I am Returning

Hello to all who actually read my blog occasionally. The title of this post basically says it all. That is correct, after almost two months, I will be returning to this blog. With all happening in homeschooling and life moving at a million miles per hour, I have had no time to breath let alone write a daily blog post. It’ll be hard for me to get back in the rhythm of writing each day, but I’ll do my absolute best to update as often as possible.

You’ll all be happy to hear that I have loads of writings and author interviews for you to read and I can’t wait to share them.

Until most likely tomorrow, good night.

100 Things to do While in New York City

In honor of my trip to New York City last Monday, which I’ll write more about tomorrow, I decided to create a list of 100 things to do while in ‘the big apple’. There is almost no possible way to complete all of these things in one day so let me know what your favorites are! Have you ever been to New York City?

1. Take the subway
2. Go to Marvel STATION (Limited time)
3. Have lunch in Central Park
4. See Little Italy
5. Check out Times Square
6. Go to a comic book store
7. Shop in Forever 1
8. Relive your childhood
9. Go to the Disney store
10. Take a night tour
11. Visit Chinatown
12. Meet authors
13. Go to the public library
14. See a famous person
15. Rock climb in Central Park
16. Go into a gift shop
17. Pose with a moving character
18. Make a Snapchat story
19. Buy roasted candied nuts
20. Update your fashion
21. Do something you’ve never done before
22. Check out some movie sets
23. Marvel at the sights
24. Visit American Girl
25. Climb up the steps of a tall building
26. Visit the Empire State Building
27. See the Statue of Liberty
28. Go to Ellis Island
29. Take a river cruise
30. Explore Penn Station
31. Go on a ‘hike’ in Central Park
32. Sit in the middle of times square
33. Make a taxi driver mad
34. Start singing with a guitar
35. Go downtown
36. Leave for a European cruise
37. Eat cheap pizza
38. Go to the American Museum of Natural History
39. Play on the playground in Central Park
40. See the penguins at the Central Park Zoo
41. Immerse yourself in culture
42. Interview someone
43. Talk to someone random
44. Get a job interview
45. Visit the Rockefeller Center
46. See the Metropolitan Museum of Art
47. View some of Van Gogh’s paintings
48. Go to Moma
49. See a Broadway play
50. Get your Junior Ranger badge
51. Go to Radio City Music Hall
52. Watch a baseball game
53. Have fun at Coney Island
54. Go to a pub
55. Ride a horse and buggy through Central Park
56. See the animals at the Bronx Zoo
57. Go geocaching in Central Park
58. Hear a low grade concert anywhere in NYC
59. See Madison Square Garden
60. Go to the NY Botanical Garden
61. Have a mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral
62. Drive over the Brooklyn bridge
63. Bike through Central Park
64. Go shopping
65. Visit the top of the Chrysler Building
66. Go to Battery Park
67. See the animals at the Central Park Zoo
68. Go to Yankee Stadium
69. See the New York Harbor
70. Visit the NY Hall of Science
71. See a concert at Carnegie Hall
72. Go to the Queens Museum
73. Get your feet rubbed
74. Visit the 9-11 memorial
75. Lay roses at the 9-11 memorial
76. Go on a date
77. Shop at Aeropostal
78. Sprint somewhere
79. Visit Webster Hall
80. Check out Hotel Pennsylvania
81. Take part in a parade
82. Read a book
83. Get drawn
84. Close your eyes and write down everything you hear
85. Write a poem
86. Take a city tour
87. Draw the Manhattan skyline
88. Take a food tour
89. Meet someone new
90. Catch a pick pocket
91. Get lost
92. Go to a spa
93. Take part in a festival
94. Try new food
95. See a second grade musical
96. Go on an Easter egg hunt
97. Buy a new coat
98. Try wine
99. Be exhausted by the end of the day
100. Have fun!

100 Things to do When it Snows (Inside Edition)

A few weeks ago, I created a list of 100 things to do when it snows. Inspired by that, I decided to make an indoor version of that list. There are some repeats, but most are original. You can also tell that I was running out of ideas at the end, but I did my best. Have fun reading!

1. Sit by the window and watch the snow fall
2. Learn about snow and blizzards
3. Watch a movie
4. Have a sleepover with friends
5. Pretend its summer
6. Read a good book
7. Create a blog
8. Meet new online people
9. Drink Hot Chocolate
10. Figure out your goals
11. Make winter themed oragami
12. Create a YouTube Channel
13. Make tea
14. Create a scrapbook
15. Spend all day on Instagram
16. Bundle up and lower the heat
17. Have a tea party
18. Email your favorite actor/actress
19. Create a Netlix account
20. Watch an entire season of a TV show
21. Set up a goal board
22. Organize your room
23. Look back through old photos
24. Have an indoor picnic
25. Create a Pinterest
26. Write a novel
27. Play mindless games online
28. Discover websites to cure boredom
29. Bake something
30. Create a tumblr
31. Find quotes to pin on your wall
32. Have an indoor photo shoot
33. Write fanfiction
34. Read fanfiction
35. Read a classic book that you read in high school
36. Watch YouTube for hours
37. Download apps until there’s no more room on your device
38. Go to the library for the day
39. Read all of my blog posts
40. Bake cookies
41. Email your favorite author
42. Watch the movie Frozen
43. Spend all day in your pajamas
44. Write a song
45. Review a book
46. Plant seeds to move outside when spring comes
47. Meet lesser known authors
48. Learn a language
49. Lose yourself in a fandom
50. Sculpt something
51. Spend all day on twitter
52. Find books you can get for free in exchange for a review
53. Call a radio station
54. Read the Bible
55. Learn an instrument
56. Create an edit
57. Organize your emails
58. Take a walk inside your house
59. Make a hot chocolate jar
60. Plant an indoor garden
61. Eat ice cream
62. Look at the temperature and be happy you’re not outside
63. Get started on holiday cards
64. Create unique hot chocolate with spices
65. Make s’mores
66. Draw on the windows with snow/washable markers
67. Clean the house
68. Make taffy
69. Write letters to anyone
70. Get in touch with old friends
71. Draw something
72. Learn about the weather
73. Create a language
74. Play pretend
75. Paint something
76. Discover an unknown artist
77. Go to the gym
78. Take a class at your local community center
79. Learn what to do if the power goes out for days
80. Set up a survival kit in case your ever snowed in
81. Send thank you notes
82. Discover an unknown musical artist
83. Do something you’ve never done before
84. Plan for the future
85. Read a child’s book from when you were little
86. Become a girl scout/boy scout if your still of age
87. Plan your dream trip
88. Set up a savings plan for said dream trip
89. Put together an inspiration board of quotes
90. Make a gift for someone
91. Look up if your favorite author is on tour
92. Discover a new genre of music
93. Cheer someone on
94. Discover nerd music
95. Read Harry Potter
96. Remember your childhood
97. Plan for adulthood
98. Become excited for children
99. Have fun!
100. Go outside and play in the snow!

Tossup Thursday: My Brother’s Play

I am honestly sorry for not updating the past few days. Homework is tougher than ever and my life is just a full blown whirl wind at the moment. Life seems to always be that way, but it is life and if it’s not a fully blown whirlwind, then is it worth living? Before I end up writing an entire post about why life is worth living and everything that goes along with that, I should introduce my topic. Just last Friday and Saturday, my brother starred in his first play The Wizard of Oz. It was a slightly different version than the original, but was still so much fun to watch. He played the Tin Woodsman, and brought a humor to the role that I have never seen before. Below is an excerpt from my diary which I wrote the night after his first performance. The only thing I pulled from it was last names

“First is watching Michael be the Tin Woodsman in MMW’s production [The] Wizard of Oz. It was sort of a hip hop version but was still so cute to watch. The entire cast was so good! They were pretty loose on stage and they were rather practiced. The girl who played Glinda was gorgeous and both she and Caroline, who played Dorothy, were so composed on stage. Malia, Toto, was so cute and she signed my arm after the play which was neat. The cowardly lion was adorable in his fright and the scarecrow was hilarious in his stupidity. Jenny played the wicked witch of the west and she was just amazing!! The person who sold the show for me personally though was of course Michael. In his silver suit, gloves, and face paint, he looked so at ease on stage. He really was fantastic, so in character, and just plain awesome. I was overjoyed to see him role. Seriously, I can’t stress enough just how amazing he was. The dancers were wonderful to, especially Blake and the other girl who opened the show with him. It was truly a pleasure to watch.’

A lot of words, am I right? I wrote more in my journal that night than I ever had in my records of keeping a journal. Though it might seem that I’m over exaggerating because I’m his sister, my brother was truly fantastic and it was so fantastic to watch him on stage. He played the role perfectly, and he was so excited the hours leading up to the performance.

Just two years ago I performed on the same stage that he did just a few nights ago, in the school’s production of Beauty and the Beast. Because of my height I was cast as Lumiere, the flirtatious young man turned candle stick. Since I was a girl, I didn’t exactly do the teasing part of the character though I looked up how to voice a French accent for the part. For almost everyone on stage, during my year and my brother’s, it is their first play and performance on stage and it’s so adorable and amazing to see them do their first ever acting parts. Hopefully in another two years my sister will choose to be part of the play and be singing on that stage as well. I have almost no doubt about it.

A quick note, this blog post might say that it was published on March 6, 2015 though I assure you that I will publish it before midnight on March 5, 2015. There’s a small problem going on with my time keeping part of wordpress, though hopefully I’ll have it fixed soon. As always, thank you guys for reading and I’ll see you tomorrow! Hopefully I’ll find time to update… Just kidding! I should certainly have time tomorrow. Talk to you all then.

The House of Hades Book Trailer

I wasn’t sure if I would actually do this, but I am. I hope that you guys will all audition because I am so excited about this. This trailer will be based on the book The House of Hades by Rick Riordan. The project will most likely take months to complete, and the final product will be posted onto YouTube and possibly other social media websites.

The following characters will be in the trailer, and you can audition for any and all of them.

Percy Jackson

Annabeth Chase

Jason Grace

Piper McLean

Frank Zhang

Hazel Levesque

Leo Valdez

Calypso

Nico DiAngelo

Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano

Rachel Elizabeth Dare

Hecate

Gaea*

*Gaea will be part of the trailer, but only as a voiceover. No person will be shown.

The following jobs are also needed and again, you can audition for any and all of them.

Video Editor

Composer

Music Technology Specialist

Instrumentalist*

*We will need an unknown number of instrumentalists of most likely every common instrument.

To audition, please follow the following steps.

1. Read this entire blog post and, if you want, my last Demigod Friday post that has information about this trailer
2. Look at and fill out the form for your audition category which are linked below the post
3. Film/make an audition video or example (more information below)
4. Email me the audition video/example as well as a scan or photo of your filled out form
5. Follow my blog and Instagram (@theanniewisegirl) so you can be updated

The audition film isn’t very hard. The actors should pick their favorite scene from this book, or a scene that they feel is they’re strongest acting scene, and film it. The video can be any length, though I wouldn’t recommend it being over 3 minutes and other characters in the scene can either be read by someone off screen or left out. Please leave the page number for the scene you chose.

Auditioning for the jobs is slightly more complicated. To audition for video editor, please send me a video of anything you have edited. Weather it was a school project, YouTube video, or another book trailer just please send me your best work. To audition for composer, please send me sheet music that you have composed, and you can send me a video of you preforming the composition if you want. Again, please send me your best work and your work will remain yours if you send it in. I would never steal your composition. To audition for the music technology specialist, please send me a video of any music that you have created electronically and/or recorded and put together. To audition to be an instrumentalist, please send me a video of any length preforming a song on your instrument. Again, please send me your best music.

Important dates are listed below.

Deadline for auditions: March 13, 2015

Callbacks and cuts announced: March 20, 2015

Deadline for callbacks: March 27, 2015

Final List: April 3, 2015

Expected finish date: September 15, 2015

I, Katie, will fill the spot of director and any jobs that are needed. I also have myself written down for Annabeth, but as director I’ll do my best to not be biased. If I think that you’re a better actress than me, then I promise I will choose you.

Forms:

For jobs- The House of Hades Book Trailer Audition Form

For actors- The House of Hades Book Trailer Audition Form- editor, composer, etc

Thank you for auditioning! I can’t wait to see your videos.

 

 

 

Tossup Thursday: Freshmen, Sophomores, and High School in General

High school can be a scary place, and if any of my readers are in high school I’m sure you agree. The one thing that could make it any scarier is going into your sophomore year after being homeschooled for two years.

That’s right folks, I am almost officially signed up to go into 10^th grade next year and I am completely psyched. I’m terrified and excited, shocked and relieved, and tons of other emotions, but maybe I should explain why this is such an amazing feat.

For those of you who don’t know, I am fourteen years old. The students that I went to elementary school with are now in eighth grade and will be going into ninth grade next year. During the two years that I’ve been homeschooled I did three years’ worth or work instead of just two. At this point, it seems incredibly foolish to go into ninth grade next year when I’ve done everything for that grade already.

My mom and I talked to the school district and our case was brought forth to a few of the people in higher up positions. The fight didn’t seem to be going well, and we were both nervous for the meeting on Tuesday to take place. Praying to God for his will to be done, we walked in and over the course of an hour everything fell into place. I’m shocked that everyone’s views on the matter switched so quickly. At the meeting, no one seemed incredibly against the idea of me going into tenth grade next year and they laid out what I should do to get there.

First I’ll sign up for tenth grade on March 2, and select all my classes as if I were just a normal student. I’ll have to take two Keystone test’s in May on Biology and Algebra 1. Then I’ll take two placement tests around June in Algebra 2 and English 9. Over the summer I’ll take two classes at my local community college, Health and French 2. Health because I want to free up another elective slot in my schedule, and French 2 so I can go into Honors French 3 in my tenth grade year so I’m on par with everyone else in the language department. From there, all that will be left is for me to turn in my certificates and go into tenth grade in the fall. I’ll also have to submit a form in my senior year to remind them why I’m graduating at only 17.

This is incredibly exciting to see it all fall into line like this because we’ve been trying to get this to happen for months now yet nothing happened. I don’t understand how their minds were changed so quickly, but I’m certainly not complaining. My workload has practically doubled, but I know that I’ll be able to get the work done in time to take the tests.

My few reserves about going into tenth grade are the fact that I’ll practically be straddled between two grades. The kids in tenth grade won’t know me, yet I’ll be in their grade whereas the kids in ninth grade will know me and I won’t be in their grade anymore. As well as the fact that I haven’t socialized in almost two years, except for youth group. If any of you have advice, please let me know in the comments.

So that’s the update on my life and my tossup Thursday post. Are any of you in high school? Have any of you ever been homeschooled? Have any of you ever skipped a grade? Let me know in the comments!

Introduction.. I guess

I don’t know what will become of this blog.

There, I got it out in the open. I honestly don’t. Like most things in my life, I have big plans for this url including writing daily and gaining tons of followers. Though that would be fantastic, I know that it’s just a dream until I put in a lot of work. I don’t know if I’ll have the time to do that. I just thought that I’d start this, and we’ll see where it goes. Hopefully I will overcome all odds and write every day.

I don’t really know how to start a blog either.

I’ve never seen a blog started, they just always seem to have just popped up with half a million followers straight off the bat. I don’t know if people start with introductions or start blogging right away, but by the looks of how I’ve started, this post will be an introduction post.

Assuming as I am, I would think that you’d want a description of me, but in all honesty (which seems to be the theme of this post) I don’t know how to describe myself. As a homeschooler, I haven’t seriously introduced myself to anyone in almost two years. I’ll give it my best shot.

My name is Kate, if you didn’t get that from the name of my blog. My first love in life was music, which I fell hard into when I was little. I play tons of instruments, sing, and write songs. Unlike most teenagers, I love school, especially math and writing, and love to read. My ambition is to sing professionally and travel the world with my lovely books. God is the main man in my life, and I’m very Catholic.

At the moment while I’m writing this, I guess I look like a blogger. My blonde hair is up in a super messy bun, and just a minute ago I had a pencil behind my ear. I’m the pajamas that I’ve been in all day, despite it being 7 o’clock at night and a heavy collegiate wrap sweater that I wear when I’m cold. I’m also pretty quirky and weird, but I’m pretty sure that’s a requirement for writing a blog when you’re a teenager.

I guess that wasn’t too bad, but let’s hope that I can write better blog posts than introduction paragraphs. I do have a plan for this blog, which I mentioned above. Writing every day is the goal, and each day has a different topic.

Sunday I’ll write about Faith, where I’ll tell about topics in the Roman Catholic and Christian church.

Monday will be a Book Spot, where I’ll write about my favorite books and other bookish news.

Tuesday will be traveling Tuesday, and I’ll tell you about the places that I’ve traveled.

Every Wednesday I’ll have a new 100 list for you to read, whether it’s songs, places, or things to do over the summer.

Thursday is sort of a tossup day, where I’ll probably write about something related to my life. For instance, vegetarianism for my sister, or Lego designers for my brother. Maybe someday this will be the guest post day!

Friday is a tribute to my favorite book series, where I’ll write about something demigod related for all of the Percy Jackson fans out there.

As a homeschooler, Saturday’s I’ll write about exciting extracurricular activities that I get to do or want to do.

I hope that I’ve enticed you into either following my blog, or checking back soon to see what I’ve been up to. Despite what I said above, I’m actually very excited about this and I hope that you are too. See you guys on my blog!

-Kate