There are only 25 days until Christmas! I absolutely love this holiday, but this year it seems that people aren't as excited about it. Stores in Canada have been advertising for this holiday since the beginning of November, but I haven't really heard many people talking about it... yet.

So I decided to make a list of all the things I love about Christmas, since my group isn't doing any work for economics right now anyways... I'm sure they won't mind if I slack off, after all, they're on Omegle.

• The store decorations and SPARKLES! - I love it when malls have huge pretty christmas trees that are 4 stories tall!
• Cookies, nomz, baked goods, YUM! - mmm... nomnomnom.  People's baking skills improve at this time of year, that or I just get hungrier. 
• Advent calendars - I usually eat all the chocolates within a week, but this year I'm going to try to eat only 1 chocolate a day. Funny, 'cause I really don't like chocolate.
• The Christmas spirit - people just seem happier at this time of year! Whether it's because they'll be getting presents, or because they'll be able to see their family, Christmas just lifts everyone's spirits!
• Rest - as a high school student, I have 2 weeks of vacation at that time and I get to stay up and just sleep.

So what are your favourite things about Christmas?

One good thing about being so technologically advanced these days is that there are simulations for literally everything, including the stock market. We recently started a stock exchange simulation on Investopedia for a project in my accounting class.

At first, I was incredibly excited at the prospect of being able to play with ~250,000USD~. Not knowing what was really going on (All we were told was: Financial market = bad, Healthcare = lame, Technology = spastic), I, surprisingly, got REALLY into it at the beginning, and my indecisiveness was actually an advantage! I would stare at a stock for a LONG time before I bought it, but in the end, I decided to settle for the safe bets: Google, Microsoft, and Apple. (What can I say? I love my technology!) I know, I know, I invested in BOTH MSFT and AAPL, but hey, I don't care as long as they make me money!

And they did. So I started to get more adventurous and bought shares of other companies. Companies that I had never heard of. Thinking to myself "ah, what the heck, it's just a game", I bought a bunch of other shares, although in moderation.

That moderation there ended up saving me. When I lost, I didn't lose as much, but when I won, I didn't win as much either. Still, I was making a profit. By the end of that day, I was at the top of the leader board in my class!

And then, as usual, Regina did stupid things.

I won't go into the details, but I ended up losing a thousand or so bucks on Telecom Brazil due to the 20 minute delay in the Investopedia system. I also made some other bad investments, but luckily I was able to gain at least some of it back by short-selling. We have another 3 weeks of this simulation, so who knows? Maybe I'll do better next week. :P

Anyways, I guess what I've learned from these few days is this:

• Do a lot a research before deciding to invest in a stock. Analyze their graphs and make SMART predictions.
• Don't be afraid to take some risks; you lose some, you win some. That's life. What matters is that you win more than you lose.
• I suck at predicting stocks, but not as much as I thought I did.
• GOOGLE = GOOD.
• I don't want to ever invest in stocks in my life. Ever. The last few days almost gave me a heart attack, and I'd rather invest my money in something that I KNOW is going to give me a return, such as savings bonds and GICs.

The stock market is generally doing quite well as everyone is getting ready for the Christmas season.

TL;DR: I don't like the stock market.

What has been your or your family's experience with the stock market? Are you a risk taker, or do you like to play things safe?

I like green eggs and ham. In fact, I find that whenever I get home and feel hungry, I go to the fridge and grab a couple of eggs. And then I throw in whatever else I want/can find.

So here's what I made today:

I'm not a great cook, and it doesn't look that appetizing, but it was really good! (Though I suppose that's only because I was starving) It's eggs with tomato and king oyster mushrooms.

Omnomnom.

And it's incredibly easy to make!

• Chop up a tomato and some mushrooms and throw them into a pan with cream cheese and butter.
• Once the tomatoes are soft, throw in beaten eggs with milk.
• Flip it a bit and pour it into a utensil once it's the right texture.
• Add salt, pepper, ketchup, etc.

And voilà!

However, I'm tired of making the same kind of eggs. Suggestions, anyone?

Why? Because some of his Prelude and Fugues were performed by teens unfit to correctly interpret his music.

Yes, I was one of them.

And here's a picture of me looking like a dork with my second place award.

... at first I was afraid, I was petrified

I always feel that no one can quite master Bach, because... well, it's Bach. His music is somehow different; with romantic music, it's all about interpretation and there's more room for creativity. But with Bach... it either sounds right, or it doesn't. And only Bach can perform the hell out of his pieces.

That's why I was so worried last night. Although, I wasn't worried about being bad necessarily - I was worried about being worse than everyone else. I couldn't get to sleep last night at all because this was my first piano competition in 5 years. I woke up in the middle of the night, restless, and said to myself: Okay. Screw sleep, I'm going to get up now. And then I decided this wasn't such a brilliant plan, because the clock kindly informed me that it was only 3 am.

I'm also amazed how competition can bring out one's true nature. As we all sat down, one girl started asking everyone what they were playing. Then, this conversation happened:

Annoying girl: (to the girl who is to play last) You know, you're lucky to be going last, because then you can see how everyone else played and play better than them.

me: Er... how? What if you're just not good enough?

Annoying girl: ...well then, you SUCK.

me: *thinking* who shoved a stick up your ass?

*facepalm* FYI: you're not going to magically perform better by being the last to play.

Of course, I'm quite happy with second place, considering the girl who won was in university and only beat me by 1%. :) Maybe next year.

Maybe. :)

Have you had any experiences with competitions, if so, how nervous were you?

Autumn: it's the season that makes me very very indecisive, especially because it itself is incredibly indecisive. (Oh hey, I was born in October... suddenly my inability to decide makes so much sense!)

On one hand, fall is great because:

1. Temperature-wise: it's not boiling, but not ridiculously cold either.

2. LEAVES! I've never jumped into a pile of leaves before, but I hear that it's great fun and really really want to do it one day! (Hopefully this year before it starts to snow; although Kaylee says they've already gotten the first snow fall of the year, so I'm not sure how long it'll be before we get it too...)

3. Back to school! I know I know, many would not see this as a good thing, but after 2 months of vegetation, I was eager to go back to school and have a scheduled life once again.

On the other hand... fall fails because:

1. Temperature-wise: It doesn't know what it wants to be! It's like "okay, so today I'll be extremely warm and tomorrow I'll make everyone wish they were wearing boots and a parka! Haha, I'm such a trickster!" FYI, you're not. I don't think anyone finds it funny to catch another cold every time we seem to get better from the previous cold. *shakes fist at sky*

2. Fall means... that winter is coming up. I hate winter with a passion (see new header, also, feedback would be great!) because I can't ski and I despise the cold. And because my parents insist on keeping our house at 66 degrees fahrenheit. *Shivers*

So, to sum it all up, I can't decide whether or not I like the most indecisive season of them all. How about you? What are your thoughts on autumn?