Plants Vs Zombies ...

I love my family. They are hilarious, crazy, kooky (almost like the Addams family with less Lurch and more dark humour). That being said, introducing my mother to the game Plants vs Zombies 2 may have been a bad idea. Especially when she is not doing well in a level. The words that I've heard come out of that mouth. (Mum, if you're reading this, love ya!) In fact, it has become a point of amusement to watch her stare intently at the screen and tap furiously while trying to keep the zombie horde at bay.

I love the game. It's quirky enough to keep me interested when I'm waiting in an airport or even when I can't sleep at night. I can tune out the goings on around me and focus on keeping those zombies at bay. The graphics are fun, the game play is simple (and addictive) plus look at these characters:

You can't deny that they hearken back to the cartoons from the late 80s to early 90s. They've got that roundness to them and each plant has it's own little identity. That first guy is called Bonk Choy. (I'm an English teacher who loves puns...go figure...)

Anyway, PopCap, the game creators, have made it a fun and easy game to get addicted to. The aim is to stop the zombies eating your brains. You start with a limited amount of plants and you need to collect sun in order to plant said plants. Each plant has different strengths and weaknesses so you have to learn which ones will benefit you while playing the game. Simple, right!

There are three main levels - Ancient Egypt, Pirate Seas and Ye Olde West. (I like writing it that way...) Each has it's own challenges and new plants are made available as you play along. I originally played this last year and it has since upgraded and changed only slightly but is still fun. As I said, I use it to pass the time while standing in line at places such as an airport or San Diego Comic Con. (Nothing better at two in the morning while your fellow nerds either sleep or are in search of caffeine.)

In each level you have specifically designed zombies that can be frustrating as heck*. Some with steal sun or make graves grow. One of the more annoying ones can be found in the Western level. He has a pot on his head and this makes him harder to kill. Plus, the chicken guy in that level annoys the heck out of me but I still find it an enjoyable game to play.

There are also reoccurring jokes surrounding Crazy Dave and his quest for his taco and his time travelling winnebago (is that even the right word? We don't have those things in NZ - well they aren't common that's for sure. I learned the word from the ever awesome film Spaceballs and now I'm rambling...) There are also mini boss levels or brute levels in this case. All of it adds to the fun.

The pros of this game include the fact that it is free to download on iOS and Android. It is easy to play (as proved by my mother) and has fun sound effects and a line of plush toys and collectibles that compliment the game. The animation is great, there are no lags that I've experienced and you don't need to be connected to wifi to play it, which is great.

Cons include the in app purchases (not that you really need them because I haven't used them.) Also the layout of the screen can be a little frustrating, especially when you are trying to collect sun and you accidentally hit the fast forward button or the almanac or purchase stuff buttons. (Those are the technical terms...well...)

For a mini game review I give this game a 8/10. It's free so I'd definitely recommend people give it a go.

Check out PopCap's official site click me! For more news.

*For some strange reason I have this word stuck in my head. I think it's because I am going back to school soon and am trying to rid myself of the bad habits I regress to during the summer holidays.

In which it is no longer Monday

Excuse me one moment while I dance around relishing the fact that it is no longer Monday...feel free to enjoy the following tune and comedy routine while I do my thing...

Ah, must better. Sorry for getting that song stuck in your head, by the way. Just had to have something absolutely random to entertain you while I indulged my five year old self. Anyway, I am facing today not so much head on but in a diagonally forward facing position. Yesterday is but a memory and tomorrow is but a fancy...wow, does that sound familiar to anyone or have I just created a nice little quote? Either way it's pretty neat.

I guess I have a bad case of wanderlust? Is that the right term? I have been back in New Zealand for nearly two years and my life has stalled although my writing has flourished. And I don't like playing the waiting game. So, while I work in the mornings making instant coffee for truck drivers before spending the afternoon writing I find myself checking my email every few moments - expecting to see some form of news but alas, I have wasted a few seconds and there is nothing there. It is really a case of waiting for the pot to boil and, as much as I realise I don't control it I still wait and wish...

Anyway, I just wanted to thank those who read my post yesterday and thank all those wonderful people who seem to drop into my life whenever I need them the most. (Oh boy is this ever cheesy).

I promise that more witty and brilliant posts will be coming up in the near future. Ones where I don't resemble a stressed bunny gnawing on her fingernails...



So I will leave you with this lovely little ditty - DFTBA

Yes it is rather melancholic but it is beautiful...

20 Things I Like...

I'm doing things a little different today because I'm feeling a little 'bluesy'* and a little tired. So, in an attempt to perk myself up I thought I'd write a list of 20, count that, 20 things that I like. Feel free to tell me what things you like or what things make you feel better when you're feeling a little down.

1. Finding a new singer/band or song that I really like. For example, the other day I downloaded the free tune from iTunes - Lady Luck - by Jamie Woon and I'm loving it.  
2. My dad's attempts to make the perfect jalapeno bread. We had some when we were last in California and dad had been experimenting every weekend. I don't mind being a taste tester for that. 
3. Playing my guitar. I've come to the conclusion that I'm never going to be anything other than a mediocre player but that doesn't stop me from trying. 
4. Walking around barefoot. I hate shoes and, if I don't have to, I won't wear them. This is something that is easier to do in New Zealand than it is in many other places since we don't have snakes etc.
5. Ordering books online. I love www.bookdepository.co.uk and use it regularly. I have been thinking about getting a kindle but the verdict is still out on that. In case you wanted to know I have just ordered A Game of Thrones, Sister's Red and The Knife of Never Letting Go.
6. Daydreaming. This normally has me staring out a window thinking about nothing or everything.
7. Paint my toenails. I just like doing this with either a really good movie on in the background or some great music playing. Sometimes I like to imagine I'm in one of those silly movie montages...
8. Piling the books that I am currently reading/about to read just to see how high it goes. Sometimes I make little book towers - no idea why...I just do. 
9. The way the trees in autumn become multi-coloured before the leaves fall. 
10. The first fire of the winter season. I often feel the urge to find marshmallows and roast them over the fire. (I have be known to do this over candles...)
11. Browsing www.etsy.com. Especially the geekery section and the witty badges. I collect them and some of the ones on there truly amuse me. 
12. Quirky coffee cups or mugs. I have been trying to get ones from every place I visit just as a keepsake. I know this is a bit silly because, honestly, how many cups does one need? But I keep doing it. 
13. Root Beer floats...I've only had one when I was in Las Vegas last year and it was so yummy. I don't care about the calories etc (mainly because there isn't anywhere I know that does them here.)
14. The sound of rain on the roof on a day when I know I don't have to go outside or be anywhere but at home. I love it when it rains in the middle of the night - the sound is so relaxing to me. 
15. Loving a book series so much that when I talk about it I refer to the characters as if I know them personally. 
16. Imagining what I would do if there was a zombie apocalypse. (I have a rather bit imagination...what can I say!)
17. Burger Rings or Rashuns sandwiches. Burger Rings and Rashuns are staples of the New Zealand chip (crisp or potato chip) range. Yummy. 
18. Second Hand bookstores. I have been known to spend hours wandering around looking for books that I feel deserve a new home with me. 
19. Chocolate - specifically Cadbury's dairy milk or Whittaker's dark chocolate. It is one of my true weaknesses but I have got some control...well...maybe...
20. Hanging with family and friends discussing how we can solve the world's problems over a glass of wine. 

*One of my dear friends coined this word for when she was feeling a little down and I loved it.

In which Christchurch is hit by a 6.3...

My sister and her two children live in Christchurch. Yesterday at 12.51ish  an earthquake centred in Lyttleton and only five kilometres deep rocked the city with a 6.3 force and for a moment the entire country of New Zealand stopped breathing be it in disbelief or shock my guess is probably both.

For over four long hours we waited, trying any means necessary to get through to her, just to hear her voice and to know that they were okay. This is the same thing that millions of others were trying to do which meant phone lines were clogged and the panic rose sharply. The news footage was raw and unedited and I, like many, could not tear my eyes away from it.

But, at the same time I was overwhelmed by the support that was coming in from all over the world. Thankfully John Key and the New Zealand government accepted help though this is still going to be one of the biggest disasters to hit our small country in many years.

In this time of trouble it is amazing to see the support and caring that comes through even though it only shows during such tragic circumstances.

For those who were wondering my sister and her two girls are fine. Hopefully they will fly up here for a visit or even relocate permanently.

Thanks to Facebook and Twitter for providing me with realtime updates and photos. Through both of these social media sites I was able to find out that many of my friends were okay.  

Sorry for the shortness of this post but it is still quite difficult to talk about. All my thoughts and hopes and prayers are going out to the people of Christchurch and the rest of New Zealand as well.

All donations can be made to Red Cross Donations though I haven't been able to get through to the site due to how busy it is.

In which I am odd

As a child I was always considered odd. This was the kind of odd that most parents smile and nod about but behind your back say such things as:

"Boy, your kid has quite the imagination there." Random visitor
"She sure does. The other day she came tearing through the house screaming about evil knights who were after the kingdom before diving out that open window there and rolling down the hill." Proud (hopefully) mum. *

"Does your daughter know that it isn't appropriate to hold seances in the school library?" Concerned parent.
"She's an imaginative girl, we don't want to stifle her creativity." Confused but proud father. **

"Why did your daughter go to a cemetery on her birthday?" Confused parent.
"She likes to pay respects to the living by remembering the dead." Possible equally confused mum. *** Oh, and I have to apologise to the poor girl that I may have possibly scared by sneaking up behind them in said cemetery. She was a friend - well until I realised that she was standing on an unmarked grave. I honestly didn't mean to scare her that much.

To many my parents were often considered too lenient on my...uh...different behaviours. To say I wasn't like the others in my peer group growing up could be an understatement. But I don't think I ever saw the world in quite the way that others did. Cemeteries were never scary places whereas clowns were, and are, the minions of the devil. Yes I am scared of clowns. The feeling is mutual I like to think. Or maybe it's just because I lash out at clowns who enter my personal space bubble.

All through primary school I was do my own thing but often drag a lot of the others into my hi jinks. I guess it was a good thing that the school I attended was a small rural school. Can you imagine the kind of trouble I've gotten into if I was living in a city. I mean, convincing others that the library was haunted. Telling ghost stories to scare the younger kids. Alternatively, I was earning science badges left, right and centre and writing up projects on Marie Curie and Dr Jack Horner while causing a fuss to the Bibles in Schools programme that was forced on us. It wasn't my fault that I was upset when the teacher, who shall remain nameless because I've forgotten the name, told the entire class of 5 year olds that Santa wasn't real and that they should give their presents to the church. Or when another one tried to tell us that dinosaurs and man walked around at the same time. I think it was around that time (when I was about 10 or 11) that my parents removed me from that particular lesson.

Anyway, my antics carried on to high school where people would often ask me why I was so weird and I honestly didn't have an answer. I didn't really think I was weird I just worried that everyone else was far too normal plus I hated high school - or the deepest level of hell as I affectionately recall it being. The teasing was manageable, the bullying less so but the lack of interesting topics made me feel absolutely and totally bored. I mean, how many ways can you read Romeo and Juliet without wanting to scream about the stupidity of both the story and the teachers interpretation of it. Seriously, it is not a romantic story. We must remember that Romeo was only 16 and Juliet was barely into her teens. They died because they weren't honest. And let's face it, Romeo was a total playa (yeah I used the word playa. Whatcha gonna do?). I mean, one minute it was all about Rosalind and the next thing he's all "Juliet, sun, moon, stars, dead." That's not healthy. (Especially the dead part.)

Even now many people think my habits are odd or my ideas are somewhat strange. Fortunately, though, many of the people who know me well understand that it's my quirks that make me who I am. You know, the geeky obsessions, the love of quotes, dinosaurs, BSG, odd socks, fantasy, horror, adventure and the list goes on.

Oh well - at least this is a somewhat better blog compared to the last two. "May the force be with you."

Peace and pancakes


*Well, in my imagination there were fifty black knights who were trying to overthrow the kingdom and I couldn't let that happen could I?
**I was utterly convinced that my primary school library was haunted when I was younger. I decided to prove this theory by any means necessary. Needless to say, some of the other parents were not as understanding as my own.
*** I find cemeteries interesting. All these headstones as a reminder of those who once walked around with the living.

In which I stand on my soap box...

I have been known to dive into things without thinking and I feel that I can be honest when I say that this has happened to most people that I know. As humans, we tend to like to voice our opinions and, because we are humans, we have to believe that our opinions are always right. This is not a bad thing, however, it can cause more problems in the long run. Think of it like the stone in a pond with ripples analogy or something like that.

So, the question is, do you continue to throw stones, knowing full well about the ripples or do you stay silent. Either way you are making a choice and, in making that choice, you know that people will disagree with you. Universal popularity is a myth, folks. Sorry if I burst your bubble but there are better things to be doing rather than making sure that everyone likes you.

Anyway, the main reason for that intro is that I have been hearing a lot about book censorship and arguments over everything for the last month or so. Yes, I know that it isn't anything new because there are always going to be people out there who must complain about something but I have to say, it really irks me when people start trying to 'censor' books, especially when these books are in the YA genre.

I love to read. (I can hear the collective 'duh.') I love to write and, as you know I hope to be a published author. Reading and writing go pretty much hand in hand and I am lucky to have been given the chance to read all sorts of great books and quite a few books that I thought were crap. I have no problems with recommending books, regardless of the language or scenes or anything, especially when it comes to the YA genre. If I read a book that I think is great I will pretty much scream my love for it from the roof tops. But, apparently, not everyone thinks the same way that I do.

Some of you may have heard about the Bitch Media's 100 Young Adult Books for the Feminist Reader debacle that is going on. I won't go into detail because either you already know or you can read on the link about or even google it. Breaking it down, what happened was they put up a list that included some great books but, apparently, some of those books deal with things that might 'trigger' children or cover issues such as rape and assault. This resulted in three books begin removed and several authors that I respect asked for their books to be removed as well, which I understand. I also understand that this was an individual list done by the staff at Bitch Media and they have the right to remove books if they choose. It's just the way it went down that turned it into a huge mess.

The reason I am bringing out my trusty soap box is that the idea of removing books for the reasons they gave is very sad. Yes, I understand that there may be some parents out there who want their children to remain innocent but the world isn't innocent. It is rough and beautiful, it is evil and good, crazy, terrifying, amazing and it is real. I really want to place emphasis on the real aspect of the world. This means encompassing the good and the bad. People get hurt, children die and children are taught to fight.

By 'censoring' or removing books, how can we expect our children to grow up with a sense of global understanding and even empathy. I dread to imagine a world without Huckleberry Finn or Scout or even good old Holden Caulfield. Reading is an important part of life and it is a part that many people do not get to experience but those who do, well, how can we expect them to learn if we tell them that they can't read this book because the main character dies or one of the characters experiences abuse.

In my view censoring YA books is the same as trying to keep a child in a bubble. This leads to children and adults becoming ignorant to the realities of the world. This makes me sad because, as I've said before, I love to read and those books that were removed from the list are going right onto my reading list. It is up to us to ensure that the next generation are given every opportunity to learn and if we continue to ban books or dismiss them without reading them - well, what kind of lesson are we giving to others.

I feel like I could go on about this but I only wanted to mention this because I feel that I believe in my opinion. I believe that books shouldn't be treated at impartings of evil and I belief that we should trust in the judgement of our peers and the young adults who choose to read these novels.

Anyway, enough of this seriousness. I'm putting away my soapbox but I will list the three books with links below.


Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

Sorry for the insane seriousness of this post but it is one of the few things that really frustrates me. Regular ramblings will return shortly.

Let me know what you think about people removing books from lists and the such. 

Peace and Pancakes

Pros and Cons of children...? Or random blog 1

It's a Friday morning as I write this and I have been looking after my niece for nearly two whole weeks. While this has provided an interesting test and challenge on my possible parenting ability it has made me look at life from a different perspective. No longer to I view everything with quite the cold and rational ideals that I normally do...well that last part is somewhat of a joke because I don't know if cold nor rational are the words that could describe me best. Quirky and kooky sound much better.

Getting back on topic, what I mean by different point of view is that I feel like I am reliving a second childhood as I am watching Scooby Doo and  My Little Pony. Both cartoons that I watched when I was younger. And, this got me to thinking about the reasons or pros and cons of having children.*

Pro - perfect excuse for watching cartoons and going to kids movies

Con - constant drain on the pocket

Pro - excuse to buy cool little clothes...seriously, have you seen what is out there?
Girl's Dresses
Boy's Shirts
Geek Onesies  (this is the best!)

Con - no social life - you become a 24/7 slave to their needs and whims...very hard if you have been miss independent for the last one hundred years.

Pro - having a little person to mould into the perfect individual.

Con - no more lie ins - sleep will become a valued commodity that is rare.

Pro - TOYS!

TOYS!

Anyway - there is more that I could add but I must continue with the writing and stop getting distracted by the toys on ThinkGeek. **

Oh - before I forget. I'm entering a competition on Amazon which means that I could get my novel published through Penguin USA. This would be nice so fingers crossed. I'm aiming for positive pessimism...;o)

Peace and Pancakes y'all

*This is tongue and cheek, if you take it seriously...well...
** Just in case you were wondering - I'm not planning on having kids for a long while yet...could you honestly imagine me as a parent...I shudder to think.

Writing...no fantasy at the moment...

I am currently working on a new novel...well, I have started working on a new novel while I edit my Wallwalkers novel and I am finding it odd to move from one world, where I am rather invested in my characters, into a new world. What is making this so odd is that my first novel is a fantasy/sci fi novel whereas the one I am writing on at the moment has no element of fantasy.

This isn't something that I normally do. I like fantasy. Fantasy is my safety blanket because I read more fantasy than any other genre. I read Rowling, Pierce, Nix, Eddings, Tolkien, Gaiman and so on, so I know my fantasy. But now I am entering a word with no magic, no elves or floating cities. Instead, I am writing a first person novel from the point of view of an atheist teenage girl.

This is interesting for me on many levels. First, it is testing my ability to write great dialogue. It's not that I can't write good dialogue but I have to make it somewhat modern and yet still intelligent. I do not want to dumb anything down for any readers. I don't like it when characters, especially child characters, speak like adults or speak in a voice that is not their own.

As for how quickly the writing is going, well it is going rather slowly at the moment and this is mainly due to the small five year old bundle of energy that seems intent on stalking me at every turn. This bundle of joyous energy is my niece. She is staying with me for a couple of weeks and it has definitely kept me on my toes. It makes me realise that I am definitely not ready to be a mother quite yet. There is something great about looking after a child and knowing that you can give them back to the parents after a matter of days.

Once again, this is a dreadfully short post due to said five year old so I will leave this now and hopefully things will even out.

Peace and pancakes

Word count: 3067
Song of the moment: Grenade - Bruno Mars