2013/6/9 Thailand

Long time no see! I was back from Thailand.  Went to Bangkok and Phuket.

I stayed in Chatrium Hotel Riverside Bangkok for Bangkok. It was awesome! You should really go there if you want to go to Bangkok.

I stayed in Banyan Tree Phuket in Phuket. It was even more awesome! There's only villas, so I stayed in a pool villa, which had a private pool and place to eat outside and lounge and you can even rent bicycles to ride around the resort everyday.

After Banyan Tree, I stayed in Millennium Resort. Unfortunately, it was not awesome. I didn't like it. Bad service. No mosquito repellent. Slow checkout. The only good thing is that it's right next to a huge shopping center, Junceylon Phuket. It was huge, and I even got a great watch there.

(I've wanted a watch since I broke the second one by dunking it in water. The new one's waterproof.)

I also took lots of pictures! I am the family photographer. I shall edit this when I can find the pictures and show you!

(Sorry if this is really boring. Got lots to do and catch up on.)

2013/5/23 Leo Houlding + Pictures (not of him)

Today, I met someone famous. Leo Houlding! :) He's a famous rock climber, and he led a team that was the first the accomplish a climb from the north-east ridge on one of the most difficult mountains to climb- Ulvetanna Peak, in ANTARCTICA.

He's pretty nice. :)

I figured that my blog must be getting boring, with all the text, so I'm getting some interesting pictures and websites in here.

 This is simply a picture that I love. Look at the serenity, the clear reflection. Isn't it beautiful? Nature.

 This reminds me of the place where MuLan meets up with her friends and where her boyfriend caught her. I really like it because of the clear reflection, how everything's black, grey, and white.

 This is amazing, isn't it? The clouds advancing over the sea like an army, and water peaceful and calm.

 Look at the ray of green over the Earth, against the starry black background. Rather beautiful.

 Whoa. Must be terrifying to walk across... It's a really long suspense bridge in Vancouver. Care to visit?

 This is the Chicago skyline. It's beautiful, right? The sun shining in the background, the waves crashing against the shore. Yeah... lovely. Also, you can see the little, tiny buildings over there. Very nice.

 Edge of the world! *gasp* Haha. It's awesome, isn't it? The clouds fluffing over to the end of the cliff.

 The sunrise over Mt. Fuji. Beautiful. Like the sun's coming out of Mt. Fuji. And the sun's a lovely shade of red!

 That... is a huge, enormous school of fish, I think. Look at it! There's a giant made of little dots.

 Hehe... this is the dragon I described in my story. I really love the wings (I love anything gradient) and look at its background! A mountain rises from behind the clouds, and clouds frame the dark sky.

 I was amazed when I saw this. It's like a totally cool cave! I love the waterfall over there, especially.

 This is awesome. The waterfall, the green, the little waterfalls behind it. Ah...

 This is a painting. I'd love to be able to paint like that. It's so realistic, and the colors are so enchanting.

 'Tis a crater. 'Tis huge! I would love to visit that place on day. Look at the green plants around it...

 I'd love to see this place. Such peaceful serenity. There's a nice little lake in the middle, and mountains for hiking and running up around it! It's just cool!

 That... is awesome. The waves are splashing up the shore. The trees are adapting to the fall. There's even a lighthouse! Oh, and by the way, it's a painting. :)

 I love this picture! Used it for my profile picture on Skype. Look at the white water, splashing into the hole or whatever it is. The clouds are hiding a brilliant, yellow sunrise/sunset which looks amazing. 

 Aw... look at that Milky Way. Nice starry sky.

 No words needed for this.

 This is the most skies ever pulled by a boat. It's awesome, isn't it?

 Mount Rainer's casting a shadow on the clouds. It's so tall, it's CASTING A SHADOW ON THE CLOUDS. I love this picture. So magical!

 Multiple planes on one takeoff.

 This is an amazing painting. It shows lovely mountains, and a really blue lake, and realistic greenery. I love it.

The most fabulous Aurora (I think that's what it's called) over a mountain. Would've loved to see that in person.

 This guy's surfing under the waves. Awesome! And there's a nice little rainbow over there. The clouds are so white, and there's even a green mountain range over there.

 The water's so clear that you can see the sand pits! I love this, and how the reflection is so clear. The skies are so blue! And as I said, I'm crazy about all gradients, so I love it.

Satellite view. 

 Awesome ice cave!

Ooh... two rivers collide. I love this picture- it kinda portrays me and my friend's relationship, and it looks a bit like two characters colliding in my story. :)

I've decided to list some places you need to go before you die. It's from a website. I didn't make it! :)

Whitehaven Beach, Australia

Westin Maui Resort & Spa, Hawaii

Those are just a few! The link is here: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2kom5a/:85xG@AjU:nlc8dkWm/www.99traveltips.com/travel-tips/top-places-to-visit-before-you-die-part-ii/

I love this picture. I didn't take it! Someone else did. Just their copyright. :)

Isn't this beautiful?

Oh... just beautiful. Not mine!

It's lovely, isn't it? I love it.

www.stumbleupon.com (It's a nice webpage about how to save money for trips. I recommend you press 'Stumble' to go to the next page about it)

That's it for today! Bye!

2013/5/18 Movies

It's official. I am a huge procrastinator/forgetful person, though I am super at learning.

I apologize about the seven days without a blog post. I'm actually changing it to one post a weeks, as I'm pretty busy on school days.

Guess what motivated me to make this post? I'm watching the Perfect Man, starring Hillary Duff, and the character Holly. Holly has a blog, so I remembered this and I decided to write this.

I've watched about two movies today. I think it was the Lizzy McGuire Movie, and this one, the Perfect Man. I'm also planning to watch Raise Your Voice.

Hillary Duff is a pretty good actress, you know? She's very versatile in characters.

Yesterday, I watched the Cinderella Story movies. A Cinderella Story, Another Cinderella Story, and A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song.

A Cinderella Story starring Hillary Duff, Another Cinderella Story starring Selena Gomez and Drew Seeley, A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song.

The first one is really good. I really like it, and the idea is very fun...

The second one was great too, I loved the happy ending.

The last one was fantastic, I loved how everything worked out and how it was about singing, and romance was more of a second storyline.

Not much to talk about movies, though...


In eleven days, I will be going to Thailand. Eep! I'm so excited. It's a vacation, right smack in the middle of Term 3 of my school. I'll just leave for Thailand and everyone else will have to go to school. :)

First, I'll be going to Bangkok. Two days, then I'm leaving for Phuket. I love the hotel there already- it seems great there. A few more days in Phuket, then I'll be going to a different hotel in Phuket.

I'm so excited!

:)

Okay, that's all I have to say. Bye! :)

2013/5/12 Mother's Day

Naturally, I would mention Mother's Day today because... *gasp!* I have a mom.

Ahem.

Unfortunately, all I got for my dear mother was a 'Happy Mother's Day!' and lots of hugs, but I'm guessing she's okay with it. :D

I just finished reading Maeven's story 'False Facades' on FictionPress. It's one of the most funny and amazing stories I've ever read, coming on a close second to 'Girl At Heart' by Promiscuous Greek.

1. False Faces by Maeven
2. Girls At Heart by Promiscuous Greek
3. And Then She Met the President's Son by Tessandra
4. Your Definition of Love by gum is yum
5. The Ultimate Virgin by chosenchic
6. To Fight or Fall by pixy-dizzy
7. Counting Chickens by pixy-dizzy
8. Royal Trepidations by AngelofArtemis
9. Hero I Am by thetruthaboutsilver
10. Carriers by A. Nonymous1234

I recommend you check them all out, especially numbers 1~8, which, unfortunately, are rather ended and your reviews probably won't be replied to. :( Believe me, I know. Normally, pixy-dizzy stories would be at the top of the list, but I disliked the ending to To Fight or Fall as it was rather unrealistic, but the beginning and middle? Loved it. I also loved Counting Chickens, though the ending was a bit unsatisfying and the story was a bit confusing about how she didn't manage to find out about Ash... Somehow, the first two stories are both about girls pretending to be boys and the second and third ones are both about the president's son. Those are excellent stories... READ THEM. NOW!! (After you finish the blog, of course).

Now, tsk tsk to thetruthaboutsilver because I've personally talked to her and she hasn't updated in about two months and I'm very disgruntled about it. But it's a great story, (whisper: not as great at the first few) and you should read it and drop a review.

I really should be working on my own story, though... bye bye for today and I'm going to go write!

2013/5/7 Asylum Seekers and Refugees

I haven't posted in a long time... inexcusable!

Anyway, I promised today would be about asylum seekers and refugees. Since I'm too lazy to actually type it out, let's see...

www.visionfirstnow.org

There you go!

I'm being lazy, I know, but you'll find out lots there! :D Bye bye

-Carolina

2013/4/29 Explanations + S.R.

Woopsies. Forgot to post yesterday, and I thought I did.

That sucks.

For some reason, I can't keep to the same schedule for a long time, even a few days.

That sucks.

Ultimate.

Right now, I'm sitting with my brother, Jason, on my comfy beanbag. I love sibling moments! Yet for some reason, he decided to open his mouth and suck in a huge breath at this very blog post.

That's my brother.

Yeah. He likes blowing breaths at me/my computer and punching my cheek.

Tomorrow, I'm going to Cyberport with my classmates! We're going to chill out and have fun.

(-

Excuse moi, Jason decided to 'borrow' my computer for a few moments to search different guns, as he was reading Artemis Fowl.

-My teacher's definition of having fun is grabbing a nice game, like cards, or a book, and sitting down.)

So. The blog post's name is called Explanations + S.R. because I'm going to talk about explanations and SR!

Yeah. Boring... *yawn*

Still, I am.

Tomorrow my class is going to Cyberport. We're gonna sit down on our fluffy blankets/towels and read a nice, calm book and having a nice time.

We, of course, being me. Only I have a fluffy towel! Mwah-ha-ha-ha.

You know, today, I'm ignoring SR, in case you forgot, it's snot-rag, my annoying friend. She was making bitter comments about us not caring about the script.

Backing up...

Yeah. I'll explain what exactly the script is.

In my school, we have something called EXHIBITION! In Exhibition, we chose a topic, aka issue in society, to work on and take ACTION about.

ACTION consisting of indirect, advocacy, direct, and research.

'Tis a long story, as you can see.

DIRECT ACTION: Face to face action, action that directly affects the sendee, and the sender.
  eg. Donating to an organization/ Comforting an asylum seeker or refugee

(The issue I chose to work on was asylum seekers. My next post is all about asylum seekers! And refugees!)

INDIRECT ACTION: Action that does not directly affect the sendee, but affects the sendee's community and society as a whole.
  eg. Volunteering at an organization = affects sendee because sendee's issue (said issue being asylum seekers and refugees) is affected because sender would be volunteering to help organization. Does not affect sendee because sendee's environment and stuff is improved, you see?

ADVOCACY: Raising awareness! Tell people and things!
  eg. Making posters and sticking it around my school. I did make posters with my group. More about my group later/ We made a survey about asylum seekers and went around asking random people on the streets, and told them what exactly asylum seekers are/ Making a BLOG or BLOG POST about it.

RESEARCH: You guessed it, research. Learn the facts about asylum seekers!
  eg. going onto websites to learn more/ Reading BLOGS about asylum seekers! Hence me!

My group is, well, a group that works together to make stuff. Haha, I'm being WAY too vague and rambly.

Anyway, so we took action. And yeah, action is all of those things above.

Unfortunately, SR is in my group, though it's over so I should call it 'was in my group'. As we neared the end of Exhibition, we had to make a board and stick facts, and graphs and stuff onto the board and present it to our parents, and the rest of the school, said rest of the school being Year 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

We didn't have enough time to make the video that SR wanted to make, and SR got so angry at us she threatened to tell her mom to tell our teacher to lower our grades. And SR was supposed to be my friend! I quote, when we were taking everything off our boards, SR said, 'Well, I'll take the script because no one cares about it.' And Izzy and I got mad because of it.

Actually, no one likes SR, now that Kayla-not real name, she's a good friend of mine- found out that Wanda doesn't like SR, Tanith told me she doesn't like SR, and Izzy told me that SR was driving her crazy, no one does now!

I suppose it'll be a bit mean to shout, 'Woohoo!'?

Yeah, it will.

Still remember my name? (Carolina Martinez). Just curious to see! :D

More on asylum seekers and refugees tomorrow (I hope), and cha cha!

2013/4/28 Introduction

My name is not Carolina Martinez, and I am not about to tell you my real name.

See? From the first sentence, you can tell what you should call me- Carolina, if you haven't figured that out yet- and that I am rather smart about internet anonymousity- if that's a word.

Location? On my comfortable beanbag at home, next to loud electronic music my brother's playing...
Alright, it's Hong Kong, but that'll probably change in the future.

Age? Oh, never mind my age. You can guess.

Family? Mom, dad, obviously, and a brother. I'm not about to tell you my brother's real name, but let's call him Jason Martinez for now.

I've had about two blogs before, but according to www.blog.com I broke the rules and I can't blog there anymore. I can't be bothered to start a new one on there, since it probably will be bad, blah blah, and I'll have to start another one.

Hint: Don't use www.blog.com. Haha, but if you want to listen to my advice, go ahead.

I can tell you a few things, though.

Last year, I moved from Shanghai on August 13th to Hong Kong, here. Obviously, August 13th is an important date to me as I spent two whole years there, so I really didn't like having to leave Shanghai and my friends. I hated Hong Kong at first, because it came immediately after Shanghai, but now it's grown on me and I came to a conclusion that I actually would miss HK if I left, which, unfortunately, I am- U.S.A, here I come after a year! I'm going to U.S, my hometown, once I spend two years in HK, if the H7N9 virus doesn't reach Hong Kong.

See? I have depth.

I have friends! I'm not a loner! I'm not popular, but people like me. Perfect balance, I say.

I have three very nice besties. I have one annoying bestie. The annoying bestie's name I shalt not tell you, but she will be called S.R., short for snot-rag, which the popular kids call her because she's so annoying. it's a bit mean, but what else should I call her? Her name's very unique because she's Indian, so you can probably track her down.

Oh, right. I forgot to mention that I'm female.

I have four best friends, including SR. I became friends with SR first because I talked to her first. She wasn't annoying at the time, I wonder what happened to her.

Maybe because of me! *gasp*

My second bestie came after SR. She was new, just like me and SR-perhaps why we get along so well is because we were both new- and she came in the middle of term. I'll call my second and best BFF Izzy.

My third BFF is Indian, too. She isn't new, in fact, she was in this school from Year 1, I think, as was her best friend, aka my fourth best friend, though SR would be the fourth because SR's so annoying. I'll call my third BFF Tanith! Random picked name!

My last BFF that I hadn't mentioned is Wanda. Fake name, totally not her real name since as a British, she wouldn't have been named a rather Chinese name. I'm Chinese! Can speak Mandarin, can use chopsticks very well, and can do Chinese stuff. Though I was born in America. I have black hair and I have brown eyes.

Now, I named Wanda Wanda because her name is actually _ _ _ _ _. _ _ _ _ _ in Wonderland _ _ _ _ _. Short for Wonderland is Wanda. You see, I have very strange knacks for coming up with nicknames...

What annoying habits does SR have, you ask? She has a weird accent and switches proper grammar words, for instance:

EXAMPLE A: I also printed that out. (Correct)
EXAMPLE B: I printed that out also. (Incorrect)
And guess which one SR likes using? That's right, b. But she says sentences like sentence B so much I want to punch her in the face.

Yes, I am a grammar+spelling+punctuation freak. But that means that I can write very good stories. Like novel stories! And I won an award for it.

Yes, moi-that's french for 'me'-has been shortlisted for a short story I had written out of 1540 other entries! I'm in top 4/5. Wanna read it? (SR complaints will go later)

Here it is! :D

 I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. Jasmine glanced at me out of the corner of her eye.

 “You okay?”

 I nodded. “I’m fine.”

 Jasmine didn’t respond immediately. I turned my head to look at her, only to see my sister craning her neck to see the pilot.

 I followed her movement. The pilots’ eyebrows were furrowed, and the co-pilot was staring at the radar. He pressed a button, and the signs for seatbelts lit up.

 “Passengers, attention.” The co-pilot’s voice resounded through the small plane. “We are going through a severe turbulence. In ten minutes we are going to pass over the Great Wall to have an emergency landing, so would everyone please put on their seatbelts and get ready.”

 I sighed and fastened my seatbelt, and then did Jasmine’s, trying to stop her from hyperventilating. My little sister always had a problem with heights, so having a sister like me-calm, cool, and level-headed- that had a strangely catastrophic life was very useful for her.

 “Oh, God, Stephanie, what if we crash? What are we going to do-” The plane wobbled.

 “Whoa!” Jasmine’s knuckles were white on her seat. She began to grab at the emergency jacket under her seat, and gestured at me to do the same. Sighing, I obliged. Jasmine stuffed the jacket behind her and began to pack her bag.

 The plane shook again. Jasmine froze for two seconds. “Do you think we’re going to crash, Steph?”

 “We’re going to land soon, Jazz. No worries.”

 Jasmine nodded slowly. “No worries. Right.”

 The plane swayed a few times. The plane’s nose suddenly dipped, and I suddenly regretted telling Jasmine that it would be fine.

 We began to plummet. A few passengers screamed as the air pressure increased rapidly. I imagined myself as Brian Robeson, in the plane that was crashing and suddenly landing in the ‘L’ shaped lake.

 Three hundred feet, two hundred, one hundred fifty, one hundred… I blacked out.

 “Stephanie! Wake up!” I sat up, and Jasmine’s forehead hit mine.

 I rubbed my head wistfully, as if I was an amnesia victim. Jasmine stared at me.

 “You’re awake! Finally!”

 “I figured,” I muttered.

 “I can’t believe we crashed. There was an airport, like, this close-“ Jasmine narrowed the distance in between her thumb and forefinger. “-and BOOM!” She imitated an explosion. “We landed. You blacked out when we were almost at the ground. Eve’s hurt really badly, since she was sitting roughly where the plane cracked.”

 “Who’s Eve?”

 Jasmine narrowed her eyes at me.

 “Oh, a passenger. Of course.”

 We sat in silence for a while, listening to people shouting, the noise mostly coming from where Eve was sitting.

 Eventually, the noise died down as Eve fell asleep. The head pilot called in an assembly, to get to know everyone and their situations.

 There were roughly fifty people on the plane. None of us really cared what the other parties were doing, but we just wanted to get home.

 “Don’t worry, everyone. We’re along the Great Wall, so we can’t be far from civilization.” The head pilot reassured a few passengers that were panicking.

 Soon, night fell as the daylight dimmed. Groups of twos and threes huddled together, whispering about the situation. Jasmine and I just lay in silence, knowing that no words could help.

All too soon, I woke up. It was about six o’clock, so there was enough light for me to explore. I began to walk eastward. There was a forest there, next to the plain that everyone was sleeping in. Jasmine was still asleep, so I didn’t worry about her.

 The forest was dry, which made me more confident. I moved fast, since I was one of the best athletes in Yale.

 A few minutes later, I was tired. The forest seemed to go on forever, but I knew that the end had to be somewhere and I was determined to find it.

 Suddenly, I heard a strange sound. It was similar to the binaural beats that I listen to, consisting mostly of Theta beats. Very quickly, I did a reality check, but my fingers failed to pass through my palm. I took a few steps cautiously, and the sound’s volume increased notably.

 I began to run towards the source of the noise. My palms were tingling, and I couldn’t shake off the feeling. Slowly, the beats began to become louder and louder, and soon it was as if the noise was being blasted in my ears.

 I stopped. In front of me was a swirling mass of pink, blue, green, and purple mist. In the middle was a circle of blinding white light, which reminded me of a few pictures I saw of the Hurricane Katrina.

 I instantaneously knew what it was. There was a portal in front of me, summoned by magic I couldn’t possibly fathom. Somehow, I also knew that it would take me home… home sounded like a haven right now. Forget about our jobs, home was where I needed to go.

 Jasmine. What about her? A voice in my mind asked me. I was tempted to leave her, even though she was my sister. I shook my head. Overwhelmed by the feeling of loyalty and protectiveness, I started to run back in the direction I came from. My brain told me I had five minutes.

 I began to run faster. I was almost there. Soon I was sprinting, and two minutes later I reached the plain. I grabbed Jasmine’s arm and hauled her upwards, and then took off again. Jasmine mumbled a few incoherent words, but I kept on going.

 When I was halfway there, Jasmine woke up with an anxious cry. “What the- where are we? What are you doing? Stephanie!”

 I burst into the portal, standing there, waiting for the portal to work.

 “A portal? Stephanie, what about the others?”

 “They’ll be fine.” I replied slowly and hesitantly.

 I hated lying to my sister.

Ooh, I think I changed the last sentence. It was supposed to be something really silly like, 'However, I knew they wouldn't, because they were in a different dimension.' Now, 'I hated lying to my sister' is much better. But... Oh, whatever.

Yes, I am a writer! Not published, except for my short story in an anthology, though.

I have a much longer piece of work, with separate chapters, oh yeah! in a FictionPress account. Just search, 'Carolina Martinez' in the author thing and you'll find the user Carolina Martinez. Choose any story you like, but I prefer 'The Disappearance' as it's my main working-on-story. Yes, I am advertising. Yes, I do not know why I'm going 'Yes...' so many times in my blog.

I'm also good at sports! And grades! Haha! I'm bragging! I also type really fast, like super fast, like 404 character per minute, in that play.typeracer.com thing it gives you estimates!

Well. I have won a gold medal before for high jump, and I can run 100 meters in 16.7 seconds.

I've gotten 100% in multiple tests before, and hard ones. I'm talking science tests with questions about cells!

Between my friends, I am known for randomly launching into geography and science fact lectures. Did you know that Angel Falls is the tallest waterfall in the world, not Niagra Falls? Betcha didn't... *winks* comment if you did! Haha!

Well, that's all for today! Chacha, bye bye!