Today…
Breathe deep. Talk slow.
Walk soft. Let go.
Give big. Take less.
Don't count. Just guess.
Act fair. Think long.
Laugh loud. Sing strong.
Plan bold. Dream far.
Feel loved. You are.

Always,

Nina xx

(I wish I had written this. So simple. So beautiful.)

My goals for this weekend:

- Catch up on my coursework (I'm about two weeks behind in most of my courses because volunteering at the hospital has forced me to miss a crapload of lectures;

- Buy a plane ticket;

- Learn two Laura Marling songs (Ghosts and My Manic and I) on my guitar (I was reading the tabs the other night when I should have been studying, and they look manageable, even for me!);

- Crochet a nifty-looking cardigan;

- Clean up all the litter, cigarette butts, and other nasty things appearing in the parks now that the snowbanks are finally melting;

- Create a species of unicorn by splicing horse and narwhal genes;

- Fashion a time machine out of duct tape, coat hangers, and my old Nintendo (NES) system and travel around through the decades, collecting vintage clothing and chatting with influential historical figures;

- Sleep.

Always,

Nina xx

Anyhoo--I'm pretty sure that everyone has noticed the nifty little lightswitch at the top of our TV.com webpage. I strongly suggest that everyone switch their pages to the "dark" settiing--and not only for aesthetic reasons.

Darker screen backgrounds also use less energy than white screens. To give you an idea as to how much energy is being wasted, just two Google searches uses enough energy to boil a cup of tea.

Speaking of Google, there's a search engine called Blackle that attempts to remedy this wasteful issue. Check it out!

It's sustainability week at my uni right now, so I'm learning all sorts of fun stuff.

Give the Earth a hug today!

Always,

Nina xx

P.S. Check out the songs "Carolina" and "Vincent O'Brien" by M. Ward. S'good stuff.

I am now a Church Lady, finally, after what felt like eternity at 98% on Ginsu Knife!

I've also been poking away at photoshop, trying to make some XF banners. I should have some up, soon.

Always,

Nina xx

I'm obsessed with cryptograms. I have a whole book of them, but this particular one has been giving me troubles:

HCTK JCXV RCYJBEGUTH UT QWCQGW ALC XEBK AJUKW UBKWJPUWAUBI QWCQGW ALC XEBK KEGV SCJ QWCQGW ALC XEBK JWEZ

- SJEBV OEQQE

It shouldn't be so difficult, because there are a lot of repeated words. Cookie and perhaps a custom fanart for whoever can get it!

How they work:

Each letter represents a different letter in the alphabet, that's it. There is no pattern. For example:

BLOFDT IKF HWLOOG =

MULDER AND SCULLY

Happy decoding!

Always,

Nina xx

For the first time since joining TV.com, I'm changing my display icon! Now, I'm very resistant to change, which is why I kept that Freaks and Geeks one up for so long (Oh, in case any one ever wondered, it was Lindsay Weir (Linda Cardellini) from Freaks and Geeks)...but when I made this icon the colouring was just so gosh-darned pretty that I had to show it off!

Ten points, a hug, and a cookie to whoever can guess who it is in my icon.

Love always,

Nina xx

[Oh, and this may or may not be my fiftieth blog entry. If it is, then Hurray! Maybe now I'll finally get one of those little journal-y badges in my emblem square thinger...!]

I don't know why, but I have been watching way too many movies lately. Since I got back to school after the holidays (two weeks ago), I've watched:

1. Mad Money

2. Phoebe in Wonderland

3. Ginger Snaps

4. Ginger Snaps: Unleashed

5. Benny & Joon

6. Transporter 3

7. Shrek 2

8. X-Men 3: The Last Stand

9. Yes Man

10. Winter Passing

11. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

12. Tin Man (this one is actually a miniseries, and it took me all freakin' day to watch it because megavideo only allows for you to watch 72 minutes of video with 54 minute breaks in-between. Boo.)

13. Star Wars: Episode V

14. Star Wars: Episode VI

15. Have Dreams, Will Travel

16. Speed

...And some TV movies with titles that I cannot remember.

...And I'm about to watch another one, as soon as I decide.

[Edit: I'm watching "All the Real Girls"]

Seriously. That averages over a movie per day. Maybe my brain will melt soon.

On another note, I found my cryptogram book in a drawer the other day and started solving puzzles again. I love it.

Sorry for the pointless blog; I just really enjoy making lists.

Always,

Nina xx

So, my grades for first term are finally in, and I'm super happy with them!

Medical Anthropology: 82

Food and Disease Prevention: 86

Biological Aspects of Human Sexuality: 78

Studies in Gothic Literature: 83

Plus, I got a 74% on my microbiology midterm (not as good as I'd hoped, but I can bump it up this semester, at least).

This brings my cumulative average to a grand total of 79.04-- that much closer to my goal of + 80!! Hurray!

Party time? I think so (and by 'party' I unfortunately mean cracking open my organic chemistry textbook so that I can actually get that 80 that I so want; maybe I'll put on a party hat while I study. That sounds like a good time!).

Always,

Nina xx

Some random pics from our final tech dress rehearsal last week for Romeo and Juliet.

Random tableau

Benvoli(a), Romeo, and Pia (Me)

Not a very good capture, but a ghouls haunting Juliet as she takes Friar Laurence's potion (I have to fall off the back of the riser on purpose during this scene so that I can scurry covertly offstage and be ready in time for my next cue)

And the very end of the show

Always,

Nina xx

Those were the exact words that I shouted when I got home from Romeo and Juliet rehearsals about an hour ago (a little after 10 pm).

We just had our first real snow of the year and about half a foot fell today (and it's still snowing!!). I love it.

One of my roommates agreed to come outside, and we made snowangels and snowturtles (the snow wasn't sticky, so all we could manage were these little mounds...).

It was super fun! How I love winter!!

Now it's time for hot chocolate and Bones!

Always,

Nina xx

PS: Our first public performance of R+J is tomorrow! Oooooooh...

Level 15! Whoot-whoot!

Anyone happen to know what show/other TV-related thing the ginsu knife represents? I have no idea...

Always,

Nina xx

The word "horror" bothers me intensely. Whenever I say it, it sounds like I'm saying "wh*re". Hmm...

That's it! How's that for an intensely stimulating blog entry?

Always,

Nina xx

Ais has tagged me...sooo, five things you don't know about me? This could be tricky, considering I tell people pretty much everything there is to know.

Here goes:

1. For some reason, when I walk with a person, or a group of people, I can never walk in front of them, only beside or behind...It makes me uncomfortable to walk ahead of others.

2. When I'm thinking something rude or just plain not-nice about someone nearby, I stare at them and try to gauge their reactions to see if they heard my thoughts...Then I try to think up a huge scramble of thoughts to confuse them...Yeah, that's weird, I know.

3. When I'm with just one friend, I tend to be the crazy/hyper/outgoing one, but in a group, I hang back and become very, very quiet.

4. Just yesterday I figured out how to put hairclips in my hair so that they wouldn't fall out. It was honestly my greatest accomplishment ever.

5. When I run, I run like Phoebe from Friends. Youtube it if you're not familiar.

Why, I do a big pile of nothing of course!

Icon mini-dump! All Bones/Emily Deschanel stuff--sorry, guys.

I also drew this nifty giraffe with a lampshade on its head during microbiology lectures:

Hmm...?

And these are in my Romeo and Juliet script (rehearsals can be dull sometimes, too):

...I should scan them sometime; the picture quality isn't very good...

Flower

Sideways

Wasp and cup

Flower tears (sorry--it's so blurry!)

Boo.

Owl

Songbird

Doubly left-handed witch

*shrugs* Nothing special, but I do hope you enjoy them nonetheless!

Always,

Nina xx

I'm going home today for my reading week, and I just thought that I'd be letting everyone know...

There's a long story behind it that I don't really want to get into, but I no longer have internet or even a phone number at home, so I won't coming online to post on TV.com again until next week. I will, however, be taking my laptop to the library to access their wireless internet, since I have a lot of internet-based assignments to complete this week...SO if anyone needs to get in touch with me, do it via hotmail (or Facebook if you don't have my e-mail address) and I will respond when I manage to get online!

Also, Pi: I will definitely have my part in, probably on Wednesday, so don't worry.

Always,

Nina xx

Hello.

Okay, so...that's all.

Always,

Nina xx

So, I had a meeting with my academic advisor today, and what he said to me was:

My average is a flopping 78.429%, and he told me that I should get it at least to 80%, preferrably higher, if I want to have any real opportunities after I finish my degree. It sounds simple enough: improve my grade by 2% (not even 2%), but this is actually a cumulative average, so the further I progress through my program, the harder it is to improve what mark you have.

So, the point of this blog is that you'll be seeing a lot less of me online. I've been known to procrastinate on the forums and on Facebook and it's really been eating up time. Don't get me wrong--I'll still be on regularly enough, and I'll try to make it to chats, but this is the rest of my life that's at stake, and I don't want to miss my chances by < 2%

Blah.

(and Pi--Don't worry, I'll still be filming my part for Frankie's vid!)

Love always,

Nina xx

EDIT: So I went to the first meeting of the year of my uni's pre-medical society, and it was an affirmation of my mediocrity. The other members prattled on about how they'd interned at the medical school during the summer, or assisted at a clinic in Zimbabwe, or organized a fundraiser only to subsequentlly become board members for Red Cross or United Way...I worked at a chocolate store and visited Alzheimer, Dementia and stroke patients for a whole 6 hours a week. I kid you not, these elite people actually met that revelation of my summer pasttimes with blank stares and implied "That's it?"s. Fail.

So CTV (a Canadian television station) is holding a series of competitions involving their more popular series (Grey's Anatomy, CSI, Dancing with the Stars, Desperate Housewives, and ER).

The grand prize for the ER installment included a two-person trip to L.A. to visit the set and to attend the cast wrap party. I was pumped--I mean, ER was for me what X-Files is to me now (remember that I didn't 'discover' the X-Files until Summer 2007). I had a plan to win, and knew that it was VERY possible, no--PROBABLE, that I would win.

Turns out that the ER grand prize is the ONLY ONE that requires you to be 21 to enter. I can understand it, since there will be alcohol at the wrap party, but I was SO CLOSE! I am less than a year too young to enter!

!@#*...^@^&&...*@*&@ !!!!

I am so angry and disappointed and frustrated like you wouldn't believe. And I know that this chance will never come again because the series is in its final season...

Always,

Nina xx