Unable to post

Hey guys,

I'm putting the blog on hold for a while. I'm sorry I'm trying to figure out details for the move.

Will return ASAP

xx

My Top Ten Favourite Albums/Artists EVER!

Hey guys,

I realise I haven't posted for a while... Sorry. I've had a massive busy time at school

Anyway, I decide to keep my 'lists' thing going and post a list of my favourite albums/artists.

It starts at 1 (I'm fairly sure) and 1 is:

Doctor Who - Original Television Series Sountrack Vol. 5  

Doctor Who is my favourite TV show (yes, that list is soon to come. Calm your farm) and I looveee the haunting music of the themes. It's gorgeous

Drum Roll please. Number 2 is:

Ocean Eyes

Owl City is an awesome artist. He's very cool and I love his style.

Number 3 would be:

Glee Cast!

I adore the fact that they can make a crappy 80's song amazing again.

Number 4:

Regina Spektor

She's cute, sweet and funny all at the same time. And her music is very piano heavy which lends itself to dancing.

Number 5 happens to be:

LOUD

S&M is such a cool song, do you not agree?

Number 6:

My Chemical Romance

Who doesn't love a bit of screamo now and then?

Number 7 comes in as:

Fallen

Evanescence just have that kind of pretty/emo feel...

and coming it at number 8 is:

Doo-Wops and Hooligans

BRUNO MARS IS EPIC!!



Number 9:

The Fame Monster

How awesome can one person be Gaga??

and last but certainly not least at Number 10:

Katy Perry!!!

She's got my kind of fashion sense, my sisters amazing curves and everybody's love for good music.

So those are my favourites. The honorable mentions are:

Sweeney Todd Soundtrack
Cooler Than Me
Lungs
Viva La Vida
and For Your Entertainment

Hope you've enjoyed. And seriously guys, get some albums!!

Potato Famine

Yup. My topic today is the potato famine. My friends and I just did an assignment on the subject, so I'm going to tell you about the epic fun that we had creating our project.

We decided to make a movie. I didn't think that we'd get it done in time since I'm never available to do anything. Silly dance schedule. But I decided to clear off a day or two in the hopes that we could get it all done then. We went over to my friend KT's place (I'm not going to supply names, sorry) to shoot the film. Heaps of success there. We used the sheep shed for our 'house' since we were poor Irish people. SO MUCH FUNN!!!

When we'd finished filming, we managed to get all the clips onto my computer. I also learnt how to use GarageBand to do the voiceovers and iMovie to put the clips together. Em taught me how to do that.

We put it all together with the longest bibliography known to man (we had over 60 photos) and somehow managed to get the clips into iDVD. We made a title screen (go sunflower splash screen) and it looks awesome!

Anyway. When I get home, I put my computer on charge and open up the pictures that we took to delete them to preserve memory. But I managed to not just delete the photos... no, I deleted everything. The iMovie, the iDVD, the Word processor and all the editing. Plus Adobe Photoshop Elements and everything.

I freaked out because Word wouldn't open and I needed to finish the bibliography, so I took it over to my godfathers house. He managed to muck up the computer even more and send me into a full scale panic attack.

After about an hour we managed to get everything back in working order and I'm just getting everything back now. And of course backing up...

SCARY DAYYYSSS!

I'm Sick...

I got sick yesterday. I feel absolutely lousy, so I stayed home today.

I get really bored at home, so I am posting a list of what I do when I'm home alone. I really do love a good list.

1. Update the blog.
This one's obvious. I love to write, and knowing that what I write is being read makes me feel better.

2. Eat.
I just kind of graze when I'm home sick. Grapes, chocolate, leftovers, anything that takes my fancy.

3. Watch movies
I like Doctor Who. But my sick day movies are the Lord Of The Rings. I just work my way through all three movies. By the time I'm finished, I'm all better

4. Surf funny websites.
I Can Has Cheezburger, FML, MLIA and I Has A Hotdog are all good places for a laugh.

5. Sleep.
It's a great way to both pass the time and get better.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'm off to sleep xx

My Ten Favourite Books Ever!

Hi Guys!
Sorry I haven't posted in ages. Blogger was freaking out and not letting me type anywhere for a few days.

Today I am going to give you a list of my ten favourite books (and tell you vehemently that you really must read them).

1. Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling
Well, it is one of the highest selling series' ever. I was totally obsessed when I was a little kid and I still think that Harry is rather hot.

2. Purge - Sarah Darer Littman
This one's about a girl with bulimia going through treatment at a mental health facility. It's beautiful and it made me cry... Cry like the little girl that I happen to be.

3. Plague - Malcolm Rose
I haven't even finished it yet, but it's on the list. It's freaking incredible. About an epidemic sweeping England, with a one hundred percent mortality rate.

4. Impulse - Ellen Hopkins
Another one set in a mental health facility, this book follows the stories of three suicidal teenagers and their time spent recovering - or not as the case may be.

5. Identical - Ellen Hopkins
Yes, she happens to be one of my favourite authors of all time. This one is about twins leading very different lives, but one of them happens to be dead and the other happens to have a split personality. Anyone work out how the dead one is still living? No, not a Sci Fi.

6. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
A true classic in the eyes of anyone who has read it. I have been graciously given the complete works of Lewis Carroll by my older sister and it had me entranced from the first page.

7. Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak
Loved this one, who says that teenagers only read emo literature and long involved tragedies.

8. A Midsummer Nights Dream - William Shakespeare
Again, I own the entire works of the Bard, so I am rather well read. The Dream is my favourite Shakespeare, closely followed by 'My Mistress', a sonnet.

9. The Carnivorous Carnival - Lemony Snicket
Love the Series of Unfortunate Events. It's possibly the second greatest series ever written.

10. The Slippery Slope - Lemony Snicket
Again, Lemony is an amazing writer. When Sunny was kidnapped I cried.

Anyway, that is my rant for today. Hope you thoroughly enjoyed it. xx

How to Manage Homework In Highschool

Hey guys,

Just a random how-to today. I thought that since I've managed it successfully for three years then I could pass on my tricks.

1. Start your day really early.

I get up at a quarter past five because that's how much time I need to get ready in the mornings (breathing treatments, breakfast, getting dressed and eating) but you might only need to get up at 6.30 or 7.

2. Take heaps of notes in class.

I'm never without my laptop, so I can take notes really easily. If it's harder for you then you may want to invest in an audio recording device so you can look back on exactly what your teacher said.

3. Do homework in the car.

I spend most of my time either at dance or travelling to dance. The car trip gives me an excellent opportunity to finish my homework. I usually do English because that's just reading usually, maybe answering a few chapter questions. But sometimes it's harder (Maths is a no-go in the car).

4. Do homework during breaks at your sport/hobby.

I get an hour for lunch each day. So I spend fifteen minutes eating, half an hour doing homework and fifteen minutes warming up. Trust me, this one will save your life.

5. Have a timetable.

Yes, it's what nerds do. But has anyone ever seen a dumb nerdy kid?? Didn't think so. Timetabling helps, as does setting reminders on your phone. It's great, just key in what you want to study when, and you'll never be saying "What should I do next?"

6. Have a study area.

Mine's on my bed. Yours could be on the dining room table, in the loungeroom (try to avoid the TV) or in the study. It's good to have an area where you study, because once you're there your brain kicks into study mode.

7. Sleep.

It doesn't matter when that paper is due, don't pull an all-nighter. If you're worried ask for an extension. Don't just leave it until the night before and to a horrible job because you're sleep deprived. Sleep well, and wake up refreshed and ready to go.

8. Turn off your phone.

You study more efficiently when you actually switch OFF your phone (not just on standby). You also sleep better.

9. POST IT NOTES!

I have post it notes papering the walls of my bedroom, covered in formulas, quotes or even just stuff I need to buy. They're a great memory jogger, so having them everywhere will help you to remember how to calculate an unknown angle in trigonometry.

10. Organise your world.

I can't work in a messy environment. I just can't concentrate when I've got stuff all around me. Clean up, label folders and put everything where it belongs. Try to work in a minimalist environment. It's great to just study once in a while.

That's it guys. Hope it helps! Your grades will definitely pick up if you follow these tips. xx

Ten Guilty Pleasures

Hey again people!


My post today is about my ten most guilty pleasures. What I use when I'm stressed, sad or just want to do something out of the ordinary.


1. Chatting on MSN/texing while I'm meant to be asleep
Who can resist the call of that text that arrived as you were drifting off to sleep. You feel the bed vibrate and you instantly go for your phone. If I could text all night I probably would.

2. Listening to a guy with an accent talk.
Oh. My. Goodness. If I could hear a guy with an accent talk all the time I would probably do it. My favourites are South African, Scottish and Czech. I just find it very hawt!


3. Watching old reruns of MasterChef.
It can make you laugh, cry or simply hungry. Watching Masterchef is a massive guilty pleasure for me, because afterward I force my darling mother to help me cook the gorgeous dishes that I see there. I don't care that they cost about 60 dollars to make. They're yummy.


4. Chocolate.
'Nuff said.

5. 80's music
I know it can be cheesy and I know it can be stupid but I don’t care. When Everybody Wang Chung Tonight comes on, I’m singing along.


6. The TV on analog at 11.30 at night.
I don't have a set top box on the television in my room, so when I wake up and can't sleep I'm stuck with 11pm arts shows on SBS, or weird fetish shows on Prime. Sometimes I get lucky and there's a cool medical show.


7. Listening to Taylor Swift.
It's sad, and all her songs are the same - but she's a cool kid and I love listening to her songs when I'm feeling a bit flirtatious.


8. Gloria Jeans Iced Chocolate with whipped cream and caramel.
Fat, Sugar and comfort. It's possibly the strangest iced chocolate ever - literally hot chocolate chilled, put in a blender with ice so it comes out an awesome consistency and covered in whipped cream. Sometimes I really branch out and put on caramel and chocolate sprinkles.

9. Being in my pajamas all day.
When you don't get dressed, you can't accomplish anything right?? It's what I do on sick days to convince myself not to exercise, catch up on homework or try to clean the house. I need my rest, so I don't get dressed.

10. The Simpsons.
Homer makes me laugh :P

Well, that's all for now. Hope to see you next post. Comment with your top ten guilty pleasures! xx

Must Have Mac Apps for Students

Since there are so many lists of essential Mac software, I figured I would compile my own....with a twist. This list is geared towards software that I think most other college students can benefit from. Oh yeah...and with the exception of one item, everything can be found online for free. Links included.

 

Organization:

 

Quicksilver - The program is amazing. At the most basic level, it works as an application launcher, but it can do almost anything. Take you to the porn site you visited yesterday, look up words in the dictionary, create emails, control iTunes, make text files on the fly, etc, etc...It is especially good if you have a laptop because you can quickly access any file or application you need without them clogging up the dock or desktop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quicksilver Home

 

 

Coverflow - Awesome program for organizing your iTunes library by album art. My review, as well as a link, can be found here.

 

 

Academic:

    

Microsoft Office 2004 - Obviously this is a must have. You undoubtedly will have plenty of papers to write and this is pretty much the universal format. You could opt for OpenOffice because it is free, but Microsoft Office is so widely used that coughing up the extra money for this one is actually worth it. Or find a friend with a copy. Buy Office.

 

 

iProcrastinate - A great app released by a student in order to help manage deadlines for papers, assignments, etc..Homepage

 

 

GIMP - This is an open source photo editing tool that is comparable to Photoshop with one huge difference. It’s free! If you have to do image/photo work for classes or you just need to edit out the herpes bumps you caught from the innocent girl the first week of school then this is the program for you. Like photoshop, it can be a little complicated because it is an advanced editor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gimp Home

 

 

iClip - This program gives MacOSX multiple clipboards for copying and pasting. This is very useful when you are plagiarizing multiple internet sites for the paper due tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Download from MacZOT

 

 

Cyberduck - A simple, easy to use FTP client. If your school gives your free disk space for storage on campus computers then this is the program to use to access it from home. Get it here.

 

 

Communication:

 

Chax - This is a great addon for iChat that includes such features like tabbed messages to clean up IM windows cluttering the screen and notification in the dock to let you know when the easy girl down the hall sends you a late night booty IM. It has a lot of other features as well that allow more customization of iChat. Homepage

 

 

Adium - If you want something a little bit more dynamic then check this out..it pretty much allows full customization of all aspects and you can add multiple accounts from multiple services. Really useful if you have stubborn friends that insist on using MSN or GoogleTalk. Plus it looks pretty sweet and has a ton of features. Downside: No video.

Adium Home

 

Backup:

 

Carbon Copy Cloner - Invest in an external hard drive and use this to back up your entire hard drive. As the name implies it makes an exact copy of your hard drive onto a target drive. There are other options for backup, like SuperDuper, but this one is free and is easy to use. Get it Here.

 

 

MacTheRipper - Want to make a backup copy of the DVD you “bought”, but can’t get around that damn encryption? Try this...It will rip a copy of any DVD onto your harddrive so you can burn it onto a backup DVD.Download.

 

 

Other:

 

Uno - Simple program that allows you to customize the windows so that they all look unified. Just check it out. Download.

 

 

Transmission - Being in college means downloading a lot of stuff from Torrent sites and this is a great client. It looks clean and does its job perfectly. Plus it is small and doesn’t take up much space or processor power.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Download Transmission.

 

 

Senuti - Need to get music off someone else’s iPod? This will do it! Download.

 

 

Ourtunes - Curious how to download music off all those shared libraries in iTunes on your college network, well this little program will allow you to download them all if you want to. Download.

 

 

iAlertU - Only useful if you have a laptop. This program is really cool..it functions as an alarm if you are somewhere like the library and want to get up to grab some Redbull, but don’t want to bring your laptop. Use the Apple remote to arm it and if moved or taken, your laptop makes loud noises and locks up as well as snapping a pic with your eyesight camera.Download.

 

 

Windows Media Player/Flip4Mac/VLC - Video formats can be pretty finicky, which is why I have all three of these. You could do fine without Windows Media Player since Flip4Mac does essentially the same thing, but video files can be finicky. If you have a video file that won’t open though just try VLC it has a way of playing the unplayable.

Get Flip4Mac

Get VLC

Get Windows Media Player

 

 

You probably noticed that the applications included with new Macs aren’t included. I did this in order to shorten the list and because I figure most college student already have things like iTunes and what not. Hope this helps out...if anyone has additions feel free to add them.

100 Posts in 100 Days

Hey guys!
I've decided to challenge myself with a goal. I want to write 100 articles, be they tutorials, journaling or something else, in 100 days.

That's pretty big for someone who doesn't really have much time on their hands. But I think that it's possible. The only problem for me is going to be coming up with topics. So if you're okay with it, I need your help.

Please please please comment with ideas for articles over the next hundred days. I'm going to get stuck, I struggled just coming up with this idea (I'm not very creative). Here's what I'm good at to write posts on:
Dance (Ballet and Contemporary specifically)
Cooking
Photography + using Photoshop
Music
Organising things (events, cleaning etc)

If you guys can come up with some stuff to go with those, that would be so exceedingly helpful. Thankyou so much xx I look forward to seeing your ideas.

First Day Back at School

Sorry I haven't posted yet today, I've been at school, then dance...

I went back to full time education today. It was pretty intense. At the moment I am so tired I feel as if I am going to fall over but that's okay.

I got up at 6am after playing a Zombie game for a couple of hours before bed. I shouldn't have done that because I had horrible nightmares about zombies eating people... Gross and friggin scary if you ask me. After my breathing treatments I got to go to school.

Wow, coming back to school was hectic. I forgot I had an oral presentation (thank goodness I have my laptop with my music and orals and everything I needed on it) for CLS, then I got told we were getting new locks, so I had to memorise a whole new combination... Eep. I have enough trouble memorising things already. After a double Extension English with arguing and yelling about a group project we have to do, and getting our book to study for this half-term (Animal Farm WHOOT! We're doing allegory) I had to go to the hospital for tests and stuff.

I had a blood test or 9. The first time I had to do them without Mum in the room because she had bloods as well. I was proud, I swear it hurt less without her. Then I went to the ENT (ear, nose and throat doctor) to check out my sinuses because of the hospitalisation last month. Apparently they're fine. Yay!

Then I had five hours of dance... Yay. I had a private rehearsal for my choreography for an audition in Western Australia. But I think I've gone on enough for one day. xx

Downtime - What I Do Offline To Recharge

Hi again people!

I've often been asked "When on EARTH do you have time to relax?". I'm a vocational ballerina (please refer to balleticlifestyle.blogspot.com) so I have a lot on my plate. But I also have to keep up with school, play my clarinet, do all my medications and treatments and sleep (I can sometimes find time for that :P)

But my downtime is the most important part of my day. I get Sundays to recharge my figurative batteries and do something to de-stress myself... And sometimes do a bit of homework.

I often spend my downtime online, but that just revvs me up even more. I'm supposed to be relaxing, not thinking what to post next on Facebook or Blogger. So I have a few things that I do to relax that don't involve an internet connection.

1. Read.
Yes, there are still books made of paper that you don't have to wait to load. I find it comforting after a long week to curl up on my bed with the book I'm reading and just try and get from cover to cover in one day. When you finish, you feel this awesome sense of achievement.

2. Clean.
I love to clean up my room. I can't work in a messy environment so cleaning on Sundays is a big must for me. After I tidy up, dust and vacuum I feel relaxed and re-energised. Sometimes I even take it to the extreme of re-arranging my bedroom. But it's so tiny I can't do much to it.

3. Go out with friends.
I might go shopping, to a movie or just for a walk in the park (with a camera to capture all those priceless faces that my friends pull). You don't have to spend money and it's uber-relaxing. Just chatting with your friends can make a crappy day amazing. Just try not to do the same thing twice!

4. Listen to Music.
This is my major time waster. I get out my iPod and chuck in the headphones. This can wake you up or help you sleep. Imagine a bus ride with no music! I sometime nod off on my bed reading a magazine with Regina Spektor going in my ears.

5. Make something.
Be it a dress, a knitted scarf, or a weekly planner crafting something is a great way to chill out. Especially when I'm in the hospital I need to de-stress myself, so I go to the hospital school and make some cards. As I type my knitted Afghan blanket is sitting half finished on my bed. So I love craft to recharge. Scrapbooks are good too if you are a ticket/picture hoarder.

6. Organise your schoolwork/documents/bag.
Organisational skills are important, and what better way to practice than by re labelling your school books or putting all your computer docs into seperate folders (yes I know, this involves a computer but it's good for you).

7. Bake!!
Yummy muffins, biscuits or cakes. I lurve to bake! I have entire folders dedicated to recipes. I just got back from making brownies (I had nooo idea how much chocolate could go into one batch! THREE FAMILY SIZED BLOCKS!) They're a hit with the family and of course I can take them to school to make my friend jealous.

8. Write a letter.
I love receiving hand written mail. It just makes me feel loved and special. So why not send some yourself? It might be slower but it's got ten times more heart than email.

I know that eight is a strange number to stop at, but that's really all I do to relax. I hope that you can put some of these into practise for yourself when you next need to recharge your own figurative batteries. xx