Anticipating 2011

It's so weird that another year has gone by already. Time has slipped through my fingers, it seems. Anyway, it's too late for worrying about that now. The best thing anyone can do is to keep living life to its fullest (I'm still trying to figure out what that means for me).

In the words of Jason Mraz's "Song for a Friend," you have to:

"Climb up over the top.
Survey the state of the soul.
You’ve got to find out for yourself whether or not you’re truly trying.
Why not give it a shot?
Shake it, Take control
And inevitably wind up
Find out for yourself
All the strengths you have inside of you"

So, without further ado, here's my list of New Year's resolutions for 2011 in no particular order:

1. Try to have more patience with my family, especially with my mother.
   
2. Try not to be so sarcastic and too serious. Learn to relax once in a while.
   
3. Continue to work hard and maintain my GPA so that I can graduate college with honors.
   
4. Clean my room, organize my closet, and do chores more often so that the mess doesn't pile up later.
   
5. Keep researching/writing/dreaming/whatever I have to do to get that story written. I have to try not to let my ideas run amok and keep my research, notes, and drafts in order.
   
6. Hang out with my friends more. Seriously, I miss them a lot already.
   
7. Watch as many classics on TCM as I can so that I can be more knowledgeable, appreciative, and critical of movies. Learn what works, what doesn't, and why the things that don't often work get in the way of a film's full potential.
   
8. Read as many books and critical essays as I can, especially when it comes to reading classics and the current bestsellers. I have to be more critical and aware as I read and ask myself more questions. What makes them timeless or bestselling? What makes the characters tick? What do you like or don't like about these books and essays? If you truly didn't like a particular work, how can it be improved? What techniques can you learn from these authors, and which of these techniques worked well? Keep notes for every finding.
   
9. Eat less sweets, less fatty foods. Exercise more often. When the weather gets warmer, go out for a jog at least three times a week. I need to get myself a cheap, lightweight mp3 player so that I can fill it with songs to keep me thinking even as I jog through my neighborhood. Also, I have to buy some new work-out clothes. Baggy sweatpants just make my legs itchy.
   
10. Spend a few minutes perusing articles in science journals, so that I might be more well-versed in how these studies affect my day-to-day life (as well as how they can be helpful to any of my research, current or future projects).
    
11. Always keep an ear open for interesting, creative music from up-and-coming artists. Do not simply settle for the songs currently playing on the radio; though some songs may actually be good, most of the chart-topping songs these days leave a lot to be desired.
    
12. Although I resolve to be more critical of what music I listen to, what movies I watch, and what books I read, it's just as important to try to keep an open mind as well.
    

I hope you succeed in your New Year's resolutions.

A White Christmas & So-called Proper Use of the English Language

The blizzard hit the tri-state area (particularly New York City and the surrounding counties) on the afternoon, evening, and night of December 26th. It left about more than foot of snow in its wake.

People are still trying to shovel their cars out as sanitation workers try to plow through the streets to clear the way for passing traffic. I feel bad for those who are trying to get home but are stuck at train stations, bus stops, and airports, stranded until the rails, roads, and runways are safe enough for travel. As much as I love the snow and snow days, it's pretty rough if you're traveling and need to be someplace at a specific time. My mother didn't even go to work yesterday because the MTA advised that people stay at home as much as possible (some train lines were either delayed or not running at all because of the snow pile-ups and signal problems).

As I listened to the news last night, this has been one of the five biggest blizzards to hit New York City, this one being the second blizzard in 2010 (the first blizzard was in February 2010). It's nice to stay at home and not have to worry about going out, although some people have taken advantage of the abundant snow and had some fun sledding in Central Park, building snow-people, and making snow angels. It's kind of a shame that most of that snow, once they're all either shoveled away or melted away, will become dirtied with... Well, let's just call it yellow and brown snow, shall we? ;)

Sony NWZ-S545

Anyway, my Christmas was pretty nice. My family and I went to church three days in a row (my mom and I sing in the choir while my two younger sisters altar-serve) for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day (which was a Saturday this year), and for the regular Sunday Mass on the 26th. At midnight on Christmas Eve, we ate honeyed ham and queso de bola (Edam cheese) with sweet Filipino bread (called "pan de sal," which I find pretty odd, since it's not actually salty), as well as fruit salad and chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

Then after eating our midnight Christmas Eve meal, we opened our presents. I'd been wondering whether I would receive the mp3 player I've been wanting (okay, settling for, really. It's the Sony NWZ-S545, pictured on the right, and it actually had some pretty decent reviews by music-loving consumers) because I've worked so hard to maintain my 3.8 GPA and to get into Psi Chi.

Guess what I got instead as a pleasant surprise because I wasn't actually counting on it? (I've been asking my parents to get me one for YEARS).

Click here to see it. (I promise, you won't get spam or shitty pop-ups.)

OH, YEAHHHH...

My sister and I got the 8 GB version. We smiled and rejoiced once we unwrapped our presents. We're learning how to use the program/music manager for our devices, little by little. We were able to put our favorite songs. Now, we're actually trying to be more helpful with chores around the house so that we might deserve more awesome gifts in the future. (This behavioral reinforcement that my mother came up with sure is working!)

Right now, my device is charging on my computer as I'm blogging this post. :)

There's really no smooth transition into the following topic, so uh, here it is: another thing that's crossed my mind today...

I was browsing through Youtube for the song "We're On Top of the World" by the Juliana Theory when I came across this particular comment:

"nice to hear that i remember this song from that movie too but please work on your grammer and spelling."

What's wrong with the above comment? The user who wrote that particular comment was just as guilty of breaking rules of grammar and spelling (note that it's supposed to be spelled as "GRAMMAR" and not "GRAMMER"). Also, the lack of punctuation just makes the comment more difficult to read.

CORRECTION: "It's nice to hear that. I remember this song from that movie, too, but please work on your grammar and spelling."

Sorry, I just have a thing for calling people out on their BS, especially when the person in question (whoever that Youtube user is) just unwittingly portrayed him or herself as a hypocrite when it comes to "proper" grammar, spelling, syntax, and punctuation. Sure, that comment was left on Youtube and was not meant to be included in an academic thesis. It should, however, behoove people to at least try to write or type "properly" over the Internet.

This is not to say that I myself always write or type using "proper" grammar, spelling, syntax, and punctuation. I know that I don't always adhere to the rules. I'm a human being, after all, and just as prone to errors as the next human being. I do, however, try to adhere to the rules of proper use of the English language even when I send someone a text message using my non-full-keyboard cell phone. It's just easier that way. Also, I don't want to fall into the lapse of "chatspeak." I refuse to do so, although the most I'll ever engage in chat-speak is to occasionally type "LOL" or "LMAO" if I happen to find something particularly funny or if the comment calls for a light-hearted chuckle.

I'm all for experimental types of writing in fiction and creative writing (e.e. cummings has some lovely and whimsical poems), but you should know the rules and learn to apply them in the proper manner before you can actually break them.

The Verdict on this Blog and Moving (Leisurely) Ahead

Okay, so I know that in my last update, I said that I wanted to create a new blog site with a somewhat different ambiance/tone from this one.

I decided not to go through with it, so I'm staying here for the time being. Blame it on my laziness, which suddenly sprang up and took hold of me as I clicked through countless photography and artwork as possible backgrounds for the other blog I wanted to create. Add that to my frustration with trying to re-size the images so that they can fit as a full-image background, and you've got yourself a defeated blogger.

So yes, I am staying here on "A Muse Sings." After having spent about two years on this particular blog, I think I rather like it here. I may tinker with the layout once in a while, though. While I do love my current layout and background, I also want to experiment with some things. Call it web-design practice for when I finally make it as a published author and need my own website to promote my works and keep in touch with (hopefully) readers.

For now, things will just relatively remain the same, although I did update the icon slide show to include some icons of my favorite SyFy show called "Warehouse 13." It's about two U.S. Secret Service agents named Pete Lattimer and Myka Bering who must retrieve paranormally-charged artifacts and bring them back for safe and highly confidential storage at the warehouse, which is run by Artie Nelson (pretty much the manager of Warehouse 13) and Mrs. Frederick (she's the official owner/caretaker). There's also Leena, a psychic who owns the bed-and-breakfast close to the warehouse where they all live and also Claudia Donovan (my favorite character, played by Allison Scagliotti) the teenage tech whiz who was once able to hack into the warehouses' secure database and now works as a warehouse employee maintaining the many machines and gadgets used to efficiently run the warehouse. I'm a slightly more than a little obsessed with "Warehouse 13," as you can tell from reading this (and if you spotted the redhead in my profile picture, that's Claudia Donovan). But hey, I'm proud to be a geek girl.

Speaking of which (being a geek girl), I just found out this morning that I finally got that "A" that I've been striving for during this past semester in my Experimental Social Psychology class. So maybe I really am cut out to be a scientist/researcher in psychology after all.

For now, I'm going to take it easy and (as usual) try to get some more writing done.

The Close of Fall 2010 and the Start (Maybe?) of a New Blog

I finally finished everything I needed to do to try and pass my classes for this past semester and I celebrated the end of the semester with a friend by eating at a restaurant called "Cabana" which served some yummy empanadas and churrasco with black beans and rice. So the semester ended on a very good note. :)

I haven't gotten much novel-writing done, but I have been editing like crazy during my spare time. Things are getting along pretty well so far. It could be better, but I'm not about to start complaining here. I got into Psi Chi, the honor society for Psychology, I got a bunch of A's on the essays I've written for my classes, and I'm planning to write an article for my college's psychology student newsletter for next semester as well as maybe intern at a non-profit organization for people with developmental disabilities. I don't know if I'm going to be able to squeeze in more writing time between then and now, but I can certainly try.

This may be a little off track, but is it weird that I want to start a new blog? Me and my itch to web-design, hehe.

Anyway, if I do decide to create a new blog and if you actually enjoy some (if not all, haha) of my posts, then please stay tuned. If I decide to make a new blog site, then I'll update and share the link. If not, then feel free to keep on reading my crap on this site. ;)

One of the reasons I was considering the change is because I feel absolutely embarrassed to know that I've authored some pretty weird/random/fan girl posts. You probably thought I was nuts when I (perhaps unfairly) expressed my frustration with my body image and directed it at actresses like Megan Fox. In which case, you were probably right. It was silly of me to do so, I'll venture to say. But DAMN, did getting those feelings out feel good at the time. Vent posts are, after all, vent posts. Still, I sounded a little immature in those posts, and the same goes for my Twilight-hating posts. Don't get me wrong, though. Despite being a fan of the series when I was still in high school (alas, I was one of those delusional hopeless romantics when I was a teenager), I pretty much take into consideration the series as a whole and just shake my head at it. There are so many things wrong with it, like glorifying suicide as the ultimate expression of "true love" (New Moon) and letting some pretentious moron get in the way of you seeing your friends to the point where he vandalizes your car to prevent you from driving out to visit your friends (Eclipse). Don't even get me started on glorifying physical and sexual abuse (does the phrase "pillow-biting" ring any bells?)  and how the author of the series ruined initially good characters by forcing them into pedophilia (Breaking Dawn). Instead of poking fun at the series for the sheer "lulz" factor, I wish I had written a more academic kind of post where I could have critically analyzed the series in much the same way I would critically analyze any work of literature for any of my English classes.

Anyway, I suppose that after writing all of that, I just want a change in the tone of the blog. I want it to be about taking a step back and critically analyzing works of literature, television shows, movies, current events, whatever. I tried to do that with this particular blog, but I'm not sure that I'm doing that well enough.

I'm also kind of embarrassed about those posts in which my friends and I did some crazy and stupid things. It's not so much the crazy and stupid things themselves that I'm embarrassed about as it is the way that I wrote these posts like I was sniffing fruity-scented markers at the time I wrote those posts. I've come a long way (and still have a long way to go) as a writer.

That's what I want my blog posts to be like -- pieces with which I can hone my writing skills as well as my skills in critical thinking, research, and logic. I also need to figure out a way to systematically organize my posts (through tags) so that they're not all over the place and just long rambles (although rambling in and of itself may not necessarily be pointless if you actually do have a point to make after the entire rambling).

Plus, I figure that it would be a good way to start of the new year -- with a new blog and (hopefully) a refreshed perspective.

In any case, I'll update and let you know what I ultimately decide to do, and if I do decide to create a new blog, I'll include the link in the next post. If you've actually been reading my posts, I thank you and I hope that you continue to do so. Drop me a line anytime; I'm always welcoming of comments.

Also, for your blogging enjoyment, here is a chart concerning "The Evolution of the Blogger."