Entrance exams

First of all, I decided that I won't post any of my art-related news on this blog anymore. For sketches and finished paintings and stuff, go to my tumblr (http://julia-aurora.tumblr.com), or for finished paintings only, deviantart (http://julia-aurora.deviantart.com).

I have my first university entrance exam tomorrow, and I'm very nervous since I haven't really studied for it at all, heh. It's for French, which required that you read a novel (which I have only started on...) but it should also contain a part where they test grammar and vocabulary, which I guess I should be able to score a few points on. Wednesday is Economy, which I definitely will not pass, since I've read about 70 pages of the 480-page book. Thursday is for information systems, which is the one I'm actually looking forward to, since it's my first choice and the one I really hope to get in to.

Well, wish me luck :D

Random note: I baked a mudcake today. Been ages since I baked any cakes. Can't wait to eat it tomorrow as a "reward" for taking the entrance exam, haha.

Friends

Saw my friends on Wednesday for the first time in ages! Gonna go out with them again tonight, which should be fun since I haven't been to any night clubs in ages.

Had the urge to doodle stuff with vibrant colors, so here are a few very quick, low-quality sketches :D

There will be a short Guild Wars 2 beta on Monday (7 hours - not an actual beta but a stress test to see how much the servers can handle) from 9 pm to 4 am :D It's really a shame that I have work on Tuesday, but I'm still planning to stay up all the way until 4 o'clock.

Ready for graduation

Dress, check. Shoes, check. Jacket, check. Student cap, check.

Yeeah, I'm ready for graduation now ;)!

Normally I'm not a big fan of shopping shoes, but today I just found the nicest pair of shoes ever that I just had to buy for my graduation :D. They're a creamy white, so at first I was afraid I might not find a jacket to match it, but thankfully I found one that was exactly the same color! Heh, the extremely girly-me wants graduation to come already so that I can wear all those pretty clothes :)

Oh, and yesterday I sold my first book in the entire time I've been working in the bookshop. Feels like such an achievement!

Otherwise, there's not much to tell. I've pretty much just been playing Guild Wars and going to the gym day after day.

It's over :(

This weekend was absolutely fantastic! I really can't wait until the next beta weekend :D
I'm just a bit worried because my computer made the game reeeally slow, which did take away some of the fun, so I cross my fingers that the finished game won't be as sluggish.

I have a lot of sleep to catch up on this night :P Oh, except I'll be going to a park to celebrate the 1st of May with my friends, so the sleep-catching will have to wait until later.

GW2 beta :D

The official date for the Guild Wars 2 beta is announced: 27-29th April :D!
I seriously can't wait! This is the moment I've looked forward to ever since the announcement of Guild Wars Eye of the North back in 2007 :D
*insert a fangirl-squee*

I also tried out Les Mill's Bodycombat last Saturday at the gym. Gotta say I fell in love with it instantly, so I incorporated it into my workout plan, which now looks like this:
Mondays: spinning
Tuesdays: Bodypump
Wednesdays: Bodycombat
Thursdays: Bodypump
Fridays: rest
Saturdays: Bodypump+Bodycombat
Saturdays: rest

I'm also getting about an hour of walking each day because it's actually faster to walk to work than take the bus downtown (approx 20 min) + bus to work (approx 20 more min) :) Hehe, beach 2012, here I come.

As for drawing, I really feel like doing it, but each time I start sketching something the motivation kind of fades away when I realize that the painting won't be as good as I picture in my head. Looking at all the amazing artists that can be found on Deviantart makes me really inspired on the other hand, but also kind of depressed on the other hand when I realize that I'm not as good as them. I know that the only way to get better is to practice a lot, but I just don't have a lot of motivation right now :(
Gah. Patience is definitely not one of my strong points.

Work

So, I've been working at my parents' bookshop for about a week now.
It's the best job ever.
Basically, I get paid for just sitting at a desk for two hours 5 days a week, doing pretty much what I want (facebook/surfing on the internet/drawing/reading) because the shop rarely gets any customers. Just me and my iPad for two (often very boring) hours.

...I should probably spend that time doing something productive, such as studying for entrance exams. I still don't feel the slightest motivated to start studying, argh!

Here's something I doodled on my iPad at work:

Gah, drawing with my fingers is such a painfully slow technique. I'll probably never attempt a full painting on my iPad and only stick to sketches until I miraculously manage to gain some more patience :D

Shopping

Yay, I now have a dress for my graduation :). That's one more thing to cross off my to-do list.

I called my dentist yesterday. Seems I'll get my last two wisdom teeth extracted in June. I remember that last time equaled a few days of utter pain, so I'm not really looking forward to it :(. Well, at least I'll have it over with then, so that those teeth can't bother me at a later point!

My parents also offered me a summer job in case I won't get chosen for any of the ones I applied for :D. I'm starting it out already by helping out in my parents' bookshop and keeping it open on days that my parents usually have it closed. I'll also be helping my dad find material for a book he's writing. Seems I have my incomes covered for this summer!

And, because a blog requires a photo, here's a random photo of a mozzarella-tomato salad I made to go with today's dinner.

Boring life

This blog keeps being quiet because there still hasn't been anything exciting happening in my life.

Until today.

I bought the Guild Wars 2 pre-purchase deluxe edition :D!!

Can't wait to get to play in the next beta weekend!!

(in case you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm only referring to the most awesome game currently in development!)

And if you think that my blog is quiet now, then you haven't even seen quiet. Wait around until GW2 is released, and I'll show you the true meaning of a quiet blog. I will allow nothing to come in between me and gaming once the game is out.

Life goes on

Life's been pretty much the same the past few days: I wake up, exercise, eat, watch some tv and go to bed. Rinse and repeat.

Currently I'm enjoying my last day of freedom, because my parents are coming back home tomorrow. To celebrate both their return and the easter holiday, I decided to make a smörgåstårta :D It's basically a cake but you use sandwiches for the layers and the filling is usually something salty (in my case I used ham, cream cheese and creme fraiche for the filling and tomatoes, cucumber and creme fraiche mixed with mayoonaisse for the top). Can't wait to taste it tomorrow :D

I also watched Forrest Gump for the first time today (about time!). The story progressed a bit slowly for my taste, but I loved the plot and all the characters nonetheless. I didn't really read the summary of the plot before watching it, so I didn't really know what to expect, but I definitely thought it was different from this - I'd kind of imagined the whole movie to have some kind of heavy action-war-chase story. Heh.

Also been doing slight revisions to my novel. Currently at page 82. It's slowly getting better, but I'm still having very big doubts as to whether it's current state is good enough for an agent to be interested in it.

:D

July, come faster..!

:D

Exhibition

I was at the opening of an art exhibition yesterday, and the painting I did for art class was on display there :D

Also found out the last preliminary results for my finals today. I'm satisfied with all of them - now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that my points won't be reduced in the official results that will be published at the end of May!

As for my novel, I finished the revision of it today :). It ended up 4 pages shorter than before the revision, and I hope that those removed pages will make the book a smoother read. I actually really like the last 100 pages, but still kinda dubious about the first 250 :P. I probably will be doing a second revision soon to see if I can rewrite any of the scenes that still bother me.
After that I'll have to make the big decision of whether to send it to a publisher or not. Eek!

Spiders

My biggest fear: spiders.

So you can imagine my loud cry of surprise when a huge, black one suddenly surprised me while I was showering. After a short battle, I came out victorious (though quite a bit shaken!)

Haha, I'll never be able to take a shower again without having paranoid thoughts.

Had a fun, slightly improvised movie night with friends yesterday. I was intending to leave at midnight, but it dragged out until 2.30, whoops :D. And I had to get up early to go to Bodypump this morning. Might go see a movie with a friend later tonight.

Mudcake :D

I celebrated my newly acquired freedom by making a mudcake :D Yum!

I also borrowed a whole stack of movies from my brother, in case I happen to grow bored. Looking forward to some chillax-evenings in front of the TV!

I did revisions to one more chapter of my novel, but I kind of have mixed feelings about whether to try to publish it or not. I like the plot I created, but I feel I could have implemented it less cliché-y. I don't really want to rewrite the entire thing either - I'd rather just write a new novel with an even better plot and more interesting and consistent characters. But on the other hand, I'm not ready to depart from my two years long project quite yet...

Freedom!

Finals are over :D! French went well, German not so much (but thankfully that one didn't matter as greatly).

Now I'm free until September, with the exception of studying for entrance exams and potentially working if I manage to get a summer job. I have a feeling that I'm going to get really bored at all this free time pretty soon :P

Worked a bit on my Mononoke picture. I don't know if I will be finishing it or not, because when I tried coloring it I just couldn't make it look right, and it looks too lame in black-and-white to be left this way :(. Such a shame, I kind of liked how the face turned out.

Carrots r evil

Yesterday, I learned the hard way that I'm allergic to raw carrots.

We were having dinner, with a salad containing carrots, which I had ignorantly taken plenty of. At some point, when I was almost finished with my meal, my throat started to feel really odd and swallowing became really painful, and I got really odd, sharp pains in my middle. I couldn't swallow properly until around the time when I went to bed, which was 6 hours later!

I have eaten carrots before - actually, plenty of them - but I always cook them before eating, and cooked carrots haven't affected me in any way. I think it's safe to say that I will be avoiding raw carrots from now on.

Anyways, I'm currently revising the last of the French grammar by doing finals from previous years. Doing pretty well so far, but I don't know if it will be enough for an L (the highest grade, which would be pretty awesome to get :P). Guess I should have started earlier if I was going to aim for that.

My practice set-up: the exam questions on one half of the screen, and my answers on the other half.

And, even better: I'm going to see The Hunger Games today! So excited :D! *fangirl squee*

Français, je t'aime (pas)

Had plenty of fun yesterday evening :). Today, a relative is coming over so we're going to spend the evening playin quizzes (Buzz!) and stuff. Tomorrow, I'll (hopefully!) be going to watch The Hunger Games with two friends of mine :D. Been waiting ages for the movie to come out, and the original plan was to go on the first show, but since all of us had math exams yesterday, we couldn't go on the midnight release, and the party yesterday evening took away the option of an evening showing.

I really hope the movie will be as good as the book. I haven't dared read any reviews, because I kind of want to create my own opinion of the movie instead of reading the opinions of others beforehand :).

Next up on the finals: French and German. I've decided to prioritize French, because I've actually already done the German exam last October. I'm just doing it again kind of "for fun" to see if I could raise it from the grade I got (E, which is the second best grade) to L (the best grade).

Haven't had the energy to bring myself to start studying yet, though I really should D:
I usually love learning languages, but when it becomes a duty (like when I have to study for an exam) instead of a hobby, I'm not nearly as motivated.

Phew!

So, I survived the math finals.
And I even have a feeling that I did decently in them :D!
And what's even better is that I found out that I most likely will be getting the highest grade for my English finals, yay!

Going to a pre-party at a friend's this evening, but because I'm planning to go to the gym early tomorrow morning, I most likely will not join them to the bar afterwards. Still, looking forward to a chillax-evening with my friends, to celebrate that I only have 2 finals left! (French and German on monday. I'm a bit nervous about writing two subjects in one session!)

Trying to decide what to wear tonight. Probably going with a nicer black top + pink pants.

A few more days, then FREEDOM!
...well, actually I still have university entrance exams to study for.

Stress D:

150 pages of my novel are now revised :D (220 to go!). Still not entirely happy with some of the chapters, so I fear I will go through the beginning one more time after finishing the revisions of the full novel. It is moving in the right direction though :) And only 1 more week to go before I can devote all of my free time to this project!

Now, off to do some more math! The exam isn't until Friday, but we'll have to turn in our calculators and the book with all the formulas already on Thursday, meaning I can basically do math exercises only today and tomorrow morning. Eek!

Oh, and also, I've finally sent in my university applications :)! Unfortunately, the points I get from my Swedish and math exams are doubled when calculating the points for getting into my first choice university, and my Swedish exam didn't exactly go great, so I'm a bit worried that I might not get in after all. Of course, most of the points will be gained from the entrance exam, but the exam can't be prepared for, so I'm really afraid of failing it!

My math corner.

Witch painting

I kinda liked the sketch that can be found in this blog post, and decided to make it a full painting :)

Finnish exam tomorrow. I don't really know how to prepare for it, so I'm just going to relax and study some Math instead (which is on Friday, and I'm completely freaking out, because I thought I was kinda good at math but doing old final exams has made me realize how much I've forgotten of the things we learned!)

GW2

I really can't wait until April, because that's when Guild Wars 2 pre-purchases start (and buying it means that I will get access to all GW2 betas and a head-start when it comes to playing the actual game!)
Four/five years of waiting (can't remember when Arenanet first announced GW2, heh) is finally starting to pay off :D. Once I get my hands on that game, I fear I won't be leaving my computer for several days in a row.

I've also signed up for the March beta tests, but I have a feeling I won't get chosen since I'm competing against 1 million other people.

Revising my novel is steadily progressing - I'm currently at page 100 out of 375. I'm noticing that my writing style at the beginning of the book is more focused on descriptions and details, while the later half is more dialogue-oriented, so I'm actually getting to remove a lot of paragraphs from the beginning to make it more balanced. It feels nice to go back and edit the first parts of the story, because I never really was entirely satisfied with the first 70-100 pages, and because I still hadn't completely developed the characters' personalities by then, so now I get to make them less like generic dolls and more like themselves.

A picture of me in November, when I'd recently finished the novel and got it printed in paperback format:

Now I'm hoping that I'll one day be able to take a similar picture, but with a published version of the book :)