A wonderful 2008!

Wow, I survived grade nine. I remember this time last year I had just finished the most thrilling year of my life and now that I'm about to enter my third year of high school I can hardly recognise myself from the timid, long-haired geek that I was when I first started.

Through the course of the year I've undergone many stages and changes to become who I am now. I've had my ups and my downs...sometimes more downs than ups...but along the way I've met people who have helped me continue on through the hard times even when they weren't realizing how hard it had been going for me. I only hope that I've been able to give them everything they've given me and more. I've found love, lost love and structured my views on life around the many experiences I've had. I've learned many hard lessons and toughened up myself to face the world that I live in.

This year I lost my grandmother and my nanna, I've lost some of my childhood fantasies and innocence and I've been awakened up to the crooked concepts of homosexuality, manslaughter and people trying to convince me that sex is good.Psht, you have fun with that.I've befriended some amazing people this year, namingly Connor, Josh, Jamie, Bella, Meryn and Allanah. I've found a part of me I denied ever existing and indulged in some skull candy on the way. I found my alias in the movie St Trinians and delved even deeper into the pit of darkness that I had explored in grade eight.

"We are the best

So screw the rest

We do as we damn well please

Until the end

St Trinians

Defenders of anarchy"

Well done, this is my motto for 2009. Have fun putting up with me for next year while I follow this, shall I ? ;}Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Anguish

Have you ever loved someone...but that person flaunts the fact that they'll never love you to your face?

I know how that feels. There's a boy out there that loves another, like a regular love triangle even though he doesn't know that I am part of it. The one he's fallen in love with is loved by another as well, but the partner is oblivious to it also. So...a love cube, perhaps? Both partners are loved by another but the actual person is oblivious even though the other partner knows and keeps it from them so that they can stay together. Meanwhile, me and the other person who's left out are slowly dying inside as they profess their love to each other in front of us...'because you're friends we can trust'.

Cruel worlds we live in today.

Have you ever wondered if the world would be a better place without you? After hearing the love confessions of the only one I have quietly loved and supported I see that their lives are perfectly fine without me. My family lead themselves without me better than if I were actually there and I'm starting to think that perhaps it's true that I'm not needed in my community.
One day I hope to move to a far away country where I can start life afresh and find someplace I can settle down and be happy. Who knows, maybe I will achieve my dream of having a family of my own that loves me for who I am and actually have a reason to be proud of what I've done.

For now I have to be content with my lot and put on a face so that I don't depress Christmas for everyone. Nobody in my family knows that I get these depressive mood swings so I'll keep it to myself a little longer.

Artists

Are you an artist? Do you ever wish that someone could bring your talent to light? Well, I'm willing to advertise. I am willing to put up a website for people to post their works to be rated by other people...copyrighted and edited by you...but I need one thing. If a minimum of 15 people mark this post as interesting I can set it up for you! I just need other people to contribute.

After that intro, I'll share some works with you from an artist I'd like to feature. (All copywright agreements have been made)

This first work, titled as 'My Insanity', was drawn by Madeleine Kelly in Australia. She suffers from a mild case of depression and split-personality disorder as well as recieving panic attacks from things she shouldn't even worry about. She says it's her interpretation of all the things that make her life worth giving up for eternal peace and her plea for help.

Cooking For A Dark Christmas

I have some recipies for some delicious foods that I like to indulge on at Christmas time. Feast your eyes on this and if you like it enough, then cook it!

Batty Cookies

For the Cookies;

2 3/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon(s) baking soda
1/4 teaspoon(s) salt
1 cup(s) (2 sticks) butter (no substitutions), softened
3/4 cup(s) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract

For the Icing;

200g of butter

2 cups of icing sugar

200ml of milk

1 teaspoon of vanilla or peppermint essence

Directions;

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.

In large bowl, with mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar 1 minute or until creamy, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Add egg and vanilla; beat until well mixed.

Reduce speed to low; gradually beat in flour mixture just until blended, occasionally scraping bowl.

Roll out dough to about 5cm thick and put baking paper over the top. Refridgerate for about an hour or even overnight!

Remove the baking paper and cut out shapes with cookie cutters or very carefully with a butter knife. (I like to cut out circles with egg rings for easy decorating.)

Prepare icing by combining the icing ingredients. The icing should be the consistency of softened butter so if it's too drippy then add more icing sugar and vice versa.

Apply the icing sugar to the cooled cookies and decorate!

Neenish Tarts

225g (1 1/2 cups) plain flour
120g butter, chilled, cubed
1 egg yolk
2 tbs iced water
Plain flour, to dust

Icing

230g (1 1/2 cups) icing sugar mixture
2 tbs milk
1 1/2 tbs cocoa powder
1 tsp milk, extra

Directions;

Preheat Oven to 200 Degrees C. Add the flour and butter in the bowl of a food processor and process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and iced water, and process until the mixture just comes together.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead until smooth. Divide into 2 equal portions. Use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll out 1 portion to 3mm thick. Use an 8cm-diameter round pastry cutter to cut out 6 discs. Line six 80ml (1/3-cup) capacity muffin pans with pastry. Repeat with the remaining dough. Place in the fridge for 15 minutes to rest.

Make the mock cream.

Remove muffin pans from the fridge. Use a fork to prick bases of pastry cases. Bake in oven for 10 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack for 15 minutes to cool.

Place jam in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until the jam melts. Strain the jam into a heatproof jug and pour into pastry cases. Set aside for 5 minutes to set.

Spoon mock cream evenly among pastry cases and smooth the surface.

To make the icing, combine the icing sugar and milk in a medium heatproof bowl. Place half the icing in another heatproof bowl. Add the cocoa and extra milk and stir until combined. Place the bowl containing the white icing over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until runny. Spread the white icing over the cream on half of each tart and smooth the surface. Set aside for 5 minutes to set. Repeat with the chocolate icing and set aside for 5 minutes to set.

Anime Review

Righto so I figured that this blog needed to be anime-fied so here it is; My little reviews of all the Animes I've watched so far.

To get us all started, for those who don't know, Anime is a form of Japanese cartoon...

Lucky Star

Lucky Star is an Anime about the everyday lives and ponderings of four Japanese schoolgirls throughout their highschool years. The main characters are Konata, (blue hair), Kagami and Tsukasa, (purple-haired twins) and Miyuki (pink hair).

Wolf's Rain

Wolf's Rain is about the journey of four lone wolves who cross paths while following the scent of the Lunar Flowers. They form a pack and decide to seek out the Flower Maiden in order to open the way to Paradise, a kind of Heaven to avoid the Armageddon. Along the way, they must avoid a fanatical wolf hunter and the nobles who wish to use the Flower Maiden to create their own Paradise.

As the story progresses the history is unravelled. Apparently, when the end of the world comes, Paradise will be shown but only to wolves. It was thought that wolves had been hunted out hundreds of years ago but a few remained alive. The main characters are the wolves Kiba, Hige, Tsume, Toboe and Cheza, the flower maiden.

Ouran High School Host Club

Haruhi Fujioka is a scholarship student at Ouran High School, a fictional school located in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Because of the superlative cost of the school uniform, Haruhi resorts to wearing long slacks, polo shirts and vests. Combined with her large glasses and tousled short hair, Haruhi's look causes her to be confused for a boy.

Looking for a quiet place to study, Haruhi stumbles upon the Third Music Room, the working place of the Ouran Host Club, a group of six extremely attractive male students (Takashi Morinozuka, called "Mori"; Mitsukuni Haninozuka, called "Hunny"; twins Kaoru and Hikaru Hitachiin; Tamaki Suoh, and Kyoya Ootori) who spend their time charming and entertaining the school's girls for profit. During their first meeting, Haruhi accidentally knocks over and breaks a vase valued at ¥8,000,000, estimated to be US$80,000.

In order to pay off the large debt, Haruhi is employed as the club's "dog" and is constantly ordered to do menial tasks like serving food or cleaning up. The club president, Tamaki Suoh, without knowing she is really a girl, promotes Haruhi to "host" as soon as he discovers her potential. Even after the truth comes out in the Club, Haruhi continues the charade and is allowed to pay off the rest of her debt working as a host; in order to accomplish this, Haruhi conceals her true identity/gender from the customers and the school

The Main Characters are referred to as Tamaki Senpai, Honey-senpai, Haruhi, Kyoya, Hikaru and Kouru and Takashi.

Chibi Vampire Karin

The storyline of Chibi Vampire Karin is of a vampire family hiding away in modern-day Japan. One of the daughters to the vampire couple is Karin, a demented vampire who creates blood instead of drinking it like a normal vampire. She attends the nearby school where romance blooms and sad pasts are revealed.

However, getting in the way of Karin's happy existence, a few extra characters such as the over-zealous Winner-Kun begin to complicate things.

The main characters are Karin-san, Maki-san, Winner Kun, Anju and Kenta.

Shakugan No Shana

Yuji Sakai, a high school student, expected his very normal life to last forever. However, this expectation is quickly shattered one day while on his way home.

The world suddenly freezes in time, leaving Yuji to watch in horror as blue flames engulf the people around him. Soon a monster resembling a large doll appears and begins sucking the flames into its mouth, until it notices Yuji. Surprised with Yuji's insusceptibility to the time-stop (fuzetsu), it jumps with glee.

Just as the monster prepares to consume Yuji, a sword-wielding girl in black attire with flaming red eyes and hair appears, swiftly and confidently destroys the monster, before noticing Yuji moving freely. The girl calls herself a "Flame Haze" who hunts the "Denizens of the Crimson Realm" and the "Rinne" they send to do their bidding. When Yuji notices a blue flame in his chest, the Flame Haze tells him that the "real" Yuji died some time ago, and that he is a "Torch", a temporary replacement for erased humans. Torches take on the forms of those erased persons, but after a period of time, they will vanish from existence and the memories of the living. Unfazed by his apparent death, Yuji befriends the strange girl and names her "Shana" after her sword.

The reason Yuji was able to move in the fuzetsu is that he is not a normal Torch, but instead a special kind called a "Mystes": he has a treasure inside him, known as a "Hougu", a device possessing special abilities of sorts, and an extremely powerful and valuable one at that. The hougo inside Yuji allows him to remain in existence rather than fading away like other torches. Shana resolves to protect Yuji from the Denizens, who would use the treasure to disrupt the balance of the world, and Yuji decides to join Shana in her fight.

Death Note

The storyline of Death Note is when a boy called Light finds a little black book on the ground after school one day. He discovers that it is called the 'death note'. A monster appears, saying that it's a Death God and it is the owner of the book. He explains all the rules it has to it, such as the fact that having it in his possesion means that Light can never enter Heaven and that any name written in it means that the owner does within 30 minutes of a heart attack if no time or cause of death is specified.

Light takes this on with vigour and starts making 'justice' in the streets of Japan. The National Police Force notices a pattern in the deaths and assign their top force to find the killer and stop him. Little do they know that their senior officer is the father of the killer, Light. Light goes under the name of Kira and continues to prove Justice. Little does Light know that the police force also think that they are doing justice on the streets of Japan. Soon the 'Justice' dance becomes a dangerous game of cat and mouse and Light and the top police officer, L, are in the middle of it. Both leading their secret lives and both trying to catch the other and kill them.

Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro Chan

This anime is about an angel who comes back in time to stop her true love from committing an unforgivable sin - making technilogy that turns women into little girls forever and therefore sparking a pedophilic society.

Dokuro-Chan proves to be very violent and in pursuing her love for the boy she's come back in time to save there are moments of sexual humour and ridiculous violence.

The First Post

Hiya to whoever is reading. This is the spot where I (aka Gothic Rose) will be posting fragments of my life for people to read. My blogs tend to be under categories of review, fiction and a little bit of poetry when I can spare the brain power.

So I guess I'd better start with introducing myself. Uhmm I'm a big fan of the Philips club, so there are people on the internet under the usernames of Sirod Philips, Elsor Philips and such that I like to keep track of during the time on the net. They happen to be good friends of mine.

I'm fond of finding cute images on google search so look around for them to see if you find any you like too!