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Welcome! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Welcome to my little Den! Here you'll find all sorts of things- mostly blog challenges, but mixed in, you'll notice: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Who has been the best friend you've had in life? Tell us the story of how you met. Are you still friends with them? If not, why? Owlz is definitely my best friend. ![]() ![]() Anyways, in 6th grade, we had this thing called A/B days, where you would have PE every other day, and an elective class during PE time on the days you didn’t have PE. There was this girl who was in my PE and elective class, and also in my 3rd period science class- I don’t remember how we ended up friends, but we did, and Owlz was also her friend. Owlz, as I mentioned, was in my math class, which was 4th period (how I remember these details, beats me ![]() As for Owlz, we were never super close until high school/after high school, I guess? I mean, we did group projects together for science in 7th grade- we had the same science class and therefore made some cell models together and she hosted sleepovers for our group, but I don’t remember being as close to her back then as I am now. We also carpooled in 9th grade when sis took 0 period Chinese at the rival high school across the hill and there were late starts on Wednesdays, which would leave me stranded at school for an hour or so while teachers had their meetings ![]() Post-(HS) graduation, she’s really the only friend I constantly keep in touch with- ironically, Sis didn’t like that first girl who introduced me to everyone else because she also had a younger who she found pretty annoying, and therefore, treated my sister similarly... now, though, she and sis are pretty close friends and I’ve lost contact with her. I tried to reconnect over Christmas since I’d just gotten back from Owlz’s and Sis has just gotten back from the girl’s place, but I don’t think the other girl was too interested in hanging because I invited her out 3 times, and got rejected all three times. ![]() I am definitely still friends with Owlz- I’m grateful for her friendship as well. She’s one of the few people who know how stuff works in my family and extended family/the religious org (Through explanation and just hanging out) and since she’s a MFT (Marriage/Family Therapy) person/intern/pre-professional/grad student, I can always rely on her when I want to talk/need to talk. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() So yeah, that’s pretty much the story of me and Owlz- from 6th grade through now. ![]() |
Write about a fear you experienced as a child that you have since overcome. My first reaction here is to say, "I wasn't actually scared of much as a child," because I really can't think of anything I was scared of. ![]() ![]() ![]() Other than that, yeah, I was a pretty outgoing and bold child. ![]() ![]() ![]() That also means that there isn't much to write about for this entry, unfortunately. ![]() ![]() |
Share three pieces of advice you’ve received through your life that you wish you had heard earlier. Y'all probably thought I gave up.... I almost did, considering my head hurt so much at one point when I was staring at a screen all day. But I've been better these past couple days so I thought I'd try catching up. ![]() So advice 1: To be actually good at anything, there are 3 factors- talent, passion, and some luck. For some people, talent is born. My cousin was born naturally talented at the piano. He has the passion for it. And luck comes in to play with biology- he has large hands to cover over an octave on the piano. ![]() ![]() She also had the talent and passion for tennis. Luck, not so much. Being Asian, we're not as long-limbed, so our reach isn't that far, which is definitely a detriment to her. ![]() ![]() ![]() In her freshman year of high school, Sis had to take PE Dance for half a year when her tennis was out of season. The teacher wrote in her yearbook, "you're a great athlete". Subliminal message: Stick to sports, not dance. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Advice 2: It's okay to use a knife and fork to eat everything. It's so much easier, and cleaner! ![]() Advice 3: Dreams may be far-fetched, but they're never dumb. This one is actually a lesson I learned from Jumpstart last year. Since day 1 of Hi-5's inception, I'd sworn up and down to myself that one day, that would be me up on that stage, performing with the cast- singing and dancing with little kids. In 6th grade computer class, I actually started looking into what it took to become an entertainment figure in Australia. I was dead-set on it! And since nothing else truly interested or excited me the way Hi-5 did, I always thought it'd be a natural choice for me to enter showbiz. ![]() ![]() So yeah, that kinda put a nix into my dreams of becoming the next Hi-5 cast member, but after doing Jumpstart, and figuring out what I was doing with my schooling and life and such, I realized I could take all this knowledge and experience and apply it in a different way- as an educational consultant. So after Jumpstart was over, I had said if I got the chance to become some sort of educational consultant for the show, OMG would I take it. ![]() For now, I'm teaching preschool and Mommy & Me music classes around the area, which, honestly, isn't too far of a grasp from what I was saying I would've liked to do for Hi-5. ![]() ![]() |
Write about some of the words that were introduced in the year you were born according to Merriam-Webster dictionary by referring to the website below: https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler Alrighty... I'll choose 1-2 words from each letter available here 10 words because that original plan is way too long. ![]() Asian Long-horned beetle- a large long-horned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) that is a serious pest of hardwood trees and is native to China and Korea and has been introduced into North America and Europe This one makes me wonder- were they not a thing before 1996, or whenever people started referencing to them as the "Asian Long-horned beetle"? ![]() ![]() Bioterror- The definition of "bioterror" is "Bioterrorism" ![]() Bioterrorism- terrorism using biological weapons This one I can see not being a thing until more recently, because science and technology and such would make chemicals and biological advancements and such more accessible? ![]() dragonfish- aka, Arowana Arowana- any of several large, tropical, chiefly carnivorous freshwater fish (family Osteoglossidae and especially genera Osteoglossum and Scleropages) of South America, southeastern Asia, Australia, and Africa that have large bony scales, a toothed tongue, and a large mouth with an oblique gape NOTE: Arowanas have a laterally compressed body and are typically silvery white, gold, red, or green. In the wild, some arowanas may reach a length of four feet (1.2 meters) or longer but are usually smaller when kept as aquarium fish. — called also bonytongue, dragonfish I'm going to guess here, that at some point before 1996, people saw this Arowana fish and went "hey, that fish looks like an Asian dragon!" and therefore, the name dragonfish was born. ![]() embiggen- I've never heard of this word before. ![]() ![]() ... and it turns out I'm right. ![]() ![]() endostatin- "Endo" means "in," I'm pretty sure. What "statin" means, though, is anyone's guess. But, given the "stat" in it, I'm going to guess this word means the "inside state of things" ![]() "a polypeptide that is a fragment of a collagen found especially in the epithelial basement membrane and that inhibits angiogenesis, tumor growth, and endothelial cell proliferation" ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() face-palm- ![]() Maybe people were starting to have less tolerance for others in the 1990s. ![]() fistbump- Funny, because this is pretty much the opposite reaction of a facepalm. ![]() kopiyka- Is this food? ![]() ![]() It is, apparently, not food. BUT it's money, which can buy food. ![]() a monetary subunit of the hryvnia The Hryvnia is Ukranian money, so I guess kopiykas would be the Ukranian equivalent of a US cent. ![]() new variant Creutzfelt-Jakob disease- I'm not sure I even want to know what this is. ![]() a fatal prion disease that is held to be a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease caused by the prion associated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy and contracted by consuming infected beef or beef products Great. A version of mad cow disease, I suppose. ![]() XML- I know ML is Markup Language, but what does the X stand for? ![]() Apparently, it's "extensible" a markup language with use and design similar to HTML but employing tags defined by the user that can be used to indicate both the logical structure and the display specifications of the coded data yoctosecond- I've never heard of the "yocto" prefix either. ![]() ![]() Annd it is one septillionth of a second. And apparently, in the US, that's 24 0s, but in the UK, it's 42. ![]() ![]() |
Complete the following statement: To achieve greatness, one must... These prompts are getting harder and harder to cohesively answer, Emily ![]() ![]() I suppose this sentence could go many ways.... persevere, for starters. Practice.Keep Trying, but that's kinda a combination of both. ![]() ![]() ![]() Persevere- Well, nobody ever got anywhere by doing nothing, right? ![]() ![]() ![]() Keep Trying- Remember those Magic Treehouse books? I read almost all of them as a kid, and I remember when Jack and Annie went back to the Civil War (I think!) and they were in those olllld one-room schoolhouses, and on the board, the teacher had written, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." ![]() ![]() ![]() Practice- Look at "persevere"- "nobody ever got anywhere by doing nothing". Need I say more? ![]() Take risks- because where would we be without them? ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Describe the earliest memory you have. All my "early" memories are memories where I know it was early, but I don't know how "early" they are because I obviously didn't quite have a sense of time or age when I was young. ![]() One memory I have in particular was learning how to get out of my playpen. ![]() ![]() ![]() Another early memory I have is of being at Grandfather's really big temple with Sis. This leads me to conclude that we were probably a fair bit older by then, since Grandfather was taking us out on trips and such. Sis was messing around on a disciple's computer- even back then, she was fairly naughty ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Those are my two earliest memories I can think of off the top of my head. I've watched baby videos of me and sis, and there's stuff in there I legit don't recall ever doing, and there's also stuff in there, when I think back, it's like, "hmm, maybe I did do that" ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Congratulations on making it halfway in this competition! It’s all smooth sailing from here ![]() Today, let’s talk movies. What was the most recent movie you watched? Have you been to the theater recently? What movie are you looking forward to? What is your favorite movie of all time Okay, that winking face makes me very weary of what's coming up in the future. ![]() Movies..... The most recent movie I've watched was First Wives Club on Amazon Prime- I watched it while having breakfast yesterday. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I also asked for movie recommendations on our WDC Discord server- my requirement was that it be something mindless, and Charlie ~ ![]() ![]() ![]() I have not been to the theater recently. I think my most recent in-theater movie was Long Shot because Mom wanted to watch it and we got discounted tickets through T-Mobile, so we were like, "why not?" ![]() ![]() I really, really wanted to watch Ugly Dolls but I couldn't find anyone to watch it with me and therefore I haven't seen it yet. :'-( I'm waiting for an online stream to pop up, but I guess it wasn't big enough to make it to those channels/sites so soon? I've been resorting to Google for those streams, because the site I used to use turned into a database for XGC stuff, which has also limited my ability to find legit streams of stuff I want to watch, unless it's a movie I've previously streamed before and wanted to stream again because I liked it that much (so far, only Descendants has made that list ![]() A movie I'm looking forward to is definitely Descendants 3. I actually originally wasn't that big a fan of the Descendants stuff- I saw the images and CD covers and went "why would they make something so dark?" I got really bored one night and decided to check out what the Descendants hype was all about, and watched the first movie, and man it was good. ![]() ![]() As for my favorite movie "of all time," I really can't say I have one. ![]() ![]() I got the account back in elementary school, and you can get tokens for playing certain games on their site- there was one game in particular where the number of points you earned equaled the number of tokens you got, so when I was in high school, I had a free period, and I spent most of the period on that game every other day, accumulating tokens and redeeming them for tickets. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] |
Describe a time when a personal failure became a positive experience. Easy-peasy. The thesis. ![]() ![]() Granted, I have the choice of delaying my graduation (yet again) to work with the professor and developing the thesis more to her standards, but I've already been accepted into a credential program for their fall intake, and well, chances are, the relationship between the professor and me would steadily grow downhill. ![]() ![]() Also, this sounds like a job interview question. ![]() Going back to the prompt- yeah, I went back to campus on Friday to help with orientation for first year Honors Humanities students, so while I was at it, I brought the Honors adviser some cookies as a thank you and followed up about her email that she never replied me (not necessarily in that order) ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The orientation itself also went really well- I was surprised at how well I could answer their questions and guide them/advise them on potential classes they could take. There's a Cantonese phrase that roughly translates to "Ask 10 questions, can't answer 9," and that was what I was expecting. Buuut it ended up being more general questions of tech support, helping out with various scheduling/class questions, and making sure the students enrolled for the correct classes! One class in particular is mandatory for all incoming humanities students, so there's probably 3-4 different lectures at different times and days.... and for this class, you're also required to sign up for a discussion- some students were trying to sign up for, say, lecture 1, but then a discussion from lecture 2, which isn't allowed. That seemed to be the most common problem I saw on Friday, I believe. I then got a lunch, free milk tea drink, and free ice cream dessert afterwards- Mom sent me link about a new ice cream place opening in the town center, so I went with an honors friend to investigate, since neither of us had heard (or seen) such a thing happening. Turns out it was in the next plaza over (about 2 blocks ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Yeah, so this thesis stuff did turn out to be a good thing. ![]() ![]() ![]() |
In the age of the internet, most everything we say and do online will be preserved forever. Even though our opinions, beliefs, and actions change over time, should we still be held accountable for our words, even words spoken or written years ago? Yes, yes, yes and 100 times yes over again. ![]() It's a bit of a pet peeve of mine when people aren't held accountable for their words. ![]() ![]() ![]() However, I will challenge this "words spoken years ago" part, because who remembers what someone said 10 years ago? ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I want to say that, as people age and experience more in life, there eventually becomes this world of difference between who they are and who they were. There were real-life best friends I eventually outgrew, because I realized their priorities and mine were too different. They wanted to be in the popular crowd, who, at our elementary school, happened to be the theater kids. I was not a theater kid, nor was I ever a Girl Scout, or really involved in any of the extracurriculars she participated in, and eventually, I think that difference kinda drove a wedge between us. When I got to middle school, I started actively trying to make new friends- one of whom ended up being shadowfanglerz and one of my closest friends today. ![]() Going back to the topic, though, I think it's perfectly okay to change your opinion. Everyone does it. It's a natural process of human thought, I'd argue. ![]() This could actually get quite philosophical because it's reminding me of my second year in the honors program and taking classes on The Philosophy on Science (which I found boring but is now sorta interesting, in the light of this prompt ![]() ![]() |
Have fun answering these “Would you Rather?” questions in your blog today! You can choose to answer as few or as many as you like ![]() Would you rather live a boring, long life or an exciting, short life? Probably a boring, long one, because life's what you make of it. ![]() ![]() Would you rather be able to fly or teleport? I would rather teleport, just because it's faster than flying and essentially does the same thing. ![]() Would you rather be able to only time travel to the past or only time travel to the future? I would probably time travel to the future, because there is the issue of "what happens if I accidentally change something in the past?" That affects everything that happened between what you accidentally changed and your current time, and might really mess up the time-space continuum. ![]() Would you rather lose your hearing or your sight? Neither, but if I had to lose one, I suppose my hearing? Like, there's sign language to kinda compensate for that, but for sight, I mean, yes, there's Braille, but there's also so much else you can't do. I feel like being blind limits you more than if you were deaf. Would you rather live the rest of your life as a cat or a dog? Cat. I can now say I'm neither a cat nor dog person- I love like both. Buuut, I would rather be a cat for the reason of being able to scratch people and get away with it. ![]() ![]() |