So so so! I'M WRITING!

I'm so excited about it~ I've decided to give up on Kat's book for now. It's gonna be one of those ten-years-to-complete books. It's painful to write; it leaves me depressed, lol. And, while I enjoy writing it to an extent, I don't get the same joy I do when I write fantasy. So yeah.

My current project is an idea I've had for about two years. I had written about 2k words of it before, decided it was trash (except for the first two pages, which I really liked) and ignored it. But now I'm reading Storm Glass by Maria V. Snyder, and her books always make me want to work on either Cenna, or this new book, Shurei. So I decided to jump in and start on Shurei's book for real this time.

Currently I have 4.2k words. About 1.5k was taken from a prologue from another book, and those first two pages, but the rest is completely new. And I only started it late last night. Ya-ha!

I'm just so jazzed. I've been aching to write for a while now, but haven't been able to get anything out. Now, however, it's flowing. YAYAYAYAYAY. *is just so happy*

So yeah, I think I'll definitely reach the 20k mark for Shurei this summer. That's my goal anyway. It's pretty easily attainable, but 20k really is the mark for me. If I get past there, I know the book will eventually get completed. Yuppers.

So yeah. I just felt like exulting in this little success. :DDD

Oh. I also got caught up with FMA manga. HOLY SHIT. I love this manga. So, so much. It's just... genius. Pure genius. *_*

I also finished watching Black Cat a few nights ago. Mm. It was decent, but the manga is much, much better. I did like how Sven/Eve was pretty much canon in the anime, though. :D Well, I suppose it could be taken as a father-daughter relationship, but it could be twisted romantically really easily too. *mad cackle*

Okay peeps, I'm off to work on Shurei some more! :D Bye-bye~

EDIT: Dear Yevon. 7k. 7,210 words in two days. I haven't done this... in months. Oh man. It's so good to be back. :D

So here are my summer 2009 goals, and where I am so far. :)

* Finish editing Cenna's book: Hah. I haven't worked on this AT ALL. Massive fail.

* Read at least 20 books I haven't read before: This is easily the best out of everything. 11/20, and I'll finish 12 today or tomorrow.

* Finish at least 5 series on my on hold anime list: I think I'll finish this one too. So far I've completed Maria+Holic and To-Love-Ru, and I'll definitely get Black Cat and Jigoku Shoujo done. Then just one other randomly chosen.

* Start and finish at least 5 series on my plan-to-watch anime list: HAHAHA. This won't happen. XD

* Figure out an idea for NaNoWriMo 2009: DONE! Well, kinda. I have three possibilities currently: finish Remi's book, write that horror!cornmaize story, or Danni's book. So yeah. I'll just hafta see what I feel like when November comes around. But for all intents and purposes this is COMPLETED. :D

* Get at least 20k of a "new" novel: I really, really hope to finish this one. I'm at... 4k right now. It's a difficult book to write. Stupid Kat...

* Write at least one new short story: Hmm. Haven't done this one yet, but I really want to try out my horror skills again...

* Get all As and maintain my 4.0 GPA in summer classes: Going well! I think I'll definitely have As in both my summer I classes, as long as I get an A on the next History test. also only one more week thank God

* Catch up to the follow manga: FMA, Zombie-Loan, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, Eyeshield 21: I'll definitely get this one done! So far I'm caught up to TRC. Next on the list is probably either FMA or ES21. :D

So yeah! It's going pretty well! I'm rather pleased~~

Yosh! So I finally changed some icons.

...well, two. And I have an open space. I'm prolly gonna change a lot of them, actually.

But yeah, I went on a Yuna frenzy, so I have some 20odd icons of her. I'll put them up... eventually. :)

So my first history test was yesterday... I got a 94!!

FUCK YEAH. :D

It's such a load off my mind that the tests are pretty easy. And Speech is looking to be really easy to make an A as well. 650 pts. = A, and so far I have accumulated 100 pts. of bonus points. No, I'm really not kidding. Isn't that awesome? I got so lucky with my teachers! <3

In other news, I've finished reading a neat little fantasy. It's called The Book of Earth by Marjorie B. Kellogg, and is first in The Dragon Quartet. I picked it up years ago and just read it now, and man, I wish I had earlier. It's surprisingly good! Don't look over it as just another mediocre dragon book. The characters and plot are nice and deep and not really that cliche (well, I guessed the main plot twist about 1/2 through, but hey, it still worked). And the romantic element turns out WAY differently than I ever would have thought. It's really nice and refreshing. w00t :D

Um... I've fallen back into the curse of the 1sentence challenge. I've started a Balthier/Yuffums one. ._. It's terribly fun, really it is. But this doesn't mean I'm getting back into fanfiction... I can't write much original nowadays, so fanfiction is a really low priority. Yeah.

I've started playing Final Fantasy VIII! It's way fun. I hated the idea of the draw system at first, but now I absolutely LOVE it. It's so handy to have magic RIGHT THERE if you need it. <3 I'm barely into it at all -- just landed on the island for the initial SeeD mission -- but it's awesomeness. And Squall's "rawr..." is amusing. lol HE NEEDS YUFFUMS OBVIOUSLY.

And. I need different icons. I think I've said that before, but it's still true.

So~ The second day draws to a close.

...classes themselves are really, really fun. I actually have a good time. My history professor is interesting, and my speech prof. is just crazy and awesomeness.

However.

HISTORY WORKSHEETS ARE EVIL AND MUST DIE. ;_; It's my like my prof. randomly took questions from multiple chapters with no rhyme or reason and called it "worksheet 1", "worksheet 2", etc. I don't know what to expect for the test next Monday, and that worries me. *sighs*

...but otherwise classes are good. :)

I finished reading Melting Stones just a few minutes ago. It was good, but not great. I really just can't find that spark of magic in the Circle books like I can in the Tortall books. Or at least, not when Briar isn't in them. Bless Briar, he's just awesomeness. Anyway. Melting Stones was a short, satisfying read, if nothing much more. Evvy started to really, really get on my nerves. But the end was pretty good, and she ended up really developing as a character, so it all works out.

And now I'll go and resist reading more Tsubasa and totally fail and read more anyway yay for crazy one-eyed people :D.

So, today was my first day at El Paso Community College for Summer Session I. It was... interesting. I'm taking two classes: History until 1877 from 9:00-10:50 and Fundamentals of Speech from 11:00-12:50.

History was pretty good... the instructor was nice, but he said "do you understand" every five minutes. It's going to annoy me reaaaaaally quickly. The good thing was that he doesn't teach by memorizing dates and events and such; rather, he uses broad ideas and cultures and whatnot. That's really, really good for me, since I haven't had a "regular" history class since 6th grade. lol Homework in this class is a BITCH though. I read 64 pages tonight and answered 20 vague questions. @_@ Hopefully from now on it'll only be one chapter instead of two. *crosses fingers*

Speech was actually really fun. Most of the stuff I know already (thanks, Carol Ann... maybe...), but our teacher is crazy and wacky and really interesting. We did an impromptu skit, though... it was fun, I suppose, but I'm pretty bad with coming up with things on the fly, so hopefully we won't do many of those. Homework was easy, although I need to start coming up with my first speech already -- it's due next week. Yikes! That's the bad thing about squishing a semester into five weeks; all the tests and assignments are looming imminent on the horizon instead of weeks away. Oh well. Even if I complain about it all, it'll be worth it in the end. :)

Hmm, what else... oh, I started the one Tamora Pierce book I haven't read it! It's Melting Stones, set in the universe that isn't Tortall (the name of which I can never remember, obviously). The Circle books. It's... hmm, okay so far. Evvy is a cool character. I've always thought that the Circle books aren't are good as the Tortall books, though. Still, any Pierce book is a guaranteed good read. :D

Oh yeah! I'm trying to get caught up to Tsubasa, so I've been reading a lot lately... currently I'm on chapter 125, set during the Tokyo Revelations arc.

SPOILERS!





HOLY CRAP. What the hell is happening?

Well, okay, I'll admit to knowing most of what is going on, but still. It-it's crazy. Syaoran is suddenly EVIIIIIL. I mean, poor Fai! I feel so bad for him, getting his eye ripped out like that. ;_; And pooooor Sakura... the one she loved suddenly turning into a monster. Oh man. It's painful to read, but so intense and interesting and just plain cool. This is why I love CLAMP.

...although I think they have some sort of eye fetish. Hahah.

/SPOILERS

Augh. My back really, really hurts for some reason. ;_;

Well, I've finally finished reading the last book in the Study series by Maria V. Snyder. Poison Study, the first book in the series, is one of my top favorite books. Magic Study, the second book, is quite good too. Both were books that I literally couldn't put down -- I just had to keep reading. Just one more chapter, oooh, one more... Fire Study, while quite good, didn't have this same spark of magic, however.

( Fire Study )

In the end, I gave the book 4 stars on goodreads, but I really think it deserves 3.5 (I gave 5 and 4.5 stars to the other books respectively). Was it a good book, worth reading? Definitely. Could it have been better? Yes. Nevertheless, Fire Study was a good, satisfying conclusion to a wonderful series. Highly recommended.

Yatta! Here are my summer 2009 objectives! Whether these will actually get done is the real question. *coughs*

In no particular order:

* Finish editing Cenna's book

* Read at least 20 books I haven't read before

* Finish at least 5 series on my on hold anime list

* Start and finish at least 5 series on my plan-to-watch anime list

* Figure out an idea for NaNoWriMo 2009

* Get at least 20k of a "new" novel

* Write at least one new short story

* Get all As and maintain my 4.0 GPA in summer classes

* Catch up to the follow manga: FMA, Zombie-Loan, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, Eyeshield 21

Hmm, that's all I can think of for the moment being. I'll try to update this blog daily -- or every other day -- with school stuff and how these objectives are coming. So far I can already say that I've read 5 books this summer (although two of them I've already read, so I won't count those). lol, that one shouldn't be too terribly hard to complete. >:D

Hmm, I don't really have anything to blog about, but I felt like posting...

I've started reading the Study series by Maria V. Snyder again. :D Awesome series, definitely HIGHLY recommended. I still haven't read the third one, but I'll have it done by the end of the week finally. Teehee~ I tend to read each of these books in two sittings. Haha.

Been watching a lot of anime lately. I bought Jigoku Shoujo on rightstuf for $30 (yes, the entire series, w00t) a few months ago and finally started it. Um, honestly? It's not nearly as good as I was expecting. It's entertaining, but honestly I have some problems with it... I guess it comes from me being a Christian, and I can't help but wonder how these people can be so completely miserable that they'd give up heaven for hell just to get out of (admittedly really shitty) situations that won't last forever. Why can't they try harder by themselves, ya know, Higurashi I-won't-give-in-to-fate style? Ah well. I'll finish it up since I bought it (and since I've heard the second half is better than the first).

I have indeed been working on a novel. It's my 2006 NaNo, and it's going through it's first hardcore editing process. It's actually not as hardcore as I expected. Honestly, the novel is in a lot better shape than most of my first drafts. I don't know how that happened. *blinks* But hey, maybe this one will really be my winner! :D

Rawr. I need new icons. :O

...

Wow. So I haven't been around in months. Hah. That's college for you.

Quick summary of the past three months and what's gonna be happening in the kinda-soon future:

* I love my job at the library! I really do want to be a librarian. <3

* I haven't really been writing much, but I have an idea (fantasy) that's beginning to stir. I rather like it so far. I plan to write a looooot this summer. I'd really like to finish a whole novel again.

* I got a boyfriend. Yeah. Um, he's no longer my boyfriend... which really, really sucks because I really, really liked him. ;_; Still trying to get over that, honestly. It was my first serious relationship. Not gonna say too much about him. Just thought ya'll would be curious to know.

* I'm probably going to minor in Computer Science after all. I'm taking a Program Design and Development class next semester that I'm UBER excited about. <3

* I'm now the Special Projects Editor at the newspaper. Basically I put together odd things that no one else wants/can do. I still work on layout and I still write though. And I still love it there. Seriously, I always look forward to Tuesday nights cuz of the meetings.

* I went to Six Flags for the first time! I went with the boy, but we shan't talk about him... it was tons of fun though. I love Mr. Freeze. <3 And Titan front seat first car is pretty much the scariest thing I've ever experienced.

* I got my own room for next semester! Although I love my Bri, it's pretty exciting. And the building is uber close to the library, so that's pretty exciting. lol

* I am now done with all my Bible classes foreeeever. It's pretty exciting (even though I absolutely adored this semester's OT Survey class).

* Next semester I'm taking Program Design, British Lit, Spanish I, Discourse in Aesthetics, and Psychology. w00t!

* I'm taking summer classes, so I'll be busy this summer too: History, Sociology, Speech, and Visual Arts. In other words, almost all my basics will be done by the end of next semester, which excites me to no end.

Um, okay. That turns out waaaay longer than I thought it would. Hahaha, short summary my ass. XD

Now that I'm home I'm starting to crave my usual things: writing, reading, icons, and anime/manga. I might get around to doing some icons relatively soon (I really want to take up a challenge, one of those 100 icon ones...). Anime/manga-wise I've watched the first episode of K-ON! It's pretty darn cute, lemme tell ya. Gotta love KyoAni. <3

Annnnnd that's all I can think of. I'm gonna go write now, peeps.

LOVE YA!