Welcome to Camp Tiffers

Oh right, I have a blog I'm supposed to be keeping up with.

Long time, no see, huh? Sorry boys and girls, but I've had to put my big girl pants on this summer and earn some money.

I work at a small Christian camp facility where churches and groups host their own camp programs. It's conveniently located within 20 minutes of the beach, and it's right on the bay. My job includes lifeguarding at the pool, the water slide, and the water slide, as well as working at the challenge course and the snack shack, and cleaning every dorm, conference room, and bathroom (basically, everything) after each group leaves.

I apologize for my lack of internet presence, but honestly, after working full-time in the Alabama summer heat and humidity, I need my sleep. Since we've reached the halfway point of the summer, I'll try harder to keep you all updated more frequently.

Moments of Nostalgia

Right now is one of those times. One of those bittersweet moments when you're sitting in a place you know you'll never return to. Even if you you did come back, it wouldn't be the same. I'm at a friends graduation, at a small Christian private school that I never actually attended myself. My little sister went to school here for a year, and many of my friends either graduated from this school or attended at some point. So although I've never called it mine, it still holds a special place in my heart. I know I'll probably never return, and if I ever do, I won't find the familiar faces I expect. I've had moments like this quite a bit lately, and I'm sad. Maybe I'm not as ready to move on as I thought.

My goals for the year (so far):
- Read more books.
- Keep track of the books I read.
- Make new friends.
- Make a scrapbook.
- Learn a seemingly useless but entertaining skill (boomerang, perhaps?)
- Write and produce a song.
- Learn to say "please", "thank you", and "you're welcome" in 7 new languages.

Pokemon caught: 54
Last caught: Machoke

My Goals For The Year

I hope you've noticed that I keep a list of my goals for the year at the bottom of every post. They change slightly every so often. Lately I've been doing some thinking and I've decided to throw out my goal of posting a certain number of videos on YouTube.

Making YouTube videos is something I do for fun. I do it because I want to. I do it for me. I use it as a way to introduce myself to the world. My videos reflect who I am. I only want subscribers if they like me. I will not change myself to make my subscribers happy.  Forcing myself to make videos on a strict schedule isn't me. It takes the fun out of making videos. I don't want to make something just because I have to. Being forced to film will only decrease my video quality, and I'm not okay with that. It's not a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

So if I post 100, or even 50, videos by the end of the year, that's great, but I'm not going to force myself to do it.

And folks, the same goes for blogging. I blog when I want to. Don't expect a schedule.

My goals for the year (so far):

- Read more books.
- Keep track of the books I read.
- Make new friends.
- Make a scrapbook.
- Learn a seemingly useless but entertaining skill (boomerang, perhaps?)
- Write and produce a song.
- Learn to say "please", "thank you", and "you're welcome" in 7 new languages.

Pokemon caught: 54
Last caught: Machoke
Monferno evolved to Infernape

Geodude evolved to Graveler to Golem

Gastly evolved to Haunter to Gengar

Zubat evolved to Golbat

Books I've Read So Far This Year: April

Insomniatic Dreams - S.J.D. Howson
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Switched - Amanda Hocking
Torn - Amanda Hocking
Ascend - Amanda Hocking
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Hamlet - William Shakespeare
13 Little Blue Envelopes - Maureen Johnson
Necromancer: A Novella - Lish McBride
Candide - Voltaire

My goals for the year (so far):
- Read more books.
- Keep track of the books I read.
- Make new friends.
- Make a scrapbook.
- Learn a seemingly useless but entertaining skill (boomerang, perhaps?)
- Write and produce a song.
- Learn to say "please", "thank you", and "you're welcome" in 7 new languages.


Pokemon caught: 54
Last caught: Machoke
Monferno evolved to Infernape
Geodude evolved to Graveler to Golem
Gastly evolved to Haunter to Gengar
Zubat evolved to Golbat

This is not cheating.

In lieu of posting a legitimate blog entry,
I leave you with this.

Yes. It's Baby Tiffers.

My goals for the year (so far):
- Read more books.
- Keep track of the books I read.
- Make new friends.
- Make a scrapbook.
- Post 100 50 videos on YouTube.
- Learn a seemingly useless but entertaining skill (boomerang, perhaps?)
- Write and produce a song.
- Learn to say "please", "thank you", and "you're welcome" in 7 new languages. 

Pokemon caught: 34
Last caught: Wooper
Chingling evolved to Chimecho

Not Another Banner Ad!

Let's talk about banner ads.
Ever since I started making websites in middle school, I have HATED banner ads. To me, they were tacky and annoying and I thought that it's my website and I should be able to get rid of them if I wanted to. Of course, that was middle school, when I was making websites (yes, websites, not blogs. I wasn't even aware that word existed until high school) about random thins like my volleyball team and my random group of friends and a petition to perform "High School Musical" at my school. I had the free crappy basic level sites with a sub-domain and limited design control, which was fine anyway since at that point I only had a basic knowledge of HTML. I thought it was ridiculous that I had to pay a whole $5 a month to get rid of the stupid ads. Of course, I didn't realize that those irritating flashing banners and pop-ups were what was paying for my tiny waste of bandwidth.

Now that I'm older with an Adsense account of my own, I understand the reason for all of those stupid little boxes. There is good money in advertising. Perhaps not on my level, but definitely on a corporate level. Since the corporate level makes good money on advertising, sometimes they share the wealth. It's rarely more than pennies at a time, but it adds up.

See that big green banner there in the sidebar? The one from InboxDollars? I put that there. It wasn't randomly chosen. I picked it myself. InboxDollars is actually a pretty good program. When you sign up, they send you 2-6 emails a day containing advertisements and special offers. If you read these emails and confirm in, they give you 2 cents. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it adds up. At $30, you can request to be sent a check. A $30 check just for checking your email is pretty awesome. Besides emails, there are several other ways to earn money, such as shopping coupons and game competitions (and it's not just cheesy "catch the coins" games. It's good games like Diner Dash and Chuzzle).  If you want to try it out, just click the banner and sign up. It doesn't take long, and if you decide you don't like it, you can cancel your account. And sorry, you have to be 18 or older to sign up.


(I promise that one day my blog will be less boring.)

My goals for the year (so far):
- Read more books.
- Keep track of the books I read.
- Make new friends.
- Make a scrapbook.
- Post 100 50 videos on YouTube.
- Learn a seemingly useless but entertaining skill (boomerang, perhaps?)
- Write and produce a song.
- Learn to say "please", "thank you", and "you're welcome" in 7 new languages. 

Pokemon caught: 32
Last caught: Stunky

Something's wrong with me.

So for the last few months or so, I’ve been suffering from nearly debilitating headaches. Usually they only last a couple of hours or so, but I’ve had one now for the last TWELVE DAYS.

TWELVE.
FREAKING.
DAYS.

It’s incredibly painful and frustrating. It’s making me nauseated and confused. On Monday, I was completely unable to do basic calculus or remember lines that I’ve known for months.

I finally went to the doctor today, since starting tomorrow, I won’t have insurance for a while. After checking my temperature and blood pressure, doing bloodwork to check for infections, running a hemoglobin A1C to check my blood glucose level, and giving me an eye exam, the doctor determined that I am perfectly healthy.
Clearly, I am NOT perfectly healthy. I’ve had a FREAKING HEADACHE FOR THE LAST TWELVE DAYS.

I don’t go to the doctor for checkups. When I go, it’s because something is wrong. Nothing makes me angrier than when I go to the doctor and he tells me that I’m perfectly healthy.
So basically, he told me that my headaches are from stress and not enough sleep. He gave me some pills that are supposed to make the headache stop and help me sleep. Unfortunately, I don’t have time for more sleep. Stupid school work.

Now I have to go talk to my guidance counselor tomorrow. Fun fun fun fun. At least I’m amused by the fact that she’s shorter than me.

Classmates, if I have been irritable and snappy with you, this is why. My apologies.

TL;DR - School is literally killing me.



My goals for the year (so far):
- Read more books.
- Keep track of the books I read.
- Make new friends.
- Make a scrapbook.
- Post 100 50 videos on YouTube.
- Learn a seemingly useless but entertaining skill (boomerang, perhaps?)
- Write and produce a song.
- Learn to say "please", "thank you", and "you're welcome" in 7 new languages. 

Pokemon caught: 32
Last caught: Stunky