Camping Photos

As promised: camping pictures!

Camping

Spent the last two days camping with two friends of mine, it was lovely. Pictures to follow... tomorrow?

This is a short entry but it is my blog and I can do that if I feel like it.

World Cup Silliness

I laughed way, way to hard while watching that.

World Cup Soccer and Me

I will start this post by saying that I love the World Cup, but in a weird way. You see, I do not like watching sports and soccer is no different. I have no idea if Canada even has a team that is eligible to compete in the World Cup or whether we do, and it just sucks and hasn't been able to make it in a while. However, what I do love is seeing how into it people get.

I couldn't help but laugh at a friend's facebook status the day the World Cup started which said something to the effect to of "...now remember France this is soccer not volleyball," referring to France's win over Ireland that got them to the Cup. (The story behind this is that France and Ireland went into extra time and France scored. However "based on replays, the goal was triply illegal: two of the French attackers were offside, while one of them – captain Thierry Henry – clearly touched the ball with his outstretched hand.") My mum is originally from Ireland and every time we pass someone with a French flag some variant of "cheaters" is muttered. My mother does not watch soccer, nor has ever really shown an interest in the sport, but it makes me laugh seeing her get all indignant over the fact that her country didn't make it to the World Cup.

I also love seeing all the flags people have flying on their cars. Not so much in the town I live in, though they're definitely present but I went to Toronto yesterday and pretty much every single car has a flag on it. A good chunk of the people walking down the street were wearing they're jerseys (particularly the Brazilians, who were playing as we were driving). You could tell when the Brazilians scored because horns would sound all over the city and people would be hanging out of their cars hooting at pedestrians. It was particularly fun driving down St. Claire after the game and seeing literally every other pedestrian in a jersey.

Overall, I just see the World Cup as a fun way to celebrate your country or your heritage. While neither Canada or Ireland are in the cup, my dad and his family are all from Italy so I'm going to be cheering them on. GO ITALIA!

Music

I've been playing both of these songs on repeat for the past few days. Thought I'd share.

On Laziness and Montreal

You know, I honestly thought that once school was over and it was summer I would blog far mroe frequently. Y'know, 'cause I have all this free time and stuff. Readers, I do have all sorts of free time, but I am also lazy beyond belief. I was going to write a glorious blog post about my adventures in Toronto with the lovely Caitlin, complete with pictures of elephants and scary birds from our trip to the zoo. However, my memory card broke and I lost all my awesome pictures and I decided that I did not want to write a blog post about our adventures without them. This is inexcusable because while on this trip I got to see my favourite band, Coheed and Cambria live in concert. They were amazing and I made a fool of myself by dancing and singing along to all the songs. Somehow, Caitlin still allows herself to be seen with me in public.

My next adventure that I was going to blog about was going to the beautiful city of Montreal with my father and step mother. It was a gorgeous city and I took a ton of pictures, none of which were lost. I got the pictures all resized so they would fit nicely on the blog... and then got lazy. So, I will post these pictures now and try in the future to not be so lazy.

Book Review: Dies the Fire

Title: Dies the Fire
Author: S. M. Stirling
# of Pages: 573
Published: 2004
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 4/5

Summary:
Michael Havel was flying over Idaho en route to the holiday home of his passengers when the plane's engines inexplicably died, forcing a less than perfect landing in the wilderness. As Mike leads his charges to safety, he begins to realize that the engine failure was not an isolated occurrence.

Juniper Mackenzie was singing and playing guitar in a pub when her small Oregon town was thrust into darkness. Cars refused to start. Phones went silent. And when an airliner crashed, no sirens sounded and no fire trucks arrived. Now, taking refuge in her family's cabin with her daughter and a growing circle of friends, Juniper is determined to create a farming community to benefit the survivors of the crisis.

But even as people band together to help one another, others are building armies for conquest.


I really enjoyed this book when I first read it a few years ago, and I still really liked it now. The premise is really cool (what would happen if all the technology in the world simultaneously died) and I feel that the author does an excellent job of exploring the scenario. I will admit that early on in the book there are few less than likely coincidences that allow the characters to survive but hey, if they didn't happen there wouldn't be a book.

Anyways, interesting premise, you have some really solid and interesting characters and the story moves along at a really good pace. Totally worth reading.

Alive

I'm alive, I promise! Man, it's been a busy couple weeks. I finished my exams (yay!) and am now home for the summer. Since I have been home I have spent a lot of time working, seeing friends and just generally doing nothing. Hence the blog neglect. Have a picture of my sister's adorable kitten Pierre to make up for it. ♥

Waterfront

I went out with Becky for a second time last week to see if we could catch the sunset. Unfortunately it was cloudy this time as well, but I nevertheless got some nice shots.

Becky!

My lovely friend Becky and I went downtown the other day to take pictures by this really cool train. These are my favourites from the day!

Listen

I haven't written anything in ages, but I got the urge to do so tonight, and this is what came out.

Listen. Do you hear it? No. Not that. You’re trying too hard. Close your eyes, plug your ears and just listen. Listen to your heartbeat. Place your hand on my chest and listen to mine. Feel it beat. See the blood rush between the veins and then. Stop. Listen. Turn your head to face to the setting sun and watch. Watch the colours bleed together, watch the sun disappear into the black water. Listen to the stars. Hear them singing softly back and forth to each other. Watch the wind. See the patterns it makes as the leaves are tossed across the wet pavement under your feet. Smell the air. Does it smell like rain? Does it smell like the smog from a thousand building and weeks of hot summer days? Does it smell like being happy? Or can you only taste the salt. Think. Think for a few seconds about why you are here. You are on a bridge. There is water to either side of you. Black water, deep water. You won’t jump. You don’t want too. You wouldn’t even consider doing such a thing. But still. You like this bridge. You like knowing that on either side of you there is nothing. Speak. Say something. Break the silence. There are two of us here, after all. And people, when in the presence of another converse. Speak. Say anything. Whisper sweet nothings, scream curses or sing something beautiful.

Sing something beautiful, think about nothing. Smell the air and taste the sunset. Listen to the stars, and feel the blood pound through the body. You have power. Use it.

Walking!

All day today it has been around +24 and sunny, which pretty much never happens in North Bay unless it's July or something. So, my roommate Ash and I decided to talk full advantage to this fact and go for a walk.

We hadn't even left the building before I took this picture -there's this funny plant in the lobby that usually just sits there being all green and stuff, but when we passed it today, it had this lovely flower on it.

As always, the first step on the walk was the lookout, from which you can see the still slightly frozen Lake Nipissing.

Roommate picture! You can see my lovely new blonde hair. Which I did not bother styling, because I am a lazy person.

I love this time of year; everything is just starting to bloom again and is very pretty.

After spending literally like a half hour chasing butterflies, one was kind enough to land on my hand so I could get some photographs of it.

On our way home, a brave squirrel came right up to us, which was pretty awesome until it got about two inches from my foot and I had the brief fear that I would be eaten. I moved, and the squirrel ran away.

That was my day! If you celebrate it, have an awesome Easter! If not, enjoy the extra couple days off school.

Reaons Why I Get No Work Done (Ever)

This is the kind of conversations Caitlin and I have on a regular basis...

Caitlin; says:
lol watch heroes!
oh shit
you will love it

Kiera says:
haha, oh yeah?
Maybe I shall...

Caitlin; says:
you should
lol

Kiera says:
But... I am reading!
Which I haven't done in forever.

Caitlin; says:
WATCH
SYLAR AND ELLE

Kiera says:
SHUT UP, CAITLIN
I DO NOT NEED YOUR PEER PRESSURE
SRSLY.

Caitlin; says:
ok fine
coughsylarandellecough

Kiera says:
I was going to give you the heart emoticon, but no more.
Because you are mean, and manipulative.

Caitlin; says
haha yes

Kiera says:
And clearly do not care about my feelings.

Caitlin; says:
like sylar?
or am i more like elle?

Kiera says:
lmao
I have to say, you do not really have Sylars incredibly hot body.
Just putting that out there.

Caitlin; says:
i do not like that
comment
hahaha

[and so on]

House

I guess the super cool thing about having your own blog is that you can post whatever you want on it, right? So, I will inform you, people of the internet, that I am very excited right now. Earlier this week I found out that I didn't get into residence for next year, which meant I had no place to live and was very stressed out. However, my two awesome roommates and I have managed to locate and secure for ourselves a fantasticly gorgeous house that is super close to the school. I am ridiculously excited, especially because it turns out that myself and the amazing Caitlin will be living next door to each other. This means all day Star Trek and Heroes watching marathons and I could not be any more thrilled.

So, yay!

More Music

Hello my poor neglected blog. Since I have last posted on you I have handed in four papers, am handing another one in tomorrow and have a final essay due next Wednesday and then I am free until exams! Of course, my first is the day after on the 1st, but hey. I can pretend that things are going to get better right? Right. I have also discovered tumblr, and you are more than welcome watch my crazy over there if you like. My page is here. There is very little other news to share with you all, other than I went home last weekend and made some fancy food and took some lovely pictures. In fact, when I am feel less lazy I will post pictures and tell you guys all about it! Until then, enjoy some random Coheed and Cambria, because I have been listening to this song all day.

Random French Musicals

So, I was wandering around on the internet this morning (as I am wont to do) and came across something amazing: Mozart l'Opera Rock. I make no secret of my love for musicals, and this is ridiculous (and catchy enough) to be considered absolutely fantastic. So... Enjoy!

Kiera Blogs (About Star Trek)

Seriously, if I'm not posting book reviews, I'm posting about Star Trek. I think I need to get a life -or a least a new obsession. Or I should work on one of about five essays that are currently demanding my attention. Seriously kids, when your parents tell you university is a good idea, they lie. It's a terrible place in which you pay a ton of money to be forced to spend all of your "free time" writing papers. I have nine papers due this month. Nine. Totalling upwards of 60 papers (I swear, I'm not even joking. One assignment isn't even half done and I'm already pushing 3000 words). Not the point though. This is another epic Star Trek post (also can be known as Reasons Why Kiera and Caitlin Should Not Be Allowed To Be Anywhere Near Each Other).

So. Caitlin and I got together tonight to watch the Brother Grimm. After which we would theoretically each go back to doing homework like good students. Since this is us, clearly that didn't happen. Oh no, we had to discover the complete and utter hilarity that are interviews featuring Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. Oh my God. Those boys should never ever be allowed to not be together, because they're friggin' hilarious. Since I love all of my readers to a depth that is slightly ridiculous I thought I would spread the joy.

Night

Title: Night
Author: Elie Wiesel
# of Pages: 115
Published: 1958
Genre: Biography
Rating: --

Summary:

Night is Elie Wiesel's autobiographical account of his survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps.


As most of you can probably tell, this far from what I would usually read. In fact, the only reason I picked up this book initially is because it's required reading for a religions class that I am taking in school. I don't want to say that the book was a pleasant surprise, or that I enjoyed reading it because it wasn't and I didn't. However, this book is beautifully written and extremely powerful. We are all taught in school about the Holocaust, but it is one thing to be told another to read about it in such a way as to make it real for you. As I remarked to a friend last night, crematoria had to be one of the most frightening words in the English language, when put into the context of the Holocaust.

So, no. I didn't enjoy reading this book, as parts of it made me feel decidedly uneasy and others downright disturbed. I am, however glad I did read it, because it speaks of a time that needs to be remembered, if only to ensure that nothing like it can ever happen again. I'm not rating this book - I give rating to books to provide a concise picture of how much I liked a book, and as I said, I didn't like this book. I do however believe that it is not only well worth reading, but is something that should be read.

Shalador's Lady

Title: The Shadow Queen
Author: Anne Bishop
# of Pages: 496
Published: 2010
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3.5/5

Summary:

For years the Shalador people suffered the cruelties of the corrupt Queens who ruled them, forbidding their traditions, punishing those who dared show defiance, and forcing many more into hiding. Now that their land has been cleansed of tainted Blood, the Rose-Jeweled Queen, Lady Cassidy, makes it her duty to restore it and prove her ability to rule.
But even if Lady Cassidy succeeds, other dangers await. For the Black Widows see visions within their tangled webs that something is coming that will change the land-and Lady Cassidy-forever...


This book is the continuation Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy, and Tangled Webs as well as being the direct sequel to the Shadow Queen.This book delivered exactly what I thought it would when I rushed out to buy it: an entertaining, quick read, with lots of lovely romance. The plot was fairly simplistic and I guessed the ending about a quarter of the way in, but I liked the characters and enjoyed watching them grow and change throughout the book. It was worth reading, but I'm not sure that I'll pick it up again.

Geek Humour

Since this is my blog, I can post all the hilarious Star Trek vids I want, right? Excellent.