Bad Habits

I'm kicking myself for neglecting my blog for so long! This neglection inspired me to write this post, actually. Titled Bad Habits as you can CLEARLY SEE, this post shall be about, well, my bad habits. Duh.
Maybe you share the same issues, maybe you used too, maybe you read this and feel grateful it ain't you with em.
Whuddevah. Let's just get this over with.


1. Procrastination.
I haven't made a new post in like, what? Six days? That's way too long if you ask me. I'm sure all the world's greatest bloggers didn't neglect their duties to nearly a week! How else would they become the world's greatest bloggers?! And its not just blogging, lemme tell you. I refuse to make my bed (its just gonna get dirty again!), empty/refill the dishwasher, or email/call/go over to my friends for incredible lengths. Once I even went at least a week without brush in my teeth. (Oh, the days of summer...)
I'm sure you can imagine:

M'kay, maybe not AS grotesque. You get the picture though.

2. Nail Biting
Its not like they taste good! They taste more or less like plastic. o_o
I don't know why I do it, but I'm not alone. My grandpa's always on my case, saying he wants to get my nails painted, but, well, I never did have a thing for nail polish like my friends do. Its just not my thing. I'm sure you understand.

3. Laughing at bad times
I love laughing! Who doesn't? Its so fun! Unfortunately, not everyone agrees. I've been in many horrible situations where laughing is the least appropriate but most it-has-to-happen! thing I can possibly do. To list a few:
- Someone else is getting yelled at in class
- A mean but hilarious joke at someone who just fell off the monkey bars
- Talking about bullying with cops in school and the subject of wedgies comes up
I mean, who WOULDN'T laugh in those scenarios? Anyone my age or younger would, fo' sho'.

4. Eating when there's nothing better to do
I'm not anorexic or something dramatic or awful like that. I'm not going to be ranting and wailing about how I need to stop eating before I swell up like the Michelin Man. I'm just saying.
When there is nothing good on Netflix, nothing new on ourWorld or I'm sick of playing Temple Run 2, I most definitely will head on down to the kitchen and eat! Lots of other people do. Let's face it: Eating is fun. Everyone and I mean everyone, loves eating. This is bad habit for me cuz, well, I should be blogging when I'm instead shoving peach after peach in my mouth! :-P And besides, if this continues like it is, I just might be the Michelin Man when I'm older. x_x

5. Telling secrets
Ugh. I cannot stress how much this bothers me. I love knowing stuff (especially stuff that is intended to be private), and I love talking.
So what happens when the two come together? That's right.
If you tell me a secret and it "somehow" gets out, I can guarantee I'm the one who spilled the beans. I can't help it! There's something special about secrets.
You can go ahead while we're making mosaics in art class at school, I ask you to pass the glue and you comply, while adding in a normally-registered voice, "Hey, I really like Johnny. He's so cool!" And I'll be like, "Oh, that's cool. He is pretty nice. Hey, do red and green really compliment each other or does it look too much like Christmas?" Cuz you basically announced it to the whole world.
But as soon as we're at the Halloween Dance, huddled in the corner, and you dramatically lower your voice, look around and whisper, "Okay, promise you won't tell? I REALLY have a thing for Johnny. He's so talented and smart and cute! But don't tell anyone!" And I reply "Ooh, wow! That's so sweet! I wont tell!", you better understand that "I won't tell" for a max of two days, or until I see Johnny again.
With that simple voice register and gesture, you just opened the door between Passing Comment and Juicy Exciting Scandal and gave that confession a hard shove into the latter with me in tow. It WILL come out, it WILL be spread, he WILL find out. So, either tell me this huge secret that no one else will know for 48 hours at the very most, or just keep it to yourself.

6. Correcting/Contradicting
The hardest thing in the world for anyone to do is admit we're wrong. We are raised believing we have to be the best and all mistakes ate black marks on the permanent record of life. It's simple mortifying and humiliating to be honest with ourselves and tell the world we made a mistakes.
So, I do it for you!
I don't consider myself as an arguer. I'm just explaining my point as calmly  I possibly can (which is never very calm for long).

I'll be honest here: When I know I'm right and the other person refuses to admit it (in situations where undoubtable evidence and alibis are always present), I will go to great lengths to prove my point.
The same goes with correcting people. I, like every other person like, ever, loves to be right, and when we are, we're making sure everyone else knows it too. I don't usually correct people, usually I only do when they're seriously ticking me off and I need a reason to make them as mad as I am. (I'm such a wonderful role model, aren't I?)
Such as, if I'm mad at a friend who didn't pay me back for whatever when I apparently said they didn't need to, and they go like, "I would have bring the money but you said not to bother!", I might privately agree with them, but just because I'm extremely ticked off I will have to say, "Brought. You would have brought. How many times do I have to remind you?!"

7. Ranting
Maybe not such bad habit. It keeps everyone entertained, that's for sure! I remember back in grade six, my friend Parween and I would go in a little corner in the schoolyard at recess just to rant and rave about everything that was bothering us, from math homework to moms. I'ts refreshing and a real stress-reliever, although many dorks claim it to be "negative" and "pessimistic" and "brings them down".
It in fact does the exact opposite! But, haters gonna hate. Losers.


Whew! Seven bad habits. I can assure you I have many more, but its after midnight, and I need to sleep, 'specially since school is right around the corner *excited squeal* and my sleep schedule is.. Questionable. :-P
Keep me posted for the first day of school! ^_^
Stay tuned.

A Serious Obsession: Dubstep

Everyone has one. No, let me rephrase that. Everyone has at least one. I have a number. Number one, and probably my most crippling, is my addiction to dubstep.

Yep, that's me most of the time. But without the knife.

Now when did this start you my ask? Well I am MORE than happy to tell you the story. :-)

*Cue the dimmed lights; darkened, quiet atmosphere; puffs on pipe thoughtfully and strokes long, gray beard wisely*

My first taste of dubstep was in grade five. We were doing this dance project where we would get into groups, pick a song, (Yes, any song. Of course, no swearing or inappropriate lyrics but hey, WE get to pick our songs! This was awesome.) and choreograph it. Yup, we got to dance to any song with our best friends. School was so great back then. But this isn't the good part.
My group and song isn't important here. The important part is when we presented. A group of boys did a dance (mainly consisting of strutting and hair tossing) to this REALLY WEIRD SONG. It was like, growling and screeching and guitar shredding. It sounded like a wolverine getting thrown into a blender with a bunch of nails. (There are many dubstep memes involving blenders. I highly disagree, but remember, this was my very first encounter with such.)
Anywho. So naturally, my first question was "That's what you call DANCING?"
My second question however was, of course, "What song was THAT?"

So I asked Devon, one of the group's members, what the heck that song was. Here's how it went:

Me: "That was and neat song choice. Uh, WHAT WAS IT?"
Him: *Bang toss* "Bangarang. You know, Skrillex."
Me: *Deer-in-the-headlights* Who's Skrillex?
Him: He's, you know, dubstep.
Me: *Still deer-in-the-headlights* Okay, WHAT'S DUBSTEP?
(Another group member, Lyric, joins in)
Lyric: Really fast guitar playing.
Me: Oh. Cool.
(That awkward moment where everyone's said all they wanna say so we're just all stand in here looking at each other)
Me: 'Kay, thanks, bye.

So I went home that day and promptly forgot about it.

But not for too long!

A month or week or whatever later, my school's annul Valentine's Day Dance was taking place. That means red, white and pink hearts, streamers and balloons in the gym and truly awful music playing.

Now remember, even B.D. (Before Dubstep), I was pretty out there with music selection. While my girlfriends preferred Taylor Swift (where country music goes to die), Bruno Mars ("singing" with a cough drop stuck in your throat), and of course, One Direction (a bunch of British pretty boys no different from The Beatles besides lacking in originality, class, and legend status), I preferred the works of Rush (Freewill, Armour and Sword), Metric (Youth Without Youth, Breathing Underwater) and even a little bit of Nirvana (Lithium, In Bloom).
So, between "Grenade" and "That's What Makes You Beautiful", I'm sure you can guess what song was playing.
No, not Bangarang. If you've ever actually heard that song, you would know its not exactly a school's V-Day dance material. If you haven't heard it, I'm telling you now, its not a school's V-Day dance material. However, you're in the right direction, for it WAS Skrillex.
Here's how this went:

Background Music: "...but you won't do the same!"
Me: "Ugh, thank god THAT'S over."
Background Music: (Interesting beat/rhythm, completely unfamiliar to my intrigued ear)
Me: "Hey Haleigh! What song is this?"
Her: "Cinema!"
Me: "By who?"
Her: "Skrillex!"
Me: *Group dance flashback* "Oh, I think I know Skrillex! like, Bangarang, right?"
Her: "Yeah! He has other songs, too! Me and Aleks requested this one!"
Me: "Cool! Let's listen! :-D"
Background Music: "...I never know what's comiiing, forever fascinaated..."
Me: *Thinks* "Hmm, this is pretty good for a love song! :-P"
Background Music: "You are, a cinema, I could watch you foreeever. Action, thriller, I could watch you foreeever."
Me: *Thinks* "Aw! This is nice! :-)"
Background Music: "My cinema, my cinema..."
Me: *Thinks* "Oh, okay, so this guy is calling his girlfriend a cinema, like a movie theatre, cuz he can watch her forever cuz she's so beautiful! That's so sweet!"
Background Music: *Weird, high-pitched voice* "Get up, get down, loose that sound, my DJ gonna break it down!"
Me: o_o "Haleigh?"
Background Music: *Really deep voice* "DR-DR-DR-DR-DR-DR-DR-DR-DROP THE BASS."
Me: "..."
Background Music: "WOW WOW, wub wub wub wub wub wub wub wub HERRRP, wee WUB WUB wee WUB WUB wee wee WEE WEE!!!..."
Me: "!"
Me: "WHOA I LOVE THIS! :-D"

AFTERWARDS.
I go home and immediately turn on my Wii. I go on YouTube. I search: "cinema skrillex". I click on the first one I see and hit play.
My ears EXPLODE with wonder!
Its even better without a bunch of kids screaming over top!
I replay it again and again till dinnertime!
So of course, I have to find more.
I search Bangarang and I find its awesome music video that you must watch now. I'll wait.

Isn't that SO COOL?!
Yeah, it is.

I discovered so many good songs, JUST BECAUSE of that dance.
And it doesn't stop there.

Soon after, I introduced my neighbour, Grace (who was seven at the time), to Skrillex. To my great and utter surprise, she loved it! She became as obsessed as me! In fact, SHE is how I discovered this great Skrillex song also Knife Party, who I love for this creeptastic video. She is so cool.

After receiving a Kobo Arc

from my grandparents, I opened up a whole new world of possibilities for expanding my dubstep obsession. I downloaded the Noise FM app, a radio station playing PURE AND ONLY DUBSTEP, a ton of dubstep wallpaper apps, and music apps to house and sort my ever-growing collection.
In short, I LOVE DUBSTEP. While many people (usually teachers, parents and neighbours) despise dubstep with a passion, I, as well as many of my best friends including Mikayla (check out her advice blog here), Rebecca, and of course, Devon and Haleigh, absolutely love dubstep and everything about it. Now for a quick Q&A!

Q: Who's your favourite DJ?
A: Mhm, Skrillex for sure.

Q: Favourite song?
A: -_- Seriously? My favourite song changes practically every day or even hour, but at the moment, it's The Limit by Fonik.
I'll be posting another entry listing the bet dubstep artists and song currently existing. Stay tuned.

Q: Is it true that all dubstep sounds the same/like a broken blender?
A: No, it absolutely doesnt. Depending on the artist it may, but in general, no. Dubstep is noted for being unique.

Look, if you haven't already heard any dubstep, check out the links above or stay tuned for a soon-to-come post about the best dubstep to date. You won't regret it.
And if you do, well, you're probably an irritable adult. And you shouldn't be here. Get out. This blog is for awesome people only!

What Game Are You?

I've always loved video games.

I think my very first encounter with the world of gaming was when I was like six or seven, when my parents and I caught my grandparents playing Sonic The Hedgehog on an old Sega Genesis console.
I had never even known my grandparents owned a video game console, let alone were gamers.
After filling us in on this secret habit of theirs, I found myself immensely intrigued. I wanted to learn how to play.
Without further ado, they sat me down in front of yet another classic game, the one and only, Super Mario Bros. for SNES. (Stands for Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Gee, I feel like such a nerd. ^_^)
I was shown the basic controls, i.e. Running, jumping, sliding, avoiding creatures, collecting coins. Within an hour or so, I was crushing Goombas, tossing around Koopa Troops shells, spotting secret coin hideaways and jumping on the very top of the pole at the end like a natural pro, which, I guess, I was. ;-)
After Mario came Sonic, a speedy blue hedgehog who's job is to free animals transformed into evil creatures by their master, Dr. Robotnik (called Eggman in later games), and ultimately beat the doctor himself. I've beaten Sonic's first game a numbers of times but to this day, Sonic And Tails, his second game starring his pal Tails The Fox, is unbeatable to this day. It has an insane twist at the end... Not that I'm gonna tell you. Go find out for yourself.
Soon after, I was playing on Lan original Atari, joystick and everything! I received a Wii for my eighth or ninth birthday, followed by a pink DSi for christmas. Some time after my mom got an iPad which had many a game downloaded to it, and in sixth grade my grandparents gave me a Kobo Arc, the tablet I'm writing this blog on. It of course provided me with millions of free games to practice on.

Ahem. I'm getting off topic. See how easy it is to branch a ton of other topics off your original?! Ugh. One of my worst habits, along with--
See?! ITS HAPPENING AGAIN! >:-0

ANYWHO, so. What game are you??? 

The way I see it, video games are more or less divided into four main categories, with some overlap.
Number One: Violent war strategy games
Number Two: Brainteasers/Puzzle strategy games
Number Three: Virtual worlds/Fantasy games (usually for PC)
And Number Four: Platform games.


Category One is more or less games where the aim is to kill. You know, those violent boy-games (yes, I KNOW certain girls play those game too, no question there, but the thing is, I've never seen a group of girls in saggy jeans eating baloney sandwiches at the far table, huddling together, discussing battle plans and strategy. Face it, it's a game aimed for dudes.), games that I can only compliment on their extremely graphic artwork.
Well, for starters, I hate all games that involve killing, beating, and gore, which many people I closely know will find very ironic since  have another addiction to horror movies. I just can't find the pleasure in being rewarded with ammo and weapons for dismember zombies with hand grenades or running over civilians with monster trucks (cue the violent-video-game fanboy rants). However, if you're that kind of person who likes researching history's wars for oral projects or prepares themselves for the zombie apocalypse (Hi Rebecca. Yes, I'm talking about you.), then this genre is most definitely for you.

RECOMMENDED (Remember, I HATE these games and have the most basic knowledge on them. These are recommended by a friend of mine into that kinda stuff.): Call Of Duty: Black Ops; Grand Theft Auto 3; Assassin's Creed

I have very little to say about Category Three except for that puzzling strategy games are without a doubt my favourite type of game. The even surpass classic platformers like Sonic and Mario (see below). In short, I love learning and challenges, and what better way is there to exercise your brain than with time limits and brightly coloured shapes? Exactly. For all those logical thinkers like me, and stay away if you get stressed out really easily. These games make you sweat.

RECOMMENDED: Tetris; Bejeweled 2; Plants Vs Zombies

Tetris

Number Three: Virtual worlds and fantasy. I'm currently hooked on this one, ourWorld.com. (If you play, ADD ME! My name is Chrispy; you'll find out why in another post; if you can't find anyone named Chrispy its cuz I change it a lot. I change my ourWorld name so much I've started keeping a list. I'll post it one day.) Anyway, all your really do is usually pick a starter avatar, a name (no duplicates, at least in ourWorld), and enter you email and a picked password to save. In ourWorld you get a house or "condo" as they call it and you get to customize it however you like with furniture from the stores. In every virtual world however, you can buy clothes and hair and accessories to personalize your avatar. There are often rare or Limited Time/Edition items for certain months or holidays. The currency tends to come in two forms, one acquirable by playing games or making friends and the other is harder to acquire. Usually you can get the harder-to-get currency by sharing the game on Facebook, completing surveys from the game's sponsors or, if you are either really desperate or just plain idiotic (usually both!), you can buy the currency with legitimate money. Like, credit cards. (Or an Ultimate Game Card/Google Play gift card, same difference.) I cannot stress how utterly redonkulous this form of money-spending is. Although I'll have to contain my stressing because I plan to rant more about this in my next entry about my serious addiction to ourWorld is. Stay tuned.

RECOMMENDED: The Sims; Club Penguin; ourWorld (ADD ME. >:-|)

ourWorld

Numero Quatre: Platform games. Games where you're trying to get to a goal, usually running and jumping, although I think racing games can fit into here, too. Basically, you're traveling across some landscape or island of some sort to get to your goal while collecting power-ups (usually there are coins to get) while avoiding obstacles and enemies. For everyone, but WARNING: EXTREMELY ADDICTIVE.

RECOMMENDED: Temple Run 2; Sonic The Hedgehog (Duh); Super Mario Bros. (Even more duh)

Hi.

Well hellooo there! It is I, Lily, creator of The Squab, a random blog about random things that few people (excluding me) would possibly care about. Although, if you're into lists about things other than chores or schedules and lengthy rants about whatever comes to mind, you, my dear, are in just the right spot.

Now, I'm sure that many people reading this will go like "Erm, like, WHY is your blog called The Squab? Like, what does THAT have to do with rants and lists?!

Or perhaps the logical ones will be like "Well, a squab is a resourceful bird with more intelligence than we common humans think. Therefore, this young blogger (or is it bloggee? Or maybe bloggist? Bloggerator? Whatever. Let's stick with blogger. Anyway. Where was I? Ah yes. Resourceful and intelligent.) Ahem, this young blogger is showcasing her knowledge of which some of us never before realized the importance of, like the squab itself does in its everyday life."

Well, as flattering as you logicals are, you both wrong.

Look, I just really like the word squab. I don't really know why, but I do. Its managed to sneak into random octaves in an otherwise normal conversation, i.e. "Oh hey! How are you? :-)" "Oh, just squabby, you know." And "What do you want for dinner?" "Hmm, can we have spaghetti and squab-balls?" Or even, "Raise you hand. Yes, Lily?" "SQUAB! :-D" (Okay, that last one didn't really happen. :-P I'm just trying to add a little colour.)

Okay, well, with that out of the way, The Squab is one of those websites you would stumble across while surfing the Web, looking for something to amuse yourself that does not include "talking" dogs, funny glitched pictures or Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, etc. (I'm about to get a lot of hate over those last three with arguments like "Phooey! Tumblr never gets boring! It has way cooler blogs than THIS!" To which I would reply "Does Tumblr have posts about the best horror movies to date, twenty songs that will change your mind about dubstep, and books you can read over and over again without ever getting bored?" To which they would reply with "Yeah! It does! And it has more, too!" Then I would just walk away because I'm too smart to put up with that kinda crap. Nah, just kidding. I never learn. I'd stick around tossing comebacks met by the same points worded differently till the defendant either rolls their eyes and flicks their hair (girl) or rolls their eyes and flicks their bangs (guy). I have a lot of experience with this kinda stuff.)

ANYWHO,
So yeah. I think you got the gist of it. The Squab is your main exporter for all things weird, wacky and random. NOTE: I'm NOT a hipster. I'm not even totally clear on what that is, but I know I'm not one. Okay? Okay.

Well, uh, you can go now.
But be sure to come back cuz I have a lot to talk about and, well, you probably want to hear it.