Java Ain't No Coffee

This is a post about coding and programming so if you don't like that kind of stuff  and/or is really bores you and gives you a headache I won't blame you because I was like that until I started coding.

I started learning code and programing on Code Academy a couple months ago and I finished HTML and CSS so I'm doing JavaScript now. Let me just say, I can now appreciate the people who work on websites and such. Java is hard and learning it requires you to remember a lot of stuff. Actually I've been trying to use the Loki memory method to remember different attributes and variables. It has surprised me how much math is actually involved. But I can handle it, it's not difficult math at least.

I'm really excited to learn how to make stuff like web apps and write website code, but I know I'm pretty far away from that. But it's been fun being able to change certain stuff in code on my blog and my Tumblr page now that I know what I'm looking for.

Anyway just a random update on my ridiculous life.

Slan,
Courtney Elizabeth

Sherlock

So I have been watching BBC Sherlock when it airs in America on PBS. (I know I could have watched it online a month ago, but I decided to wait since it will be a while till the next season comes out.) This show never ceases to amaze me. It stays unpredictable until the end, and keeps me on my toes. I've seen the first two episodes, (actually that makes me have only one left) and I love season 3. I don't have a favorite Sherlock episode, but this season is just amazing.


I'm really excited to see what happens in the last episode; everything is so happy now after the wedding it's going to get a little scary. It seems BBC likes to do that to people; make them feel really good about an episode and then give them one that makes everyone sit with their mouths open in shock for hours. (i.e Downton Abbey) I've been rewatching the episodes like two days after I see them, I always miss something important the first time through.


Anyhow just wanted to share my Sherlock-ness with the world. Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to watch the new episode Sunday due to the super bowl...I'm going to be at a church youth event at my best friends house. (Ironic, neither of us care about football at all, like we would totally be watching Sherlock and Downton instead.) So I'll have to watch it Monday via the net (PBS website).


That's all. (seriously I don't know how to end a blog post)

The Black Death

I am the last surviving member of the Edbourne family. I am left, at seventeen years of age, to fend for myself in this cruel, sad and ending world. It is funny, in an ironic way. Two sunrises ago, I had a family. A mum and a dad, a younger brother and an older sister. Within that short span of time, I have been made an orphan. I have no friends. The Black Death has taken everyone important to me, everyone I loved.

            I am in a church with a few survivors from our village. I don’t know why we have been spared. It doesn’t make any sense to me at all. Frankly, I would rather I was dead. I don’t want to live alone, or not alone, but with people I don’t know, that aren’t my family. The year is 1350. Most people in the surrounding villages are dead. Doctors are estimating that a third of the population is dead thoughout England. And I ask, “God, why don’t you end this disease?”

            As I lie on the cold floor of the church, looking up at the ceiling, I ponder what I will do. If I don’t die, (which seems most likely) I will probably end up being sent to work for some farmer by the pope of our church.  I really want to be a knight, but I know that dream is ridiculous. I am not even of a noble family. But perhaps, which so many dead…. Inwardly I kicked myself for thinking so darkly. It was cruel and wicked to use the deaths of so many for one’s personal gain. I had just heard one of the doctors rebuke a noble for talking so the other day.

            Rats run by me as I lay still. Stupid, stinking rats. They caused all this trouble to begin with. Mostly likely they are the ones causing this horrible disease. I kicked one of them as it ran by my feet, and it yelped, and ran into a corner. A girl scrubbing the floor on the other side of the room glared at me. I glared back. I didn’t see why I shouldn’t kick the rats. I sat up and pulled myself next to the wall.

            I rubbed the back of my head. My hair used to be past my ears, but I had to have it cut short. Apparently it was supposed to keep bugs out and somehow reduce the risk of infection. I like it, but it is different, and will take some getting used to. That must be why it was so itchy. I rolled my shoulders and rubbed my back against the wall.

            The girl scrubbing came over and looked at me critically. “How do you feel?”

            “Fine, why?”

            “Stand up and turn around.” I did so, confused.

            “Oh my God,” she said, “you have it.”

I wrote this last year for school. I know it's not very good, but I thought I'd post it anyway.

Yet Another Tech Problem

Okay, so I got my computer back, but I ran into other technology problems. Our family used to have DirectTV as our television service, however our internet and phone is Verizon, and she recently received a better off to do cable tv with them for a better price. So, I hook up the Verizon box. (Yes, I'm the established Master-of-Everything-Tech in my house, so naturally this became my job. So I plug everything into the correct ports and turn the tv and the cable box on. Nothing happens. Okay, so I missed something. I double check all cords and repeat this several times. I input to the correct channel on the TV, and I get a flashing distorted image and then it goes blue. Hallelujah, we have another tech problem. So now I have to talk to people. Which I hate. A lot. Even if it is on chat, (because apparently everyone that works at Verizon is introverts; when you call their phone lines, you can't talk to an actual person, it is all something that sounds like Siri. So in order to talk to a human being, you must "chat".) it is annoying to me because they still seem to not understand what you are saying even when you are typing it.

Anyway, so after chatting for about an hour the guy tells me that our service isn't "technically" activated for two more days. ...
I try again after two more days and there is not difference. You guessed it - I'm back on chat with another Verizon employee who tells me not to worry he will fix the problem today. I had my doubts. So I waste another two hours of my time, to no avail. Since we are having no success, he tells me that they are going to send another box. We get said box the next day, (I guess I can be impressed with the fast shipping), and skeptically I hook it up. Ta-da! Nope.

I would like to say that by at this point in time I was feeling EXTREMELY TICKED. I was toying around with various ideas on how do destroy the cable boxes in the most satisfying way.
I was feeling something like this:

But I probably ended up looking like this, because generally I'm too angry to say anything.

In the end they ended up sending someone out to our place who could technically charge us if they discovered that the problem was our fault. By now I had narrowed the situation down to two possibilities:
1. There was a problem with our TV, and possible something to do with the cable section on the TV which we had not used in years due to the fact that DirectTV was satellite. I was skeptical of this hypothesis because our TV has no other problems.
2. There was a problem with the hardwiring/cables. Possibly the cables are only wired for DirectTV and Verizon needs different wiring.

Turns out number two was spot on. They didn't even have it wired for TV. Thank goodness we didn't have to pay for anything. That is the last thing we need. Right now, I'm just glad it's over with. That DVR had better work...

Back In Business

Guys! My computer is back!

Ok, creepiness aside...It just came back a couple of hours ago. I am so excited; I was about ready to kill that tech team. :) I had actually just said something of the same to my mom before she left this morning. I guess the tech team got nervous. ;)

Anyway, so now I plan on getting caught up with you people's blogs and continue posting regularly on my own.

Till later!

A Tech Rant

My computer has died.

This is why I wasn't posting for a while. For some odd and ridiculous reason, my computer has decided to fail me. This is extremely annoying to me because I am able to fix every technological problem with computers in my house. I hate calling tech, its is shameful for me. That I, the family computer whiz, should have to call those tech guys on the phone. It's shocking. (Who ask dumb questions like "did you restart the computer?") It's embarrassing and I HATE talking to people. On. The phone.

Anyway, it's library day, so I'm posting from one of their computers. My computer went out in the mail today, so it should be back in a couple of days hopefully. I'm going crazy without it. I'm really hoping they send me back my same computer, I don't want a new one. :(

Respect Part 2

Ok, so I decided to do another post on respect because evidently I was not clear in my previous one and I left some important things out. I want to clear up some stuff about it; I didn't plan that post at all, it was really random and impulsive, so I really didn't consider all the aspects of what I was stating. So I decided that I would put what I was saying into a statement, or a couple of short sentence points on what I believe on this subject.

• I believe that everybody deserves a level of respect as a person because God made them.
• I DO NOT believe that just because they are over us means we have to agree with them 100% or at all.
• I DO NOT believe that we should obey orders that go against God and what he says in the scriptures. (i.e if the president asked me to lie about something, I would not do it.)
• I believe that we should not talk disrespectfully about those in position over us.
• I DO NOT believe that the above means that we cannot openly disagree with them.

I hope this clears some things up about what I was saying. Sorry for the confusion. 

Who Deserves Respect?

My family does devotions every morning after breakfast. They are really short, but are a great way to start the day. Today we talked about honoring authorities; and what that means when one is a Christian, and how to follow God by honoring others.

Since I got a Facebook account, I have realized that a lot of people disagree with the government; not only do they just disagree, they are very adamant about their opinions. And most of them want to share their strong opinions with a wide audience: everyone on Facebook. Recently there has been a lot of this, people complaining about our president in a degrading and disrespectful way which made our family devotion very thought provoking. So who deserves our respect?

Romans 13: 1-7 says the following:
"Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience." (ESV)

Now it is important for us to realize that just because we are to respect authorities, does not mean we have to agree with what the person over us says and does. It means we are to respect that person(s) because God set them in place over us. We are to honor and respect them because we are to honor and respect God.

There is also the fact that God made them, just like He made us. So they deserve respect on that level already because they are God's creation and a human being like everyone else.

"Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor." Romans 12:10. (ESV)   

So who deserves our respect? Everyone, even those who do wrong.

Storing Artwork

This is a post about artwork and storing it, so if you don't do that or you are not interested in such random art things you might find this quite boring.

 I have always stored by artwork in sheet protector in large 3-ring binders, but not all my artwork is 81/2 by 11 or smaller. This is getting annoying, and sometimes I have to cut the edges off to fit the papers in my sheet protectors. The other thing is, I put a lot of drawings in one sheet protector, but that makes it hard to take them out for reference.

So does anyone have any better ideas? I am kind of sick of having to make the size of my artwork smaller so that it fits in my binder. I keep digital copies of all my artwork, but I want to keep all my originals.

Anyways, that's it.

Slan.

On Fandoms

I started a new folder on my DeviantART account called "The Fandom Series". I have decided to start drawing people from my fandoms. This all started yesterday when I thought it would be a challenge to draw Sherlock; I had a lot of free time and I was really feeling excited about Sherlock 3 for some random reason. So here are the drawings. So far I have Sherlock and Watson. They are also on my DA account which is a tab on this page, if your interested in looking at a better resolution image.

I Do Creative Stuff

Yeah, that was a creative title. Whatever.
So I said earlier that I created my own Tardis/River Song journal. Well, sort of. This is what I made.

I just covered a blank sketchbook. I know, it's lame I mean, the paper didn't even really fit my sketchbook. But I like it, so it doesn't matter. I put that clear plastic covering stuff on top of it after I glued the design on. I can't remember what the stuff is called. Anyway, I just thought I would share it with you. I think I will try to make a better one in the future, there were a lot of DIY ones on Pinterest and Tumblr that I might see if I can make. I would have made a better version but I didn't have the materials that they called for at the time.

 

I watched Tom Baker episodes all day while drawing and doing this. One of the ones I remember was the story The Talons of Wei-Chang. It was funny at certain parts and kind of creepy in others. I liked the Doctor's Sherlock hat in this episode; it was hilarious. I think he wears one in the new series, but I can't remember.

 





Anyway, so now break is over and I have to get back to school and start looking for a job. I just realized a couple days ago that this is my last winter break as a high school student. Boy does time fly...

Jellybabies and Resolutions

Happy New Year people! I used to make New Year's resolutions, but they have always failed, so this year I didn't do anything. Upon reflection, the first thing out of my mouth in 2014 was "allons-y". Mom was on the phone and I led my sisters in a triumphant march up the stairs to her bedroom as the clock struck 12.  No Whovian pun intended. Really.

I have been really enjoying winter break, which so far has consisted of watching classic Who while working on art projects, listening to Pandora and reorganizing my room. I made my own River Song journal, which I'll post later. I'm on the fourth regeneration of the Doctor in the old series, I love Tom Baker, he is funny and SO the Doctor. And I have to say, Sarah Jane Smith just went on my favorite companion list. Her, Rose and Clara are my favorites. I love how the 4th is obsessed with jelly babies, one of my favorite parts so far has been when he offers some one a jelly baby and they tell him to shut up.

     

 I decided not to do school this week at all, since I was way ahead with my work. I love being homeschooled.








Anyhow, a little snippet of my life. I'll post something of significance once I start school back up again. Sorry for all the gifs. Not really.