New Year's Resolutions

Dec. 31st, 2009 04:02 pm
clementine: (Default)

Mirrored from Oh Clementine. You can leave any comments there.

Last post of 2009! *wipes tear off cheek* I don't normally make resolutions because I know I'm going to break them, but why not push myself this year? Looking back on 2009, I didn't get much accomplished, so I want to make 2010 awesome!

Here is a short recap of my year, and then my resolutions.

2009 in Review

  • January 2: We got the cats! I can't even remember a time before them. They've honestly brought so much joy into my household, and I'm so glad to have them… even if Hank is mentally defective. :P
  • January 20: I watched Barack Obama's inauguration on TV during school hours and had a mini party in my school library. Definitely a good moment!
  • January 21: I was nominated for the Bloggies and subsequently lost. However, I was never expecting to win, and just being nominated was such a happy shock!
  • January 29: I lost my cell phone and got a new1 one. (I'm getting a new one in 2 weeks, though! Yay!)
  • February 11: Jet ran away, but we found him. :D
  • February 11: My friend's grandmother died after a long battle with cancer. She was like a third grandmother to me, so this was devastating. It's been nearly a year.
  • May 3: I took a break from my blog and came back two months later.
  • May 25: I had a huge fight with a friend over a school project and didn't talk to her for five months. To put this into perspective, she was DEFINITELY the one being immature. She tried to blame her low mark on me.
  • June: I passed all my exams and finished the year on the honour roll!
  • July: I discovered the most amazing book I've ever read.
  • August 23: I lost my new phone, but found it in a Pictionary box. (Not a huge event, but it was funny so I had to include it.)
  • September: I won the Community of Learners award at my school. To this day, I'm not sure why.
  • September: I voted 1500 times for Aisling's cousin to win The Next Star. (This is a big event, okay? Do you know how much energy I put into that?)
  • September and October: Both the kitties had their first birthdays. (I only blogged about Hank's, though!)
  • October 22: I got contacts and was amazed by my awesome vision.
  • October 28: I deactivated my Facebook account, but had to cave and reactivate it shortly thereafter. I am weak. (But really, I had to reactivate it so I could give my friend directions to my house!)
  • November 3: I figured out what I want to do after I graduate from high school.
  • November 10: I got braces and was not amused by the fact that my mouth was in excruciating pain for four days.
  • November 14: I got a job as a cashier at a big chain of grocery stores.
  • November: I came thisclose to failing math! :D
  • December 17: I got a new laptop, after my (also fairly new) one completely died. This one is amazing and shiny and it makes me so happy. It's white with swirls! And the volume control looks like a light, but it's touch sensitive! And you can turn off the touchpad2!
  • December 22: I went to visit my relatives and met the little girl who's staying with my aunt and uncle. I fell in love with her sweet, adorable nature.
  • December 29: I lost my iPod! D: This is horrible, because I rely on it A LOT. I had notes on there that I reallllly need.
  • Best of all, I didn't die!

Goals for 2010, somewhat ordered by importance

  • Pull my average up by 5%3 – First term was not great for me in terms of grades, and my average dropped 5% from last year, 9% from the year before. (Notice a trend here?) Ideally I would raise it back up to where it was 2 years ago, but since my math mark is SO LOW (I missed a week of school and nearly failed the big test), chances of that happening are slim. This is going to be my main goal, since it will require a lot of work.
  • Get bank account balance up to $2000 – With my job, this shouldn't be too hard, and I'll probably earn more. This is my minimum, though. I need to save up for lots of big things I'm planning!
  • Get my blog post count up to 200 – That's 66 more posts in one year, which is definitely doable! I'm going to try to post more often than that, though. I really want to post 3-4 times a week, but sometimes I lack in motivation and inspiration.
  • Comment on more blogs – I'm such a serial lurker, it's not even funny. Along with Aisling, I'm going to try to comment on more blogs. My goal is 21 blogs a week4, and I'm going to keep track with a handy dandy spreadsheet. (Because seriously, I just love any excuse to make a spreadsheet.)
  • Write more – I have my NaNo novel, which I'm definitely going to have to scrap and rewrite from scratch for the 900th time5, and a new idea. I don't know how I'm going to balance the two, but I'm definitely going to make some time to write.
  • Clean my room – I've probably needed to do this for the past year, so I'm going to get around to this in chunks: realphabetise books6, organise clothes/donate old ones to charity7, clean desk (even though I just did that this summer), redo horrible disgusting closet8, clean/vaccuum floor, organise bedside table. I will most likely be documenting this journey on my Dreamwidth account.
  • Create at least three new designs and use them – I'm not great with Photoshop, but I figure I should make myself practice. This is going to average out to one design every four months, so hopefully I can keep it up. This means that I should probably get working on something soon!
  • Buy more clothes – I have very few clothes that actually fit me, due to wearing a uniform most days. I got some gift cards for Christmas, so I should be able to get a few things!
  • Figure out electives for next year – I'm going to be doing this within the next few weeks anyway, but it seems big to me. Universities will see next year's report card, so this is pretty important!
  • Keep track of money spent – I have an application on my iPod for this9, and I used to do it. I just stopped suddenly, so I'm going to start again. This will help me with my main monetary goal too!
  • Use an agenda – I stopped partway through this school year. I have no idea why. I just suck like that.
  • Pay the library – I've owed them $40 for a year. Enough said. (It would also let me get my card back, heh…)
  • Get my braces off – This doesn't really depend on me, more on my teeth, but it's possible. My dentist said 9-18 months when I got them in October, and they're going really fast so far. With any luck I might have them off before next school year!
  • Get my hair cut – Last time I had it cut was June 18, 2008. It's probably high time for a trim.

Happy new year to everyone! I hope 2010 brings everything you hope for. If you set any resolutions, I hope you achieve them. :D

  1. and nearly as crappy [↩]
  2. which admittedly has no real use, but it's cool [↩]
  3. which is where it should be [↩]
  4. 3 a day [↩]
  5. seriously, I've gone through at least 10 drafts of this stupid novel [↩]
  6. I haven't been good about putting them in order in ages [↩]
  7. I have so many clothes that don't fit, and I want to reorganise them; colour coding was a stupid idea [↩]
  8. seriously, it's a nightmare [↩]
  9. first I'll have to, you know, retrieve my iPod from the depths of rental car hell [↩]
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Your questions answered

Oct. 16th, 2009 07:55 pm
clementine: (Default)

Mirrored from Oh Clementine. You can leave any comments there.

I'm still not feeling 100% great, but I think the worst of my cold is over. Now it's time to answer all of your questions!

Alice asked: If you could change one thing about Canada, what would it be?
Honestly, I'd change our leader, Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He's part of the Conservative party, which is an automatic strike against him in my mind. He's cut funding for arts and is not huge on gay rights – in fact, even after same-sex marriage was allowed here (yay!), he tried to get rid of it! Not cool. Other than that, maybe the winter. :P I'm not really a huge fan of the cold weather, especially since I now have a bit of a walk from the subway stop to my school – not fun in November through March!

Krissy asked: What was your very first e-mail address? (I still remember mine, and I LOL every time I think about it. It was laaaame.)
I'm not sure what the website was (maybe sympatico.ca?), but the username was klemee. Yep. I was seven, and I thought it would be super cool and edgy to spell "Clemmie" in a ~kreativ~ way. That's actually kind of embarrassing!

You've decided to run away and join the circus. What would your act be? Tight-rope walking? Training tigers to jump through flaming hoops? Something awesomer?
Oh, man, this is a hard one. So many of the acts would be fun! I don't have the ability to do most of them, but if that wasn't an issue, I think I'd be a trapeze artist. I've always wanted to fly, and that seems like the next best thing.

An evil witch has put a spell on you and is turning you into an animal. You get to pick which animal you want to be for the rest of your life. What animal would you choose?
My first instinct is to say "a cat". My cats have such a sweet life. They sleep for most of the day, get tonnes of love and affection from my family, and always have more than enough food. What's not to love about that?

Amanda asked: If you were a nineties pop queen, which would you be? Options: Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore, Billie Piper.
I've spent a good chunk of my week thinking about this. (You know you're cool when…) In the end, I think I'd be Mandy Moore. I have a hard time identifying with the others (though I kind of love Britney – shh, don't tell anyone!), I guess because they're less ~wholesome~. I hate to use that word, but it's the only way I can think to put it!

Meg asked: What brands of toothpaste/shampoo/perfume do you use?
I use Colegate toothpaste, but I'm not picky; anything minty is fine by me! My brother uses watermelon flavoured toothpaste, which I find disgusting, and I've had to use my cousin's Disney princess bubblegum toothpaste on occasion – also pretty gross. Plus, minty toothpaste makes my mouth feel fresh and clean. My shampoo is Herbal Essences. I don't use anything from their specialty lines, because I don't have really dry hair or anything like that; I just use Drama Clean. As for perfume, Josh can attest to the fact that I hate perfume/cologne!

Who's your favorite celebrity? Least favorite?
Ahhh, this is hard! There are so many people to choose from! Least favourite is pretty easy – I'd probably say Miley Cyrus. I know that's a pretty cliche answer, but she really bugs me. She's not a horrible person or anything, just really annoying. As for favourite… hmm… I'm not really a superfan of any huge celebrities! I think I'll go with Ellen Page, because she's talented, adorable, and Canadian. :D

What are some things you would never do?
Another hard question! You suck, Meg. :P Honestly, I'd be willing to give most things a try. I'd definitely never run for president1, for one thing. (Although I'm Canadian, I could run for president since I meet the requirements of being a natural-born citizen.) The pressures and responsibilities are way too scary. I wouldn't get a tattoo on my neck or face – or anywhere that I couldn't easily cover up, really. In fact, I would be hesitant about getting a tattoo at all in case I changed my mind about it later. Unless something really amazing happens, I will never convert to any religion. I will never pay to watch the Leafs live – they lose 99% of their games2, yet people will pay hundreds of dollars to see them. I would, however, pay to see the Flames. I will never be a Twilight fan. And… I'm finding it really hard to think of more things to add to this list!

Regina asked: Ninjas or Pirates, who would win?
Hmm… pirates have the weapons, but ninjas have the stealth. I'm going to say the ninjas.

Cherlynn asked: if you were given the power to create a utopia, what would you create?
I'd say that the most important things are political and personal freedom. Everyone should have the right to vote, voice their opinions, run for office, or otherwise get involved. Just as importantly, nobody should be discriminated against based on religion, sexual orientation, race, gender identity, or anything else. Also, free health care for everyone! Of course, I'd make sure there were enough cats to go around, as well as unicorns and rainbows and a pot bellied pig named Jeremy. *nod*

Dayna asked: If you have $100,000, how would you use it?
I would definitely donate some to charity – probably to Animal Services (not the SPCA; the one in my city has ridiculous rules for adoption eligibility and actually doesn't treat the animals very well!), but I could see myself donating to a number of charities. I would buy myself an amazing camera and computer, too, as well as go on a shopping spree. I would also use it to pay for my university education in a few years. I also have a few trips I'd love to go on – London to see the 2012 Olympics as well as a road trip across the US with my friends.

Lucy asked: Pepsi or Coke?
This is a funny question, since I haven't had either in over 10 years. I'm not a pop person – carbonated drinks make my stomach hurt and my throat burn. The last time I had Coke was at a party when I was about 5; it made me throw up, and I haven't had it since then. I don't think I've ever had Pepsi! I guess my answer is "neither".

If you knew you could not fail, what would be one thing you would do?
Another hard question – or maybe I'm just indecisive. Honestly, I'd be up for doing pretty much anything if I couldn't fail! :P I'd love to go bungee jumping; I'll probably end up doing it some day anyway, but knowing that I couldn't fail would motivate me to do it right away.

Lastly, if you were to be given the choice between invisibility, the ability to fly, or telepathic powers, what would you choose?
I'd love to have all of those powers, but I'd definitely pick the ability to fly. It would make getting to school so much simpler!

Kaylee asked: If you could design the uniform for your school, what would all the students wear? (Or would you choose to go with no uniforms?)
Firstly, for anyone who doesn't know, my uniform is very relaxed and is made up of a lot of pieces that can be mixed and matched. Without exception, I wear a white oxford shirt, unbuttoned to reveal a t-shirt underneath it (almost always blue, green, or red), along with a pair of navy blue skinny jeans3.

I don't think I'd get rid of the uniform. Lots of people at my school complain about it, but I actually like it. I don't have to think about what to wear in the morning, and it makes me feel less judged, since we all have to wear the same few pieces. I would make a few changes, though. Firstly, the logo on the shirts! It's hideous and not at all subtle. I'd shrink it and make it prettier and far less obvious. Secondly, the colour of the pants! It's such a pain to try to find navy blue pants that aren't denim. I've only managed to find two pairs of suitable pants, both at H&M. My mom goes in there a few times a week and buys whatever size 4-6 navy blue pants she can find, then brings them home for me to try on. I would allow students to wear either black pants or dark wash denim jeans without anything on the back pockets. I'd also like to change the rule that the shirt underneath your oxford shirt has to be a uniform colour; navy blue, hunter green, and burgundy aren't the prettiest colours in the world! Luckily, only my vice principal and about three or four teachers care about the shirt underneath.

If you could change one thing you've done in the past, what would it be (if anything)?
This is interesting. I would consider changing certain things about my past, but not things that I've done.

Was there ever a time when you addressed your teachers by last name? If you talk to adults outside of school, does it feel different/weird to address them by something other than their first name?
When I first read this question, it seriously made me smile. You and your fixation, Kaylee. :P I did indeed address my teachers the regular way from kindergarten to grade 8. There are alternative schools from grades 4-84 that operate the same way my high school does, but I attended ~normal~ schools. As for the last question, I don't really have contact with adults who I'm not allowed to call by their first name! They're all close family friends or family; even my friends' parents ask me to call them by their first names.

Manda asked: Cake or ice cream?
Ice cream, no contest. I can't even eat cake without ice cream! Cake is too rich for my liking, and I have to have a small piece or I start to feel sick.

  1. or prime minister [↩]
  2. okay, maybe I'm exaggerating just a little here [↩]
  3. not denim [↩]
  4. I don't think any younger than that? [↩]
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In which Clem is sick

Oct. 7th, 2009 03:41 pm
clementine: (Default)

Mirrored from Oh Clementine. You can leave any comments there.

Guess what? It's suddenly cold out. Know what that means? I'm sick – really sick.

Without exception, I get a cold when the weather changes. It doesn't matter if it's going from cold to hot or hot to cold; if it changes, I get sick. So, since the beginning of October brought hideously cold weather, I'm sick.

It got cold a lot sooner than it usually does here. My school hasn't even turned its heating on yet. All last week, it was 16-18 degrees. They're not turning on the heat until after Thanksgiving. This equals a very cold and very uncomfortable Clemmie. (To put things into perspective, that is 16-18 degrees Celcius and Canadian Thanksgiving – but still!) When possible, I've been wearing two sweatshirts: an oversized grey one that I bought this summer1 and my friend's navy blue uniform sweatshirt. Unfortunately, sometimes he has class in a particularly cold room at the same time that I do, in which case he takes back his hoodie and I'm left without a warm uniform piece. Most of my teachers have been pretty nice about letting students be out of uniform due to the disgustingly cold building… but not all of them. On Monday, after I'd already been sick for a few days, my World Religions teacher made me take off my hoodie. I was visibly shivering, and I told him I was feeling sick, but he still made me. I was freezing and completely uncomfortable for the entire class.

When I got home that day, I was a mess. I felt absolutely terrible. I haven't had a cold this bad in years. In fact, I've been home from school for two days. The last time I missed two days of school due to sickness was probably at least five years ago. Now that it's 3:30pm on my second day home, I don't feel any better.

Today while watching Project Runway2, I realised that my head feels like a snow globe. It's like somebody's given in a big shake, and now there are random bits swirling around. To make everything a million times worse, I have a sore throat and sound a lot like a chain smoker3 and my left side hurts so much that I can't move without pain. It even hurts to sit in some positions!

I guess you can count this as my apology for not posting for awhile. I'm feeling very tired and demotivated; consider this your explanation if I don't post again for a long time!

  1. I have a thing for oversized grey hoodies [↩]
  2. I now own Season 1 AND Season 2, even though I've already seen each 5-6 times [↩]
  3. or Miley Cyrus – same type of voice, really [↩]
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The downside to wearing a uniform

Sep. 24th, 2009 05:36 pm
clementine: (Default)

Mirrored from Oh Clementine. You can leave any comments there.

I've mentioned in the past that I don't mind wearing my school uniform. It makes life easy for me (except for the fact that it's IMPOSSIBLE to find non-hideous navy blue pants!), and my uniform is pretty relaxed. It allows to me to express a bit of individuality (I can wear whatever shirt I want underneath my oxford shirt; most teachers don't make me button up) without making it hard to decide what to wear.

However, I've found that it has one major downside.

This summer, I was shocked by how few articles of clothing I had. After a year of wearing the same thing every day (and usually PJs on the weekends!), not much fit me. I just hadn't noticed because I never really wore my regular clothes during the school year.

Now that school's started again and I'm forced to wear my uniform for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, I suddenly want to wear regular clothes whenever I have the chance. That's kind of a problem when you have two pairs of jeans and five t-shirts that you wear during the week anyway. Looks like I need to go shopping soon!

(Oh, and because Korey told me to write about this, my right toes are fancier than my left because the toenail on the big toe is very sharp. No reason, it just is. This is actually a secret weapon that I can use when people are annoying me. It's very effective and equally unexpected!)

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I have to stalk celebrities for school

Sep. 10th, 2009 06:12 pm
clementine: (Default)

Mirrored from Oh Clementine. You can leave any comments there.

School started on Tuesday for lots of people. I guess this is the obligatory "here are my classes" post. I'm going to try to be brief about this, because I don't want to bore you guys with the descriptions of my courses!

Period A: English. This class seems pretty cool so far. We already had to write one essay for it – "Should Canada join the United States?" The teacher is laid-back, and he allows you to rewrite and resubmit assignments if you get a bad mark.

Period B: Science. As you may know, I despise science. I know it's important, and it *can* be fascinating, but they way the curriculum is set out, I really don't find it enjoyable. My science teacher is a really cool person, though, so hopefully he'll make it somewhat interesting!

Period C: Anthropology. This is definitely an exciting course. The teacher is funny and nice (she can't believe she gets paid for teaching, and she hates holidays because she misses her students), and the material is really interesting so far. Today we did a quick introduction to Anthropology, Psychology, an Sociology. We had to read an article about the École Polytechnique Massacre and read different opinions about what made Marc Lépine murder all those women.

Period D: Civics. This is a mandatory course here, and it's half a year (and half a credit). The other half is Careers. Basically, we're learning about the government. Today we talked about Congressman Joe Wilson's outburst yesterday during President Obama's speech. (In case you didn't know, he yelled out "YOU LIE!" during the middle of the speech.) It was a pretty interesting discussion.

Period E: Canadian History. Let me tell you something: I don't like history very much. I am not a huge fan of ancient history, and Canadian History is generally SUPER SUPER boring. But this is from WWI to present times, which is a general time period that I'm very interested in. I'm definitely looking forward to WWII, and I really hope we manage to squeeze in the unit on 9/11.

Period F: World Religions. I was really excited to have this class, but it's taught by a teacher who I had last year for two classes and hated. I'm trying to enjoy the course, but he doesn't really know what he's talking about and it's a bit hard to get into.

Period G: Photography. I attended photography camp for two summers and got to develop my own film, so of course I jumped at the chance to do this all year! Our first assignment is to go to TIFF (whenever we want) and take pictures of celebrities. So, basically, we're seeing what it's like to be a Paparazzo. It's a pretty cool assignment. My friends and I are going to go there before the screening of Jennifer's Body to try to get pictures of Megan Fox.

Period H: I have the same class and teacher that I had last year, so it's still awesome. My teacher still has her awesome sign up, too! Today was my first math class and I already have a huge packet of math questions, but I kind of like algebra, so I'm not upset.

My vice principal is still an annoying uniform Nazi, too. Today she yelled at me for having navy blue skinny jeans. She said I HAVE TO wear the dress pants, even though the uniform code clearly says that any navy bottoms that aren't denim are acceptable. I just rolled my eyes at her.

Despite the fact that I dislike my vice principal quite intensely, I'm really enjoying school so far. I'm sure my opinion will change in a few months, but I'm having a good time now.

If you're going to school, are you enjoying it too, or is it not so great?

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