Hello!

Hey guys,

As usual, I've left you on your own for quite a while, but I'm sure you're getting used to this now.

I've been up to very little, mostly relaxing in and amongst my shifts at work. I had a few glorious weeks of vacation before I got back to class today. I'm taking a general fiction class, which I think is going to be really interesting. We get to read "The Hound of the Baskervilles", which I am insanely excited about.

Other than that, I've fallen victim to One Direction. I don't even know what happened. One day I was chilling on Tumblr with my friend, looking at my nice fictitious pairings on my dash and suddenly she's like: "There's a group of 5 gay guys over here." And then bandom happened. I am so incredibly upset with myself over this, I thought I was made of tougher stuff, but evidently not. I just have a soft spot for gay things, I suppose.

Anyway, that's all that's been happening lately. I hope you're all doing well. See you when I see you!
~Alexandra

Two weeks later...

Hey guys,

It's been two weeks and I've been up to quite a bit. I actually got a bit of my novel written for my creative writing class. It's not Klashiva, but another project that I've been planning for much, much longer. After I finished the bit for my class I went and punched out the majority of the first chapter, which I'm quite excited about because the whole problem for me was getting started with this one. I am incapable of working on a project out of chronological order.

I also picked up knitting again. I've made three hats in the last two weeks and I'm working on a fourth which will likely be the coolest one I ever make. I might post a picture when it's done, if I remember.

I've switched my music up again and I'm mainlining hardstyle like there's no tomorrow. I've found out that I really like the Noisecontrollers and the Headhunterz. I'm really pissed that I can't do hardstyle dancing because of my leg. I can sort of do jumpstyle, but it's very one sided and therefore not very good.

I turned 19 last Saturday, which was exciting. I got paid the day before- very nice cheque- so I went out shopping on the Sunday and bought much more than was good for me; mostly books, knitting supplies, and a little bit more makeup, since I haven't bought any cosmetics in months. In case anyone's wondering, I got the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette which is absolutely freaking fantastic. I highly recommend it. Also, I got the last one! I win!

Handed in my final portfolio for Creative Writing yesterday, so all I have left are my Shakespeare and German exams and then I'm technically finished first year! I'm still doing a spring course, Fiction, but I don't think that counts as first year anymore. I'm really excited to be making progress in my degree. With my first novel underway I'm looking forward to seeing where I get with my life here.

I hope you're all doing well, and I'll talk to you all soon!

~Alexandra

On Boredom

Hey guys,

Second semester's finally winding down, so I really haven't been doing much besides final term papers and working. In my spare time, I've been watching Downton Abbey and writing. A lot. I got a scene from one of my stories done and I submitted it to my creative writing tutorial and now I have two people who want to read the book when it's finished.

Other than that, I've been reading quite a bit, too, I finished Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy a while back and then I started in on The Edinburgh Dead which I've dropped for the moment, I can't remember why, and I'm still powering through the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Perhaps "powering through" isn't the right term, I've only finished The Red-Headed League today, so I've got a very long way to go.

I just got to the first episode of season 4 of Supernatural so I've finally met Castiel, which I'm very excited about, and we finally get Genevieve Cortese as Ruby which is awesome.

Anyway, that's all I've got to report, besides the fact that I've fallen for Downton hook, line, and sinker and I am now a lost cause because of it.

I hope you all are leading nice, normal lives. Yeah right.
~Alexandra

Finally Finished a Book! Yay!

Hey guys,

As the title says, I finally finished a book! Hooray! Said book was Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré. I'm not sure yet what I think of the book. The plot was very complex and I only think I understood what was going on. He wrote beautifully and I really felt the characters. I'm very excited to have finished this book because this means that I finally get to watch the movie! Yay! Benedict Cumberbatch here I... I mean... good filmography and... stuff. Yeah.

Anyway, I'm thinking that I'll tackle The Edinburgh Dead next as it's been sitting on my shelf since the summer. Also, I read the opening chapter and it was excellent, so I'm looking forward to reading that one. Plus, the constable on the front isn't hard to look at.

So I'll leave it at that for now, I've been doing little else besides reading, so life isn't particularly interesting this week.

Yours,
~Alexandra

From English 233

Hello there!

I'm incredibly bored. I'm a whole piece behind in this class and I care far less than I should. Oh well. I'll write about something until class is over in 30 minutes.

I finished Downton Abbey this weekend. Both seasons. I officially have no feelings left. Thomas keeps getting shafted and I hate that. I think he needs a hug, a real hug, and then his life will get better. Or he needs a boyfriend (no that's not me fangirling, he's canonly gay). I want something to go nicely for him for once. Then maybe, just maybe, he'll stop being a massive knob.

Also, Mary and Matthew are getting married. Maybe now Mary will stop being a selfish bitch.

Anyway, Chapters had a sale the other day, 4 for 3, and I only went in to get Great Expectations. Honest. I ended up finding the BBC editions of A Study in Scarlet and the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I needed one more so I picked up Middlemarch. I'll have to see how that goes.

I'm working on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré right now. I'm prohibiting myself from seeing the movie before I've finished the book. I'm so excited to finish, I want to see it so badly.

Ugh I've only been writing for 10 minutes. I'm gonna grab my notebook and try for a few paragraphs of something.

Take care, party people.
~Alexandra

Dear Lord...

It's almost been a month. I'm ashamed of myself. (2 weeks, but whatever)

Hey guys,

I know that I've sworn off TV but I was doing homework in the dining room the other day and my mom had on some PBS thing where they were raising money so I was like "whatever" and plugged my headphones in and kept working. When I unplugged and got up to go to the bathroom I turn to the TV and suddenly Maggie Smith. Naturally curious I took a seat and started watching. This magical thing that I found is called "Downton Abbey". This is a period drama set around WWI and focuses on the upstairs and downstairs world of British aristocracy at the time. It is very accurate in it's details, which I love more than anything, and the cast is beautiful.

My favourite characters, I have decided, are Thomas and O'Brian. In that order. Why? Because I think that Thomas, although he is a dick now, is really just a defenseless child on the inside. I can justify this, just give me a moment. In season 2 right after Lieutenant Courteney committed suicide there was a cut to Thomas alone crying. I read somewhere that we see a character's true personality when he or she is alone in a scene. I believe that Thomas is really a good person turned bad by whatever flack I can assume he took for being gay in the early 20th century. I really want to see what happens to him. And O'Brian is just the same, minus the gay part. I think she has potential.

So, that's all the reflection I have since reading week. It's inspired me to write again, which I needed after my midterm madness.

I hope you're all doing well!
~Alexandra

You know what really grinds my gears?

Hey guys,

You know those people, we all know one, who says something actually halfway intelligent only to subsequent it with "but such is our society" or some other arbitrary clause that has no business being in the present conversation? That seriously pisses me off. I feel like the only purpose of adding that to the end of your thought is to try to sound more intelligent or, alternately, more like a hipster. Frankly I think the former is more popular. What I hate to tell these people is that you are not achieving the desired effect, you are only making yourself sound like a narrow-minded moron.

I hate to follow this by offering up the anecdote which brought this on. Several weeks ago I was having a conversation with a friend of mine on twitter. His girlfriend, my best friend, cuts in, says something that sort of made sense and then tacked on "but such is our society" and instead of calling her out on it, which I should have done, I sat on it and fumed. Now here we are, I'm ranting and raving about this and she has no idea that she sounds like a self-deprecating hipster.

So please, ladies and gentlemen, I you feel like making a stab at society please, please make sure that the comment is warranted and tactfully placed in conversation. Please.

I hope everyone's week has gone well and to those who have reading week coming up: enjoy!
~Alexandra

P.S. A quick shout out to my friend, Joe, who actually reads this blog. I always appreciate someone listening to my raving, and for some reason it's usually you. You're awesome.