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This blog will be closed eventually. A new one will take its place at some point. Whether on blogger or WordPress I do not know.

I'm probably crazy

I mean, it's 2:30am and I'm shoveling. I guess I want to just see the post people come and just like take the mail and have them be impressed by the actual lack of snow in the walkway. Like "ha. Snow hold my butt."

Yeah, they've had our mail on snow hold since NOBODY HAS SHOVELED.

And it keeps snowing.

Here are some pics!

More to come later :)

Youtube Playlists of Learning

You know, one really great way to learn things is to use youtube playlists. Right now I'm setting up playlists based on my interests and adding in videos that seem like they should be interesting.

YouTube tells you what you've already watched, so seeing something twice doesn't become an issue.

One thing I'm using it for is actually dog training. I'm seeing what trainers have out there for material and I'm going to watch them. Also on that playlist? Examples of how psychological service dogs help their owners with anxiety and depression. If I can train Fawkes like that, I know I'll be able to handle situations better.

Another thing I'm adding to the list is camping. While I understand the basics, having more knowledge is always a big help and those videos often suggest certain items to get to make life easier.

I recommend this method if you want to learn something but may not be able to devote large chunks of time in one shot.

Have a Splendid Day!
-Alexandria

Don't you hate it when...

You have an entire post written out that you spent like an hour on and now it's just gone?

I was going to have here a bit about how I'm learning how to shoot a bow and arrow, how busy work was, how cute and getting better at training my dog is, how I carried a backpack full of weights to and from work today, and other stuff.

But it all got deleted.

So here's a picture of my dog.

Another blog post?!

What's this? I'm posting regularly? Is the world about to end??

Sorry. Had to. I feel pretty accomplished for continuing this. You see, I have this big plan that I'm working on that I'm not even going to share until it's gotten to the point where I'm certain it'll work. That'll be in what, six months? I'll probably throw in some hints here and there as time goes on but I'm so scared of it not working out that I've only shared it with a few people and these are people who I've been bouncing ideas off of.

So let's move on to the topic of things you actually do get to hear about.

Twitter story update: so far our main character is exploring an opening in the cavern she woke up mysteriously inside. And we've learned her name! Tune in for more story time!

Also, what's going on with my facebook page? I'm not entirely sure what to center it on and I came up with a great story idea a bit ago so now there's a story bit on the page and I don't know what to do next. Do I continue the story? Do I keep posting random things because who knows what's going on? 

That's stuff I'll work on figuring out eventually.

Moving on we have my snowman. 

Remember that etsy project I was talking about? Well here's a picture of the first attempt. Yes I used orange thread. Bare with me. I knew it wasn't going to be the very best so I used the thread I use the least. I have some white thread and bleachy white felt for the version going on sale. I'll hopefully have the finished product up and selling by the new year. I'm really excited for this and I hope it will be the start to many a joyous etsy pieces.

I'm still looking for my lion and teddy bear patterns. When I find them I can guarantee they will also be made available. But that won't be until after the new year.

Speaking of which! Budgeting is hard. I'm trying to figure out my funds situation for 2016 considering I want to save as much as possible for my proyecto de sombra (which I guess is now what I'm calling the mystery project.) I also want to pay off all my student loans within that year. Guess how hard that is? Like $200/month hard. But I have faith that I can do it. Which is why if I'm not making a certain amount by, say, March, I'll get a second job. My key to 2016 is saving.

Obviously that's helped by the fact that I got a little raise. It's my first ever traditional job raise and it made me so happy.

The other key to 2016? Learning. I have so many things I want to learn. Right now I'm just trying to get the basics of everything but I'll probably share bits and pieces as I go along.

Studying is important because I'm eventually going to college. Eventually of course means when I can qualify as an independent on my fafsa. And choose a school. And decide between chemistry or biology or just do biochem and whether I want psychology as a minor or a major. It's a tough choice.

In the meantime I'm going to get a psychologist. This will be to help me with my anxiety and depression as well as to help me plan for my future, the proyecto de sombra, and my studies.

Before I head out let me leave you with this:

What does a clock do when it's hungry?
It goes back four seconds.

...
-Alexandria

The Facebook Story in question.

Christmas and Minnesota

Well, I think I'll just move around the pictures on my computer, though that makes future posts kind of difficult. Although I guess if I have internet to post than technically I have internet to move things around. So huzzah?

Anywho, merry Christmas. For me this is a pretty chill holiday now. I spent the day at home with my dog for the most part. I got some gifts from my folks when I visited Minnesota.

Oh yeah. Guess what? I VISITED MINNESOTA! I missed it so much. I went along for the ride to drive someone down and I'm so glad I did. I got to see some friends including my two best friends who I haven't seen for 1-2 years. Lots of smash bros were had.

I got my permit before the trip which means of course I drove part of the way back up. Everything was pretty great even with the small mishap with black ice. I'm actually pretty glad that happened because I feel I needed to experience that so I'm prepared better later.

I got city driving and highway driving. My top speed was about 72 mph. I much preferred the hundred or two miles that weren't in cities. But I'll work on that.

Fawkes came along for the ride. The cats didn't like him too much. They were like "what is this strange non-aquatic sniffly barky thing?"

He seemed to enjoy the ride. He napped for a good portion.

His training is also going well. He's a little more responsive to "drop it" thank goodness. And his food bowl manners have improved.

He's learning "bed" and "wait" fairly well.

There are some things I wish he'd improve faster on. Namely barking.

He's a little more responsive to quiet than he used to be, so that's good, but it would be nice if he didn't start barking any time someone in the house moves.

But I know these things require patience and if there's one tip I took to heart, it's don't get frustrated. If you get frustrated then they do and it's sad. So when I've gotten frustrated I've taken deep breaths, told him to sit, rewarded him, and decided whether or not to continue from my mental state there.

The reason I tell him to sit is because I feel like it would be weird to give him a command he doesn't know and then just leave him hanging. And I know he knows sit, so he will sit (and has sat every time) so it helps both him and me out.

Oh, by the way, I'm still doing the twitter story. In fact, I'm at 7 tweets worth of material as per this posting. The plan is to do five tweets a week but we all know how things go with me sometimes.

When we reach the end of my story I'll edit it into something hopefully awesome and publish it.

I really ought to update my website soon. I think I might change the web address as well. Maybe to AlexandriaWolf? We'll see when I get to that point. I'll want to do it sooner rather than later, though.

Speaking of Wolves I got this neat wolf calendar for 2016. I'm so pumped for the new year!!

Hm, last thing of note is I'm attempting etsy stuff. Right now I'm trying to see how difficult it is to make a cloth snowman. I'll report back when I have a picture of my first attempt.

Stay Awesome!
-Alexandria

Machetes, Puppies, and Snow! Oh my!

Good morning to all of my friends and readers. Even though I don't post much I just want to mention that I have posted more this year than in 2014. I see this as a grand improvement which I think will continue to improve with time. At least it will if my plans work out the way I want. Ha.

You know, amusingly enough, my boss told me that one of my best qualities is consistency. The irony is not lost on me. (The other one was attitude. Apparently I keep my cool quite well and such.)

Anyways. I'm using the app on my phone to post so I don't know how pictures will come through. This concerns me but hopefully it will look okay. I hope they don't just all sit at the bottom. I'd like to move them where they ought to go. The first picture would be a picture of Fawkes. If you'll remember last post, I applied to adopt a dog. Well, I was accepted and I named him Fawkes thanks to a suggestion by my mother.

This hyper little pit/terrier mix is a sweetheart. He loves people. Maybe a little too much. While he doesn't chew on cords he does bark and jump. Just so you know, the addage "it's easier to teach a dog to do something than to not do something" is completely true. Teaching him not to bark is incredibly difficult. Teaching him not to jump is also difficult. Teaching him "quiet" is hard. Teaching him "off" is much less difficult.

But he is quite teachable. He knows sit very well. He's learning lie down and how to wait for his food bowl. He's learning how to take treats more gently. He's started to catch on to what "drop it" means. And he almost always comes when I say "come here" or give a shrill whistle.

He gets a little excited about things like food and people which is a big distraction but all in all he's doing well. He's helped me so much in terms of my mental health. And our bond is pretty good too. So good, in fact, that I'll be looking into registering him as an emotional support animal (which means you can't be discriminated against for rent because you need this dog) and then perhaps later training him to be a service dog for my anxiety and depression. It would be nice to have him help me realize when I'm picking or nudge me when I start to fall into the darker depths of my brain or come up for hugs towards the beginning stages of an anxiety attack.

I love this dog.

More news. No college for awhile. I've decided it is in my best interests to wait until I don't have to rely on anyone else's information for my FAFSA. Of course, that doesn't mean I won't study. In fact, another reason I want to wait is because my study habits have dropped and I'm not used to classes and the like. So I've been studying a little bit at a time this past week.

I'm studying biology, chemistry, psychology, and anatomy. These are big components of my neuroscience goal.

In other news, and this is where I wish I could move pictures into places on this app, I got a super awesome Christmas gift. It's shiny, it's sharp, and I like it a lot.

Speaking of pictures I want to move into place... check out outside! It's wintery and cold and snow is everywhere! No idea if the picture I took is even attached.

Found it. Can't figure out how to move it.

 Edit: Moved on computer. XD

So last on the list of things I wanted to mention is my line cook job. It's going really well. Though slow season feels more difficult than the busy season. I'm still not sure why.

Anyways, have a wonderful day.
-Alexandria