The Humble Watermelon is Moving to Wordpress!

Yup, you read that right, I'm moving to Wordpress! This has not been an easy decision, but I think it's for the best. First of all, my customization tool hasn't been working for a long time, so that was extremely frustrating. Also, it's been a while since I've posted regularly, and I think a fresh start would strongly benefit me.

To all my subscribers, I thank you. Thank you for reading my posts, commenting, and always making my day. I hope you'll continue the journey with me over at Wordpress; I promise I'll be dedicated to my new blog as I'll ever be. My time here on Blogger has been absolutely amazing: I've made so many new friends, learned a lot about myself, and improved my writing drastically. I won't delete this blog, but this is my last post here.

Thanks for everything. Please join me over at the new The Humble Watermelon!

-Grace :)

To Undo our own Undoings

The downfall started in English, my last class of the day. We had to pick a subject for an oral presentation, but I just couldn't find one that pleased me. Ukraine was too complicated, climate change seemed way beyond my hands. And so when the bell rang, I left with a mind full of empty ideas, while my classmates shared their carefully thought out subjects with each other. The preoccupation followed me throughout badminton practice, and before I knew it, I had lost one, two, three games. Including one against the-girl-i-never-lose-to. Naturally, I blamed my poor performance on my English class woes as I sat on the bench, drenched in my bitter attitude.

Fangirl, a book review

by Rainbow Rowell
published in 2013
a chocolate covered 5/ 5 stars
Goodreads / Amazon / Rowell's Website

Cath shook her head. "Now is all you get," she spat out, wishing she could make more sense. Wishing for more words, or better ones. "Now is all you ever get."

Fangirl is everything. It's everything that's good about chick-lit, it's everything that's good about YA. It's so honest and genuine that sometimes I wonder if it's actually written, or whether it's just the previously recorded words and dialogues of an 18 year old girl living her life. I guess it's kind of a both. This book is like the voice of a college freshman, rendered into a fresh prose that makes it so delectable to read. (If this book was a food it'd be chocolate to the power of chocolate). 

Meet Cath. She loves Simon Snow, the book series that has taken the literature world by storm. As teens, she and her twin sister Wren read and wrote Snow fan-fiction, mainly as a hobby, but also to keep themselves grounded, after their mother left when they were little. But now with college looming around the corner, Wren has taken a more independent approach on life, and has mostly grown away from Snow fandom, and has told Cath that she doesn't want to be roommates. Cath has never felt this alone, and her sulky roommate (who happens to have the world's most positive boyfriend) doesn't help the mix. Oh and her fiction-writing professor doesn't approve of fan-fiction. Cath is now facing the biggest hurdle of her life, but also a door of great opportunities... And as she acts on both of them, Cath will discover that to live, sometimes you got to step out of your comfort zone. 

Fangirl is honestly the best book I have read in a long time. Everything in this book just felt right, it felt like it belonged. All the elements were so balanced, from the quirky friendships, the blossoming romance (sigh), the AWESOME fan fiction, and the family situations. It's a coming of age novel that really enraptures you, and after a while it doesn't even feel like you're reading. It feels like you're living the story, it feels like you're being.

Classical Piece of the Week: Symphony 4, 4th mvmt

A while back I attended the Tchaikovsky Festival show by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and it was a mind-blowing experience. One of the pieces they performed was his Fourth Symphony, and the whole piece kept me at the edge of my seat. All four of the movements were extremely impressive, but the movement I want to showcase today is the fourth movement.

The movement is 9 minutes of epic, grandiose, magnificent music. It's everything that's good concentrated into the sound of the bold strings, blaring brass, balanced winds and the booming percussion. (All those b's were definitely unintentional, hehe). The music always builds and intensifies from its momentum, but just when you think it's at its peak, everything just diminishes again and a new, even more powerful momentum starts to develop. And then all this energy just releases at the end, giving you one of the most EPIC endings ever.

Merry Christmas! (With poem!)

 From: Decently Exposed Shop

Hey guys! I just wanted to wish a very Merry Christmas, and I hope your holidays are going wonderfully! Oh and here's a little Christmas poem for you guys! I was going for kind of a "Twas the Night Before Christmas" feel to it (you know, that kind of hearty/homey voice?). And I don't usually do rhyming stuff, but I think Christmas just screams "poems that rhyme"! Anyways, hope you guys enjoy it!

(Here's an awesome playlist of the whole Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky!)

(Title of poem still undecided… if you guys got any suggestions don't hesitate on leaving a comment below!)

Stockings without a stuffer,
a tree but no manger.
Lights wrapped around the stairs,
but none out in the winter air.

What an artificial Christmas,
they deem, tone vicious.
You do not mess around,
with a celebration so renown.

Book Review: A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle, #1)

by Libba Bray
published in 2003
a forgiving 2.5-3 stars
Goodreads / Amazon / Author's Website

"Because you don't notice the light without a bit of shadow. Everything has both dark and light. You have to play with it till you get it exactly right."

A Great and Terrible Beauty, is like what the title suggests, both great and terrible. But for me, it tilted towards terrible.

It's the Victorian Era, and the only place where Gemma Doyle wants to be is in England. Instead, Gemma's stuck under the sweltering heat of India, her dreams of going abroad quickly evaporating under the torrid sun. But one eery vision of the future later, tragedy strikes her family and Gemma is sent packing to the Spence Academy in London, under the worst possible circumstances. At Spence, Gemma's visions seem to occur more often, and Spence's gothic styled building intensifies the supernatural feel. Now, Gemma must question all she's every known. Or what she thought she had known.

I thought the book started off great. The characters had vivid, colorful personalities, and the setting felt very three-dimensional. Gemma had quite a distinct character, one that made her feel alive, vibrant. She always had a strong opinion, and her solid narration made me, the reader, feel involved in the story. 

Unfortunately, the story started to unravel as Gemma started to discover her supernatural talents. Suddenly, several new, important plot lines appeared, yet they held a weak presence throughout the book. The story started to feel drab, as the characters' emotions were never amplified; they just feel flat. And scenes containing very dramatic elements felt like smooth poetry, I mean for a supernatural book, everything just felt a little too natural. 

The Pride in Wrongdoing

*All names in this post have been changed in form of respect and privacy*

Today we had a double bloc of Spanish, and nearing the end of it, you can already guess that our teacher was getting frustrated from all of our little misbehaviours. And so, with Ms. Kayla's mood already in a downfall, one student decided to raise his voice above everyone else's, which resulted in some furious yelling from our teacher's part.

After 10-15 minutes, when the situation was almost forgotten and the class was chattering away, Ms. Kayla grabbed our attention and says, "I'd just like to apologize to Andy for yelling at him. I realize now that he was not the only one that was talking loudly, and singling him out was the wrong thing to do. I know that I'm not perfect and sometimes I do lose my patience, but I really try my best." Looking back it didn't make much of an impact on my classmates and I, but now that I have had a chance to think about it, I now realize just how meaningful what Ms. Kayla said.

Classical Piece of the Week: Vocalise

Missed the last one? Here's a link to Rêverie.

Vocalise, by Sergei Rachmaninoff

And on those days when the leaves are shifting hues, drifting away,

when the trees are left with only their stark limbs, battered with wind.

And on those days when the only rays, are seen through stretched clouds,

gray and soulless but with infinite amount of reason.

And on those days when you stare at the world,

and all you get is a woman in her coat, eyes cast down, stepping carefully.

And on those days when you put the sad records on,

a soft piano, a crying violin.

And on those days when life is dusty and ashen,

but then the music fills you and suddenly everything is so, so alive.

A Human's Worth

"Humans' lives are not of the same worth," declared my mom, grabbing another piece of stir-fried broccoli with her wooden chopsticks.

We were sitting around the dinner table, listening to CBS News when the anchor quickly mentioned a suicide car bombing that killed 53 people in Iraq. The news seemed to have left his thought as quickly as it had came out of his mouth. The rest of the supper was a blur; only the remnants of my mom's comment swarmed in my mind.

That was several weeks ago. And yet I cannot forget that day when 53 people were killed in a bombing, and how the brief mention of it was quickly overshadowed by a news report of more value, but lesser importance. If this were to happen in a developed country like the U.S.A. or Canada, it would be on the national headlines, even international ones, for several days in a row. They would have short biographies of the injured and deceased affected by the incident, and segments where experts would analyze the event over and over.

Actually, it wasn't the way-too-brief report on the news regarding that suicide car bombing that thoroughly vexed me. It was the ignorance of social media. If you engage in social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, you probably came across a few people posting a message that said "Pray for Boston", during the time following the Boston Marathon Bombing. And that was very respectful, being emotionally engaged to an event that shook the whole nation. But those people completely missed the mark. Haven't they ever looked at the world properly? Looked at Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and so many other countries in the midst of turmoil? They should know that these countries experience bombings every day of great fatality. But when has someone ever posted to their Facebook page a message saying "Pray for Syria", or "Iraq Strong"? If there are people who do it, I have yet to have encounter one of them.

It's my BLOGOVERSARY! (Has it already been a year?!)

Yay, it's the one year anniversary of my blog, The Humble Watermelon! It only seems fitting that this is also my 100th post!

My Journey to this Milestone
It all started in July 2012. I had already been on Goodreads for several months now, and I wanted to go further into improving my writing. So with a mind full of ideas and a lot of spontaneous thoughts, I went on Blogger, and created The Humble Watermelon, on July 26th. Then I joined a group on Goodreads called Blogger Lift, where I met loads of awesome people who also had their own blogs. Those people helped shape my blog into the one it is today, and I don't think I would be at where I am today without them.

Throughout the year, I've done book reviews, humanity-ish posts, and a lot of Classical Pieces of the Week! I hope to write many more posts, because writing has truely taught me so many things that are very valuable to me.

Blogging Friends
Once I found my place in the blogging world, I started making friends, and great friends they were (and still are!). I've interacted with a lot of people, so if I don't mention you, just know that you are still a very awesome buddy and I appreciate it so much that you read my blog!

Delaney @ The Awkward-ness: Delaney, you are an awesome human being. You were one of my first followers and one of my first commenters. You are always full of energy and you have great positive attitude that always rubs off on me! Thanks for sticking with me for so long, maybe stay for a little while longer? XD

Annie @ Fallen For Fiction: Remember Leopard Kitty Books? Cause I sure do! Annie, you really inspired me from the beginning, with your beautiful selection of words and excellent prose. I remember reading some of your posts and thinking, "Wow, if I could only write half as good as this girl!". You've been an amazing friend, thanks for making my blogging experience so much better!

Lottie @ Book Adoration: My favourite Wordpress girl, Lottie! When we became friends on Goodreads, it was just like an instant connection (or so I think)! Reading your blog since its beginning was such a pleasure for me, it has been amazing to see you evolve into such a talented writer! Your dedication has inspired me to be better at what I do. Thank you for everything, Lottie!

I'd also like to take time to thank Thomas, for inspiring me with his incredible writing skills and the passion he puts into his work; and also Ruby, the Queen of HTML, for all the time she puts into building her amazing blog, because the quality really shows.

To all of you: Thank you. For reading 2-3 of my posts. For leaving a nice comment. It means so incredibly much to me. And although it's already been a year, I'm still that same girl who get's so excited and pumped when she refreshes her blog statistics and notices that she has one more comment then before! Here's to many more years of way-too-loud typing, book-ish conversations, and late-night blogging!

Poem: A Book's Embrace

A little poem that came in mind while reading a very good book. Hope you guys like it! :)

A Book's Embrace
Tangled hair, oversized shirt
Hardcover cradled in hands
Staring at the words, staring at the world
A new dimension, born.

Blind,
deaf,
of the sun, the clouds,
the crying rain.

Alive,
vibrant,
from the depth of the black
ink.

A touch, a gasp
The soul is shaken
The breath is quivering
The heart is breathing.

A gift,
to be embraced by a book.

An Ode to the Mighty, the Humble... Watermelon.

I named my blog The Humble Watermelon, so I figured I should make at least one post on this lovely fruit. So today, I shall discuss about watermelon's history, tell you some interesting facts about it, and share three of my favourite watermelon pictures!

Ready to go on this Grand Watermelon Adventure? Yeah? Okay then, let's go!

Watermelon's Fruitful History:
Watermelon is thought to have originated in southern Africa, where you can find it growing in its wild state. There is evidence that it had been cultured in the Nile Valley, around the second millennium BC (2000-1001 B.C.). By the 10th century, watermelon had started being culture in China, and by the 13th century, Moorish invaders had introduced this fruit to Europe. Watermelon then moved on to North America, where they were grown by Native Americans in the 16th century. Today, China is the biggest watermelon producer, growing more than 69 million tonnes of watermelon in 2011!

5 Reasons Why You Should Blog!

I think this list is long overdue... So without further ado, here are 5 reasons why you should blog (or if you already do, 5 reasons why it's awesome!)...

1) It passes your time in a productive way: Yes, that sounds like something parents would totally dig, but hey, it's the truth! Blogging is quite beneficial, unlike updating your Instagram status every 30 seconds, which brings you to nowhere. (Yes, I am guilty of that)

2) It helps improve your writing skills: Now that's a big plus. When I first starting blogging, I was just an average writer with lots of things to work on. Of course, I still have loads to work on, but now I definitely think I'm a better writer. I choose better wording, and I have found a style that represents me.

The Diviners, a book review (The Diviners, #1)

by Libba Bray
published in 2012
a bone-rattling 5 / 5 stars
Goodreads / Amazon / Website / Trailer (super creepy)

"Naughty John, Naughty John,
does his work with his apron on.
Cuts your throat and takes your bones,
sells 'em off for a coupla stones."

Some might say that only movies can evoke the most imagery in one's mind. But after reading The Diviners, I would completely disagree. This book didn't just make me feel like I was living in the era of the storyline, it made me feel like I belonged to it.

New York City, 1926. This bustling city suddenly gets a new addition: 17 year-old Evie O'Neill. After committing much too many troubles, Evie is sent packing from her drab hometown to the streets of NYC to live with her uncle. There she discovers that her hidden supernatural powers are more needed than ever, as she finds herself caught in the midst of a murder investigation. 

To say that this book scared me would be a hell of an understatement. It left me sweating with fear, eyes with horror and mind filled with speechless terrors. Yet it kept me up t'il midnight, day after day, as I silently flipped the pages with such an anticipation that only a good book can make you feel. 

Classical Piece of the Week: Rêverie

Missed the last one? Here's a link to Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20.

Rêverie, by Claude Debussy

A soft glow casts upon the field's grass, 
still fresh from the early morning dew. 

Faint whistles can be heard through the trees, 
the notes weaving into a melody of harmonious birds. 

The ripples of the water are carried into the stream, 
along the smooth rocks polished with time.

The flowers sigh to the sweetness of its own aroma.
A lone cloud travels across the sky, pacing infinitely.

The day becomes alive,
and everywhere is the reflection of its beginning.                            

The Rain of Happiness

Yesterday, just as I came back from a short walk with my mom, it started raining. The gray clouds were settling in, the sun's beam growing weaker as the rain intensified. Normally, I would be relived that I had avoided by a split second from getting soaked by hard droplets of water, but this time, something changed in me. I quickly realized that though I was hurrying to close all the windows, I wanted to be outside. Wanted to feel the rain, the cold and the wind.

A New Project (on Youtube!)

Hi everybody! It's finally summer break, and I feel like I'm just as busy as I was during the school year! But it's more of a positive kind of busy, because I've been planning to start a lot of projects. My most major one has been starting a new Youtube channel. I already have one called "gdlgma", where I post videos of me playing violin, and sometimes piano and singing, but this new channel is completely different!

I called it "pensationnel", and it's basically me talking in front of the camera about different subjects. Think of it as "à la Vlogbrothers", but a French version and very amateur. I mainly created this channel to try and preserve and improve my French once I switch to an English school, and also because I enjoy speaking!

Creating this channel has really consumed my past week, but I will try and be more flexible, because I really want to increase my quantities of post on this blog, especially since it's the summer!

So I hope you will have a chance to check out my channel, I'd appreciate it so much! (So far I only have one video, haha!)

Click here to watch my first video! 

I'll see you all very soon!

-Grace :)

Speechless, a book review

by Hannah Harrington
published in 2012
the cover makes it... 6/ 5 stars
Goodreads / Amazon / Website

The thing is, despite everything going on- I don't want to change schools. It feels too much like running away. Let the jerks that vandalized my locker and my car and harassed me think they can just run me off that easy? No.

"Here's the thing. I need a book with a gorgeous cover and an interesting backdrop. It has to exude personality, and it has to be completely, blatantly honest. I need the characters to be true, real. It has to be something that I could somehow, even indirectly, relate to. Also, because I'm being really picky here, it can't be a super long, marathon read, nor should it contain only 30 pages of really deep stuff that I act like I understand but I actually don't. It has to be appealing to read. You know, you know?"

"Oh, well, just take Speechless by Hannah Harrington!"

Chelsea Knot can't keep a secret. And since she's on top of the high school social ladder, she's got a lot of secrets on her hands, all ready to be spilled. But the last secret she told almost killed a person. And now, Chelsea is a loner, an outcast. So she decides to take a vow of silence, because that way, not another person will be hurt because she couldn't shut that mouth of hers. Her reign of silence gives her time to think- of her actions in the past that lead to her situation now. But it also gives Chelsea a chance to really dig deep in her roots, and to uncover the real self that she had hidden without even knowing.

A Playlist of Memories

Today was my last day as a student at École Lacerte. This school has been my second home for over 4 years now, a stretch longer than any other school I've been to. I've made friends that really do love me for who I am, and I've connected with teachers who care immensely about my well-being. I've had my fair shares of victories, and some defeats that I can only but learn from. I've made stupid mistakes, and yet they always seem to make me a better person. 

Next school year as we head to Grade 9, the graduated class of Lacerte will be dispersed into different paths. Many will continue towards a French education, a few will change to English schools. And even if we will keep in touch a lot, we will probably never have a bond as strong as when we were all colleagues together. So I've decided to make a playlist. A playlists of songs that represents us, the 2013 class of Lacerte. I hope one day it will help us all bring back the memories that made us into a family. A foolish, stupid, loving family.

Here's the playlist :)

Classical Piece of the Week: Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20

Missed the last one? Here's a link to Polonaise from Eugene Onedin.

When you first start to devote yourself to an activity, whether it's violin or gymnastics or anything else for that matter, you naturally turn to the professionals. You watch them, listen to them, analyze them. And as you stare in awe at their pure talent, you wonder if you will ever be able to achieve that level of accomplishment. This week's piece, Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20 by Pablo de Sarasate, is that accomplishment. Most pieces sound easier than they actually are. This piece sounds just as hard as it is. When played right, it can really make an audience imagine wonders. It will tear your heart apart, make it pound, and make it race with excitement.