words//travel

I follow a great blog on Tumblr, and a while ago she posted a word/travel tag in which you write a few sentences about how you associate travel/experiences while traveling with a particular word. So I did it. 

14: asylum

Russia. I'm not an expect on Russian geography, but the area where there are a lot of secret spies would remind me of an asylum. Cold and snowy. I feel like there would be some type of horrific, abusive asylum in the middle of Russia. No offense to people in Russia, or anything.

27: cafe

Paris. I wish I kept a record of all the cafe's (or restaurants in general) that we ate at while in Paris. The most visited cafe was Paul's, which had delicious pastries and small tables. J'adore Parisian cafe's. 

21: yacht

NV/AZ area. Over time I've watched many travel specials on yachts. One of the locations I remember seeing yachts sail were in the canyon-y areas of the Southwest. 

16: oil

Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill. Oil is just disgusting, unless it's the olive kind. Or maybe I associate oil Italy, since olives are grown there.  Wait, what?

9: laugh

Roller coasters. They're fun and exciting. 

10: padlock

Los Angeles. Padlocks aren't particularly pretty, and neither is most of LA. Also, Ke$ha lives in the LA.

17: clay

Northern woods. Native American's fascinate me. Before the Westerner's came to destroy their way of life, it seems as if the Native's had such a nice, laid back, caveman-esque life. I wrote a few chapters for a fictional novel about Native Americans a few years back, and I'm still just as fascinated with their way of life. I imagine them living in the woods with tall trees, getting water from the stream, making clay to share with family...that sounds sort of like Katniss Everdeen's life. Not that her life is in any way glamarous and fun. But..eh...understand..?

8: radar

American highways. Radar is such a technological word, and when I'm on the highway I always feel like I'm on a 'radar'. Everything's monitored and watched and planned. 

3: beach

See this post. Or this video.

20: frost

Vancouver, BC. A few months ago, I was introduced to twoaftertwenty (a great photo blog by a college graduate), who made a few posts about her trip in Vancouver and British Columbia in general. The snow and frost fascinates me, as do the animals that inhabit those areas. I really want to go to Vancouver in the winter, as I do for Canada and some Northern European country. Incase you didn't know, I love snow, and since I usually travel in the summer I don't travel to places with snow! Hmu, North North America. 

An Article.

Every month, a compilation of teen writing comes to me via mail. This month, there was an article that I could relate to.

Click here to read it. It's about introverts. 

the 20's of november

On Wednesday (November 21), after arriving to the apartment after a long car ride, we were soon greeted with a beautiful sunset. It didn't look how an industrialized, post-steel city should look, but it was nature-ful nonetheless.

And then, on Thanksgiving day, we woke up to SUNSUNSUNSUN.

I've never been the biggest fan of Thanksgiving food, even though the holiday itself is one of my favorites. The turkey seems to be dry, I don't like patatoes or gravy, and I never get to eat any pie.

My favorite aspect of Thanksgiving is the history of it. When I was in grade school, I wrote an extensive story on Native Americans living in the 16th century, becuase I wanted their (in my mind) glamarous lifestyle of living in the woods, wading in rivers, and venturing into the wild. Thanksgiving--eating the harvest in the forest--was part of this awing lifestyle, I guess.

Two days later, on Saturday, there was snow. I took a walk through the snow, drove through the snow, and stared at the snow. J'aime quand il neige.

Pittsburgh; Thanksgiving, 2012

Thoughts from Sandy

A severe weather warning has been issued for a better part of the Northeast. Apparently, a devastating storm--Hurricane Sandy--is going to hit hard.

10/26/12
In history class, Mr. D briefly talked about the chance of no school on Monday, and of course a few kids asked why that was. He responded "Hurricane Sandy" and the whole class started laughing. Sandy? I'm so scared.

10/27/12
I expected it to be terribly overcast, but there was a portion of the day when the sun was out and shining. Of course, I did have my shiny new toy to distract me from the looming clouds... Although in the morning it was really really nice outside. I hope our power doesn't go out, because everyone is saying Sandy will knock it out.

10/28/12
Now there is no school on Monday or Tuesday. It's pretty cloudy outside, but Sandy is supposed to hit tonight.

10/29/12
If I wasn't aware that there was a hurricane, I'd think that it was just a really rainy day. Wait--as I'm writing this, the wind is picking up. Apparently TONIGHT Sandy is going to hit. Didn't they say that last night though?
Time has passed, and it's really really windy.

10/30/12
Since I know how worried you were, you'll be relieved to know that I wasn't hit hard by the storm. The power didn't even go out (which is very surprising considering the usual quality of our energy provider). Obviously, I hope that New Jersey's beaches-which I flock to each summer-and their inhabitants recover quickly.

With regards to the b/w photographs, they were each taken within a few moments of each other, so if you put them side by side you'll notice the bamboo moving quite drastically.

Big News...

FOR ME, at least!

Two nights ago (Thursday evening), I ordered an iPhone 5 to be shipped to the Apple Store near my house. On Friday afternoon I went to pick up my iPhone, and I got it. Writing this out makes it seem much less exciting and grand than it actually was, and I keep expecting an unfortunate plot twist to make it's way into this story, but NOPE.

I got my first every smartphone on October 26, 2012. And I absolutely LOVE IT!

Since I don't want this to become a tech blog--which it very easily could--I'll leave it at that.

Goodbye.

The Preppiest of the Preppy

I believe that a few months ago I wrote about a little documentary I found via Netflix (The September Issue). Maybe yesterday I discovered a reality show about a couple of wealthy teenagers who live in Manhattan. It's like the real life Gossip Girl--IT'S SO COOL!

Since there's only 8 episodes in the series, I've been watching the show in small increments, since I don't want it to end. I just love watching the upper-upper 1% (as Camille Hughes says) live their life. I don't care how disgusting their lifestyle can be, it's a cool show.

Keep in mind, it's still pretty bad quality (just like all the shows I enjoy). It's simply a guilty pleasure.

If you want to check out this show, it's called NYC Prep. This has been a recommendation by Sam.

The Four Seasons

Summer
-No school
-When I usually travel the most
-Free time for: YouTube, Reading, Organizing
-Sunlight all day
-The start of a new school year
_________________
-School exams
-Waaay too hot
-Boredom
-Scary work

Autumn
-"sweater weather"
-Pretty colors
-My birthday
-Fan gets turned off
_________________
-Schoolwork
-Weird mix of summer and winter
-Nausea


Winter
-Cold weather
-Cozy environment
-Snow (although not this past winter)
-Hot cocoa
-Winter Break
_________________
-Exams
-Schoolwork
-Sadness when no snow
-Sickness

Spring
-Nice change of weather
-Pretty outside
-Spring Break
-Optimism of school soon ending
_________________
-Too much rain
-Often too hot
-Fan must again be turned on