Hi m'dears, 

I finished my last day of classes on April 1st, but that doesn't mean I'm done school. I cannot graduate until I have done a minimum of six weeks in a field placement which is what everyone else in my class is doing... just not me. I was waiting to get the editorial internship at Harlequin but they decided to go with someone else, so I currently have nothing. I would be freaking out more if I didn't already have an interview with Random House, plus I applied for Harlequin's marketing internship. Hopefully I'll luck out with at least one of those. 

It has only been two weeks since classes ended, yet it feels like much longer! Other than a serious headache the first week, I was enjoying my little "holiday" while waiting to hear from Harlequin. I've basically spent my time reading, writing book reviews, watching movies, and walking to the library or grocery store. I keep hoping something interesting will happen on my excursions, but nothing ever does. 

Next week, if I don't get an interview with Harlequin's marketing I'll be going home early for Easter. I'll get to spend nearly a week at home and hanging out with my two bville-besties! If if wasn't for my interview early next week I would have gone home already since my dad's birthday is tomorrow, I hate that I will be missing it. At least I left my prezzie for him at home over spring break so he'll have that at least. 

I started working on a new novel the other day. It was really late at night -or really early in the morning- so I'm not sure if it will be any good, particularly since I can't quite recall what it was about. I remember that something mum said to me via i.m. reminded me of a story idea I had a couple years ago and I was trying to work them in together into a story. When I next decide to take a look at it, I'll be sure to let you know if I decide to continue with it. 

Dinner is about done, so ta!

SUMR

The other day a friend and I ended up discussing homosexuality and Christianity. I don't recall how we got onto the topic, but it is something that both homo- and heterosexual Christians deal with. For homosexuals, they struggle to find acceptance within themselves and/or from others that they are homosexual and a Christian homosexual. For heterosexuals, well, I can't speak for all of them, but for myself I struggle between my love of my friends no matter what their sexual preference and being taught that homosexuality is a sin. 

It was that conversation yesterday that made me click on a link to revelife on the xanga main page. It is called "Pray the Gay Away" Part One and Part Two which is based on an episode from Our America, called the same. I have to admit I am still struggling within my own mind what I think is right or wrong. I was raised in a Christian home with the belief that being homosexual is a sin, but at the same time, I have also come to believe that we are all to love one another and that God loves all his children.

I will say right now that I do not think I am a strong Christian, there is definitely room for improvement. Other people will say I am a fairly strong Christian... but that may only be in comparison to themselves. I know that I compare myself to other Christians as to levels of faith and I see that yes, I am stronger than some, but much less so than still others.  

That being said, anything I write hereafter is based on what I know so far. I have not read the whole Bible even once through, let alone many times over, to be greatly familiar with the subject matter. I never think it wise to make decisions before you know both sides and have gathered all the information you can. So in the end I cannot make any final decisions for myself, let alone for another person. 

 Back to the point. If we are to love one another, how can I condemn someone for their choices? How can I condemn anyone considering I'm not perfect myself? There is another verse that says something like "Let he who hath not sinned, cast the first stone" meaning, whoever hasn't sinned can be the first to condemn another person's mistake. I don't know about you, but I have yet to meet a human being who is perfect in every way (and don't say Mary Poppins because she had some pride going on). 

According to the video, there are six verses in the Bible that refer to homosexuality. As I ashamedly admitted before, I have not read the entire Bible and therefore I have only come across one or two said verses depending on the version. Depending on the version. The Bible was not written in English, but translated from ancient hebrew (I think) and after millions of years translations change; people think certain words mean different things, being translated from language to language, being modernized more and more, word definitions changing with time... well, something may have been "lost in translation". It is a possibility that we may think the words mean one thing when God meant them in a different way. I am not saying this is so, but that it is something we might consider. 

I have been told that those who don't believe in God go to hell and believers go to heaven.  John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. After reading that verse, why are we told that homosexuals cannot be devout Christians and will go to hell? That verse basically says that God loves everyone and by believing in Him they are saved. There are no stipulations about gender, age, sexuality, race, anything; it is everyone. 

Another verse John 13:34-35 says "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another." Well, to me this verse means that we are to love everyone like God loves everyone, and if God loves everyone without stipulations or exemptions, then we should too. Yet why is there so much anger and lack of acceptance?

Speaking of the commandments, the ten original ones in Exodus Chapter 20? In my Bible, not once do those rules say anything about sexual orientation. It says to love God, to not say "OMG" in a non-praising way, to keep Sabbith as a day of rest (someone please tell this to my teachers in regards to homework!), to honour your parents, don't kill anyone, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, and don't want other people's stuff. The only one that homosexuals may have a problem with there is adultery, slightly more so than heterosexuals would, and that is adultery. Adultery is breaking the marital promise by having sex with someone who isn't your husband or wife.

Stop for a moment and think about what that sentence means *PAUSE* Do you have it? Or, like me, did you notice that can be read two ways? Don't have sex with anyone outside of your marriage once you are married versus don't have sex with someone you are not married to. I know that in some places homosexual marriages are not allowed and if they are having sexual relations with someone they are not married to, they could be breaking a commandment. 

Still on that note of reading two different meanings, and different translations, here is another verse. This is one of the aforementioned six that discuss homosexuality. Leviticus 18:22 "You shall not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination." For the different interpretations, a friend of a friend said that this meant God doesn't approve of male homosexuality, but doesn't mind lesbians. For the different translations, here are two other versions of the same verse: "Never have sexual intercourse with a man as with a woman" or more simply "Do not practice homosexuality". 

You may notice how male oriented this verse and much of the Bible is. I have to keep reminding myself that it was written before the woman's rights came into play. I think in the old testament it says that men can teach women, but women cannot teach men, just children. And doesn't that cause a big ol' cafuffle today? Not only is it denying equal rights between genders, but if we become adults at 18 or 21, then there shouldn't be any college or uni professors who are female *dundundun* But that is another rant-tangent...

Like that one friend, you could read that first translation in a way that actually says that it is wrong for two men to have intercourse, but okay for two women. But if you didn't know that it was a man teaching this to others, that you thought it could perhaps be said by a woman, then you might read this in even another way: that it wasn't right for males to sleep with males, but also not right for women to sleep with males, meaning that the only relationships permissible are two-female couples (Sorry men, you have to be celibate). 

But what if you looked at the first of the alternate translations: "Never have sexual intercourse with a man as with a woman". This is taking the line out of context quite a bit, but this could be read in a way that meant that if you have sex with a man it needs to be done in a way that is different than you'd have sex with a woman, and given our anatomy that is kind of stating the obvious. Just that line alone could be giving someone instructions on HOW to have sex with both genders rather than saying NOT to have intercourse with someone who is the same gender as you are. 

So there you have it, the thoughts of my mind in regards to this debate. I am sure there are more arguments for either side, but I've long since delayed a much needed nap for need to get this typed as I couldn't rest until I got it down on "paper". As Christians, what are we supposed to do?

Are we to deny our sexual preferences which may be considered a lie and thus against the ten commandments and thus committing a sin?
Are we to accept our sexual preferences which may also be considered a sin? 
Are we to condemn those who are not heterosexual because six verses in the bible may say that it is an abomination (but not necessarily a sin)? 
Are we to accept that some people are homosexual and that God loves them anyways? And that they love God, too? 
Are we to read the Bible as current social practice says to read it, or are we to understand it with our own hearts and minds?And can we even do that without outside influence of our upbringing? There are over 1500 pages in the Bible; are we supposed to ignore everything else, because of six lines? 

There are so many questions that I don't have the answer for. I guess all I can do is pray about it, and hope that God gives me an answer as to what I am to believe. 

   SUMR 

Hey Luvies, 

On Thursday I went on my field trip to Random House of Canada. It was awesome! We were ushered into a boardroom and people from various departments came in to talk to us about their jobs while we ate timbits. My favourite speaker was A from the publicity department, oddly enough, rather than the woman from editorial. Then we were taken on a tour of the offices, and the publisher's room was awesomely full of books upon books *happy sigh* Afterward we were brought back to the boardroom and given gift bags that contained three books! One was a book I had been eyeing up, one was a signed hardcover, and another was an advanced reader copy of a book that has now been published. Too cool, right?

Friday we had a guest speaker who ironically works for Random and was preparing for his guest lecture while we were at the offices the day prior *L0L* Though others didn't find him interesting, I did. Between A and S I have decided that if I can't get an internship/job in editorial I would be willing to try publicity. 

Over the weekend I did an assignment, studied for my midterm, and worked on stuff for Read.Chat.Love website. I did tell you I was a moderator for that didn't I? If not, I am not a "leader" for a website that has a book blog and a chat where you can talk with other book lovers and occasionally authors. 

I had my midterm Monday morning which sounds easy but wasn't. Two and a half pages of words that are often misspelled and you're given the choice between the right word and the wrong word... even when you always know how to spell the word, looking at the pair makes you doubt yourself. Another page or so of definitions and you had to choose between two words that are spelt and sound similar. Then another page and some of sentences that include two words as options that are also spelt similar and sound the same. 

After the test we went on another field trip though half the class didn't bother showing up. Not that I blame them because it ended up being rather boring. We went to the Canadian Children's Book Centre and the lady talked at us in what seemed to be a memorized speech giving a short history about different children's publishing companies and what the CCBC does. The thing is, in theory I like the CCBC as they promote children's books written and published by Canadians. They do book reviews and interviews to post in their magazine, they even occasionally host book launches. She just wasn't a good public speaker I guess. 

Last night I finally sent off my resume in regards to internships. The first one I sent to Harlequin Enterprises since I have always wanted to work there. I figure that an internship might be my only chance to see what it is like, because they don't hire all that often for the editorial department. Then I sent my resume to Random House, as a back up. I greatly enjoyed my afternoon there and the people were really nice, so I figured I may as well apply. I asked that it go to both the editorial and publicity departments. 

I got an email back from Random House this afternoon saying my resume was sent to the appropriate departments for consideration. And later tonight I got one from Harlequin saying they were currently in the process of decided what departments would get interns and for how long they would be needed. I really, really hope I get into Harlequin so send prayers and keep your fingers crossed for me!

SUMR

So last time I posted I mentioned I was learning about website optimization, which GreekPhysique asked about... I'm not sure if he really wanted to know or was just trying to think of something to comment about, but since I have actually found my class on OnLine Magazines to be kind of interesting and useful for anyone with any kind of website, I will tell y'all what I've learned. I won't be posting everything, mainly because I can't read half of my notes *L0L* but a big thank you goes out to the guest speakers who came in to talk to my class! 

The things I am being taught are usually centered around magazines -hence the name of the class- but most can be adapted for other companies and even blogs. I intend to put some of the things I've learned to use on SingleFemmes (the online magazine assignment I have to do for class), my book review blog, and for the Read.Chat.Love book blogger community that I help moderate. 

If you happen to know anything that I haven't been taught yet, feel free to let me know! 

Sumr

Website Search Optimization thanks to Rob Maurin

- Create a site/blog that can be easily searchable by google, yahoo, and bing. If you cover these three then you've pretty much got all search engines covered. Google has 85% of global marketing share, Yahoo and Bing at 10%, other with 5%

- You can wait for google bots to find you or you can register your website for free with them... just don't tick off google by using black-hat tags/search terms because they will bump you back a few pages or remove you completely (some big store did this and they no longer appear on google searches)

- search engines help people find your site because they are either looking for your site or looking for something like your site, but don't know it it. And if you are searchable and your competition is not, you just stole their customers/readers because they found you instead. 

- use googles adwords keyword tool to help figure out what terms people use for searches that relate to your topic. 

- searches and bots notice things YOU make special - domain name, structure (such as the tabs/toolbar), article titles/ headers, bold, italics, caps, anchor text (no idea what that is), headers tags (something to do with html?), alt text on photos, hashtags

- your site isn't just about using the most searchable words,  but having awesome content and creating a good user experience to build loyalty and regular views (and not getting blackballed by google search). 

- have embedded links that lead to other pages/articles in your site to keep readers there. also try to get other good sites to link to you so that you can get more readers/viewers (ie. blogger buttons are good), BUT keep in mind that by linking with outside sites, you are sharing cachet/reputation. If you send your readers to a different site, make sure its a good one you wish to be related with and vice versa, or you'll be sharing a bad reputation. 

- having a website for years is better than new websites because they show longevity, but having recent posts is better than rarely updating .: having a website for a long time that you post a lot on is best. 

How to make a great e-newsletter thanks to Ashleigh McKenna at sweetspot.ca

Do's

1. grab their attention with catchy headlines and fantastic face-on photo

2. Organize your information with your main article at the top, with important information being visible on the screen without scrolling 

3. Keep it short, no more than 4-5 items/blurbs

4. Tease the reader with two or three sentences that will make them want more and click to go to your website

5. Redirect the reader by including embedded links to your website

6. Remember your audience so as to use the correct tone and style

7. Remember the newsletter is a chance to send your readers to the website or buy your products 

8. Be fun with an easy to read and snappy style

9. Stay timely by keeping your information current

10. Engage your readers by including links to blogs, twitter, facebook, surveys and polls, etc

Don'ts

1. Dont make it too text heavy (unless have a cell phone version which should be all text little pic due to loading issues)

2. Don't include huge photos as they slow down downloading/opening process

3. Don't forget the subject line is the first chance to catch the reader's attention be clear but be interesting

4. Don't send an e-newsletter without permission because it won't do any good and is vastly annoying

5. Don't be all about selling the product, be about making and keeping a reader

Building a Good Website thanks to Gary Campbell of St Joseph's Media and Aggregation Magazine

- get a good stats tracking system and use it as it tells you what article's people are reading the most, how long people are on each page, where they have been and where they go next,  etc. This means you spend less time guessing and more time making a great website. 

- have a strategy that will allow you to appeal to a larger audience, and convince people to visit your site more often.

- don't allow big viewer numbers sway your decision making because you only want the "right people" connected to your site... you don't want to be associated with XXX sites when you're a parenting magazine, etc. 

- people are usually on the web because they want a good time not because they want to learn something (well, unless you're doing a research assignment). So keep it short, concise, and interesting... Toronto life switched from posting lengthy political features pulled directly from their mag to  posting "popcorn" (little bits of things) about what people were searching for most (ie. restaurant reviews). 

- Quality and Quantity are important: Good content frequently posted. Give your viewers a reason to visit more often by providing lots of great stuff to look at throughout the day. 

- Twitter and Facebook are often "one hit wonders"... as in, viewers will click on the direct link but not stay on the website they were linked to (this is half true in my case, sometimes i keep clicking if there is an attention grabbing related link, but sometimes i wont)

Hi Luvies!

Last week wasn't too exciting. I got the book I won in my mailbox on monday, and the Valentine's card from my parents on Tuesday. Wednesday and Friday's classes were as boring as usual and I remember nothing (other than the fact that the cute guy in class and the baby girl in class are always sitting together. Dating? Likely). Thursday's class had an interesting guest speaker talking to us about website optimization... something we learned that I can actually use!

Since it was a long weekend due to Family Day I wanted to go home. It was totally a random decision I made Thursday night and I asked Dad if he'd get me. No luck. I emailed my cousin Friday after school to see if she was going home since her parents live just outside of town, but she didn't get it before she left. Then a friend emailed to ask if I was busy that weekend and I said I was trying to get home for the weekend so he picked me up on his way back home! *happy dance* 

I didn't get home until mid-afternoon on Saturday, so I read until my parents got home then Dad and I went to pick out a movie while Mum cooked; we watched RED with Bruce Willis (so good!) and Open Season 3 (okay). Dad suggested we had a nummy roast beef dinner and it was sooo good! I absolutely adore roasted beef, broccoli, mashed potatoes, and cheese sauce *yum* On Sunday I woke up with a headache and I couldn't stop coughing so I stayed home from church as I didn't want to give it to the old people. By afternoon I was a bit better thankfully, so Dad and I went grocery shopping, hit up walmart, and stopped at the bookstore. 

I probably shouldn't have bought books, but I figured I could use the $5 that mum sent me, the laundry money I saved by doing the wash at home, a discount coupon, and a little bit of money from the government (what are those cheques called, tax somethings maybe???) to get the books. I picked up Cassandra Clare's first and third in her series The Mortal Instruments -which I think is a weird name considering each title starts with "City of". I have been in a regency kick so I grabbed Kieran Kramer's "Dukes to the Left of Me, Princes to the Right" because it sounded kinda cute. Finally, I chose "Hush, Hush" by Becca Fitzpaterick which was highly recommended by some friends.

I don't know why I didn't notice this at the time, but when I took a look at the book receipt I saw that I got a bigger discount than I should have. I had donated to the store's literacy fund by rounding out my charge and I wanted to see what I actually gave them -86cents- and realized that there were only four items on my receipt rather than five. I don't know how it happened, but the cashier didn't scan one of my books! It's far too late to do anything about it, I'm in a different city now, but I kind of feel bad about it. Once I get a job, I'll make amends somehow; maybe telling them I noticed the missing charge or donating the equivalent amount to their literacy fund. What do you think?

On Monday I read in my room since my dad was running more errands and no one is sure what mum did -even she doesn't know cuz I had asked her- until late afternoon. We had dinner and watched Day After Tomorrow... since it was my last meal that I didn't have to cook, I ate seconds of it PLUS I ate two pieces of lemon meringue pie. Oh, and I must have drank a litre or two of chocolate milk over the course of the day; there isn't any Reid's Dairy products in TO and I despise the brand they have up here. 

Dad pawned me off on my cousin who was also down for the weekend by calling up her family and asking if I could hitch a ride. It is somewhat embarrassing for him to do that and it was aggravating in that I had just bought a bunch of groceries which I no longer could take up with me. Dad won't loan me any of the coolers -he'd only be missing one for two weeks for frig's sake- and he wanted to stick my ice cream, chocolate milk, and other refrigerated/frozen foods into a cardboard box. Neither mum nor I thought that was a bright idea no matter how cold it is outside and so I had to leave everything at home... which was good because my cousin had the heater cranked in the car.  

Today we had design class, and it with another class we have a cross-over group assignment that we can work on in either class... but half the time I'm doing it by myself! Two of the other girls rarely show up to either of the classes since they start at 830am and they can't seem to get out of bed most days, while the last girl is usually doing other things and leaves it all to me. In a way it is annoying because they are going to get the mark for doing nothing, but I get to make all the decisions and I ensure that I get a good mark even though they are slacking. I send them gads of emails updating them on what I've done and what they have to do that I cannot do (ie write their articles for them).

We have a couple field trips coming up, one this week and one next week which will hopefully be interesting. I also have to get my resume sent off for an internship *fingers crossed* I get in where I want to! Plus I have a few assignments I have to get done -erm, started- and editing for the OTD mag, as well as this month's writing critique group stuff to finish up. I definitely bit off more than I can chew this semester *wince*  

SUMR

Hey Luvies, 

It's that time of year again! Yep, the day when I post gads of online images for the romantic and the anti-commercialists.  

For the couples out there: 

For the notsomuch: 

Don't forget to check out my article for On The Danforth about what to get your girl for Valentine's Day! (and please leave a comment so I have some :-p)

SUMR

Hey luvies, 

I have time to write today because I'm home sick. I slept for ten hours! I can't say "straight" because my cough kept waking me up all night. I managed to acquire a rather nasty cold that caused me to sleep through my first class and I don't feel up to going to the next two classes (one of which has already started). I've been super busy lately with school and assignments, writing and editing for On The Danforth Magazine, writing and running Single Femmes magazine (technically a class assignment), but also with the book blogger crew who have me going to thrice weekly chats, running my own book blog, and co-founding a writing group. Perhaps I am doing too much and this is why I am so run down...

Yesterday, we had a seriously boring class that I had to fight to stay awake in. I wasn't feeling well since Tuesday and shouldn't have bothered to go yesterday then maybe I could have handled today *shrug* Had I not been there I may have missed the drama! At the beginning of class E told us about how she got a concussion on saturday. Turns out E was drinking a bit and decided to have a high kick competition with her friend. E jumped and kicked, slipped in her sock feet on the kitchen tiles and banged her head. She never lost consciousness but had a huge bump on her head that bled a little. She also got sick, but just once. She thinks this may have been due to the dinner her friend made her eat: pancakes died blue and covered with chocolate sauce. 

The cutie in the class was sitting behind us and said he had high-kick competitions with his friends before. Only when he did it, he slipped on the linoleum and crashed through one of those trapdoors that are in the floor behind him. The door broke and he really did get a concussion. He's had a fair few before from playing hockey. 

Towards the end of class a girl passed out. I missed part of it because the girl who passed out was two rows ahead of me and therefore other people were blocking my view. She came to a few moments later and was very pale and had a stomach ache and was rather dizzy. The prof thought it might be the flu as her own mother had similar symptoms. We got let out early and the girl was driven to the clinic. I fb messaged her to ask how she was doing and she said that it might have been caused by something she ate. 

Anyhoo, I best get to work on some of my assignments and maybe finish touching up my resume as I have to start applying for internships. Other classmates already have their set up so I'm freaking out! So check out my article for valentines day with On The Danforth and keep an eye on Single Femmes as I will have a few more articles going up there as well! 

SUMR

This is my novel... Not as in I am published or anything, I can only wish! More of a I-had-to-design-a-book-jacket-for-a-school-assignment-so-I-figured-why-not-use-the-story-that-I'm-currently-writing type of book. The genre is a YA Fantasy and I spent probably ten to twenty hours on it (Photoshop and InDesign hate me) because it is worth 25% of my grade. 

SUMR

AAAAARRRGGGGGHHHHH... and not that was not a pirate growl. 

I am just so aggravated right now! For the OTD online, mag articles are to be in to the section editors by monday and to me by wednesday so the editor-in-chief can give them a final once over thursday morning. But here I am having just finished editing all the pieces even though only two of the five section editors email me to say their articles were ready for editing... 

Even then, when the one editor emailed me to say her article by so-and-so was ready for editing, she hadn't even started editing the second one for her section (and yes, each section can have more than one article per issue). The editors generally have Monday afternoon and all of Tuesday to edit, so why the heck do they not edit the articles until Wednesday evening??? 

This means that i have to constantly check my computer to see if their edits have been done, and doing this from 3pm until 11pm is NOT FRIGGEN FUN! I am usually really tired on wednesday for some reason and forcing myself to stay away while attempting to find minuscule errors is really, really hard. Considering I have only gotten twelve hours of sleep in the last three days, I am kind of running on empty. 

I am so blurry-eyed and out of it that I ended up editing an article by the one person who always does email me to say she's done, before she had even got to it. We have another editor a similar name who sent me two messages, one for each article, but I mistook it as an email from each of them. The other two girls don't usually email me at all which really ticks me off so I just assume that by 9pm they're done and if not, well screw them cuz I'm not waiting up any longer. 

Anyhoo, I had just finished editing and went onto facebook to get i.m. yelled at by one of the section editors... I copied the conversation below. The funniest part is that this is one of the mean girls, and in the end she sounded nice. I almost wonder though if it was a fake nice because she has never been all that nice.... 

E: it's been edited when i email you saying it's been edited, isn't that the deal?

me: its supposed to be and you're about the only one who does. for some reason i thought you had, but i went back and it was actually e twice.

E: that's strange 'cause it's tagged as health and wellness. too bad she's not online so I can't yell at her

me: don't yell at her, i should have paid more attention. i don't think i even touched the substantive part of things anyways, just a few spelling errors so you may still have work to do

E:okay thanks. in the future, I'll always email you when I'm done with an article and if no one else is doing that then you should give them shit 'cause that must be really annoying for you

me: it is slightly aggravating having to stay up late and keep checking it all night. I love how you're usually the first to send me an email. i guess that is why i thought it was yours and i wasn't looking at the name close enough. i'll make sure to double check the name from now on and definitely wait for your email.

me: what would be even better is everyone could be done by dinnertime on wednesdays! i'm completely exhausted and probably miss more when i'm this tired.

E:That would be ideal

me: i know you have to work a lot, but doing everyones after 9pm can suck

E:Maybe mention that to jill? if their articles are due on the Sunday, maybe we could make our edits due tuesday night so you have a full day to check them? I wouldn't have a problem with that

me: i'll mention it again yes. and i may even start begging at the next meeting LOL

SUMR

And so another week has passed and i hadn't written like i planned BAH!

I may have mentioned that last friday I joined a book chat on a whim and ended up talking to four authors! I thought that was pretty awesome The book bloggers have chats two or three times a week and that is where I've been spending most of my time; as in hours upon hours! I had fun on Monday's chat and stayed up a little too late since Tuesday's class starts at 8:30am. Thankfully, Tuesday is design and we're working on creating book covers.

I had four ideas to work with, since I had four writing work-in-progress manuscripts, so I went with those. I admit I haven't worked on any of them in over a year but I haven't felt inclined to write lately (as I'm sure you can tell by my posts). It was easier for me because of those story ideas; the girl next to me left class to get her OSAP dealt with because she couldn't think of anything. She said she could think as well in the osap line up as she could in class. 

My book cover shows a girl from the waist down sitting on a crate. She is wearing a fluffy pink, purple, and blue cancan-girl type layered skirt and holding a star-wand (i found it on the internet). I made everything in the picture black and white except the girl. Under the girl's stockinged feet I'm going to put the title "School of Enchantment" as the book is about a school for fairy tale characters, sort of Harry Potteresque. 

Wednesday I had a late class and while I was walking to school I slipped and fell on the ice. My feet flew out from under me and I landed directly on my tailbone with my legs bent to the side a la ballet-style sitting. You know when you have both your legs wrapped semi-around your body with the outside of your leg on the ground? Like that. How they got in that position from walking is beyond me. On the positive side, I was glad not to have landed on my back because my laptop was in my knapsack (btw, what the heck is a knap???). 

It hurt so incredibly badly that I literally couldn't move. My head was saying "get up get up! you're going to get all wet" but my body wasn't budging. The worst part is that there were three other people on the street and not one of them so much as asked if I was okay, let alone offered to help me up. 

I contemplated turning around and going back to the apartment, but I went to class instead. I shoulda gone home. I was in such pain during class that I couldn't concentrate and got nothing out of the lecture. I ended up leaving a bit early, I took ibuprofen and put ice on my lower back/tailbone. 

I hardly got any sleep that night so I skipped my first class to get some rest. I did wake up with enough time to get ready for my second class but the moment I bent over to pick up my boots I nearly cried. It hurt so much more friggen bad than it had been up until that point. Needless to say, I stayed home for the day. I have no idea what I did most of the day, I think I even spent a couple hours staring into space with an icepack on my butt. 

There was another book blogger chat in the evening so I went to that. It was fun even though I had to keep adjusting my position because I start to hurt more when I stay still. It was fun and I got to talk to more authors, a couple were the same as Monday but also a new one. I didn't end up getting around to my homework due on friday until after 8pm but I wasn't expecting it to take as long as it did. I was up until after two in the friken morning!  

Thankfully, friday's class was bumped back an hour so I got enough sleep to function. I contemplated skipping class because I did still hurt but it was the pubfight auction. Our class is doing a game where we pretend to be publishing companies and we have to "buy" ten books for our list, print them, and see how well they sell. at first one of my group mates told me to just check out the juvenile books but later she said everyone was looking at all three sections (others being fiction and nonfiction). when i arrived at school with my choices i found out that the others only focused on one section so i stayed up hours later for nothing. 

i was glad i went to school though because pubfight was fun. i didn't have much say in most of the books but i did convince my group to bid for "Catching Fire". you may have heard of this book, it is the second in the series called "Hunger Games" and the third book is called "Mockingjay". Needless to say, the book is BIG! thankfully no one else in the class did much research on the juvie books and we got it for under $20 000. That may sound like a lot of money, but one of the other books in our class -The Lost Symbol, i believe- went for over $50 000 in my section and in the course's other section it went for nearly $100 000! 

After the auction a girl in my class and I walked down to the library. I had some books on hold and it was the last day i could get them (i obviously wasn't able to go on wed or thurs!). it hurt a little bit but Sangita was okay with the speed i could walk and the talking kept my mind off my tailbone and back. i had a lot more books waiting than i thought and just walking from the library to the corner -which is only two buildings- i was starting to be pained.

i decided to take the ttc back to the apartment, spending nearly three bucks on two subways stops and three or four bus stops. i figure it was worth not aggravating my injury further by walking but i hated using the idea of spending so much as the three bucks on something i shouldn't have needed to. i guess i'm a bit paranoid about funds right now but can't be bothered to actually go out and get a job *sigh*

friday was another blogger chat and i joined in again. the people on there are sooo much fun and its not like i'm making many actual friends here in TO. my classmates are -for the most part- nice enough, but they never invite me to do stuff with them. so i talked to the bloggers from 5:30 until 10pm when i went on a facebook "party" that was having a contest to win a kobo. there were some lesser prizes of books but i didn't win anything. a couple of the book bloggers also transfered over to the party and both of them won books *sigh* Patrick said he would try to get the author to send a signed book or two my way and Stacey said she would mail her books to me after she's read them  

Now, I have discovered that facebook parties are vastly annoying. You have to keep refreshing your screen because people comment on the posts the author puts up. It didn't help that my computer would freeze every time i refreshed my screen! thankfully my computer didn't crash until about five minutes after the party ended.  

i got my computer up and running again and went back to the book blogger chat that i had been checking on during the fb party. another author was there, different from the two from earlier, but an author that had been on earlier this week. we were all on line for another three hours or so and had such a blast! i didn't understand some of what they talked about since the conversation got away from books and onto SNL skits. They sent me links to watch and I now know why there is always a van -which is by the river- and what the big deal is about needing more cowbell  

Jennifer -the author- made a "contest" where she gave hints about a SNL skit and if someone could guess what it was, she was going to send everyone an Advanced Reader Copy of her debut novel. Thankfully there is an SNL junkie in the group and so now all five of us are getting ARCs! Even me though I dont yet have a book blog. Later we got into talking about people who have no common sense (i think this came from a character who was an idiot in some book i hadn't read yet), and someone said that her husband who is a cop stuck a screwdriver in an electric socket. 

Naturally i had to tell everyone about my attempting to take the G1. after explaining how ontario driver's license testing works to the clueless americans, i mentioned that i had been told that someone said to me that all you need is common sense for the test and how my dad looked at me and said "you'll never pass". the bloggers thought this was funny in itself, but i had more to the story. 

i remembered one of the questions on the written test because the answer i wanted to put, i knew wasn't what they believed to be the correct answer. the question went something like this:
What should you never put in the back of a trailer hitched to your car?
A. (some inanimate object)
B. a dog
C. a child

The correct answer was a child, but, to me, you don't put your pet there. A kid at least has fingers and can hold onto something but dogs have paws, not opposable thumbs! A poor puppy would be skidding around on the floor while a kid would probably just think it as fun as a carnival ride. Anyway Jennifer laughed so freaking hard that she put LMAO three times and told me she was going to figure out a way to put that situation in her novel

So decided that i should start a book review blog of my own. i figure that it would look good to have one when trying to get a job and if you keep it up and have a lot of views, publishing companies may start giving you free ARCs! I know that once I am in the publishing company, it is possible that i'd get free books anyways but what if i dont get a job right away? or what if no one offers me all the books that i'm dying to read?  i'm thinking ahead here!  I've also joined a writing group made up of ten of the book bloggers which i figured would look good as well. i figure that wont be too tough to keep up since we're only reviewing one chapter a month from everybody (Carissa wanted every week and i told her she was nuts!). when i get it set up i'll let y'all know so you can boost my site views, and, hey, maybe you'll like it *shrug* 

honestly though, i'm going to need to figure out a way to manage my time better. i haven't read a book in two days which is really really bad of me, i just have a hard time getting off the chat with everyone and end up talking for hours upon hours. other people pop on and off but i stay for the long haul and i've got to stop. I have classes,  my school assignments, the OTD magazine, I have the writing group, I have to read, and then write reviews for a book blog. I wanted to exercise more but no matter how much or little I have to do, that was unlikely to happen.

I don't want to stop writing here though, no worries there cuz i'm not leaving, but I know I've already been lax and so I might only manage once a week. I think I would only post one book a week on the book blog too, maybe two? Just until I figure out how to manage everything. I will also have to keep up a twitter and facebook presence to try to gain a platform for my book blog so people will want to read it and that also means going to other book blogs, reading and commenting on them. And because this semester is shorter all our classes and assignments are going to be more intense.

Am i biting off more than I can chew???

SUMR