I have an iPad mini, Maybe for almost a year.
I can't remember when I got it, no upgrade I fear.
One day I went to get some coffee
and was locking up my bike
when my mini falls to the concrete
the cracks were quite a sight!
I could still use it
Played fruit ninja with no cuts
But I swore to be more careful
In case I ran out of luck
Then comes February cold as ice
To the mall with my mom for a spell
What a great birthday present
that it didn't break the second time it fell
And now here I am at the end of February
I cannot charge my device
it was not the Mini that is the problem
It's the cord end to be precise
Yup, I really had to write a poem on the chronicles of my mini. I was going to just have a sad post about how I can't use some of the apps and how it was a big productivity tool, which it is, but I decided you should have a poem as well.
I'll hopefully have a new cord within a month or two. Until then, my iPod will have to suffice for my tiny productivity device.
With love,
Alexandria
Monday, February 24, 2014
Monday, February 17, 2014
My 20th Birthday
Today was (and still is) my 20th birthday.
At first I was concerned about it. I spent the night before complaining about turning twenty. "What do I have to show for it?" Was my question. I've had many people tell me as a 19 year old that because I was still a teenager, I still had time. I was still okay to not have any large accomplishments.
I'm not in college. I don't have a normal job. I haven't created anything of merit. Or at least that's what I thought.
My day started out... pretty low. I woke up and convinced myself to get out of bed before 10am. I was awake by 8, but I laid in bed for awhile. What can I say? It was comfortable.
I already had about 10 facebook comments saying happy birthday, which was nice, but many of them lacked any kind of personalization. Not that I should complain. I guess it has to do with waking up in a bad mood. But I was hopeful at least, and I liked every single one of those comments, because they were people who took the time out of their day to wish me a happy birthday. And that's a beautiful thing.
My boyfriend came over. I was still upset about things and negative things kept occurring, but at least I had someone to talk with and be around. Because of the weather I was concerned about not being able to keep any birthday traditions. One of them being the free caribou coffee, another being choosing a dinner. This wouldn't be such a problem if it weren't for the fact that I also don't have any birthday party currently planned. Parties require money and I am not doing well in the funds department. So I felt sad.
And then one of my best friends texted. We all ended up hanging out. At first things went a little iffy, but we ended up at my house to hang out. (And yes, I had gotten the coffee.) We walked in the door about the time of my birth. 5:35pm.
I was able to spend the evening with two of the most important people in my life. We played uno and watched a movie. The day has been going very different from what I imagined.
I imagined I'd be alone, sulking in my room by the end of the night.
Instead, I'm sitting on the couch after a nice evening. And you know what? I think I'll make myself something nice for dinner. Maybe fry up some onions and chicken and make a grilled cheese sandwich with my garlic Parmesan butter. It's one of my favorite foods. And then I'll work on a book.
This is a good start to a new decade.
-Alexandria
At first I was concerned about it. I spent the night before complaining about turning twenty. "What do I have to show for it?" Was my question. I've had many people tell me as a 19 year old that because I was still a teenager, I still had time. I was still okay to not have any large accomplishments.
I'm not in college. I don't have a normal job. I haven't created anything of merit. Or at least that's what I thought.
My day started out... pretty low. I woke up and convinced myself to get out of bed before 10am. I was awake by 8, but I laid in bed for awhile. What can I say? It was comfortable.
I already had about 10 facebook comments saying happy birthday, which was nice, but many of them lacked any kind of personalization. Not that I should complain. I guess it has to do with waking up in a bad mood. But I was hopeful at least, and I liked every single one of those comments, because they were people who took the time out of their day to wish me a happy birthday. And that's a beautiful thing.
My boyfriend came over. I was still upset about things and negative things kept occurring, but at least I had someone to talk with and be around. Because of the weather I was concerned about not being able to keep any birthday traditions. One of them being the free caribou coffee, another being choosing a dinner. This wouldn't be such a problem if it weren't for the fact that I also don't have any birthday party currently planned. Parties require money and I am not doing well in the funds department. So I felt sad.
And then one of my best friends texted. We all ended up hanging out. At first things went a little iffy, but we ended up at my house to hang out. (And yes, I had gotten the coffee.) We walked in the door about the time of my birth. 5:35pm.
I was able to spend the evening with two of the most important people in my life. We played uno and watched a movie. The day has been going very different from what I imagined.
I imagined I'd be alone, sulking in my room by the end of the night.
Instead, I'm sitting on the couch after a nice evening. And you know what? I think I'll make myself something nice for dinner. Maybe fry up some onions and chicken and make a grilled cheese sandwich with my garlic Parmesan butter. It's one of my favorite foods. And then I'll work on a book.
This is a good start to a new decade.
-Alexandria
Thursday, January 23, 2014
The chicken or the egg?
I need to get this idea onto something else before it leaves me...
What came first? The chicken or the egg? This question is so frequently pondered on an amusement level basis, but can be directly applied to everyday situations.
Take for example, people that don't have much money. It's a never ending cycle. One person is unable to create fiscal wealth and others in the family have the same problem. Then children and more future posterity have the same problem.
If that's the chicken, what's the egg?
The egg would be the situation that causes the lack of money. Bad money handling skills, anxieties, other mental and physical barriers... What came first? The chicken? Or the egg?
Did her great grandfather suck at handling money, losing his farm in the process and pass that down to posterity? Or did the lack of having money to handle cause him to lose his farm?
It's hard to learn how to handle what you don't have. Anybody can read the manual, but it takes experience to understand how it actually works.
And thinking about that has got me to thinking further. I got a call from a debt collector. I'm in debt for various reasons. How is it that someone so new to the experience of life is so suddenly struck with debt? How is it that my anxiety stops me from coming out of this pit, this hell?
The answer is simple, I was raised around it. Is it possible for me to learn how to handle money? Yes. It is possible for me to learn how to handle my anxiety? That might be going too far. But there are always steps that lead to a better life. There are things one can do, choices one can make, but if your own thinking got you into this mess how will the same thinking take you out of it?
That's why relationships amongst people exist. No two people think alike. Friends, family, everyone can offer new insight to the same problem. The issue is many families who lack the needed funds for survival in this corporation built world often learn to either be too independent and anxiety stricken, or too dependent and full of depression.
Obviously there are countless differences and no two situations are the same but there are enough similarities to know a program is needed.
And not just any program.
Sure, you have your AVID in high school to help average students become extraordinary college ones. Sure, there's Big Brothers Big Sisters to give a child a mentor. And of course there are programs that help first generation college students on their way. But that's focused on college. Curriculum. Education.
And while I love the schools of all kinds and enjoy the fact that those programs exist, it's not enough.
A child at age 16 can get a normal job (though with a few restrictions) in an entry level environment if he or she has the determination to do so.
Factors: Job availability in the area, transportation to the job, lack of skills, determination required.
Determination is created through both a sense of pride in independence, volition, and support from others. A person in a low income household may lack transportation, but mostly they are likely to lack the ability to move past all of the problems they deal with at home to develop enough determination to jump through all the hurdles required in order to find and keep a job.
Don't believe me? Look at my life and the life of people I've known.
That's why I propose a program bent on helping students develop the skills they need to be financially responsible as well as have everything they need to stay determined. Let's face it, the lemonade stand game is fun but it doesn't quite cut it in the grand scheme of real life.
The program would involve mentors for small groups of no more than three students. It would have no religion at its base, nor would religion be involved in discussions, as each belief of each person is to be respected. The program would have weekly check-ups and meetings with all students to see how things are doing. They would organize volunteer events and allow students to be apart of the group's budget process. Every student would have the opportunity to be both a leader and a follower. They would get to experience growth through what they need. And furthermore, resumes would be worked on, those that get jobs will have separate job related sessions. Everyone would get help with homework.
And it would be in a school or community center building or a library, because those places foster hope, determination, and learning.
What came first? The chicken or the egg? This question is so frequently pondered on an amusement level basis, but can be directly applied to everyday situations.
Take for example, people that don't have much money. It's a never ending cycle. One person is unable to create fiscal wealth and others in the family have the same problem. Then children and more future posterity have the same problem.
If that's the chicken, what's the egg?
The egg would be the situation that causes the lack of money. Bad money handling skills, anxieties, other mental and physical barriers... What came first? The chicken? Or the egg?
Did her great grandfather suck at handling money, losing his farm in the process and pass that down to posterity? Or did the lack of having money to handle cause him to lose his farm?
It's hard to learn how to handle what you don't have. Anybody can read the manual, but it takes experience to understand how it actually works.
And thinking about that has got me to thinking further. I got a call from a debt collector. I'm in debt for various reasons. How is it that someone so new to the experience of life is so suddenly struck with debt? How is it that my anxiety stops me from coming out of this pit, this hell?
The answer is simple, I was raised around it. Is it possible for me to learn how to handle money? Yes. It is possible for me to learn how to handle my anxiety? That might be going too far. But there are always steps that lead to a better life. There are things one can do, choices one can make, but if your own thinking got you into this mess how will the same thinking take you out of it?
That's why relationships amongst people exist. No two people think alike. Friends, family, everyone can offer new insight to the same problem. The issue is many families who lack the needed funds for survival in this corporation built world often learn to either be too independent and anxiety stricken, or too dependent and full of depression.
Obviously there are countless differences and no two situations are the same but there are enough similarities to know a program is needed.
And not just any program.
Sure, you have your AVID in high school to help average students become extraordinary college ones. Sure, there's Big Brothers Big Sisters to give a child a mentor. And of course there are programs that help first generation college students on their way. But that's focused on college. Curriculum. Education.
And while I love the schools of all kinds and enjoy the fact that those programs exist, it's not enough.
A child at age 16 can get a normal job (though with a few restrictions) in an entry level environment if he or she has the determination to do so.
Factors: Job availability in the area, transportation to the job, lack of skills, determination required.
Determination is created through both a sense of pride in independence, volition, and support from others. A person in a low income household may lack transportation, but mostly they are likely to lack the ability to move past all of the problems they deal with at home to develop enough determination to jump through all the hurdles required in order to find and keep a job.
Don't believe me? Look at my life and the life of people I've known.
That's why I propose a program bent on helping students develop the skills they need to be financially responsible as well as have everything they need to stay determined. Let's face it, the lemonade stand game is fun but it doesn't quite cut it in the grand scheme of real life.
The program would involve mentors for small groups of no more than three students. It would have no religion at its base, nor would religion be involved in discussions, as each belief of each person is to be respected. The program would have weekly check-ups and meetings with all students to see how things are doing. They would organize volunteer events and allow students to be apart of the group's budget process. Every student would have the opportunity to be both a leader and a follower. They would get to experience growth through what they need. And furthermore, resumes would be worked on, those that get jobs will have separate job related sessions. Everyone would get help with homework.
And it would be in a school or community center building or a library, because those places foster hope, determination, and learning.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
My Current Thought Process Explained
"Gods it's been awhile since I've posted. I have all this neat stuff waiting to be uploaded and typed and to share with people! It's so exciting.
But effort.
But terraria.
I really don't feel like standing up and getting my camera cord to take care of those videos I just made.
Wait... did I ever upload the deviantart one? Or even make the journal feature like I said I would?
Oh shi-ck... >.> I should probably do that.
But I'm kind of hungry. And tired. Hey! Maybe I should stay up all night again!!
Are you crazy? You're already slightly loopy...
Sure, why not? What's the worst that could happen?
You mean writing this blog post and getting nothing actually done?
Psh. It'll all work out. I'll get some food in me and start working on what I need to do!
What about the exercise stuff?
Well, that's kind of hiatus right now, I could always do the picture thingy tomorrow.
You mean if you don't fall asleep, forget to pack for up north, and not have anything to show for it?
Nonsense! I know what I'm doing!
Have you finished your week's goal?
Shi... meh... shner... uhgh. Right. I should do that.
Yeah you should.
But do you know what that means?
What?
ALL NIGHTER AGAIN!!!"
My brain just facepalmed itself.
More updates will come when I quit arguing with myself XD
But effort.
But terraria.
I really don't feel like standing up and getting my camera cord to take care of those videos I just made.
Wait... did I ever upload the deviantart one? Or even make the journal feature like I said I would?
Oh shi-ck... >.> I should probably do that.
But I'm kind of hungry. And tired. Hey! Maybe I should stay up all night again!!
Are you crazy? You're already slightly loopy...
Sure, why not? What's the worst that could happen?
You mean writing this blog post and getting nothing actually done?
Psh. It'll all work out. I'll get some food in me and start working on what I need to do!
What about the exercise stuff?
Well, that's kind of hiatus right now, I could always do the picture thingy tomorrow.
You mean if you don't fall asleep, forget to pack for up north, and not have anything to show for it?
Nonsense! I know what I'm doing!
Have you finished your week's goal?
Shi... meh... shner... uhgh. Right. I should do that.
Yeah you should.
But do you know what that means?
What?
ALL NIGHTER AGAIN!!!"
My brain just facepalmed itself.
More updates will come when I quit arguing with myself XD
Monday, December 23, 2013
All The Productivity!
All of it! XDSo there's so much for me to cover in this post that I'll have to put it into sections! *Gasp*
Deviantart
So, my deviantart as you all know is littlewolfdreamer.deviantart.com. It's active, it's happy, and it always holds an eclectic set of things.
Themes
I've also joined a couple of new groups. Almost exclusively for the prompts and themes. It's exciting to be able to have something to write about constantly. And some of these groups desperately need participants.
One group I'm in, Unseen Writers, has the weekly theme this week of Sandman. You could choose from two kinds of sandman. I chose the traditional pleasant one that comes around and puts sand in your eyes to help you get to sleep. I wrote the poem "The Insomniac's Letter" to add a little twist on the theme.
Another group, We Write To Escape, has a fortnightly theme. This fortnight's theme is "Chains, Barbed Wire, and Broken Wings." So I'm currently working on a story called The Gargoyle Hunt. I might change the name later. We'll see.
Finally, Live Love Write has a weekly prompt which this week is
"Write anything that features one or more of the following:
- schizophrenia- displacement
- positive symptoms
- delusions"
I haven't thought of something for that yet. I'll keep you posted.
Contests
There are some contests that I get into on deviantart. Usually, they have nothing to do with art, they're more like raffles. However, there are a couple that I've been doing that are actually art related right now. One being a mini contest by Popolis where I get to draw a winter fantasy scene.
It's actually really neat stuff and I think I'll do more like them.
Scheduled Deviations
One of the Greatest Things I am now using with deviantart is the idea of SCHEDULING a future deviation! This is super useful for those days where I forget about the world or don't feel like doing anything. Emma's Journal has had some of that happen. Wouldn't it be great if I could write at will and just have one page posted everyday?This way I don't spam the deviants with all my silly deviations at once! I've posted things from an Angry Speaker to a Cello. And both at times I wasn't even awake. This will totally help me get my 10,000 page view goal. (Well, that and the promised bikini picture in the snow if I get the goal early.)
Writing
What would be one of my posts without a writing update? Pointless, in my opinion. Because I will become a published author and it will be awesome. I just have to finish my silly stories. I mean awesome stories, because they're awesome... Or will be... Eventually... XDEmma
Who remembers the very beginnings of Emma? I started it as a self rant about everything and it's now turned into a complete fiction work about things very out of hand. It's kind of awesome. I have outlines and everything all ready for both stories!
Journal
The creepier of the two stories, I have finally gotten going again on it!! I finally made the Halloween Day post. And let me tell you, it takes the story in a straightforward and scary as hell direction. Which makes me very pleased, as this was the point.
Story
As for Emma's Story... I'm getting there slowly but surely with the prologue! Yes, I will post the prologue on deviantart, but that's all I will post of her story. This will be one of my little secretive kinds of things. I will be writing it on paper and having someone edit it for me. And then I'll take their edits and revise it and then I'll PUBLISH it. Yes, that's right, Emma's Story will be published. Emma's Journal will come afterwards.
Photography
I've been working on a blog for just plain modeling style stuff. I've made myself look purdy and taken pictures. Self portraits, however, aren't the only things I'm taking pictures of. As Previous Pictures on Deviantart will tell you, I enjoy taking pictures of pretty much anything.
The point of my photography is to capture something that I consider beautiful or special or important for some reason, albeit even a small one. My cats, my friends, my projects, they all succumb to the power of my camera.
Too bad I hate the cold. I could get some good winter shots.
Freelancing Opportunity
So here's another thing. This person is writing a book on homeschooling that she wants someone to help write. "But Alex! You've never been homeschooled!"
A. I'm an autodidact
B. My Aunty Homeschools my two cousins
C. I have a lot of friends who are homeschooled
D. I'VE GONE THROUGH ONLINE LEARNING
E. And a Charter School - which is as near to homeschooling as one can get for still sending their child off to some kind of instructional facility.
Plus I have a passion for all sorts of independent learning and really everything homeschool entails. If you've ever been lucky/unlucky enough to sit around and listen to my Xena rant... She's going to probably be homeschooled. Because I'll know how to do it and I feel like that's how she'd learn best. (For those that don't know, Xena is the name of the little girl I'll have later on in life.)
And I'll do the Exercise update Tomorrow/Later! Because I'm Feeling Lazy!
.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Week one!
That's right, it is the end of week one of my awesome new exercise routine. As promised, some pictures!
And now for some stats! First item on the list is pushups. Me and my lameness started out being able to do 1 pushup. Total. Over the past week my pushup range has been 1 pushup a day as the smallest amount and today I reached 6 pushups in one day!As for curlups, my lowest day had 42 curlups and my highest in a day? 70. It's pretty neat.
Now let's take a look at my times for the week. My first session (morning) had the lowest at 15 minutes and went all the way up to an hour. As for the second session... The lowest was 20 minutes and the highest was also an hour.
The longest day was the fourth with a total time of 1 hour and 20 minutes.In case you're wondering, today's themes were yoga and fighting.
Today's picture shoot was all done by me. My camera (nikon coolpix) has a ten second timer. So I set it up, set the timer, ran over to the aimed spot, and struck a pose.
It turned out well in my opinion at least.
Also today I visited my dad's yoga class. It was an adaptive yoga class as he has some knee problems among other things. It was weird. A good experience, but I don't think I'll be joining next week. XD
Now on to my writing work. Today I did almost Nil. I did my dictionary project at least. I wrote a tiny bit of other stuff. I did a bit of the story edit. I wrote an outline for a freelance story.
I guess my productivity wasn't toooooo bad...
Well, on to other news. Hm. I started a contest today on my deviantart in order to reach my goal of 10,000 views by the end of the year. I'm at almost 9,100 right now, so we're on a roll!
In other other news... I hung out with two of my best friends today. We played uno, it was a blast. Yes. I still have managed to hold a social life. Crazy, huh? In fact, I'm going to someone's house tomorrow to spend the night. I probably won't be able to post tomorrow. Oh well.
Enjoy your night!!
-Alexandria
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Been Awhile
I'm gonna try to keep up with this. I know I say this after practically every single other hiatus but hey, can you blame me? Life is busy. There's been Thanksgiving and now Christmas is coming and all this stuff!
So, to start off, here's a current picture of mwah. Which brings me to my next commentary. There will be a lot more pictures of me. The reason behind this has to do with my newest interest: Exercise.
That's right! I've gotten into exercise! It's pretty spiffy stuff. I even have little motivational thingies and tracking my progress and even like 5 exercises just chilling on the closet door. I feel so accomplished. I was given an exercise/balance ball from Mike (the one that lives at the house.) I was sooooo happy! I still am soooo happy. I started bouncing on it, because you know, that's obviously what it's meant for. XD
Each week, starting tomorrow, I'm going to do a picture showing myself to see if there's any difference in how I look from exercising. There will be two pictures. One of me in normal clothes, and one where I'm wearing my swimsuit. That way all the cuts can be seen. My hope is that I'll keep motivated when I see the differences and changes. Tomorrow will be the seventh day of exercise.
I'll also be sure to give statistics on my progress. Before you see how terrible it is... Before I started I could do maybe one push-up that was "good enough" (in my opinion) based on how close to the ground I got and the form. If a push-up is not in good form I don't count it. And no, I won't count the knee push-ups I can do.
As for curl-ups, I used to be absolutely amazing at them. I could do 100 in a row before stopping. Now though... I can do like 30 in a row before I have to stop. And that's HAVE to stop. Like it hurts too much. So I've been working on them slowly but surely.
The next stat that will be included is the workout times. The way I do my exercise is I do two sessions each day. Each session is at least 15 minutes in length, but no more than an hour. That way, together, I get "at least" 30 minutes of exercise each day. I might as well say I have yet to go a day where I've gotten less than an hour of exercise.
Note that each session involves a five minute warm-up and cool-down.
I also have themes for each day, I might start sharing them as well. Like today the themes are Aesthetics and Balance. (Obviously this is a "rest" day.) So I've been working on my posture and trying to balance and perfecting my form for various exercises, like push-ups.
In other news, I've been in the festive spirit! I put some lights around the lamp in my room and some tinsel. I think I need to try to elongate the tinsel ^.^"
I also have some red tinsel I think I'll put along the walls. I have a string of colored lights I can use, too. Intertwining them might be a neat thing to do! Then I can have pretty lights amongst pretty tinsel! I just need to make sure the cord reaches an outlet. XD
Now, about story stuff. (Sorry for the long post by the way!!)
I've been working on Emma's Story and Emma's Journal for awhile offline. I'll be typing them up eventually. I've also done a bit more of other writing. It's been difficult but I've been doing it! I just need to push myself to get things done and I will.
Unfortunately I had a small string of computer problems lately. It's all better now so for the last week I've been working on a person's story editing. That's right, I'm still doing all my freelance work. All the fun stuff! It's great.
Have a terrific day and I'll see you tomorrow!!
-Alex
So, to start off, here's a current picture of mwah. Which brings me to my next commentary. There will be a lot more pictures of me. The reason behind this has to do with my newest interest: Exercise.
That's right! I've gotten into exercise! It's pretty spiffy stuff. I even have little motivational thingies and tracking my progress and even like 5 exercises just chilling on the closet door. I feel so accomplished. I was given an exercise/balance ball from Mike (the one that lives at the house.) I was sooooo happy! I still am soooo happy. I started bouncing on it, because you know, that's obviously what it's meant for. XDEach week, starting tomorrow, I'm going to do a picture showing myself to see if there's any difference in how I look from exercising. There will be two pictures. One of me in normal clothes, and one where I'm wearing my swimsuit. That way all the cuts can be seen. My hope is that I'll keep motivated when I see the differences and changes. Tomorrow will be the seventh day of exercise.
I'll also be sure to give statistics on my progress. Before you see how terrible it is... Before I started I could do maybe one push-up that was "good enough" (in my opinion) based on how close to the ground I got and the form. If a push-up is not in good form I don't count it. And no, I won't count the knee push-ups I can do.
As for curl-ups, I used to be absolutely amazing at them. I could do 100 in a row before stopping. Now though... I can do like 30 in a row before I have to stop. And that's HAVE to stop. Like it hurts too much. So I've been working on them slowly but surely.
The next stat that will be included is the workout times. The way I do my exercise is I do two sessions each day. Each session is at least 15 minutes in length, but no more than an hour. That way, together, I get "at least" 30 minutes of exercise each day. I might as well say I have yet to go a day where I've gotten less than an hour of exercise.
Note that each session involves a five minute warm-up and cool-down.
I also have themes for each day, I might start sharing them as well. Like today the themes are Aesthetics and Balance. (Obviously this is a "rest" day.) So I've been working on my posture and trying to balance and perfecting my form for various exercises, like push-ups.
In other news, I've been in the festive spirit! I put some lights around the lamp in my room and some tinsel. I think I need to try to elongate the tinsel ^.^"
I also have some red tinsel I think I'll put along the walls. I have a string of colored lights I can use, too. Intertwining them might be a neat thing to do! Then I can have pretty lights amongst pretty tinsel! I just need to make sure the cord reaches an outlet. XDNow, about story stuff. (Sorry for the long post by the way!!)
I've been working on Emma's Story and Emma's Journal for awhile offline. I'll be typing them up eventually. I've also done a bit more of other writing. It's been difficult but I've been doing it! I just need to push myself to get things done and I will.
Unfortunately I had a small string of computer problems lately. It's all better now so for the last week I've been working on a person's story editing. That's right, I'm still doing all my freelance work. All the fun stuff! It's great.
Have a terrific day and I'll see you tomorrow!!
-Alex
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