I Was One Strange Kid

My graduation is like, 5 days away, and in the spirit of grad I wanted to do some sort of "looking back" post. My plan was to scrounge up some old journal entry of mine and analyze how much I've changed. However, I don't really write a lot of journals. I basically write journals when I feel really emotional about something (which always seems to happen when I stay up too late reading emotionally intense books, so...), and when I'm on vacation. So... there goes that idea.

Also, it's really, really hard to summarize yourself in a couple of paragraphs. I wrote a letter to myself when I was 12 that I'm supposed to read when I'm 22, and I'm pretty sure the gist of it is "I'm 12 right now and these are my friends: [list of friends]". I have no idea what I would put in a single letter that could give future-me an accurate picture of present-me. Do I talk about my friends, what I like to do, my beliefs? What?


Anyway... while I don't have an old, comprehensive journal entry to analyze, I do have lots of old journals that I've written random things in over the years (very random things) and some of the things were so random I just couldn't help but laugh at how crazy of a kid I was. So I thought I'd share some of those things with you.

Oh, and just a note, whenever I'm quoting from one of my notebooks, I quote exactly - spelling mistakes and all. Just so you know that I actually CAN spell.

TIMELINE OF MY CHILDHOOD IN NOTEBOOKS:

2001: 7 years old 

The above journal is from the first diary I had (and the last). The first entry here is talking about how much I dislike my cousin, because she said she couldn't read my writing. (You know what, 7-year-old Alyssa? I can't read your writing either). Then later in life I went back and crossed out "mean" and wrote "nice", but then even later I ended up going back and crossing out "nice" and re-writing "mean and nasty" in red pen.

If anyone's interested, I get a long just fine with my cousin now. ;)

2002: 8 years old!

This notebook was called a "Slam Book" and it had questions at the top of some of the pages that were like "Your best excuse for turning in your homework late is..." and so on. Some of the questions my eight-year-old self deemed to answer were:

The dumbest love note you ever received was from... noneone

The flirting technique that always works for you is... tikling my back

If you had to marry a teacher from your school you would choose... Mrs Turner or Ms Mackinnis

(Reading these questions makes me wonder how my mother thought this notebook was appropriate for an 8-year-old...)

Also, the page shown in the picture above is a list of my friends on the left and then "how they act" on the right side. I'm happy to say that I have now succesfully grown out of having rating systems for my friends... :D

probably around 2004, 8-10 years old:

So I found a song that I am sorry to say that I wrote. It goes like this:

Friends forever

we love and care for who they are

and who they will be

we're always together

Friends will save us from the pouring sadness

and the rock hard hearts

They'll lift spirits and dance in the sky

AUGGH it's so bad!!! "Pouring sadness"!?!? "Dance in the sky"!?!?! Obviously I was a master at imagery back then... haha. Thank goodness I had little to no aspirations to become a songwriter...

2004, probably 9 years old:

So my 9-year-old self decided to make up some jokes and write them down. They are... embarassing.

Lucy: Sniff, sniff.

Teacher: Have you caught a cold?

Lucy: No, it caught me.

Herbert: How do you add 2+2?

Corey: to what?

Herbret: each other

Corey: Swich places

(WHAT?? This is not only not funny but it makes NO SENSE)

Teacher: Amy, how do you spell zebra?

Amy: e-b-r-a

Teacher: Where's the z?

Amy: On vacation

What I want to know is, HOW did I think any of these jokes were even remotely funny??? Little Alyssa, I do not understand you.

2004: 10 years old

"Arielle, someone at camp, said she had a 'pretend friend' named Eddie. Why I'm metioning this is because I thought 'Why don't I have a pretend friend?' I made one up. I'll tell you about her."

I think it's really funny how my first reaction to finding out about someone else's imaginary friend is not a normal kid's reaction of "wow you are way too old for things like that" but "What? Why don't I have one?" Little Alyssa, you were one strange kid.

2005: 10/11 years old

Excerpt!: "When I read I get so scooped up into my book I hardly know where I am"

"Scooped up"???? I don't think that word means what you think it means, Little Alyssa.

2006: 11/12 years old

When I was in grade six, my family and I went on vacation to Waterton/Glacier National Park, traveling through the U.S. to get there. You know how whenever you visit some landmark, there's signs with information about the landmark around? Well, for some reason I thought it would make sense to COPY THE ENTIRE SIGN. And there are like, 4 pages of signs I copied on this trip. WHY, 12-year-old Alyssa, WHY???

Oh, and I also found a list of 62 questions in one of my notebooks, which I'm guessing I probably thought up to ask my dad when he said goodnight to me to make him stay longer. You can read the whole list of 62 here, if you want.

So, now you know what I was like as a kid, and you can see that I am still pretty weird, just in different ways. ;) (Although I like to think I have a better sense of humor now...)

What crazy things did you do as a kid? Oh, and if you want to hear more about me and my weird family you can follow me on twitter, @AlyssaSherlock. :)

Oh and here's a picture of me when I was six (the scrape on my nose is because I fell off my bike):

Have a great summer!

From,

me & Little Alyssa

Thoughts On: Being "Anonymous"

So, I've been thinking about "being anonymous" lately, and I do what all normal people do when they think about stuff... browse Google. So I was searching "blogging anonymously" and whatever, and I have realized that in most people's minds I'm not really anonymous because...


1. I am myself on my blog. I'm not pretending to be someone else (as apparently people do) - I really am an 18-year-old girl from Canada who likes to write and read and discuss stuff. I guess it might be fun (?) to pretend to be someone else, but that was not for me.


2. I'm very transparent about a lot of things - for example, the back of my head (granted the picture shown in the sidebar is from grade 7 and I have since gotten my hair cut to above my shoulders), as well as where I live and a whole lot of other supposedly "identifying" stuff. (I've even made the fact that I'm not using my real name fairly transparent...) If someone were to care so much to do in-depth research, they could find out my real name - although it doesn't matter because the person you'd find is the exact same person as me, they just go by a different name!


3. I'm not paranoid about letting too many people in real life know my blog address. A bunch of the sites I found talked about not telling too many people about your blog, otherwise your identity could be revealed!!! :O Anyway... my entire family reads my blog as well as a few other people I know. It's not something that I try and spread around or anything, though. Why not? Well...


My reasons for being so-called anonymous:


1. The "internet safety" thing we all learn in elementary school.
2. Um, this reason is dumb. But I was (am) like, "Well, what if someone looked up my name and found this?"


Yup. That's basically it. And you probably knew this was coming but I've changed my mind, methinks.


My reasons for deciding not to be "anonymous" anymore:


1. My main reason for being anonymous is stupid.
2. I like my real name.
3. This post by Nicole at WORD for Teens (which is an awesome site).
4. It's just easier, being real. Haha. :)


So, hi! My name, my real name is Alyssa Sherlock. And yes, that's Sherlock as in, well... Sherlock.

And this is me:

Photo Credit: Emily

...and now I start the process of changing my name everywhere. Fun! :)

Kreativ Blogger Award

Hey... so Anna Waggener recently awarded me with the Kreativ Blogger award. Er... a couple weeks ago, I guess. I'm supposed to link back to the blogger who gave me the award, say 10 facts about myself, and then pass it on to six new bloggers.

Anna's blog is here, and you should definitely check it out because it is BEAUTIFUL. She also has a book coming out... no idea when but the cover is amazing.

Isn't it gorgeous?? I love how completely unique, yet kind of scary, yet kind of simple it is. She has a contest going on as well to win a copy of GRIM and you can find the info for that here.

OK, anyway. 10 facts... I don't know, I always feel like it's kind of boring just talking about myself so I asked my sister to say 10 facts about me instead. This is what she came up with, and not everything is necessarily true because she likes to be silly:

1. I'm silly.
2. I love to draw.
3. I love to read my Bible.
4. I do crafts.
5. I go to school.
6. I'm graduating.
7. I'm moving to the Phillippines.
8. I take pictures.
9. I'm goofy.
10. I'm nice to my cats.

Now the 6 bloggers, and I'm going to give them to the 6 awesome bloggers who commented on my last post.

1. Angela Brown
2. Nhim
3. Natalie Aguirre
4. Nick Hight
5. Brittany Clarke

and... last but not least, 6. Laura Wise, who I have to say is an amazing commenter. She always has funny or insightful things to say, it seems! :)

Pass it on and thanks for the award, Anna! :)

Teen Writers Summer Blogfest: MEMEMEME (and Canada)



Yes, I have a pool in my backyard. :D

HAPPY CANADA DAY!! It's been a 144 years since Canada first became a country on July 1, 1867. (Although my province didn't actually become part of the country until after Confederation... but anyway.) If you want to learn about Canada, go here. (HAHA that post is hilarious.) And some awesome Canadian bloggers: Yahong Chi and Clementine. (And they're both teenagers!! And writers! YES!)

So not only is it Canada's birthday, but it's also the first day of the awesome Teen Writers Summer Blogfest hosted by Brittany at Hills and Corkscrews. According to the schedule, I am supposed to introduce myself.

Well. In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm Canadian. :) (So if you were wondering, that is why I always write "favourite" with a "u"). And if you've really honed your detective skills, you might've also figured out that I'm a teen. (A nice uneven 17 years of age.)

Now I am going to go ahead and interview myself, because that's what cool people do (okay, technically Brittany came up with all the questions, but still).

Top 3 favourite genres to read?
I was going to say something along the lines of romance, contemporary and dystopia or something but with anything (like carrots or cheese) too much is bad for you. I get sick of any genre if I read too much of it, which is why I think it's good to branch out and read different things all the time! (I think I am going to post on that sometime!)

Favourite movie?
My tastes differ but right now I really enjoy... Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1). It was excellently, excellently done. (Also I don't really watch that many movies).

Person you would most want to meet, alive or dead?
Mattie Stepanek.

Dogs or cats?

Dream job?
Um. Author, o'course.

Three of your hobbies besides writing?
Scrapbooking, singing, fluting (by which I mean playing flute), biking...


Last book you read?
I am preparing this post early so it may be different by the time I actually post it but, Pop by Gordon Korman (yes, I read an entire book about [American] football!!)

If you were a superhero, what would your powers be?
Um, probably supreme organization skills??

Weirdest thing about you?
So either that I always rinse my mouth out three times after I brush my teeth because I am hyperaware of the warning that you aren't supposed to swallow toothpaste, or that I have a slight fear of staircases.

 If you won a million dollars how would you spend it?
On renovating our entire house for my parents, charity, and BOOKS o' course.


Your Hogwarts house? (or are you not a HP fan?)
As of recently, I am an HP fan, but I don't know which house I'd be in. Probably Ravenclaw (but doesn't everyone want to be in Gryffindor anyway??)

If you were a piece of clothing what would you be?
Sweatpants? I don't know, something comfy. So if you are wearing something comfy right now, you are wearing me!! Ahem. Okay then.

So! Hope you learned a little about me, your fellow blogger and I also hope you'll enjoy the rest of the Teen Writers Summer Blogfest! Check out the other particpants' blogs: Taryn, Rachael, Will, Nick, Laura and of course Brittany.

So... what's the most interesting thing about you???