2011!!!!!!!

First post in 2011!!! YAAAAYY!!! Anyhoo, I have nothing really to say except for "HAPPY 2011!!!"

As part of my New Year's Resolution, I DID work for two hours on my novel.

And by "two hours," I really mean "an hour and a half," once you factor in the distracted looking around/ watching tv/ going to the bathroom type stuff.

Now I'm waiting for my parents to start griping about moving my knitting or my notebook or something off the couch because company is coming. But they haven't yet, which is kind of odd, but whatever. I guess they think that the room still looks acceptable from yesterday, which is fine by me. I'm TOTALLY cool with that. I just want food.

And also to have the motivation to force myself off of the computer/ tv and into actually doing something productive. Like noveling. Or knitting. Or something.

Even though I did "two hours" of work on my novel, I didn't really get that far. Okay, I did almost four pages. But that isn't a lot. I should've done more. I WANT to finish it. The reason I can't is the fact that there is the annoying thing called the TV that keeps getting me distracted. And the room that contains the TV is also the warmest one in the house. And it's also where I hang out a lot, and I didn't really feel like moving.

And so now I'm going to work on my novel. Goodbye.

Last Post of 2010 (probably)

Well, as usual, I have nothing really to say. I haven't really thought of any New Year's Resolutions, aside from finishing my NaNoWriMo novel and figuring out how to knit for a living (or at least to get enough money to have a decent amount of spending money for Switzerland/ Italy) and actually to FINISH KNITTING something BIG. Like a sweater. Or a dress. Or something. And stuff.
And to be healthier and stuff.
And to work on voice more so I can sing better and get a better part in the musical next year.

And, although I really don't want to, my parents (namely my dad) will probably murder me if I don't get a move on and change into something decent for dinner tonight (we're going to a Japanese place, like we traditionally do for New Year's Eve).

And I really don't want my dad hovering. He hovers far too much as it is.

So I'm going now, and I'll see you all (or at least post stuff to you) in 2011.
If I don't post again in 2010, that is.
Which isn't likely.
Anyway, goodbye for now.

Gold Award :D

I know that it's been several days since I last posted, but whatever. I've been spending the last few days finishing my Gold Award stuff - I'm still not entirely done, but I anitcipate an hour of work left to do before I can officially deem it "Finished" (here meaning "I've done all the paperwork, and now I have to wait for my letter of reccomendation and some signatures so I can send it all to Council").

So I'm very excited because, if you count a Gold Award Speakers thing that my troop did last year, I've been working on this for a year. And counting.

I'm ready to finish, honestly. I spent FIVE HOURS on a video yesterday.

This was partially because, until approximately thirty minutes ago, I had drastically underestimated the time I had spent emailing people, so I THOUGHT I needed eight more hours when I really only needed one. Or something like that.

For the record, it IS possible to spend seventeen hours emailing people for projects. I've done so. It was actually 17.833.

And I thought I'd only done 10 hours. If I spent five minutes reading/ writing each email (for some, that's a BIG allowance, for others, it's far to little, so it balances out), it works out.

Museums and crazy stuff

Well, as I had nothing better to do (and I wanted to go anyway, as it's 20-30 minutes away from my house), I went to the Museum of Natural History today. I've been there many times, but I still felt like going because it's the SMITHSONIAN, and there had to be at least a FEW new exhibits since I last visited when I was ten, right?
Well, there WERE a few new exhibits - there was this really cool one about bones (complete with weirdly healed rib fractures and bullet holes in heads), one about insects (not AS interesting, probably because there were fewer Random Insect Facts than there were Latin Insect Names, and also there were no bullets-in-ribs in the Insect exhibit), and one about the origin of humans, which was really cool. It also informed me of the coolest Fun Fact of the Day ever: apparently, humans are 85% genetically similar to mice and 75% genetically similar to chickens. Now I have a VERIFIABLE excuse for ever calling anybody a chicken.
There were also the regular exhibits - the one on dinosaurs/ prehistoric shindigs, this one on mammals, and the gemstone one (yes, the Hope Diamond is still there).
There was also this really cool exhibit on underwater stuff, and there was this crocheted coral reef. It was perhaps the coolest thing ever - it even had crocheted jellyfish.

the nether time

Now's that weird nether time between Christmas and New Year's when I still have off school but I don't know what to do - I've already discovered most of the extent of the coolness of my Christmas presents, and, as there's no snow, there's no excuse for going crazy for for a while.
I was still planning on going for a walk and stuff, but that would involve getting off the computer and finding my coat.
I mean, I love doing this one hike to the river, but I don't know if I have motivation/ time to go all the way there (I have to "thoroughly clean my room" today, which'll take at least four hours, due to the "thoroughly" part, and the hike's around two hours). So I'm probably just going to be walking around a lot in the woods with a notebook and then sit down and write somewhere that's as non-sketchy as possible (some place that isn't in the middle of the trail).
I like writing after going in the middle of nowhere (here meaning one of the trails in a park five minutes from my house). I don't know why. It especially helps in the winter, because... I don't know how or why or whatever. It just helps. Anyone else have those things?

CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!

Greetings!! I'm EXTREMELY psyched out right now because Christmas was AMAZING!! I got a webcam and a bunch of books I wanted and now I'm trying to figure out how to add contacts on Skype. (I already did the whole setting-up thing).
And last night was awesome, too, because our former Youth Minister was there and I was EXCEEDINLY psyched to see him. Seriously, it kind of made my Christmas when the Senior Minister said he was there. And I was the Cross Bearer. YAY!!
So, overall, it's been a rather awesome Christmas. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!!

Anyway, in other news, I really do not have anything more to say, so I am going to go add people on Skype and stuff now. (I really shouldn't have been given caffeine this morning. I'm kind of over-pumped right now. Mostly because I saw people I haven't seen in ages and it made me very happy. YAAY!!)

Merry Christmas Eve!

Greetings, everyone!!! I'm here with nothing in particular to say except for "my hands are cold; please excuse all spelling errors" and "MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!" I'm extremely excited to be around right now simply because it's Christmas Eve. There's a music service at church that my family always goes to, which is part of the reason I'm majorly excited for Christmas - it's THE REASON I love December. Christmas music. And Jesus.

Also, presents and cookies and Gingerbread Houses. Just putting it out there.

In other news, I know I haven't posted in a while. To be honest, I don't have a good excuse, except one that involves me not writing a lot of new stuff (just typing up old stuff) and having rehearsal.

Once school lets in, I'm dead. Did I mention what grade I'm in? If I didn't, all I'm going to tell you is that it's DIFFICULT. And it's going to be even MORE difficult with January rehearsals - this is the time when they run to seven/ eight/ nine pm (show week is at the end of January), PLUS second semester physics is apparently the equivalent of attempting to learn Swahili (or so I have been told by certain unnamed individuals).
I've done it before, I just don't know whether I'm going to manage to pull it off THIS year. But whatever. I'll manage. I think.

Parodies and Shtuff

So, being bored, I wrote a parody to "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha about NaNo. And here it is!

Wake up in the morning feeling like a writer
Got my pen and my journal cuz I’m not a typer
Before get to my word count I must write some words
Cuz when I’m writing 50 grand I have to write a lot

I’m writing lots of words every day, day
Two thousand words every day, day
No, there’s no other way, way
For me to write my novel in a month
Fifty thousand words to trump, trump
So I can write a novel in a month…

Don’t stop, write a lot
DJ shut your music up tonight
I will write till I see the sunlight
Tik tok on the clock but the writing don’t stop no
Oh wa oh wa oh, oh wa oh wa oh

Don’t stop, write a lot
DJ shut your music up tonight
I will write till I see the sunlight
Tik tok on the clock but the writing doesn’t stop no
Oh wa oh wa oh, oh wa oh wa oh

Got some cares in the world of my characters
Without the cares I really would not have any plot
Now my friends are lining up
Cuz they want to read my novel
But I have to tell them that it’s horrid and it’s not done yet

I’m talking everyone asking what’s up, up
Why am I writing a book, book?
And why am I doing it in a month, month?
Now I tell them what it’s all about
And I write till my hand gives out, out
Write till my hand gives out, out
Write till my hand gives out

Don’t stop, write a lot
DJ shut your music up tonight
I will write till I see the sunlight
Tik tok on the clock but the writing don’t stop no
Oh wa oh wa oh, oh wa oh wa oh

Don’t stop, write a lot
DJ shut your music up tonight
I will write till I see the sunlight
Tik tok on the clock but the writing doesn’t stop no
Oh wa oh wa oh, oh wa oh wa oh

I build my plot
I break it down
I got to try to figure out what it’s all about
I build it up
and it breaks down
And then I figure out what it’s all about
With my characters
And my evil person
and a magic sword

Now the book won’t be done till I say it is

Don’t stop, write a lot
DJ shut your music up tonight
I will write till I see the sunlight
Tik tok on the clock but the writing don’t stop no
Oh wa oh wa oh, oh wa oh wa oh

Don’t stop, write a lot
DJ shut your music up tonight
I will write till I see the sunlight
Tik tok on the clock but the writing doesn’t stop no
Oh wa oh wa oh, oh wa oh wa oh

Fantabulous story

You know what is a truly wonderful word? Fantabulous. I rediscovered it about a week ago and was recalled to my middle school days, and it was sort of fun. I don't remember WHY or HOW I rediscovered it, but it's been rediscovered, and I'm now in love with the word "Fantabulous." And I'm also kind of abusing now...
Anyway, in other news, approximately two seconds ago, I came up with an entirely BRILLIANT idea for next year's NaNoWriMo. Superheros. Pirates. SUPERHERO PIRATES!!! Yes? YES??
Now there is the problem of making sure that the idea STICKS for the next 11 months, the events in which include, but are not limited to:
1. attempts to finish my 2010 novel,
2. doing the school musical,
3. doing the all grades show,
4. living through the SAT,
5. living through the SAT AGAIN,
6. going to Switzerland, Italy, and ASP, and
7. college applications.
I KNOW!!! I'll break the rules and write a beginning!!!
Or something.
Okay, maybe I won't.
BUT THE POINT IS, I have a heading.
And a good use for the name Calypso.
The weird thing is, I keep finding names that are really good, but sometimes it's hard to find the stories they fit into.
Does that make any sense?

math dislike

I have a question for anyone who has an answer, because this has been bugging me for a while: after the SAT and the next precalc quiz, when is it EVER going to be necessary to figure out what the trigonometric identity of something is? I'm most likely not going into any sort of science-y profession, nor am I going to do any sort of math-related profession (unless I wind up being an astrophysicist... cool, but not likely). Yes, I am one of the people who is going into one of the super-competitive artsy fields, and, as super-competitive as many of the artsy fields undoubtedly are, I don't think that there are that many professions in drama, writing, or music performance that involve usinc trigonometric identities. Unless one of my characters is a math whiz or something. Which isn't likely, when you consider my math record so far. Even though I normally get okay grades in math, may I remind you all that my grades in creative writing, chorus, film, and/ or drama have always been far better than those in math and science. Partially because it is difficult NOT to get okay grades in elective courses if they aren't languages. But still.

greetings from the I-Should-Be-Writing Front

Hello! I'm BACK again, and this time, I have a new notebook for the wonderful, fantabulously terrible novel that was formerly known as "Nemesis Quest" or something like that (I couldn't think of a better title for it).
ANYWAY, I'm going to actually TRY and finish it, even though it's absolutely horrendous (as I've come to realize, and yet I love it anyway), and so that's what I'm going to be doing during Winter Break. Maybe. If I'm not trying to, you know, buy/ make Christmas presents, survive the last not-a-full-week of school, or failing to recover my voice (which has been dead since Sunday... not entirely good, as I had a chorus concert last night), or anything silly like that.
Hey... wait... that's what I'm doing! Go figure!

Anyway, the series of Bits of Happy News (I just made that up) now includes the following:

IT SNOWED,
MY BROTHER WILL BE HERE SOON, and
IT SNOWED!!! Hooray!!!

And now I'm off to do homework.

By the way, if any of this sounds like absolute nonsense, that's because it is. This is because the lack of air coming in through my nose isn't letting me think straight. I hate colds.

Hello!/ Literature

Greetings!  I have been super non-finishing-novel-y, and I have started SOMETHING ELSE! (NaNo 2011, anyone?) So here's what I've written. Yes, I dreamt something VERY similar to this. It happened on Saturday night. I don't remember the details very well, except it was a mix of really scary and really cool. I didn't wake up at the same point, but the scene did change at the same point. So here it is.

The enterprise began in the late afternoon. Every year near the Winter Festival, the dragon comes and terrorizes our town. It has happened for hundreds of years. Nobody really knows why, but everybody is powerless with terror to stop it.

Except for now. My friends and I have decided that enough is enough. This dragon – we do not even know his name, he’s just The Dragon – has caused enough damage, enough pain, enough suffering. Every year he comes and causes enough damage to take the rest of the year to fix, and yet he comes again the next year and destroys it all again.
Every year, he takes a few young women as well – teenage girls normally between the ages of thirteen and seventeen – to take back to his lair to either eat or torture.
My friends and I, we’re sick of being sick with terror. We have made a plan.

Early in the evening that the Dragon is destined to arrive, we all meet up at my house. Everyone – all seven or eight of us – is armed with some sort of heavy weapon. Jeremiah carries a battle axe. Samuel is armed withhis great-grandfather’s magic sword. I carry my bow, a small pouch of pine sap, and a torch in order to fight fire with fire.
Although I am the only girl in the group, that is no matter. All the boys know that I am the best shot in town.
We’re all nervous as the time ticks onward. Although we’re frustrated with the Dragon, the large beast still holds the spot of “Most Feared” in all of our hearts.
Soon we hear the normal, terrifying sounds of the Dragon’s approach – his roar, his heavy footsteps, his deep breathing. We spread out. My heart pounds.
Jeremiah, Samuel, James, and Damian are going to be the close-range fighters, while Max, Hector, and I are going to be the long-range fighters – I have my longbow with the fire; the boys have their crossbows. The sounds of the beast grow closer. The time is nearing midnight.

The screams start when the beast has reached the top of my street. I see the house of the Millers go up in flames at the top of the hill. That was Jeremiah’s house. He’d just finished rebuilding it from last year.
I stand behind the shrubs in front of my house and draw an arrow from my quiver.
The Dragon’s nearing us now, breathing heavily.
The smell of smoke from Jeremiah’s house comes down to my nose.
I dip the tip of my arrow into the pine sap and then dip it into the flame of the torch until it lights. I keep the arrow pointed downwards until I’m ready to draw the bow.

And suddenly, there’s the Dragon. He’s massive, with bright green scales and spikes all down his back and around his eyes and mouth and nostrils.
My heartbeat quickens. I’ve heard the commotion this dragon causes many times, but I’ve never actually seen the beast until now.
I draw my bow. The flames from the arrow burn my hand slightly as I take aim.
Soon the beast is near enough so that, if I plan my shot correctly, I can hit it right in the eye.
The dragon turns its head, fixing one yellow-orange eye on me. I’m paralyzed the moment our eyes meet.

And that’s when the loud beeping of my alarm clock pulled me out of my dream.



Every other night since summer break began I’ve been visited by the same dream of fighting a dragon that has been terrorizing a town. And I’ve always woken up right as I draw back my bow and meet the eyes of the beast. My feelings about it? They’re in a delicate balance – on the one hand, I’m glad I’m not about to shoot a dragon in the eye, because, even in Dreamland, that thing is absolutely petrifying. On the other hand, however, I’ve been terrorized by the dragon so much – oh yes, I meant to use the word “terrorized” – that I want to shoot it already so I can stop having dreams about killing dragons and start having dreams about eating peanuts in the Amazon and finishing my college applications.
I mean really, is it normal to have a lot of dreams about dragon-slaying? I don’t think it would be for someone my age – unless, of course, the dragon is some sort of subliminal reference to college applications and my fire arrow is a pen or something. But I doubt it.