Personal Update :)

So yesterday was another orientation specific to med students, I got to see a couple of my friends from school, about 10 of my friends from various schools and summer courses were accepted (what can I say, its a small country :P) It was really fun! We got little folders with a vocab book with medical terminology and a little dangly thing that says "I'm a Dr." that you hang from the rearview mirror on a car (not that I have one, I'm hanging it on the wall facing my bed so I can stare at it before sleeping :P) I'm super excited!!!

We're a week into Ramadan, school starts a week after it ends so I'm anxiously awaiting that! I'm a nerd, yeah, but thats what 4 months of summer will do to you...we've been on vacation since the end of may and won't start school till the end of september :( too big of a gap.

Stanza for iphone is an app that lets you read your ebooks in various formats on you iphone or (as in my case) ipod touch. Most of the books I read are e-books simply because a) i'm not allowed to order books online and b) there is no other way to buy newly released books here other than online :( so I usually go for e-books wherever I can get them. I used to read them on my old PSP (years and years ago..ah, the memories), had a phase where I printed them out (4 pt font with 6 columns on landscape mode...teeny weeny font, but a whole novel on only 8 sheets of paper front and back!) Now I alternate between reading on my Blackberry and my ipod. I usually go for my BB because its easier, even though the font is horrific and the screen only fits four lines of text at a time because it was so time consuming just to upload books to my ipod and it was tricky trying to save your place if you took a break. With Stanza, however, its so much easier and more organized. You can adjust your viewing mode and change text size, screen brightness and background color with a tap of a fingertip! You can bookmark your favorite passages and annotate or comment, and even buy ebooks directly from the app! I just thought this app was awesome and wanted to share it with you guys :)

Also I've updated my shelfari to be read shelf because it had too many books that were unavailable in ebook format and are nigh on impossible for me to get in the foreseeable future :( oh, well.

On another completely unrelated note, I've been experimenting with skincare products this week, having a lot of fun :) I've always thought that I have oily skin but it turns out I have combination! Now that I know what type I am, its alot easier to get proper products and I've been getting clearer skin! Being as over-excitable as I am, I've overdone the scrubbing and soaps and now have (for the first time in my life, may I add) three dry spots on my face! But I've managed to get excited about that as well :P it beats having pimples!

Well thats all thats going on with me! Hope you guys have a great week end!

Ever yours~

The Know-it-all

BookSneeze?

While I was hopping away last friday I saw a little bumper sticker thing in the sidebar of one of the blogs I visited, it looked pretty cool so I clicked. It turned out to be about this website for book bloggers where they give you free books just so you'll review them! I think this is really cool, not sure exactly how it works yet but I'm interested. Lol, I havent done that many reviews yet so I think I'll wait till I have a little collection of book reviews to call my own before signing up. I'm starting "Graceling" which is supposed to be a really great novel. Its part of a series as I understand it but I'm not sure how many books are in the series. Seems like just the kind of book I'd love! I'm pretty optimistic about my review of this one! Posting Hush, Hush review tomorrow, hopefully so look out for that :)

Also, I added a little countdown (at the bottom of the page) for the release of Mockingjay thanks to the lovely Len of Musings of a Reader Happy so thanks! :)

August is passing by so quickly don;t you think? I mean it seems like it only just started! Only 7 days left till Mockingjay is out! Can't wait!

Heroes and other Summer Activities

Hey guys! I've spent the last three or four days watching the show Heroes like a maniac..finished seasons one and two now..just waiting for season three to finish downloading so that I can continue my Heroes marathon. Its such an awesome show don't you think? I had never heard of half of the actors and actresses in it but they're all amazing! I'm really into shows like House and CSI and Numbers..where there's some sort of mystery that they figure out at the end of each episode but Heroes mashes them all together and adds super powers to the mix! Plus there's a background story going on and it takes them longer to figure out each mystery. The Ultimate show in my opinion, especially with Peter Petrelli in it (Milo Ventimiglia) he is HOT! Some character just make the show, you know, I think the main characters that do that here are Claire Bennet (Hayden Pantierre) and Peter Petrelli. He's her uncle in the show but apparently they dated for two years in real life..not sure whether thats kinda weird or not especially since he's about 10 years older than her..Gonna keep watching..I heard the show got cancelled but its halfway through season four right now so I still have alot of episodes to look forward to.

Also about the HP 7 days challenge..I kinda put that on hold. I finished the first three books on time but then I just could not pick up the fourth one..I would never have thought this possible, but it does get pretty boring reading non-stop..

Anyways, i have started reading Hush, Hush which seems pretty cool so far..gonna review that soon. Going to get my Uni schedule on wednesday, which is coincidentally the first day of Ramadan, kinda looking forward to losing weight from that, esp. just before starting school. Great timing I think :)

Ever Yours~

The Know-it-all

University Orientation!

Today was my first day at university (not including going to fill out the application) in which I actually went there and got a brief little introduction the the school rules and the basics and stuff. I am still super excited and getting a kind of tomorrow's-the-first-day-of-school feeling already, even though I've got nearly two full months before I have to start. They gave us little "new student" kits with booklets and mugs and pens with the uni's logo on them, there's even a little bumper sticker (bummer, I can't drive for another year and a half). After the general intro lecture they separated us into groups in different halls depending on major. We got to talk about everything, the girls in 4th to 6th years med were there to explain, there was even one who had just graduated! Excited!!! Going there again this week and next, first for a face to face orientation-ey thing, also for questions and for helping me organize my schedule, then again next week to finalize everything and get my schedule with all the details and a full tour of the campus. So, yeah! I'm really supremely excited about everything and I'm wishing (for the first time I can remember) that summer would finish already!! I wanna get started!

Ever yours~

The Know-it-all

News

Okay, so the other day I went to my orthodontist to check about the retainer thing and he said I didnt need to force the old one in, so he made me a new one that'll move my front teethback and hurt alot less :P so I've been wearing that for a week now :)

Also, I still haven't gotten around to reading Hush, Hush yet (I'm planning to read it next), although I did read "Daughter of egypt" a romance set in rome/egypt/atlantis in the time of Cleopatra.It was nice enough I suppose but I don't like books set that far back in time..the farthest I'd go is about 1400's..no farther than that. The story is nice in its variety, I like how it isn't focused on the romance, Its got a lot of action and drama too..still my fave combination is comedy and romance for light reading so this isn't one of my favorites..

Anyways, moving on to what I've been doing :) So I had a post a couple of days ago about the art course I'm taking, I've advanced, moving through the sketches and shading all the way to oil painting. I just finished my first painting and I wanted to share! So here's a pic of my painting, It's really tiny, for a painting, about the size of a postcard, a little bigger maybe but still smaller than an a4 paper.

I just realized the camera flipped it, the apple is actually on the left. Oh, well :)

On another note, I got some very good news yesterday! After waiting, in suspense, for a whole month I have finally gotten word back from the university I applied to! I got into med school!!!!! I'm so happy! School doesn't start till the end of september so I've got another two months of summer to fill up :)

Ever yours~

The Know-it-all

Harry Potter: 7 Books 7 Days Challenge

I am a serious HP fangirl, I've been reading and re-reading the series since I was seven and I've read all of the other books J.K.Rowling wrote, but I haven't read anything HP related since Deathly Hallows came out, I read it the day I got it, then re-read a couple of months later, but I haven't re-read the first five books since I was about 10, so when I heard about the 7 books 7 days challenge I immediately joined in! The idea is pretty obvious from the title I think, there are seven books in HP and you have seven days to finish reading them, you can do one a day or you can finish the first three books quickly and leave more time for the longer ones. It starts at 12 midnight on august first, wish you all luck if you decide to join in!

Whoot!

I'm super excited this week because I start my new painting and drawing summer course! It's really cool! You go in for 3 hours a session and learn how to draw professionally :D I've already gone to the first session, which was really fun, a bit backbreaking though, since I tend to crouch over the drawing pad :P Here's a couple of drawing I did that session:

I'm a long way from Picasso but I'm so proud that they're all identical to the actual pictures the teach made us copy. We had to measure the pictures we were copying with the end of the pencil :P very time consuming but the end effect is pretty cool! I know the pics aren't that clear, the teacher wouldn't let us use a lot of pressure (AKA barely any)..so these look nearly that faint in real life too, it's also partly because I took the pics with my webcam, which makes them seem even fainter than they actually are.

On another note, I finished reading the last book of The Gallaghers of Ardmore trilogy which was pretty nice! The ending was a bit too short but still very cute. To be perfectly honest the main characters in this book, Darcy and Trevor, were the least likeable of the Gallagher gang..but thats a good thing I think, since it makes them seem more real and less Mary-Sue-ish. The characters with the least personality and the most perfection were Aidan and Jude, the first novel...I don't like perfect characters, and these had barely any problems that anyone can relate to (there were some, but most of the time..not). My absolute favorite set were Shawn and Brenna (book 2), they were just so CUTE! And they actually behave and talk like real people and they were still very likeable.

Anyways, I'm starting Hush, Hush now..which is supposed to be a very good book, I really hope it is..I don't always like this type of book..since it has to do with angels and probably mentions death somewhere in the novel...well I'll start tonight and we'll see if its good :)

Ever yours~

The Know-it-all

Operation Get my Retainer to fit again!

I took off my braces a couple of years ago and got a retainer..which I wore for about a week and promptly discarded because it made me talk weird and drooly and gross. its been about two years since I dumped it in a drawer somewhere and forgot about it..now my friend is getting braces and was asking for advice, when she should get them, whether they hurt, etc. and was surprised when I spoke up, because she couldn't tell that I'd had braces. :( as in my teeth had obvious spaces and my front teeth were obviously trying to fly away.

My teeth have moved a bit, not that much, and they're no where near as bad as they looked before..but it got me thinking, I've got a whole summer ahead, and lots of alone time stuck at home, so why not try to make my retainer a habit again? It hasn't fit for most of the time it's been lost, so I googled "how to make my retainer fit again" and discovered that it is, in fact, possible, if you don't mind the pain, which I don't really mind, teeth-wise. As long as I can force the thing in, it'll start to do it's job. But my front teeth have moved forward a bit, it fits in the back but the two front teeth are too far forward, I can sort of fit the wire over them and move it back, so there's pressure. I'm planning a step-by-step moulding of my teeth, first, I'll keep trying to push the front teeth back, then see if it actually fits when they're close enough, even tightly, and then continue wearing it in 30 minute intervals until my teeth move back...I just hope this works!

I'm still alive

I know I havent posted in a loooooong time. I've just been busy with school and whatnot. I'm going to be a senior soon and I've had loads of work to do! whew I have barely had time to breathe this summer let alone time to sit around on the computer. In general I'm not a very active person, most of my favorite activities involve sitting around, but I've been forced to change all that this summer. My mom enrolled me into 5 summer-camp-like things and a part-time job so for the past two months i've been running non-stop.

For the past month and a half I've been working at the local scientific research centre as an assistant sort of thing. Its almost like school, theres a bunch of us high-schoolers going there and we spend our lunch whining and talking and gossiping about the proffessors there. Most of the time though, we're running around the lab trying to get everything up to par for the guy in charge of us.

I'm also doing a Crocheting course, its nice to learn new things. So mornings i'm at the research centre and afternoons I'm at the crochet course and nights I'm reading or baking or something..usually i fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow...I don't know exactly when I'll be able to blog steadily but I hope its sometime soon!

Ever yours ~

The Know-it-all