A World In Crisis

So much has happened in the world in the past few months I can hardly comprehend it. Massive protests in the middle east, a devastating earthquake in New Zealand, and massive devastation in Japan from earthquakes, tsunamis, and nuclear crises. I don't go out of my way to read or watch news generally, but lately I've been following more news sites on Twitter and am regularly visiting BBC News and Al Jazeera for their more major stories. I wouldn't have even known about Al Jazeera if it weren't for their coverage of the Egypt protests, and my friend telling me about the site.

Japan's struggling hits home for me. I have relatives that travel there, family friends who have moved there, and a few of my mom's friends from her childhood who she's still in touch with live there. As far as I know they're all faring decently, but it chills me that people I know are so close to such devastation. I'll be hoping and praying Japan makes it through this all right. From what I know about their culture, though, if any country could fully recover after this sort of disaster, it would be Japan.

I've also learned more than I ever expected about nuclear power today, through Wikipedia. These are certainly interesting times.

In completely other news, I have almost all my coursework done except for a group dissertation about our instant messenger project (GIM) and one other class where we're making a mock Twitter+Tumblr site. Can't wait till the next week and a half are over. Then a month break until exams...

Plans

Ah, I feel ashamed It's been almost a month since I last posted. I've been doing one a week since September, when I did almost 20 in one month. It's true that I'm in a new relationship, which tends to make time disappear... but it's also true that it's crunch time with my courses, and I still have a couple weeks of this craziness left. Then a month of break, which will mostly be spent studying for my 9 exams that are worth quite a substantial amount of my grade. Oh, joy.

After that though, I think I'll get back into editing my novel. I'm not sure when the internship I hope to get will begin, but I'll definitely have more time for my hobbies. Two writing classes ago, it was my turn to be critiqued. I decided to submit the last half of my first chapter, which may or may not have been a good idea. I still don't like the very beginning, so that's partly why I skipped it, but my peers missed the introduction of my main character's personality a bit. I was aiming to get my writing itself critiqued I suppose, instead of the plot. That's what point my story is at anyway. In my next revision, I'll be focusing on details like that. I probably won't go over people's suggestions until I start my revising.

I've found that I miss blogging more often. It's a good way for me to keep up the practice of writing, apart from when I'm writing reports for class. Which isn't the same anyway. I hope I can find time to do this more often, and perhaps have pictures to include as well.

Also, don't be alarmed at the change of background. Thought it needed a new look.