know. It's like I can't keep up with more than two or three internet areas at a time (and I've actually started acting like a real live human being on Tumblr and DeviantArt again) so sorry about the absence.

At this rate I'm going to end up finishing the Fandom Snowflake Challenge sometime this summer :(

ANYWAY. The last week of winter break was good. Celebrated my 8 year wedding anniversary by not doing much of anything other than making a geeky Portal love bento. It was still good though, we saw The Adventures of Tintin as a family and that was a great movie.

Speaking of bento, I've been wondering if I should start posting them on here, but to be honest I'm not sure if anyone is dying to see them and I'm fine leaving them out so hmm, I guess it'll depend on the mood.

I did get a lot of really great feedback for my Rarity MLP bento so that was nice. I like knowing it's more than just my Friendslist humoring me :D

This is the 100 year anniversary of the Arizona State School for the Deaf and Blind (where I work) and we kicked off the celebration today by having a big assembly and parade at the University of Arizona (where the school was first located). The elementary kids were too small to walk the parade (about 3 miles and during their lunch time) so we just took the bus back to the school but at least they enjoyed all getting to wear special anniversary shirts and attending the festivities at the University. Apparently we're going to be having little celebrations all year so that'll be pretty awesome. I'm already SUPER excited for October, when Homecoming comes around. 

Trying really really hard to get back on my sleep schedule for school but it hasn't been going very well and I'm tired at all the wrong times (in the afternoon when I get home) and awake at all the wrong times (around 1 a.m.) it's quite frustrating. But nothing caffeine pills haven't been able to fix in the mornings.

This Friday we're going to go see Beauty and the Beast in 3D (which also includes the new Tangled short)! YAAAAY!

How's everybody else doing?

This is fabulous and wonderful and seems like tons of fun :D I recommend it to everyone!

DAY ONE: In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator.



Join me on this little walk into my old LJ alias down memory lane, won't you?


Thou Shalt Not
This was THE VERY FIRST original song I did for a fandom prompt, as well as the first for Zutara. Really, I think this was like the 3rd song I'd ever done for AtLA so that's pretty exciting too. This was the song that gave me the realization of, "Hey, I think I actually like writing Zutara better than other things...omigod I have PREFERENCE in my fanworks!"

I never gave enough props to this song. I hate hate HATED the original crappy recording so I sort of pushed it aside for years because of that, but I've dusted it off and reworked the wonky sound and now that I like the music I can appreciate the writing again.

Thou Shalt Not by girl_named_sam


Zuko Bento Box
Ironically, this was probably more of a huge turning point in my bento-making rather than my fanworks but not by much. This was the work where I found out that I loved the intricate planning of food related to fandom. Thinking of colors and trying to work in fandom favorites and jokes into my food art just made both sides of it more fun than ever.


Facing Demons
Ughhh I never got a better title for that either. This was my first AtLA fanfic, and probably the longest one I've done to date (anything more than a drabble crushes me into bits). It was another time that prompts gave me the chance to look at new character interactions and I still really enjoy the idea of Song's caring nature being put to use post-finale.

Two more hours left in 2011 for me! Brooks had to work an all-night inventory and Sierra's still too little to stay up late (and besides, we don't have cable so we can't watch any countdowns anyway) so it's just me and the computer ringing in the new year.

I wish I could remember what (if any) resolutions I had made but I don't think I really did anything specific. I know I made some headway on our finances and drank tons more water (which I'm almost positive was on the list) so that's good?

Quick calculation of 2011's activities:

-Changed Jobs: 2 times
-Changed addresses: 2 times (if you count living with my parents for the month in between moves).
-Costumes made: 4 (Korra, Mario, Luna, and Captain America)
-Miles moved: 719
-Weight lost: 10 lbs *FISTPUMP*
-Songs recorded: 21
-Bentos made: 43

I sort of bombed out on the songs/bentos as compared to last year but I blame the 3 months of complete insanity due to moving. I think that's fair, don't you?




Plans for 2012:

-Costumes: 7.5 (updating the Korra costume is only a half-work I think :P)
-Lose at least 10 more lbs
-Finish/release an album to iTunes (seeing as I was supposed to have done this last year, should not be hard to finish up, right? I hope?)
-Work on documenting my bentos better, now that I have a nice camera (ALL I NEED NOW IS PATIENCE TO TAKE PICTURES LOOOOL)
-Learning ASL, hopefully getting my Deafblind certification (I really don't think I'll get it done in one year but I'll take any real progress for it).
-Mastering Grade 2 Braille


It'll be interesting to see what comes out of this list, and what sort of crazy and unexpected things 2012 throws at me. I'm glad I get to share the adventure with you guys (as well as getting to read about some of your adventures too) though! Hope you all have a wonderful new year!

So apparently LiveJournal is finally descending into the unusable abyss? I'm just glad that Dreamwidth has the same format so I don't have to relearn new things because I'm old and set in my ways, dammit.

Which means I get a new, new start? I don't know. I have no idea what's going on half the time on the internet anymore. I find that when I remove my "MUST GET ONLINE AND BITCH/RANT" habits, there's an awful lot of blank spots in my blogging history. Which (at least so far) has seemed to make me more positive overall? Or maybe being positive gives me less to bitch about? Chicken and egg story there I guess.

Either way, I'm pumped for the new year and all the fabulous possibilities it brings. YAY LIFE, WORLD, EXISTANCE, ETC. ETC. ETC.