Snippets of May- so far!

• "They looked like my left toenail." Heard when I was taking out the trash.
• I'm reading As I Lay Dying  in English class. The shit is hard but oh-so beautiful and deep.
• I'm also reading Performing Under Pressure. I'll post a review of it at some point on The Young Folks. It's pretty smart, but then again I haven't read too many self-help books.
• Speaking of self-help, I've chosen a shitton of self-help books I want to read in the future.
• Never buy bulk packages of ramen. Just don't do it. 
• Try your best to work ahead. I swear it's worth it. 
• I want to improve myself soooo much.

I QUIT

Not really but honestly, I've quit so many things.
Things I've quit:

• Piano
• Flute
• Running
• Swimming
• Christianity- more on this later

Things I've added this year

• Writing
• Physics

Why did I quit Christianity?

I think it was the gay marriage thing. Honestly, shouldn't any form of love be acceptable? If a God isn't willing to appreciate all forms of love, then honestly He's not going to be my God. 

And then in Exodus, God hardened the Pharoah's heart against Moses. So everything truly is predetermined. I don't really like Calvinism, and it's definitely showing up here.

I know that I should probably still be Christian, but right now, I'm still that all or nothing type of girl. Either a strict Christian or not. If you're Christian and you swear, you might as well not be Christian in my opinion. (I became a friend with a SUPER strict Christian so yeah.)

Note: I support faith of all kinds. I'm not an atheist so much as an alltheist, which is my biggest problem.

What I've done In Real Life

Lately

3 USA(J)MO problems solved

Listening to:

• Taylor Swift
• Union J
• Emblem3
• Sara Bareilles
• Lorde
• Bridgit Mendler
• 78violet
• Lights (the singer....)

Word count: 28,964

Physics: None :P 

Nutella mono today. OMG I LOVE NUTELLA. YUM YUM YUM. It's really fun to eat it by the spoonful.

Okay. Let's Talk.

Things I am doing now that are probably certified crazy:

• Going for MOP. And IMO. And yeah... that's like the top 30ish kids in the country.
• Writing a novel... well that's happening. 28000 words. 
• Going for physics. Not 100% my idea.

Photos on my Laptop that should be Cherished haha

MONOs... again

I've joined the world of monos again.

Soymilk for 2 days. Failed on third. (Major stomach issues lol)

Today I'm doing sunbutter. I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE.

BTW I've decided to be a full time vegan. Let's do this.

COME AT ME FOOD. I won't eat you.

Monos I've done so far

1. Greek yogurt with dried jujube berries
2. apples
3. pears
4. bananas (today)

I'm sick of bananas. 9 total today. Should have had 7. 

2012 AMC12A score of 117. Could have been better.

Updates

I'm at AWG after three days of not getting a flight. FINALLY.

Note: This is not my final destination.

Also, I've blocked CWTV from my computer so I won't be able to have Reign and Carrie Diaries marathons.

Also, my life feels crazily hectic.

I'm going back to monos. Tomorrow I want to do a milk mono or something liquidy. Honestly, I really just want to wash out my system.

Not Good Enough

I didn't get into this math research program that I really wanted to get into. When I first found out, I started crying. Okay, maybe not that much, but still, I did.

Why didn't I get in? Am I too young? Too not smart enough? (Bad grammar, sorry!)

I got the highest score in the class on my history test. But I'd much rather have gotten into the program.

So here's to feeling not good enough.

MONO

Almond mono successfully completed.

I'm sick of almonds, dry roasted or raw.

Although I think I'd still like almond butter...

Resistance is something I hope I've built up.

Lost

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling lost.

As in literally lost.

Last night my family got lost on vacation. We didn't remember where we parked, so we spent an hour looking. Turns out there's a ton of Central Parking Lots in a huge city.

At least I got back. Thank God for miracles.

Mememememememememememe

Hey.

I'm back home.

I slept fourteen hours last night.

Enough about me!

CW released a Carrie Diaries episode and the penultimate episode of Nikita.
The Nikita episode, Bubble, killed me and all the other viewers. It's just too good and too sad. How will life go on now?

Vegan

I'm being totally legit. Maybe all those ana blogs inspired me. Maybe this is me trying to be ana. Maybe I'm just sick of meat. I'm trying. Not eating meat is super easy. It's the avoiding butter part and eggs and dairy that scares me a little. It's hard. But hey, soon I'll be vegan Valerie. Valiant Valerie.

Peanut Butter

is so dead and gone to me.

Don't try a mono diet if you actually want to LIKE the food after a day or a week. Yesterday I only ate peanut butter for experimentation purposes. I'm SICK of peanut butter. This is to be expected though. Honestly, you have it for a long time, you get annoyed with it.

On the bright side, the cafeteria will no longer be missing its peanut butter.

There'll be plenty for everyone but me to share!

Ribbet... no not a frog

Fun with editing. I use Ribbet. It's great, and no this post isn't sponsored. It's just what I've been doing lately. Screw homework. Let's do something real.

In Which I Can Edit Photos

Found background online.
Added my caption. Recognize it? Guess whose song it's from.

Answer: Taylor Swift's The Moment I knew

Chrome Apps

AKA how I customized my Chrome experience so much that it's completely Valerie-fied.

1. AdBlock
This extension isn't particularly unique, but it is lifechanging. Basically all ads are gone- Youtube ads, my blog's ads (LOL), ads on AOL....

Never again will you be distracted by that Amazon ad.

2. Disconnect
Fact: Valerie is super paranoid when it comes to the internet. I've tried to stop my internet provider from tracking my ISP address and my browsing history. Unfortunately, that feat has not been completed. However, I've accomplished a different mission, to stop websites and companies from tracking me. Hey Disconnect, thank you so much!

3. Ghostery
This app does what Disconnect does except that you can actually see the companies tracking you. There's also an automatic setting that automatically disables tracking.

My parents would call using two extensions for the same thing overkill, but I call it being cautious.

4. Google Dictionary
One of those convenient things so you'll always have a dictionary without opening a new tab.

5. HTTPS Everywhere
For security purposes.

6. Invisible Hand
Make sure you have the best deals on the internet!

7. Momentum
My new tabs always say "Good morning, Valerie." It's so pretty and clean.
MOMENTUM, I LOVE YOU. Momentum= mv.

8. Pocket
Save all your favorite websites for later!

Lately

I just bombed my physics final. (Okay, so everyone else bombed it too. That doesn't mean it's okay though.)

MOMENTUM SUCKS. NEWTON SUCKS. SCREW PHYSICS.

Today The Fu released their weekly video.

"to all the brokenhearted" <3

I love you, the Fu.




SCREW SCHOOL. I'M COMING HOME.

How to BS Your Way through Essays

1.Get your laptop out.

         

This step is ESSENTIAL. You need to have your paper on a computer. Save, save, save!
 (Paperless technology has been invented for a reason. USE IT.)

2.Get your other junk out.

          

As in the books you're writing your essay about or the sites you've found through your research.
Whatever you think you need, get it out. This includes water and stress balls, not DISTRACTIONS

           

3. Write the thesis/ introduction/ junk.

This stuff is easy. Intro facts. Set the reader in time, location, and whatever other background info you need. (The thesis itself might take a bit of time, depending on your familiarity with BS.)

4.Write the conclusion if you can.

Use a quote, a current situation, finish up your intro in a sense. Do whatever. Just make it seem final. Remember, a good conclusion should be the intro to another essay.

5. Look throughout your sources or books for some non BS info.

Get RELEVANT info. I know, sometimes it's hard. It takes a lot of time on your wild goose chase to actually find evidence supporting good points. But hey, it's a lot easier than not BSing your essay!

6. Quote everything essential.

As in copy and paste. As in word for word. REMEMBER TO PUT IN QUOTATION MARKS AND CITE.

7. Explain said quotes.

Give explanations. How does your freaking evidence support your freaking thesis?

8.Take out some quotes and paraphrase.

You can't have too many quotes. Paraphrase, rewrite, DON'T FORGET TO CITE.

9. Make everything concise.

The more your teachers read, the more they want to lower your grade.

10. Add in good transitions.

"Hence, quality ads will bring in more customers." "However important Aden may be, it still cannot overcome the severity of the situation in Yemen." Boom. 

11. Print a bunch of copies.

In case you spill food on one, in case you accidentally rip one.

12. Edit said copies until perfection.

Be harsh with yourself. Be your worst critic.

13. Print again.

That is, after you revise.

14. Turn in.

WITH A SMILE. YOU'RE DONE.