Gap Years and NaNoWriMo

It's NaNoWriMo again. Already. You can imagine my shock when I woke up this morning realizing that it was actually November 1st. Already.

I am currently taking a gap year, kind of like a break between high school and college, and the year seemed to go by faster than usual. Like... is this what life is like for people not in school? It's just so weird to have almost a whole year without any school. Considering the past thirteen years of my life have been nothing BUT school (and the next four and maybe six years of my life will once again be school). So where did the year go?
I woke up on November 1st with a limited plot and no general background on my characters (so bad that I don't even know the hair color of my main character bad right?). And I was planning on making NaNoWriMo 2013 the year I plan desperately. But other things got in the way... Like finding a job to take up most of my time and to save money, studying for the ACTs and signing up for the ACTs, looking up important dates, figuring out when I'm actually leaving Japan (yes, the ACT thing I should have done in my junior year, but when you have a year off it's just kind of better to do it then). But anyway, this year is probably the least unprepared I've been since my first year two years ago, when I found out like a week after it started. So this year is just all on instinct and just very spontaneous. It's going to be an interesting month.

Wish all of you NaNoWriMo participants a good luck on completing for 50,000 word novel!

30 in 1

So part of my New Years resolutions is that I would read more. That means actually read the books I decide to read, not start a book, set it down and forget about it for a few months.


Last year, in 2012, I re-discovered my love for books, but I never really sat down and read a book. Of Mice and Men. While Steinbeck is a great writer it just wasn't something I was in the mood of reading. Sometimes I want to read something that's just simply fun.

My outlook on books have changed over the years. A younger me picked up any book that had a good summary. Younger me didn't care what genre a book was in or really who the author was, but older me began to look at books in a very closed minded kind of way. I began to look only at the author and not the story (while there is nothing wrong with reading a book because of the author), I forced myself to like a book because of who the author was and I was beginning to enjoy books less and less. The fun in reading began to fade.
Then one night as I lay in bed forcing myself to get through The Grapes of Wrath I thought to myself why I had to read this serious book, I was in no mood the read this. And that's when I decided to actually read books I wanted to read. I wanted to get that feeling when you read a book and you can't put it down, that feeling when your favorite characters are put through so much and you pray they make it out. And so now here I am, don't ask me what this lengthy rant about books came from because even I don't really know where it came from.

Anyway, moving on to the original meaning for this post. I made a challenge for myself to read thirty books this year. I just thought of the first number that came into my head and entered it and so I came to thirty books in twelve months. I am thankful that I have quite a few books in mind and books that I can't wait to read. On the right side bar you will see the 2013 Reading Challenge which is hosted by Goodreads. And on the left side bar you will see the books I am currently reading which are at the moment: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (I've heard a lot about this book so it better be good), and The Miserable Mill (Book #4 in The Series of Unfortunate Events) by Lemony Snicket. I am currently trying to get through all of the books in the Unfortunate Events series and after that I will be moving on to the Harry Potter series. So wish me luck on my reading journey and pray that I will be able to get through The Grapes of Wrath.

P.S. Part of the reason why I am having such a difficult time with 'The Grapes of Wrath' is because I have it as an actual print book while the others I have on Kindle. So everytime I open the thick book I see how many I have left, it is quite daunting to see I still have 511 more pages to go.

Good Things in a Box. 2013 Part 2

Happy new year to all of you! I hope you all had an enjoyable time watching fire works and counting down loudly to 2013. My family and I enjoyed celebrating ten years in Thailand and sent up three traditional Thai lanterns (called a khom loi, as pictured below).

So I am continuing my New Years special posts with good things in a box. The idea behind this was from a Tumblr tag called good things jar. Every time a good thing happens you write it down on a piece of paper and put it into a jar. And at the end of the year you open up that jar and read all of the good things that have happened that previous year, it also keeps you a little optimistic every time you look at the jar seeing all of the notes that you wrote. So alas I do not have a jar or a vase or anything so opted for a box with a clear top, plus it's easier to pack when the time comes for me to leave.

So, so far I have one note in my Good Things Box and I hope in 12 months I will have lots more. So happy 2013! And I wish you all good luck on your New Years resolutions!

One Word. 2013 Part 1

I have never been one to keep New Year resolutions. Most have been: write more, read more, be more healthy, etc. The usual stuff.
But I wanted 2013's resolutions to mean more to me this year then the past years. Because after my graduation from high school I will be moving back to America after ten years of living over seas. It's a scary experience to go back to a country that you are supposed to belong to, but you don't.

A blogger, Chris Brogan posted this article and another fellow young blogger Emily Rachelle wrote a similar article. Both articles talk about having a word or three words for the new year. The general idea for the one word idea is that you take a single word and live by that word for the rest of the year. I took Chris Brogan's idea of having three words instead of a single word as Emily Rachelle talks about.

I adopted Emily Rachelle's (that is really the One Word 365) and came up with my one word.
Accept.

As I wrote in my previous blog post, I said that I did not deal with death very well. Part of the reason why I do not deal with death very well is because I do not accept very well. I keep remembering the bad things that have happened, but never accept that they have happened. I keep grudges, remember bad or embarrassing experiences, and never let go.
Accept myself for the person that I am and accept the experiences I will go through little or small.
On my hand I wrote Accept and right beneath it I wrote my favorite song title Come What May. I like this song because of what it means, 

Seasons may change winter to spring
But I love you until the end of timeCome what may, come what mayI will love you until my dying day

Everything may change, but love will stay the same.