Wheeling

I finally got my bike fixed up a while ago. I think it was supposed to be part of my birthday present.
I started riding it a couple months ago. Not much, but some.
Then my friends conspired to get me to watch the anime Yowamushi Pedal(I like the quiet guy and his friend. They're psychic. ^-^ ).
It was awesome timing, because it made me really excited about biking.
I'd been wanting to try my bike out for the longest time, so I can bike downtown instead of having to drive.
The problem: my house is in the hills. It's a awful place to practice biking. For two minutes, you strain up steep hills. Then for ten minutes you speed downhill. And then for five minutes at the end, is the hill I live on. Anyone who's been to my house knows that my hill is no joke. Especially with a bike.
So there's no middle ground. It's all or nothing. I could take my bike elsewhere, but then I'd need to use Dad's truck to carry it. I don't know how to drive the truck. We have an old bike rack, but I don't know if it fits on any of our cars anymore.
So the first four-ish times I rode the hills, I had to weave back and forth up my street until I arrived at my house, legs made of jello.
Then one day when I was half way up the hill, I decided to try to keep going. And I managed to bike straight up to my house!
Because of the anime, I was so pleased with myself. Heh.
And I've managed to bike straight up my hill each time since then (I even tried singing once. It was a very breathless song, but it was at least a song. I should learn the "Hime" song, huh?).

I've been going a little closer to my library every day I practice. It's way downhill too, so it's very easy to get to. Not as easy to come back. At least those hills aren't as steep as my hill.
I should hold some sort of celebration when I bike to the library for the first time. Actually, I did do it a few times when I was little. But I had to weave all the way back home. So this time I want to build up my strength so I can charge straight up. Well, not charge. I have to take it easy so I can still make it up my hill.

Heart

Someone reported finding one of my hearts!
^-^

I finished using most of my quilt scraps to make hearts, so I'll probably take a break from them for a while. I have many othe projects I should finish. But I did make a bunch to bring when we go to Reno. Dad loved the train trip so much that he wants to go up for 2 more nights. We're leaving Wednesday, so I can bring the rest of my batch of hearts to Nevada.
They're so fun, easy, and quick to make. It's addictive.
But I'll stop blabbing about them for a while, probably.
You guys should join me in making hearts~

Sewing and Sowing

So, since I found my quilted heart, I've been making some and leaving them in the places I've gone with my family. I have family visiting form Portland, so we've gone a lot of places with them.
Here's the first one I made, which I left in Santa Cruz on the main shopping road. It was gone when I went back to look for it, so I hope it found a good home.

The second one I left in San Mateo.
Then I put two on the campus of San José State.
I left two in Pescadero, which were gone the next morning (thankfully, because it drizzled that night).
And then yesterday I left two in Monterey, along Cannery Row. One of them vanished pretty quickly.

Heheh. These are really fun to do.
The hearts are really quick to make, so they're a bit addictive. Especially since each one is different. I'm getting better at them (a couple have been a bit sloppy, unfortunately. TT^TT Hopefully no more will be).
I've still got a little pile of scraps from my quilt, so I'll see how much of those I can use up.
Which reminds me... I should try attaching little ornaments to them! That would be fun~ Beads, or something?

Renewal

A few years ago, the developers took the Bay Meadows race track and leveled it. It was an awful thing to do for a number of reasons (For example, they cheated on the votes to tear the place down). The race track had these fairs where kids could go and play games and dress up for Halloween and everything. They were a lot of fun. It was one of the only places in town to go and see "large animals." And they now plan to add more houses there, in an area that already has truly awful traffic.
So, they tore down the race track. And then they ran out of money. So for a few years now, there has been a big empty ugly lot of dirt and construction crud where a big social area once was.
It was pretty disgusting. And I had to stare at it every time I took the train.

Then last semester on the train I happened to look up at it.
And I was stunned.
Because what had once been a wasteland was now a meadow. And the big pits they'd gouged out had filled with water and become ponds. These ponds had cattails growing in them, and were filled with ducks.

It was amazing and wonderful how that land had transformed. Nature had recovered itself in the middle of town, despite its previous conditions.
The whole area is fenced off, so no one goes in to disturb it. I wish it would stay like that. I don't want them to build more big ugly buildings. They should turn it into a park, or something.

Adopt a Heart

A curious thing happened today.
We went to the Winchester Mystery House. We were walking through the gardens, and I noticed something bright hanging from a bush. It was a fabric heart, with a little note pinned it it that said "I need a home." That sounded too fun to resist, so I pulled it down out of the bush. There was a website printed on the back of the card.
I found a quilted heart.
What an awesome idea! People make these pretty little hearts and leave them around for people to pick up. It certainly made my day a bit brighter, and more fun. I'll bet it does the same for any other people who end up adopting one of these little hearts. It makes places a little prettier, and lets people connect with someone they've never met and probably never will.
I'd love to do this too! I still have a lot of scraps from my quilt. I think I'll try making a few and leaving them for people to find. ^-^

I didn't have pockets, so I pinned my heart to the side belt loop of my jeans. I walked around 2 different down-towns with it hanging there, and wore it home on the train. I probably looked rather odd, but that's nothing new.
I think this guy will make a perfect Christmas ornament when the time comes around. ^-^



Thank you, quilted heart people~

Crowd Effects

I went to see a movie with Mom today - The Fault in Our Stars. We'd both read the book, and the movie was good too. You may have noticed, I'm not much of a "romance person." But I do like this one.
Lots of sniffling people in the audience.
But there weren't that many people in the theater with us. I bet if there had been more, we would have heard lots of crying (Like in Les Miserables).
Bigger audiences in general seem more fun. You get to hear all the people laughing, gasping, or crying.
There have been a couple movies recently where I saw them with almost no crowd, and also with a sizable crowd, and the bigger crowd was always a lot more fun. I remember ages ago when I went to See Star Wars Attack of the Clones with my parents. Yoda whipped out his light saber, and the entire crowd started chanting "YODA! YODA!" Heheh. That was cool.
Although with my family, we always tend to go to shows on weekday mornings. So there's never many people. I've missed most of the crowds recently, so I forgot how fun they are. You know, assuming you don't have strangers to either side of you hogging the arm rest, or anyone kicking the back of your chair.

Tis the Season... of movies

I got summoned for jury duty today. They send me those stupid notices every year, but this is the first time I actually had to go in. I was there for 4 hours, and then got sent home. At least I didn't have to do anything. And I had a book to read while I was waiting.
It wasn't that bad, but I've had 4 big school things come up over the past couple days, all of which could potentially mess with my next semester, or my entire program. So, I'll have to get through all that crud. I thought I'd already gotten through all these weird hoops...

Aaanyway, now that I've vented some.
This is the time of year where all the movies come out. I kind of wish they were spread out more though, since it's more fun than going to them all within a couple weeks.
I saw Maleficent and X-Men. There's another movie I want to see now, and HTTYD comes out in a couple days.

The slow-mo scene in X-Men was SO AWESOME!!!
X-Men was good, but it reminded me a lot of what they did to the new Star Trek movies. (spoilers) In that they basically take all of the previous movies and throw them out the window. I did like the X-Men one at least (unlike Star Trek). I liked it, but I'm kind of sad they did that too. So... what the heck happened to them all? Especially Jean, Rogue, Scott, ex.
I liked Mystique a lot. The fact that she wasn't evil and unsociable made me feel much more connected to her shape-shifting-ness. Yaay shape-shifting!
(My protectiveness was triggered again during the movie. "Don't you dare hurt them, you jerks! Imma keellll youuuuuu!") And after the movie, I kept especting to throw myself headfirst into strange magic fights.
Dad said he expected cars to get flung around as we were driving home.
Isn't if fun when a movie/book makes you expect magis stuff to happen at any second? It's great when your brain gets re-wired that way. ^-^

This movie wasn't actually in theaters. "You are Umasou." A kids anime movie about dinosaurs (yaay dinosaurs!). I watched it on my laptop up in Reno. It was a lot of fun, and I showed Ellen and Nicole the beginning of it, and they ended up watchign the whole thing. Nicole even watched it again with her brother.
It's really cute.
And it's got dinosaurs!
Can you tell I like dinosaurs?

Curses. I keep forgetting to add pictures. Must remember to do that. So, here's Umasou and Heart.

Kriayshun Creatures

I don't usually post my made-up creatures to Deviantart. I've been slowly collecting some species for the continent Kriayshun (I'm tryihng to find a new name).
I have a ton of old creatures I created. Most of them are awful. I can probably salvage a few of them.
But here's three of my newer designs.

1. Tesura.



These guys can range in size from that of a cat to a pony. Their usual colors include yellow, bright blue, and white.
Their fur crackles with electricity, and they can zip around at incredible speeds. It often apears like teleportation to humans. They leave behind trails of light as they leap around like this.
They live in a world without electricity, but some humans have trapped tesuras to try to use them for a power source. These experiments are usually fatal to the tesuras, since they usually die if their static energy is taken away. Fortunately they're very hard to catch or contain.

2. Maltha



Sometimes known as a moth horse.
These creatures are about the size of a horse, but are incredibly light-weight. They can even be lifted by an average human (They're big though, so they're awkward to lift). There are some smaller types, ranging down towards the size of an average goat.
They tend to be very docile. Because of this, they often form symbiotic relationships with other species, including humans.
Because they are so light-weight, they cannot carry humans. Though the larger ones can sometimes carry children. They also have very fragile wings, and their bodies can be pretty fragile too.
They have long tongues because they love to sip nectar from the larger flowers that grow in their usual mountain habitats. Their sensitive feather antenna pick up vibrations around them to check for danger.
There are different types of maltha, and most of them echo existing moth species. This one is based off of a Deilephila porcellus.

Some more sketches of these guys (The little guy on the bottom right is a flutterby bird - about the size of a hummingbird).



4. Hnuggle



(This one's a baby)
They're a little larger than a house cat and often walk on their hind feet. They will gallop around on all fours though, especially young ones at play. Their fur can be in many colors, but they tend to be more muted shades.
They have intelligence similar to that of humans, and their fingers let them build and create tools and art. They live in community groups.
These are one of the species that have a symbiotic relationship woth the maltha. They often live together, and the maltha will give them rides.
Hnuggles have had some bad run-ins with humans, since humans don't always recognize the similarities between them. They tend to be mistrustful of humans because of this.

Maleficent

I saw Maleficent today.
I liked it.
It reminded me of Wicked, in the way that you have a villain and end up getting very attached to them. First Elphaba, then Regina, and now Maleficent. I'm starting to really like these types of characters.
It's cool seeing how stories are turned around in this way, and you see different sides of a well-known theme.

Aww, when we first saw her as a kid, her wings were so pretty! I haven't seen winged people in a while, so that was exciting.
And they animated her wings really well. They always seemed to full of life.
The flying scenes were amazing too.
And I liked the crow.
(Maybe I liked the movie because of the animal people...)
The three "good fairies" were annoying though.

Minor spoilers:
Heheh. "True Love's Kiss." Now it just seems like everyone's jumping on the band wagon. I saw it first in Once Upon a Time, with the true love's kiss between a mother and son. And then in Frozen, the act of true love was between sisters. And they did the same thing here. I predicted it would happen, and sure enough.
Now I kind of hope that they don't start using that in everything. It could easily become cliché.

The ending song was really bad though...

Don't Cheat on a Good Movie

I heard that Frozen is one of the most popular animated films of all time. Or the most popular animated film?
Now, I loved Frozen, and the music, and Elsa. But it seemed to me like they could have tried harder, and that they cheated on certain parts of it. As if "oh, we'll just skip this and hope that people don't notice." Never do that. People will ALWAYS notice.

The one thing that I kept noticing was the ice, especially during Let it Go. It really doesn't look like ice. It's too flat and glass-like. They made it too neat and tidy. With all their fancy animation stuff, it seems like they could have thought of a much more creative way to animate the ice. Same with melting snowmen.
The hair was similar. After Rapunzel, you'd think thay would have a much stronger grasp on hair. But the two main ladies had their hair braided the whole time, almost pinned to their shoulders. And the scene where Anna wakes up with severe bedhead, her hair looks really strange too. It doesn't look natural.
And Hans's motives confuse me. He sure goes out of his way to help the people he's trying to get rid of. Seems like he could have cut out some of that. And at the beginning, how the heck did he know where to go to run into Anna? It doesn't seem like he could have planned that accident, but more like he just bumped into the opportunity or something (maybe he did, but they made it sound like he knew exactly where Anna would be dancing across the dock, in front of a boat to conveniently fall into).
And Elsa. She never practices her magic. How can she immediately be so skillful with it? To the point of bringing things to life accidentally, and creating palaces of ice.
And then Anna rides off into the snow in her summer dress and doesn't even seem very cold until she falls into the river.
Wolves. Ugh. Stupid wolves. Disney loves throwing evil wolves into everything just to create drama (like in Beauty and the Beast). If I didn't see monster wolves providing convenient danger aspects everywhere, I wouldn't have cared.
Also, Anna doesn't seem to sleep at all for three nights in a row.
And Elsa is stuck in that castle for three days with no food or anything.
And the trolls. Everyone I've talked to says they don't like the trolls. That they don't fit in well, especially the time they're given and the way they're incorporated. True they hint at an interesting troll culture. But aren't the trolls supposed to be "love experts?" And yet they immediately want Anna and Kristoff to get married, without knowing a thing about Anna. That goes against everyhting Kristoff said earlier. And it really seems like the trolls' voices should be unique. They sound too normal.
Also, Olaf's face. Everyone I've talked to that's significantly older than me doesn't liike Olaf's face. I'va adapted to his face, but they still could have done a better job of it.

So, yes. I love Frozen.
But couldn't they have addressed some of this stuff?