Happy New Year!

To ring in the new year, I thought it would be cool to create a 2013 in review. Because if I'm honest, it all feels like so long ago and I've probably forgotten half of it. So here is my 2013 in review:

- submitted university applications
- got my G2
- took guitar lessons
- got accepted to 3 universities
- got rejected by one university
- went on a cruise
- bought a new lens for my camera
- graduated high school with honours 
- worked at FCC for the summer
- got a laptop
- started university
- saw Justin Bieber's star in Stratford
- turned 18
- became obsessed with tumblr
- folded 87 paper cranes
- improved my guitar skills
- got a new phone
- surprised my BFFLAAT at the train station
- made 3 new friends (and other acquaintances)
- created a gif for the first time
- took my fangirling to a whole new level
- visited my BFFLAAT in Toronto
- saw Catching Fire in ULTRAVAX
- made my first ever animation
- decorated my house for christmas all by myself
- finished term 1 of year 1 of university
- made 14 glitter jars
- started spontaneous dancing
- travelled to Ottawa
- made 226 blog posts
- made 2.5 quilts
- read 45 books
- baked 1500+ cookies (at camp while I was working in the kitchen, and at home. Technically I didn't bake each cookie at camp myself, but it sure felt like it.)


I'm sure I've forgotten lots of things. But this is a lot!

WE LOST

After all the (wo)man hours we put into making those paper cranes, we lost. Another floor had approx 50 more cranes than we did. I think in the end we had ~420 paper cranes. And now we don't get the sushi platter. The more depressing thing to think about is how many hours of my life did I just waste making paper cranes, all for nothing? Well, I wouldn't say nothing. I'm closer with some of the other girls on the floor from when we had paper crane folding parties. I'm happy about that. I don't know if I ever told you guys, but one of the girls on my floor has a double room to herself. Her roommate just never showed up. But now she has a roommate. A girl from the floor above us was annoyed by the hours people were keeping on her floor. I guess they were really loud or something. Anyways, she's moving onto out floor now. I, personally, would be annoyed, because I had gotten used to having a room to myself, and not I don't. I guess it's fair though. It wasn't fair that she got a room to herself to begin with. Ah well. I have crossed 4 out of 7 things off my to-do list today. Unfortunately, two of the three left I am not looking forward to at all.  One of the things is just to print off pictures, which is easy. I'm trying to do them in order of importance though, cause otherwise things would never get done. I was playing guitar again today and got another compliment! but my fingers are really sore. I need to stop playing for so long at one time. While I was playing, I was sitting on my leg/foot. When I went to stand up it felt like I had a cast on. I could only feel a part of my heel. I was banging it against the ground and felt nothing, but I could hear that is was really loud. It felt heavy. It took over 5 mins for it to go back to normal. (And it was a very painful 5 mins).

PAPER CRANE FAMILY!!!

My paper crane family consists of 13 cranes :)

Bridesmaids

My floor just watched the movie Bridesmaids. And after all the commotion after it first came out, I was expecting great things. I knew it was one of those movies that wasn't really that great, but was so funny that it didn't even matter. But I have to admit, I was sorely disappointed. I don't know, maybe I just wasn't in the right mood, but I did not find the movie entertaining. Maybe it was built up too much and I was just expecting too much. There were some funny moments, but not funny enough to even remember. I don't know what the last number of paper cranes I'd folded was, but I have now folded over 80 cranes. I have to admit, they are starting to lose their charm. I still love my really big one. Maybe tomorrow I'll get around to posting some pictures. I made a paper crane family :)
The school work is starting to pour in and I really need to sit down tomorrow and get stuff done. I keep panicking because for some reason I'm just really messed up with my dates right now. I keep thinking that it is later than it actually is. Not that that means I'm going to delay working, but I just don't need to be putting so much stress on myself. Today in astronomy we were assigned two assignment that involve tracking stars. We get to use telescopes (which look really funny, I'll have to take a picture when I get a chance to use it) and maybe even the observatory. But it means sitting out in the cold and the dark. I'm not going to be alone though, my friend is in the same class and we are allowed to work in groups so we are doing it together. Today during my break between classes I played guitar. I decided since it was so nice out that I would play outside. I actually played just outside my bedroom window, but it was nice to have a change of scenery. And to let you all know, I was complimented twice, thank you very much! But my back hurt after from leaning over my guitar. I am going through my iTunes library and seeing which songs I can play. That's a big thing for me, being able to play a song that I enjoy.

Posters Make Me Happy and My Room Prettier!

Since I don't have Adobe Illustrator, which I need for an assignment I'm working on, I thought I'd search out the lab on campus that does have it. Of course, it would be in the building that is on the exact opposite end of campus from me. So I packed up my laptop and camera and hiked across campus. Only to discover that a professor had booked the lab and I would not be able to use it. It looks like there is a time when I can use it tomorrow, but using this lab is going to be more difficult than I thought. My back hurt by the time I got back. Cameras and laptops are heavier than they appear. Renison, the building I live in is also the home of Waterloo's East Asian Studies and there is currently an East Asian Festival going on. The floors have been challenged to fold the most paper cranes. The prize is sushi for the floor. At first I didn't think my floor was actually going to try but then our don said that we were. So I was folding paper cranes in all my free time today. I've folding over 30 so far. We have until the 26th to hand them in. It's one of those things where you think you're doing well but there's probably somebody on a floor somewhere that has been folding cranes non-stop. Oh well. My hands are getting sore.

This week there is a poster sale in the SLC building. Some of my friends were going and invited me. I said I'd go but wasn't planning on buying any because posters can be pretty expensive. I took my wallet though just in case. They had tons of different posters: tv shows, bands, singers, quotes, art, typical poster things (like the Periodic Table). I was shocked. They had them set up in these zig zag rows. It was a little intimidating. The posters also varied in size. Most were standard poster size, but they had little ones, medium ones, skinny and long ones. And some that were huge. I'm talking 45+ inches across. And they were basically all under $24. That's how much the huge ones cost. If I had room, I would have bought a huge Starry Night print. The standard sized ones were $8-12. I was impressed. I ended up buying three. Two are small and one is long and skinny:

I love them. I bought them with some money I got for my birthday. I love them! They make me so happy. There was a Sherlock one, but I didn't like the design really. Shame.  One of the friends I went with was having trouble deciding which ones to get so she's going to sleep on it. She also wanted to measure how much wall space she had. There is a lot of wall space (relatively speaking, of course) but it's all very broken up, there isn't a lot of big spaces for posters. That's one of the reasons I got smaller ones.
I am going to see how many more paper cranes I can fold and then go to bed. I am going to try going to bed at a more regular time. I have a really hard time falling asleep here. It doesn't help that my roommate has gotten into the habit of staying out late. It's not like she's out partying or anything, she's studying or working. Sometimes I don't see her all day. But she'll come in and see that I've already gone to bed. And proceed to turn the light on and do various things. I'm ok with her turning the light on briefly to get ready for bed but then she needs to turn it off. She usually ends up doing more work. I'll have to talk to her about lights out again.