Amaranthine Forever

This thing was over really quickly. *sniff*.  But I'm happy because the first three months of the year are the worst, and only one more month to go! I want to: -finish editing my book -Get all A's for the second semester of school! -Read and read and read. Particularly Brian Jacques and Angie Sage. -Learn lots of stuff. Like Greek and Photoshop.  

  Hello. I'm having one of those days where it feels like everyone secretly hates me. I'm reading the original Mysterious Benedict Society! I love it, but some parts creep me out. I like Milligan and Constance! In response to your comments, no, I did not jump. XD.  I had an okay piano test. Thanks for all your prayers! A physical feature I love...hmm... My face My legs My hair Oh, I know! My arms! I have really skinny hands and arms, from playing piano. My hands are so small, and you can see blood vessels and bones even through my Asian yellow skin. When I wiggle my fingers, you can see whatever-controls-your-fingers moving underneath the skin. And my hands are double-jointed. I don't know if that's attractive, but it is entertaining when I'm bored! Please pray for allishmalli, one of my friends from The Lakehouse. Her church can't pay it's rent and is going to have to move out next week! Please pray that God sends a miracle and...

I just got back from biking to the library. It's freezing outside! Especially for dear old Southern Cali! Today is my start-book-series day. I got Magyk (1st book of Septimus Prime series), The Mysterious Benedict Society (I already read the second book in the series), and Redwall( First book in the Redwall series), along with a book on Greek mythology and a PJatO graphic novel. A childhood memory.. hm...gotta think about that. I know. This experience almost singlehandedly fostered my bravery and thirst for adventure. I was taking this swim class when I was five or six, first learning to swim. After I passed all the levels, one of the final things was to jump off this diving board into this really deep pool.  It was super deep. Maybe 10 feet, 15 feet? There was an instructor sitting below in a noodle who said he would "catch" us.  My firs thought was: "JUMPING JAMAICAN GYMNASTS! THAT'S A GAZILLION FEET DEEP! There is no way I'm jumping into tha...

Can you believe this is almost over? *sniff* It passed so quickly. I don't have it with me, but the BEST recipe for sugar cookies that you will ever find is in the back of  the Nate the Great And The Monster Mess children's book  by Marjorie Sharmat. Nate the Great is an awesome kids' series, and the recipe is great too! One time we tried to make Star Wars cookies, but we didn't really pay much attention to things like the basic laws of baking, like keeping everything relatively the same size. So on one sheet we had a HUGE death star cookie the size of a dinner plate that wasn't cooked all the way, and a tiny lightsaber that was completely burnt. The moderately sized ones, like the TIE fighter did okay. The cause for most of my misery and stress. Amaranthine

She's the Man. . I hate chick flicks. And that movie is like the chick flick of all chick flicks. So no one would expect me to love it. And I don't! (The thingy didn't say I had to love it!) PJatO has officially got me re-obsessed with Greek mythology. I'm looking out for Greek references EVERYWHERE. Yesterday I saw: 1 Janus reference 2 Omegas 1 Triton reference I was reading the Odyssey today for fun. The real-but-translated version. I logged on to Wikipedia to see if I could teach myself Greek. I teach myself a lot. Then I saw this: Ολοι οι άνθρωποι γεννιούνται ελεύθεροι και ίσοι στην αξιοπρέπεια και τα δικαιώματα. Είναι προικισμένοι με λογική και συνείδηση, και οφείλουν να συμπεριφέρονται μεταξύ τους με πνεύμα αδελφοσύνης. And I was like, no. Amaranthine

There's a joke about this. Three guys are talking at dinner, and they begin talking about this.  The first guy asked: "What do you want people to say at your funeral? I want people to say I was a great family man and leader of my family." The second guy said: "I want people to say I was a great man of God. I want them to say that I lived my life to the fullest and served God the best I could here on earth." The third guy thought a minute and said: "I want them to say: 'Look, he's moving!'" Ha ha. I want to give someone the password to my blog, or facebook, if I ever get one. That way they could keep on updating after I die and freak people out. But seriously. I want people to remember me for how much I loved others, even when they were hard to love. Because that's the most important thing, isn't it? Oh yeah. And my favorite actress, Annasophia Robb will be starring in a new Christian movie! It's called Soul Surfe...

Going to dance to see Satya and Nancy again . Wish me luck. Oh! And our choreographer/teacher, Kellie,has some youtube videos! We're going to be using part of this routine: I don't know where this video was taken, but it's not at the studio. This isn't my dance class.

I was going to do The Lakehouse, but Jedi~chick beat me to it. http://wedgeantilles.tumblr.com/ I loathe Tumblr, but this is one of my favorites.

  You know, that's an interesting question. I don't really have many bizarre quirks. I like things to be neat and clean, but not OCD like, just normal-girl like. I guess I think about limitations differently than most people. To me, limitations aren't walls, just hurdles. Like in piano, if I can't play a particular section because it's a tricky rhythm, I'm not going to go all: "Oh, I suck at this section, too bad, hope I don't fail at the recital!" I practice using different methods until I CAN play the thing! It would seem obvious to most people for piano, but for me it expands to other things. Like art. When I realized that I failed at art, I began practicing and now I still fail, but I'm improving. When I couldn't do my splits, I practiced being flexible until I could do them. It sometimes annoys me. People are like "Oh, I can't do this, I wish I could!" or "Oh, I'm so bad at this! I wish I was better!"...

Been very, very, busy! My cousins were awesome, but they only stayed one night. We might go camping soon, though. Now I have a lot of posting to catch up on. And commenting, of course. Day 19: A talent Toasting! A lot of people feel that they are not good at anything. That is not the case with me. I might stink at drawing, writing, blogging, dancing, or playing the piano, but I will always be good at toasting things. I never toast too much or too little. I'm good at judging how long and hot to toast something based on how thick and big it is. Everything I toast comes out crispy and golden....<3. Sometimes I'm convinced that toasting is my spiritual gift... Day 20: A hobby I am TERRIBLE at art. That is the one area of my life that has whomped me. But my hobby is teaching myself to get better at art.   So I doodle every spare moment, look up tutorials on the computer, etc. Here are some random stuff I've doodled. My favorite favorite type of art is realistic penci...

   This is how your lovely comments make me feel. Thank you for all your comments! They are definitely helping me recover. Leave more! XD Jedi~Chick : I'm glad you liked the post! The third book is definitely my favorite. The loudness of our  band depends on the drummer. When Rebecca(a girl my age) is drumming, it's okay, but when Connor(this big burly senior guy) is drumming, I think my ears are going to explode from all the noise! Qui: Yes! Read Percy Jackson again! And again! And again! Eldra: Yes, our band leader Jonny sings this song better than Chris Tomlin, at least in my book. :) He has a really soothing voice. Abby aka The Director: (Hugs back). Yes, Janus is everywhere! My favorite minor god is Hecate, just because of her name. Say it! HECK-ah-tee. Migillicuty: PJatO too modernized? Is there such a thing? But I thought it made a lot of sense, with "the flame of the west" moving and all that. Endor: Yes! Read them! Leia: Eyiheehee. What did ...

:D I reread three Percy Jackson books today. And listened to the audiobooks. *Kreamasuzi on DeviantArt Percy Jackson boys. Nico refused to be seen in orange, so they had to dye his coat brown. Kreamasuzi has a strange obsession with Ethan(far left). I don't know why. Boo, Ethan! *Kreamasuzi on DeviantArt Cute! Cute cute cute. PJatO(hefty acronym) has really changed my view of Greek Mythology. I used to be really into it when I was younger(I read the whole Odyssey) but PJatO reawakened it. There are Greek influences EVERYWHERE. My recent spotting was a Janus reference in a fashion junk magazine I was reading. PJatO also has a special meaning to me. I was imagining what it would like to be a half blood, and which god I would want to be my father/mother. I would really like to be a daughter of Athena, but the PJatO Apollo is so much like me it's scary. I make up random poems! But then it hit me. I didn't need to imagine what it would be like to be a child of a god ...

Meehhhhhhh..... I think viruses go over the internet. I hope Padme gets better from her strep throat! An art piece? What is that? XD It's no fun being sick, even if you get to sit in bed all day and only come down for meals. Oh, I just have a cold, but I had a fever of 100 yesterday.

Thanks for all your kind comments on the other post. It makes me feel better. (stews in anger) Uh, yeah. f Whales! They always manage to make me feel better. (sniff) And Nico. and Star Wars. And fish and seals. I have a sore throat. But I'm happy, because my cousins Caleb and Alex are coming this weekend. They're the cousins closest to my age. They're awesome! They live up in Northern California and are coming down for Christmas. They're neutral about Star Wars and Percy Jackson, but they love Adventures in Odyssey, just like I do.  Here's a transcript of a typical chat.   me : go read percy jackson.   Caleb : no.   me : why not    :P   Caleb : no. ^ period 9:05 PM    Caleb : 2 busy   me : and whne you do,   Caleb : whine? wine? when? 9:06 PM  me : and WHINE you do.    says yoda   Caleb : no, "and when whine, you do," 9:07 PM  The reason I don't want to read Percy Jackson is because, by your own ...

  >.>. I'm in a cranky mood because of something that happened at dance. Okay, so I have this "friend" named um, lets call her Nancy. And there's this, um, other person named Satya. I never did anything to her, but she really gets on my nerves all the time. She always wears the wrong clothes to dance, like, skinny jeans and fancy shirts. She doesn't try very hard and always talks. She has short hair that will not stay up in a bun or ponytail, and she's always taking breaks to fix her hair and clothes. She has this weird grin that gets me in a bad mood too, like she's grinning about biting my head off. And the teacher was dividing us into groups and I was confused at what I was supposed to do, and Nancy and Satya were both annoyed at my ignorance and trying to explain things to me. After I finally figured it out... well, here, here's a transcript. Satya(stares at me, loud, sarcastic voice): "What's wrong with her?" Nancy...

 Good morning! Ever since this February "Challenge" thing started, I've been getting lazier and lazier. Sigh. It's not that I don't have post ideas. I have lots of post ideas. I just never get around to writing them. I've been doing heavy Percy Jackson Audiobook listening, piano practicing(3 hours a day), schoolwork-doing, movie-watching, fanart-browsing, etc. And that leaves me like this, during the daytime: I'm a terrible digital artist, because I have nearly no mouse control at all. I can draw okay regular, though. Look, a five second sketch of Zoe and Juniper in my Spanish notebook: I can draw much better given time and reference pictures, mind you. Oh, and last week I was spending a disproportionate amount of time working on The Lakehouse Newsletter. Do you want to see it? Go to http://thelakehouse.bigforumpro.com/ , "Welcome", and "Newsletter". One of my drawing inspirations? Burdge_bug on DeviantArt: Katniss, Ginny We...

a very scalding review of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief movie. But in honor of Valentine's Day, I will save it for tomorrow. You're welcome. I watched How To Train Your Dragon last night. I was pretty surprised by it. The movie is spectacular, and may be Dreamworks best movie yet. I hope everyone gets a chance to see it! Maybe I will post a review later. Life is too short not to wear red shoes is having a giveaway. ---- You know, this is an interesting question. Because in two years then my extended family is planning a trip. The location hasn't been decided yet. Everyone in the whole family gets one secret vote on where. Anywhere in the whole world. (Right now we are just voting on specific areas, like "Europe" or "Central America" I haven't decided where to vote yet. If I can get my immediate family to agree on a location, we might make the decision because we are the largest immediate family in the extended famil...

One of the youth pastors at my church and my brothers small group leader published a fantasy book! It's his first, and you can get it at Barnes and Nobles! http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61663-744-6 He sent it to about 30 publishers  before it got accepted! You can see some of it here! http://books.google.com/books?id=WhaGjRhYyAIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Leprechauns,+Unicorns,+and+Mark+Kurrian&source=bl&ots=xXH8tGX2Gl&sig=hO2itW1N3td0FldlMKfAwPeDyjo&hl=en&ei=kntYTfyLF4i-sQOIo82cDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CE0Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q&f=false It's part one of a series. He got a deal for the whole series! Here's the website for the series. LOL, his pic on the author bio doesn't look like him! http://www.sereniumseries.com/ He started writing when he had cancer.

Magazines. Not even good magazines, like Star Wars Insider. Junk magazines. See, the people that had our house before we moved in had a hair salon. And magazine companies give their extra magazines to hair salons. So we get tons of free magazines. And I read them: We get(for free): Real Simple Us Weekly People Allure Cosmopolitan(I don't read this one. XP) Self Elle(I don't read this one) Vogue Teen Vogue Glamour(I don't read this one either) All You Weight Watchers Modern Bride Brides In Style Food-Martha Stewart All You All kinds of random magazines that we only get once. We have no subscription to any magazines except Linux Journal(for my dad). I wonder when they will stop? Will they? It's very irregular. We used to get People every week, but now we get it rarely. We stopped getting Real Simple for about a year, but now we get it again. I love Real Simple! :D Oh, we used to get Good Housekeeping and Family Fun. We don't get those anymore...

Okay, so my plan to watch "Witches of the Mist" "The Lightning Thief" and "Inception" in one night worked great! Well, sort of. First, I watched "Witches of the Mist" on the computer while my parents began Inception on the TV. It was only half an hour, so then I started "The Lightning Thief when that was over. About halfway through, I stopped and watched the second half of Inception upstairs. Yeah, so Inception finished around 11:30, and I went to bed brain dead and confused. And I dreamed about Medusa and cornbread. Don't worry, we have the Inception DVD and I have The Lightning Thief on the computer so I can actually watch the actual full movies sometime. Okay, on to the post. --- I want Star Wars music, but Across the Stars is too sad. At my funeral would be good for that song. So most likely, "The Throne Room." Non Star Wars, I love the song "They Say It's Wonderful" from Annie Get Your Gun. ...

I don't feel like putting up pictures of myself. I need to keep my "mystique" or what's left of it, anyway. Actually, there is a recent picture of me on this blog. See if you can find it. I'll just put up more baby pictures. :P Oh, and the treehouse gang is having a giveaway. Woot. Go check it out! f That's my little brother on the table. Well these aren't baby pictures. These are more like toddler pictures. With my OTHER little brother. Those pictures were awesome, right? Well here's even more awesome pictures!     It's Nico!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<3 <3 <3. This picture is so awesome! I want a poster of it!He doesn't look twelve though. Percy! He didn't color this one! He colored one of Piper though! It's not fair. Ethan and Luke, dressed in preppy anime style clothes. Oh, and I found this cool creepy pastel of Luke/Kronos. I won't post it here though.I'm in a major Percy Jackson phas...

I had fun trying to find the oldest picture of me I could find.  I still have both those stuffed animals. :) In other news, Grand Moff Tarkin will be appearing in The Clone Wars! What about Admiral Daala? I can only dream.... http://www.starwars.com/theclonewars/look_whos_tarkin/index.html Amaranthine

Heehee. At the USS. Midway. A pretty lake!

This letter is for my mom. It is long overdue. Dear Mom, There is a quote " One good mother is worth a hundred schoolmasters", by George Herbert. I believe you can relate to this! You've homeschooled me and my brothers for our entire lives! I wanted to say thank you for taking a job that is 24/7 but sometimes seems to have such little payoff. Thanks for being my mother and helping to realize, every day, my true potential as a child of God. Some people have wondered at your decision to home school for our entire lives. We hear all the usual questions, mostly involving socialization and college and can we go to school in our pajamas?  But I'm so glad you did. I often wonder, if I had gone to public school, who would I be today? Would I still blog, dance, play piano? Would I even like Star Wars? GASP. The best years of my life were when Daddy worked at home, you homeschooled us, and we were just one family together all the time. Now things are a bit crazier, but...

When people ask me this I normally say something sarcastic, like "Oxygen" or "Amino Acids" or "Mitochondria." But my sarcastic function is running a little low, so I would have to say the obvious, "God", and the slightly less obvious "The Internet", and the slightly less obvious "Reading", and "Darths and Droids" and "Music" and "Writing" and "Love" and "Star Wars." My brain doesn't seem to be working today. Eggplant penguins.

UPDATE: oh yeah. You probably can't see the pictures. Don't worry, I'll have it fixed. Hoo-boy. Why are weekends always so CRAAZY? We kicked it off with a Friday Night Children's ministry summit at church. Atina went. I spent Saturday alternately folding clothes, chatting on The Lakehouse, and stressing over my recital. At the recital, I sorta forgot how to start my piece and spent quite a while trying to find the right notes. It was terrible. I had this conversation about it on The Lakehouse.   Amaranthine  :  hey jedi chick Amaranthine  :  i had my recital! Amaranthine  :  I couldn't start my piece Amaranthine  :  i kept playing the wrong notes Jedi~Chick  :  Aww, other than that, did everything go ok? Well, I personally didn't see how it could get any worse, but okay...yeah, it was fine. It was my mom's birthday, so we went to California Fish Grill for dinner. We got home at like, 11. The next day(today) we left the ho...

FINALLY! If there's another thing I collect more than names, it's quotes. So here's what I'll do-five favorite non-star wars quotes and five Star Wars quotes-that I haven't posted here before. I know, it says "a"-just thank me for not posting a whole book of quotes. Here goes: "Reality is for people who lack imagination." "When I'm right, no one remembers, and when I'm wrong, no one forgets." "Health is merely the slowest possible rate one can die." "A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory." "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic." Tahiri : " That's funny. " Corran : " Funny ha ha or funny we're about to die ? " ― Tahiri Veila and Corran Horn , sizing up the situation on Yuuzhan'tar [src]       Tahiri : " Remember, you're supposed to be training me. What does the...

 Good Morning! Come to think of it, I don't watch much TV either. Scratch that, I don't watch ANY TV. I don't even watch TCW on the TV. But The Clone Wars is my favorite TV show. We know the titles and dates of the episodes after the Mortis Trilogy! I'll put the dates and titles on The Lakehouse Calendar! We have... "The Citadel" on February 18th and "Counter Attack" on March 4th Sounds exciting!

I am posting partly because a bunch of extended family members might possibly be seeing this, and partly to torture the people who vowed to comment on every post they read for the entire month of February. }:) Let's see if they can keep it up. Hi, and welcome to my blog! If you are here, you are awesome. I post about Star Wars, writing, and other stuff.  Follow me! (revolutionary chorus plays in the background) A little bit about me: Amaranthine Scylla Degada is a pianist, dancer, writer, reader, and Killer of Plants who still wishes she had been born a duck. She has very widespread interests and has a tiny smidgen of talent in almost every field except art and gardening.  As of February Third, 2011 she has written one novel and countless short stories with no plot. She has two pets, ahem, younger brothers. She lives in a nice big white house surrounded by daisy and rose bushes and scrawny fruit trees which only survive because her grandmother comes every week to ...