Here are some of my favourite comics from the blog breaking bad comics. (i dont think there's any spoilers, but its mostly just in context of the show)

Dear Photograph(s)

Dear Photographs,
Oh, how I miss being young and careless. Not worrying about grades, paying for university or what I'm going to do when I'm older. But at the same time, I'm glad I've grown up to the person I am today. Thanks for the memories.
Ashlyn

Blast from the Gymnastics Past

In 2010,  I had decided that I was going to quit the sport I've been doing since I was four. At the time, it was probably the best thing I could have done. I was going into high school, and I didn't need all the added stress 19 hours of gymnastics a week can bring. Half way through my grade 10 year, I decided that I really missed doing gymnastics, so I took a chance and decided to try my luck in gym once again. I had to get back in shape, which was crazy difficult. But I had a lot of motivation, I wanted to be better than before. I had a better mind set, and I was determined to concur any fears of gymnastics I had before. And I honestly did just that. That same year, I joined into the same level that I had quit from once, and I competed in competitions as a Provincial Level 5 Open (open is gym term for 16+).

WARNING, Ashlyn is about to sound extremely cocky.
I honestly could not have asked for a better year. I got first place all around in every competition I competed in, including one in Calgary that I have never been to before. At the Western Canadian Championships, I finished 2nd all around, and competed in the bars, floor and vault finals. I finished in 2nd on floor and tied for 3rd on vault (bars didn't go so well, ended up with 6th). I'm definitely a different and better gymnast from when I quit. I've worked very hard over the summer of 2013, and for the first time in my life, I will be competing as a national level gymnast, and I'm ecstatic!

I've decided to share a video of my gymnastics competition from 2010 compared to the same one in 2013. I think it shows how much I've changed as a gymnast, and how I've greatly improved from where I was before.

Video includes- Floor routine from 2010, floor from 2013, vault from 2010, vault from 2013, back tuck on beam in 2010, back pike in 2013

I love watching award shows, and one of my favourite things to do when award season rolls around is to write down some guesses of who's going to win. My sister Justine and I write down the categories and then we put who we want to win and who will win (because its different a lot of the time). I thought I'd share some of my past award show guesses, along with the Emmys that are on tonight!

Digital Footprint

Reading Survey

The best book I’ve ever read was The Fault in our Stars by John Green. This book was just so fabulous. John Green’s books have been a favourite of mine for the past couple years, so when I heard he had a new book coming out, I was incredibly excited. My sister and I pre-ordered the book (pre-orders were signed so obviously we were going to jump on that). The book came to Chapters faster than it did to our house, so we went there first. Since we had heard some of the pre-orders were not signed, we decided to buy one from Chapters, as there was many signed copies there (our pre-order ended up not being signed, so good for us). I think this is one of the first books that has actually brought me to tears. I read the book in less than 2 days, and that’s when you know a book is great. I just couldn’t put it down. When books are great, I find myself thinking about them when I am not reading, and I get excited to continue. The characters were likable and very mature for their age. Since both main characters either had or had had cancer, you knew something was going to go wrong (and it sure did). Not only did that make you want to continue reading, but Hazel and Augustus’s relationship was growing and it was exciting to see how well they went together. I really loved every page of that book.

My favourite author is (no surprise) John Green. I’m sure that is going to be the answer of many young (female) adult readers. I love John Green as a novelist and also as a person. He does a lot of good in his life and tries to make the world a less-sucky place to be. Lately I’ve heard many people complaining (on the internet, obviously) about how he writes and things he says on his Youtube channel. People are angry that he writes about a traditional quirky girl that is cute and different, and a guy falls in love with her without trying. This is ‘supported’ by people exclaiming that John Green supposes every girl should just be quirky and different and that’s how they’ll find love, when that’s clearly not the case. I think this idea is reading way into what an author does. Authors don’t write stories with the intention of changing you into their character, or suggesting at all that you should be this way in your life. No one writes about a serial killer or a drug addict in hopes that you may become one some day. I think it’s just ridiculous to be offended by this fictional story. A story doesn’t need to be realistic to be exciting. People have been saying that he’s “disgusting” and “gross” for writing such things, and it’s honestly hard to read. I feel like he works very hard to make the world a good place to be, and to see people call this guy disgusting for a story he wrote? It’s really unbelievable. He is still my favourite author, and someone that I’d absolutely love to meet one day.

The last book I read was called Stolen by Gabrielle Zevin. I’ve read another book by this author in grade 9 titled Elsewhere, and I remember enjoying it. This story was about a young girl named Gemma. On her way from England to Australia, she is drugged and kidnapped by a man named Ty who is in love with her. It’s about Ty slowly trying to convince Gemma to love him. I really enjoyed this book because there’s so many questions to ask, like how she is going to get out of there, and will she end up falling in love with him even though he took her away from everything she knew and loved? Towards the end, I found myself hoping they would end up together, which was weird because he sucked at the beginning. All together I thought it was a nice book.