THIS IS CASPER AND I HAVE TAKEN OVER NANDY'S BLOG

     Hello, humans. Nandy had a somewhat depressing week, as you will soon find out, so today I thought I would be a good dog and relieve her of the burden of writing a blog post. It's time for...

THE (SUSPECTED) EXPOSURE

     On New Year's Eve, just as they always do, the family left me at home and went to a party at an old family friend's house. They came back stuffed, and sleepy and went immediately to bed.

    

THE FALLOUT

     The year started off seamlessly, hiding the struggles to come behind its beautiful disguise. On January 1st, the family went on an excursion (and left me in the car - HOW RUDE!?!). Nandy felt a slight pain in her stomach, which passed soon. Little did the family realize that this was a premonition to their soon-to-come temporary ruination. 

     The next day, Jan 2nd, was one of the worst of 2018. The father had left to work, leaving the mom and Nandy alone at home. Except the mom seemed to have contracted a food-borne illness. She was in pain and had to lie down the entire day. The house was quiet and gloomy, the clouds outside not helping. Nandy was depressed, and she felt sorry for everyone as she cooked breakfast and lunch for her mom and herself and vacuumed the entire house. The atmosphere in the house was overwhelmingly despondent, but that would have been much preferred to what happened the next day. 

     At around 2 am on January 3rd, the anticipated disaster struck. Nandy vehemently displayed that one symptom of food-borne illnesses that I don't need to get into, and the father followed at around 4 am. Both stayed home that day, cautiously consuming fluids and rolling around in their pain like pigs in their own filth. Luckily, by the end of the day, the symptoms had mostly passed save for a few sparse stomachaches.

    

      That night, the whole SFO Bay Area, around 9 million people, were shaken in the middle of the night by a 4.4 magnitude earthquake. Of course, Nandy slept through it. What is shaming is that I, a canine with senses far superior to these humans and known to predict this sort of thing, snoozed through the quake as well. Maybe my observations should be taken with a grain (or a packet) of salt, seeing as I can't even be shaken awake.

     That brings me to today, January 4th. An uneventful day, the passing of time marked only by Nandy leaving and coming back from a Science Olympiad practice. 

     As you have seen, this week was quite melon collie for Nandy's family. The week was ruff for them all, so mutt we move on to happier topics? It's the leashed I could do. This is me playing fetch with Nandy; it makes her happy, so I deal with the repetition.

Also, have you heard this weirdly wonderful song by Sia? Click on the link hidden in the post to find it.

Follow Nandy's blog and come back every Friday for new posts; it makes her oh-so-happy, and when she's in a good mood, I GET TREATS! 

Also, expect an entire blog redesign soon; Nandy would like to change stuff up after helping her friend Guava set up her new blog. Find it by clicking the other hidden link in the post.

     

How I Spent Christmas

     I spent Christmas in Las Vegas. From Sunday to Wednesday, my family drove from our home's mild coastal climate into what was once the hottest place on Earth, and the lowest point in North America. Then we drove on into the largest city in the Mojave Desert, one famous for being called "Sin City." I learned and saw things I will never forget. I walked on an actual salt flat, the ground pale, crunchy, and yes, salty into the distance. I learned that even though Death Valley is notoriously arid and extreme, it has its own indigenous species of fish and that a Native American tribe has called the region home for a thousand years. And even though a relatively large part of the population where I live is vegetarian like me, I enjoyed some of the best veggie food I have ever tasted in Las Vegas.

And I did it all

Internet-free

     Which was quite invigorating actually. For once, I could feel myself creating my own ideas instead of having them handed to me. I could feel myself actually appreciating the beauty of what I was seeing. I could feel myself becoming more... what's the word... mindful? Yes, I was becoming more mindful. I didn't realize how detached I was from the world until I wasn't anymore. And I don't think it was the nature, but the simple act of not going on the Internet unless it was totally necessary. I wasn't consuming information I didn't need anymore, which let me think for myself. Now I'm back at home, with about four internet-connected devices in the same room as me. Let's see how long this mindfulness lasts; hopefully for a long time.

Blogiversary and stuff

Hi world!

I will be very honest with you and admit that I forgot to write this post until Thursday night, which is right now. Honestly, when I got to Junior high, life changed so much from elementary school. Like for one, I actually have this thing they call homework. I know. Crazy. Also, these things called after school clubs exist. And group projects are real. It's like... Woah.

On top of that, u am on one of the school's Science Olympiad teams, which takes up a large chunk of my time. I love it though.

However, I am at a bigger school now so I have more people I can consider friends.

Basically, the point of all this is red day that if my posts look rushed sometimes, it's probably because they were. It's not that I don't want to spend time on blogging, it's just that I have other stuff to do too.

I still love this site and what it's become. I'm fact, it turned a year old on the 15th! I hope for an even better year to come; what about you guys?

TTYL

Nandy

Sorry I can't add my signature image thing; typing this on my phone.

Random Facts About Pens

I 💓stationery so let's get started.

1.  A pen can write about 45,000 words in its lifetime.

2. Retractable pens don't dry out because they have oil-based ink.

3. The balls in today's ballpoint pens are mostly made of tungsten carbide, a material that is three times stronger than steel.

4. 95% of the time, the first word written with a new pen is the person's name.

5.  Ancient Egyptians made the first pens 5,000 years ago.

6. Don't swallow pen caps; they cause about 100 deaths each year this way.

7. The world's biggest pen is over 18 feet tall!

okay bye!

A List of John Green Books With Commentary From a 7th Grade Fangirl

     It is not uncommon knowledge that John Green is to me what someone like Halsey might be to you; a role model to the highest degree. Although he is so much more than his books, I have decided to share with you my top  3 favorite books from him.

1. Turtles All the Way Down

Follows a protagonist with OCD (like actual OCD, not publicly stigmatized "fake" OCD)
Has helped me develop some perspective on mental illness.

Released in 2017

May be made into a movie!!!!!

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Follows a protagonist with cancer and her love for a boy she met at a support group
Tender and profound

Released in 2012

THERE IS A MOVIE!

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Follows a boy and his search for "The Great Perhaps," who meets a mysterious girl named Alaska
Relatable and tragic

Published in 2005

No movie :(

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Some other great works of his include Paper Towns, An Abundance of Katherines, and Will Grayson, Will Grayson

My Procrastination Problem

Hi. I would tell you what this post is about, but I write a post title for a reason.

I have a problem with procrastination, which is when you put stuff off until the last minute. This was really affecting the quality of my work, which was especially evident in my blog posts.

I think the problem developed through my bullet journal. No, the bullet journal system doesn't cause procrastination, but I think I was writing down too many tasks per day. At the end of the day, I would obviously not finish everything so I would have to settle for an "incomplete" that day. It snowballed from me being more lenient with myself to me outright saying I would do something "later".

I am solving the problem by writing less in my bujo. When my goals are realistic and I achieve them, I feel motivated to do more. However, I try not to keep my goals too easy to achieve or they are pointless. 

If you also procrastinate, I highly recommend writing a daily to-do list with your studies or whatever. Make the list challenging but feasible.

In other news, I got my first Tombows. If you don't know what those are, they are really high quality advanced calligraphy markers. It is a huge milestone for me because I really enjoy calligraphy as a hobby.

oooooooooooooooooooookay bye

Thanksgiving! And Black Friday

     

Gobble! It's technically Black Friday, but I am doing a Thanksgiving-themed part of this post anyway. 

     I am thankful that I have the opportunity to have this blog.

     Enough mushiness.

     Today, Black Friday, I will have to go clothes shopping. Yay. *voice drips with sarcasm* Seriously, though, I need it. My closet is full of stuff I don't fit into anymore.

     I'm now out of ideas, so how about a history lesson. YAY!

     According to History.com, the most common story is that every year, shops go "into the black" on Black Friday. Stores use the color red to record losses, and black to record profit. Apparently, on the day after Thanksgiving, shoppers spent so much on discounted items that stores would get to record the day's earnings in black, instead of the usual red. 

     However, this story is false. 

     The true story goes like this: in the '50s, in Philadelphia, police used the term "Black Friday" to refer to the disorder that occurred the day after Thanksgiving. On the day after, a large  Army-Navy football game took place so tourists would flood in the day before (Friday). In this chaos, shoplifters would make off with goods from stores, so police had their work cut out for them. In the 1980s, retail stores removed the negative connotation from the term "Black Friday" and coined it as a sales bonanza. Eventually, discounts extended through the weekend and "Cyber Monday" and "Small Business Saturday" became other retail holidays.

     Fun Fact: Black Friday is not the biggest shopping day of the year; that honor goes to the Saturday before Christmas. 

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you next Friday!