Are You Lost?

Wow... this thing still exists.

Currently into podcasting... So, how many of you guys listen to podcasts?

My first one was the Secret World Chronicle, created by Mercedes Lackey and Steve Libbey. You can find them at their website, http://www.secretworldchronicle.com/ , or on iTunes.

Normally, I don't like listening to people reading a book, but this was pretty good. It's an interesting story that's FREE to download and listen to.

The story is mostly about a group of people called metahumans and the majority of them have arranged themselves into an organization called Echo, a law enforcement agency of sorts, based in Atlanta, Georgia. Metahumans have superhuman abilities (such as flight or telekinesis) and some even have unusual appearances (like the Klaus Cotton, aka Handsome Devil, who has red skin). Metahumans have been around since World War II. In Book One: Invasion, various cities are attacked by soldiers from the Thule society wearing heavy armor. They are currently working on Book Two: The Hunt, which deals with the aftermath of the initial invasion.

The only problem I have with this podcast is that they don't update frequently. Other than waiting, though, it's worth a listen. Now, if only buses were quieter, I'd be able to enjoy more podcasts...

Found it by accident. Death Note is an awesome anime, and I've only watched the first two episodes. Must get the manga.

So far, this is what happened in the first two episodes:

Light is a friggin' straight-A psychopath student in Kantou, Japan, who, by chance, stumbles across a notebook entitled Death Notes. Written in the notebook are instructions on how to kill people without ever laying a finger on them. Light takes it upon himself to kill all the evil people in the world, starting with the worst criminals and felons of the world. The Interpol and the ICPO are wising up that all the criminals dying of heart attacks aren't merely coincidence and call in their secret ace known only by his alias, "L." L displays certain Sherlock Holmes-like habits - taking on cases that interest him only and having excellent deduction skills. He immediately correctly deduces and tests the extent of Light's killing power by broadcasting a live news report where he directly talks to Light, addressing him as "Kira" which sounds like the word "killer." L gives his name as Lind L. Tailor and calls Light evil. Light expected the police to make a move as such, but he is angered when he is called evil. So he writes down Lind L. Tailor in the Death Note and the guy dies right there on live T.V. It turns out that that was not the real L. The real L issues a challenge to Light to kill him. Light, of course, can't kill him since he does not know what L looks like or his real name. Throughout this broadcast, L has learned that there is a limit to the people Light can kill as well as the fact that he lives in Kantou, Japan. Now they face off each other. Whoever finds the other first can kill the other.

After one year and four months, I am proud to say that I have finished reading the 465 paged book entitled the Thief of Baramos and the Crown of Hearts by Rabbit.

What's so special about finishing this book? It's is practically all written in Thai. Only a few of the names are English sounding names, but written with Thai spelling.

I did pretty well on my Archaeology midterm. I totally screwed up one little vowel in my Thai midterm. I swapped the short vowel for a long vowel (TT___TT).

I am so bored. I should either

A) go to bed
B) write
C) read
D) do homework
E) other
F) all of the above.

I think I'll go with F.

I like foosball. I suck at it. When I get the money, I will buy a foosball table.

I really want to get that comic books series, Rising Stars, by J. Michael Straczynski.

I just noticed while I was rewatching a clip from the first episode of Heroes on NBC that there's a strange character that scrolls by on Hiro's computer when he moves time backwards. On the 9thwonders website, this semi official/unofficial Heroes fansite, has a picture/stamp of this character which has been called Uluru.

People have been wondering what/who Uluru is. I have no idea, but its picture is shown in the first episode.

is Heroes on NBC 4.

It's friggin' amazing. I love it. I'm obsessed with it. If I ever have a show I would want to buy on DVD, it would be Heroes.

Hiro Nakamura is cool and he has the coolest power ever. I don't exactly like Future Hiro though.

I loved Nathan's take off - it was fast. His landing still needs a little work, and it didn't look as good as the takeoff.

I can't wait for the next episode.

Is this really me?

You scored as Malkavian. You belong to the Malkavian bloodline. The Malkavians are blessed with an "inner sight" which often gives them great perception and even clairvoyance. Many are sought for their counsel and insight. The drawback, however, is that they are all entirely insane. If a vampire is speaking in obscure riddles, it's a fair bet they are of Malkavian blood. </td> Malkavian 71% Gangrel 63% Nosferatu 50% Ventrue 46% Tremere 42% Brujah 29% Toreador 29% What vampire clan do you belong to? created with QuizFarm.com

I'm finally able to access Fictionpress.com and I found a curious thing. I have no stories listed under my pen name. I believe that will be rectified once Fictionpress is back to normal.

Another thing I found very ... should I be happy or frustrated? ... sorry, I'm just at a loss right now. I was checking my account and things have drastically changed. For one thing, I looked at this one feature in stats called hits, which tells me how many times that certain story or chapter was accessed. My Feniks story, which I have long abandoned and can barely remember the plot, has 230 hits. Second is my new story, for which I have put up the prologue. It has 141 hits.

I'm surprised people have actually taken the time to even click (even if by accident) the link to my stories.

I'm bored. I should be starting my paper for my archaeology class and my homework for next Tuesday in Calculus. I should also be checking over my Thai homework.

Curse my calculus professor. She refused to cut us some slack. Why? Well, she gives a reasonable 15 problems for homework per week, but that's not the problem. She doesn't teach us the lessons before we do the homework. I turned in homework for sections 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3 this morning. She is going to go over section 7.3 tomorrow. I should have done the same as a friend of mine and just drop the class. I also heard from the students in my discussion section that our professor is unwilling to answer questions after class. Another student suggested that she just implied that response, but they confirmed that she flat out refused.

Our discussion TA said he'll talk to her. She also happens to be new to our school.

So bored. So bored. Okay, shutting up and gonna go work on my story.


BUT before I do, I would like to say that I finally got The Prestige by Christopher Priest. It was at one of the libraries on campus, only problem was it wasn't where it was supposed to be and I sent in a request and they found it. I picked it up yesterday. It's 404 pages long. A very good read, even though I dislike reading journal entries. It's not all in journal entries, mind you. The last two pages had me in a seizure. I really wish it didn't end there.

Okay, for some reason, I can't access Fictionpress.com, so I'll try out using an lj-cut and put up my prologue here:

( Prologue: Nightfall )

This is going to stay as is. Now that I've posted it, I don't know how good it is... maybe this wasn't such a good idea...

It gets so boring that death seems to be a very appealing subject. Oh well, can't do anything about that.

So, what have I been up to? Nothing.

I can be such a total and complete loser at times. A couple weeks ago, I was in the fifth and top floor of one of the libraries at my school. I was looking up some books at a computer when this really cute guy walks by in a leather jacket. He's really tall. I'm real short. Standing next to this guy, the top of my head would only reach his chest. Anyway, he's walking by when all of a sudden alarms go off and lights are flashing. I was like, "What the hell is going on?" and I covered up my ears. The guy just looks as confused as I am. And then we just stare at each other and finally he says in a really thick European (maybe German or Swedish?) accent, "Do you know where the stairs are?" Idiot me, I say no. And he walks away looking for the stairs. I may not know exactly where the stairs were, but I knew how to get there. Next to the computer was the elevators and in between the elevators were maps for emergency exits. So I find the way to the stairs and sprint for them just as the guy starts to double back. I guess he saw what I did and he ran for a different set of staircases (there were three emergency exits). Once I managed to get out, I was behind the library. It took a couple minutes for me to go around back to the front. I still don't get what happened to set the fire alarms off. Someone said something about microwaving popcorn and it set off a smoke detector. That guy was really cute. He was way out of my league.

So, two days ago was Friday the Thirteenth. I'm not superstitious. But... well... The day was going fine. Then when my first two classes were over, I headed for the Bookzone at my school. I remembered that the Thirteenth was the day the final Series of Unfortunate Events came out, entitled The End. I finished it in two hours. It was a disappointmenting, but appropriate ending. Anyway, it was 1 o'clock and I went to get lunch. And a half an hour 'til two, I walk towards my last class, a discussion for my Thai class. I went into the wrong building and came out to the next and I find people I don't know waiting for it. So I checked my schedule at the library across the way and I find out that I got the room and building right the second time around, but for the second time this quarter, I made a mitake with the time. My class started at 1, not 2. I ran like you wouldn't believe to the class. I ran so fast that my cap flew off my head. I made it in time to turn in my homework and get Monday's homework. My friend in the class told me I didn't miss much, since it was just a practice to strengthen our Thai reading skills. Still...I don't like missing classes.

If that wasn't bad enough, my monthly cycle ended, too. Then I went on the bus and tried calling my mom, who didn't pick up. I called again with the same result. I called home and my sister told me she was driving. So I called mom again and she still didn't pick up. Then this guy who smells like old piss sits next to me while I doze off. Around Fountain and Sunset, my mom finally calls. Too late. She can't pick me up at the usual spots because I either past them or it would take a while before I reached the next one. So my mom and my sister went to the Library without me. When I get to Chinatown, my stop, the smelly guy gets off the same time as me. The second my foot exits the bus, it starts to rain. Lightly as first as I walk to my next bus stop. It's pretty sunny so I look up and see that there's a dark cloud over my head. Literally. It's literally raining on me. I had been so down about missing class that just picturing what was happening to me made me laugh. Really. How many people can say that there was a dark cloud raining on them in the middle of a sunny day? I almost reach my next bus stop when it starts to pour. That washes the smile off my face. I wait almost half an hour before the next bus came. I was standing under those little fabric thing in front of the little Chinese shops. Then when I get home, my mom's car is parked right outside, like she's been waiting for me, which can't be true, cuz when I got off the bus, the car wasn't there. Freaky coincidence. So I hop in and she drives my sister and me to Sav-on.

Did I mention my sister got an iPod nano, second generation?

So, I tried logging into Fictionpress.com yesterday and today. I guess they had to renew their domain name - I could log in or access the site. But, I'm rewriting my story. I'm on Chapter 5. I've got three and a half chapters plus a prologue typed up, but in need of editing.

On Labor Day weekend, I went to Catalina Island with Tai and her mom and Timy. We went by boat. It was pretty fun ... if you're not throwing up all over the place. My sister and I got lucky - we didn't get seasick. At Catalina Island, we went on a submarine tour to see the marine life and then went on a tour of the island. The gas price there is very expensive - the cheapest being $4.12 a gallon. The ice cream there was pretty good. Other than that - I don't think I want to live there or go there again.

A couple days ago, my sister and I were riding our bikes in our backyard - yes, our backyard is big enough to ride our bicycles in cirlces. Anyway, I usually take a longer route and my sister likes to cut me off taking a shorter route. I usually go around the plants, but my sister goes between the plants and my mom's car. One time, I was speeding up and she cut me off. I nearly hit her! I braked really hard, fell forward off the seat and onto the frame of the bike - the bike was falling down, but my knee was locked, so instead of falling down, I bounced up - the bike flying up with me and then righting itself.

I've told her time and time again not to cut me off. I've tried explaining why. Of course, she doesn't listen to me. She just keeps going round and round the smaller circle and forbidding me from taking the same route. She really likes cutting me off.

Anyway - a couple minutes later, I'm coming around the bend near my house and I'm about to turn left, away from my neighbor's car when my sister sped up and cut me off again. I screeched to a halt and then it took me a while to get back up and running. When I finally did, I was still a little shaky and this time, my sister went around the bend again to cut me off. Instead of swerving left to avoid me and my neighbor's car, she runs her bike right into me. I, of course, lose my balance and fall over to my left, where my sister was. She managed to jump off in time, but that left me stuck between two fallen bicycles and she just stood there staring at me until I yelled at her to get my bike off me.

As you can tell, I was ROYALLY PISSED with her. Why wouldn't I be?

Luckily, our bikes weren't damaged that much. I just had to readjust my seat and make sure the chains didn't fall off the gears.

Ah.... I neglected to say that a few weeks ago, while at the bank, I saw my math teacher from the seventh grade. He didn't notice me, but I couldn't help but laugh each time I looked at him. I'm slightly taller than he is now. He used to give "reflection" speeches in class and my classmates took advantage of that sort of the way we did with prayer in a certain religion class we all had no choice but to take. I remember someone threw a mega paper ball towards a guy near the front, but she missed and sailed passed the teacher's face just as he turned around from the chalkboard. Man, he was so pissed he kept us in class, even though the bell rang. I remember this one time he got so mad he flung a piece of chalk at the south wall, nearly missing one of my classmates. But what made me laugh that day was his name. The boys in my class gave him the nickname "Mr. I Gotta Go Potty." Why? There are 2 reasons. The first is because his name sounded like it. The second is because there were a few times where he would ask another teacher to sub our class for a few minutes. Before he left, he would grab handfuls of tissue and bring it with him. I'm not kidding. Even the sub. stared at him.

A couple of days ago, my parents asked me to help them look up an article after dinner about a certain political event in their home country since they missed it on the news. After a half an hour of searching (by date instead of name), I finally found it and my dad read it out loud while my mom listened and I kept the screen moving along. The article was about 3 and 1/3 pages long. During one instance, someone...er...not me, of course...um...let's just say it got kinda smelly. I leaned away and after a bit, one of my two parents declared, "Okay, who did that?" while fanning the area. Of course, we all said nothing. After a bit, my dad continued reading. A little while later, a loud bark right behind us (the window was open right behind us and our neighbors' dog was right there) made my mom jump. I started laughing and she joined in. My dad just kept right on reading. Such a loud bark coming from such a small doggie.

I went to the library last Friday afternoon, about fifteen minutes before they closed. I checked out twelve books (the previous eleven and one from the children's room called The Chessmen of Doom which spooked my little sister so bad she had to sleep next to me two nights in a row). So far, I've finished six of them. I finished, in order, Sir Thursday, Charlie Bone and the Hidden King, Pay the Piper, The Chessmen of Doom, Ptolomey's Gate, and The Confessions of Arsene Lupin.

Sir Thursday was up to par with Nix's previous books. The Trustee - Sir Thursday - is a psychopath. I really admire the main character, Arthur Penhaligon. He's brave and humble. He didn't want to be chosen as heir. In fact, he could have just given up. There were, in fact, many other heirs. He was chosen because he was about to die. When faced with another heir (coincidentally the Pied Piper, the younger brother of Lord Sunday and son of the Architect, the creator of the Universe)he knew he could have stopped right there and hand everything over to the Piper, and before he did, he asked the Piper what he intended to do with the power. Let's just say that the Piper's answer was less than satisfactory.

I'm not really sure if this is the last book in the series but I think that the latest Charlie Bone book was somewhat mediocre. I don't know why. Everything happened as it did and should, but it lacked a spark that gives it life.

Pay the Piper - as it was written for children - was pretty much predictable. It was short and simple and to the point. A very nice interpretation of the Pied Piper of Hamelin and a very smart little reporter who figured out the cure to the Piper's curse. I just wanted to know how her article turned out. Mars was a waste of a character - in my opinion. He had a lot of potential, but it amounted to nothing.

The Chessmen of Doom - taking place in the 1950s - was rather...unique. An eccentric professor and two boys try to solve a riddle to stop the destruction of Earth via comets. Not much action or suspense. There were some parts that weren't suitable for kids(i.e. a desecrated grave and a stolen body, the skull of a taxi driver [fresh], spells of eternal sleep and death, skulls everywhere, illusions of the main characters' funeral).

Ptolomey's Gate - I cried. It was beautiful. I had read the previous book a while back and so it took me a while to get back into it. It was long. 501 pages. But the ending...it was beautiful.

""So much for your promises," she said at last." (page 494)

Heh...I jest. That's not the end, but close after the end. There's a little time skip. The partnering of Bartimaeus and Nathaniel was incredible - incredibly hilarious. They both fight for dominance of Nathaniel's larynx when talking with another person. They would do two things at once with the same limbs. They would read each other's minds. I liked the part where they ended up underwater purely by accident. This book was incredible. I really hoped he would survive...but realistically, he wouldn't have (won't tell you who died). I didn't cry 'til the very last sentence.

The Confessions of Arsene Lupin - a bunch of short stories but together by the author as told as if he were Lupin's interviewer. Lupin is very much like Sherlock Holmes, but also the opposite. There are times when he helps out of good will and then there are times when he helps out to gain a valuable jewel or cash. I remember reading on the net and on the library website that the author once wrote Lupin and Holmes in a book to match wits. I must get that book.

Oh yeah... the day I went to check out these books... there were a whole bunch of people waiting there. While I was waiting for the librarian to come back out with my books (poor librarian...she was swamped with them) I overheard another person ask another librarian when the book signing would begin. My ears perked up. The librarian explained that they were going to close the library at the usual time and then open for the event. When my librarian came back out (I felt so sorry) I asked her who was doing the book signing. Thankfully, it was an author I had never heard of.

I finally put up a user picture. I drew that meself and scanned it in and cropped it 'til it is as ye see it now. I finally gave him a name. Izruther Squishy. Yes...I like puns and I like to make fun of "Izzy" Squishy.

It's still early and yet I'm already bored.....

On the upside, I'm going to the library tomorrow. So far, these are the books that are ready for me to pick up:

1. Charlie Bone and the Hidden King by Jenny Nimmo
2. The Confessions of Arsene Lupin by Maurice Leblanc
3. The Fallen by T. Jefferson Parker
4. False Impression by Jeffery Archer
5. Flyte by Angie Sage
6. Half Broken Things by Morag Joss
7. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
8. Pay the Piper by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple
9. Ptolomey's Gate by Jonathan Stroud
10. Remember everything you read : the Evelyn Wood seven-day speed reading and learning program by Stanley D. Frank.
11. Sir Thursday by Garth Nix

And these are the ones I'm waiting for:

1. Beyond the Valley of Thorns by Patrick Carmen
2. Edge of Darkness by Tim LaHaye
3. The Novelist: her story is only half the story by Angela Hunt.
4. Powers of Detection: Stories of Mystery & Fantasy edited by Dana Stabenow
5. Showdown by Ted Dekker

I admit, some of them are children's books (Charlie Bone, Flyte, Pay the Piper, Ptolomey's Gate, Sir Thursday, Beyond the Valley of Thorns) but I like them and some of them I was forced to read by my sister and I just don't like the idea of not finishing a story.

Charlie Bone is sort of like a somewhat modern and not so modern Harry Potter story. I read the first four books last summer and this is the fifth one which came out a few months ago. I like the his uncle - he's really funny. In order to...dang nabit I'll spoil it. But it's interesting and the plot is different from Harry Potter.

The Confessions of Arsene Lupin - I started reading out of curiousity. I saw this name in wikipedia.org and decided to read it. Arsene Lupin is a French gentleman and an infamous thief. He's a total character foil for Sherlock Holmes and actually goes up against him in one of the stories.

The Fallen, False Impression, The Novelist, and Showdown I don't exactly what they're about. Basically, whenever I go to Costco, I always try to bring a pencil and paper to write down what books might be good to read and these were some of the titles that caught my eye.

Flyte is actually the second book in the Septimus Heap series. I read the first book, Magyk, in my school bookstore in between classes. It was obvious who Septimus Heap was from the beginning. The books wasn't well....it was ... sorta ... uh ... Okay. It's not good and it's not bad either. The part that bothers me is when they cast a spell. The incantation is corny and the main character - Septimus Heap - rubs me the wrong way. I mean, I liked the part where he's trying to return a ring he found and it was pretty cute but other than that, he was annoying. I really liked the Confidential Rat, Stanley. Silas Heap is pretty goofy. And then there's the brother vs. brother rivalry between the oldest and the youngest.

Half Broken Things is about a group of people who have nothing to do with each other wind up living together in a house. I think the main characters were a pregnant lady, a runaway, and a thief. Don't know much about it. I think it also said the house was alive.

House of Leaves and Powers of Detection I came across looking for books to read on borders.com. As for House of Leaves, one of the reviewers said it was scary. I haven't read any horror books recently, so I thought, why not? I just have to read it during the day, that's all. Powers of Detection is a collection of mystery stories.

Pay the Piper is a book I started reading during my last few weeks of Summer Sessions and I got about partway into the book. I really like it so far. It's based on the Pied Piper of Hamlin and the authors try to figure out the story from a different point of view. I'm pretty familiar with the author, Jane Yolen, since I've read her books before. At first I thought it was only one book and read it when I was in the seventh grade. Later I discovered there was a second book purely by accident while looking for another book with almost the same title - it was off by one letter during my sophomore year in high school. I saw and read the third one this year during Winter quarter in the school bookstore which had a preview of the fourth book yet to be released.

Ptolomey's Gate is the third and final book of the Bartimaeus Trilogy. I've read the first two, The Amulet of Samarkand and Golem's Eye and I really liked it. Nathaniel wants to be noticed and advance quickly up the ranks in the government in a semi modern world run on "magic." I really like the plot of the story. It's a pretty good books. The only thing I have against it are the footnotes. They're both humorous and bothersome at the same time. They're usually commentaries made by the main character, Bartimaeus, a third level djinn, I think. He's really funny and always tries to make a grand entrance, but it's usually spoiled by the fact that he's brought into a battle or was summoned by an over ambitious twelve-year-old kid. That kid, Nathaniel, keeps promising not to summon Bartimaeus, but does so anyway when he's in a tight spot. Kate is also a very good character and a character foil for Nathaniel. Bartimaeus gives her clues and a history of downfalls of magical societies because people build up resistance to magic.

The tenth book is self-explanatory. I really need to use it for my studies.

Sir Thursday is a book by Garth Nix and is one of the books in the series my sister borrowed, but didn't really become interested in. I really like it. It's the fourth book of probably seven - one for each day of the week. The first book was called Mister Monday; the second, Grim Tuesday; and the third, Drowned Wednesday. In every book, he had to obtain items from each of the Will holders and free a part of the Will. The House that he, Arthur, the main character, has to get to can be reached from different areas. He is actually an heir to the Will unknowingly. It began for him when he first moves into a new neighborhood. He wasn't supposed to run laps because of his asthma, but he's forced to anyway and he collapses. The rest of the students are way ahead of him when two figures appear out of nowhere. One of them is in a wheelchair and is Mister Monday. His "bodyguard" is actually one part of the Will that tricked him into giving Arthur the minute (also called minor) hand to Arthur, which saves his life and relieves his asthma symptoms. Mister Monday realized he's been tricked and is forced to retreat right before two of the students come to help Arthur. In each book, something that occurs in Arthur's world that forces him to confront each of the Days. The House they reside in can be thought of as the world and the Architect is the equivalent of God. I can't explain it, but it's really good. Arthur is no hero - doesn't look anything like one, but he always tries his best. One of the people he's helped in the House actually begins writing about the great feats Arthur has done and tries to impersonate him. It was really funny.

Beyond the Valley of Thorns is the second book in the trilogy. I've read the first one, The Dark Hills Divide, that my sister bought from a book order at her school and I thought it was pretty good. Not much to say about it really. Good plot, writing could have been better.

Edge of Darkness is by the Left Behind series' author Tim Lahaye. I've got mixed feelings about it though. This is the fourth book I've been waiting since last summer to read and it isn't even out yet. There's a lot of persuasion to go to church and all that stuff. I actually just skip those parts and the rest of the story is pretty good. The main character is like the holy version of Indiana Jones. I really like all the speculations and rumors he's written about in the story so far - the one with the writing on the wall of Babylon, the bronze snake Moses rose to cure the Israelites who were bitten by it as punishment, and Noah's ark. Those were pretty good. I don't take to well with all the flashbacks though.

Okay...back to writing....

I just finished up reading a 400 or so page eBook entitled Hour Game by David Baldacci or something like that earlier today. I more or less enjoyed the book, but I think I could have enjoyed it even better if it was in an actual book in my hands so that I would not have to stare at this screen for so long(LONG LIVE THE LIBRARY!!!!). The content was pretty good. The main characters had some good lines and chemistry. It kept me interested enough to finish the book. But to me, it felt like it could have been better. What I liked about it was that it had some pretty good action scenes. I loved the car chase - it was intense and pretty rough on the cars and er... don't think I'm weird or anything, but I liked the way the murders were written. The one I liked most was the one where after he murders a woman, he doesn't necessarily kill her kid, no matter for what reason he later claims. That FBI guy they had in their was pretty annoying, so I was both horrified and satisfied that heturdermerledlikmih (if you don't wanna know, don't unscramble. if you do, then here's a clue to unscrambling it - first word is the first three letters, the second word is the next 8 letters, the third word is the next 6 letters, and the last word is the last 3 letters).

Okay - so I seriously need to get a life - or just a couple of books from the library. I've got seven books on hold and ready to be picked up at the library. Also, I've got a few in transit, and the last couple on hold. I think one of the ones on hold has yet to be published.

I finished my summer sessions just last week and I think I found another Thai kid in my Calculus class. A lot of familiar faces in that class - Samantha B. was there, this blonde girl I saw in every quarter, the guy from my English Comp 3 class, this girl who happened to remember me for being late to every lecture for Math 1 during Fall 2005, my Life Science 2 lab partner, and this Indian guy who took the same Anthro class with me as well as the discussion section.

My sister and I have gotten new bikes. And the very first day we rode them, we crashed into each other... No, not because we didn't know how to ride....ok, maybe because we didn't know how to ride them. We did know how to ride a bicycle, but we weren't used to the hand-brakes just yet. As a result, my sister lost control during one of her sharp turns and ended up turning the opposite direction again to avoid Tai's car and heading towards me. She didn't manage to stop. Me? I was going in the direction we have always agreed on: counterclockwise. I was coming out of a fast left turn when I saw her. Unfortunately, I forgot that I couldn't brake by pedaling backwards a little too late. I couldn't swerve left, or I would've run over my sister and her bike. I couldn't swerve right, or else I'd hit Tai's car. There's was just this little space, six inches wide between her and the car. What happened? Well...SCREECH! NOOOOO!!!!!!!! Thunk. I managed to reach for the brakes in time to slow down dramatically, but not enough to stop. My sister just hung on to her bike. The thunk (thankfully) was not us hittin Tai's car, but our bikes colliding together. She walked away scott-free, no injuries bruises or cuts. Me? I got slightly scratched on my right leg from the pedal. My forearm, the part close to my wrist, was scratched and there was a thick, short white line next to it. At first I was like YES!!! No blood. But then I stared at the white spot some more (my arms had darkened in the sun)and tiny pinpoints of blood began oozing out. And then I saw the skin hanging off the wound. My sister just gasped and immediately started apologizing for partially skinning me(it was just the epidermis). Me being me, I swept my finger over it so that the skin would flap back onto the white area and hope that it would speed up the healing process. My sister couldn't believe her eyes and gaped at me.

I almost got run over...again...twice:
Number 1: Remember that guy who randomly stopped in the middle of the street and told me not to run? Good thing. I was crossing the street. I took two slow steps out from the sidewalk after the green light went on after three seconds and this car whooshes out of nowhere two feet ahead of me. If I had run, like I normally do, I wouldn't be here. Thank you random homeless guy with the shopping cart.

Number 2: This time, I made sure the cars were also moving before I did. Halfway, jogging/walking across the street to my bus Right THERE at the corner, I hear a car horn and half turn around to see this dark blue convertible zoom right behind me. ON MY BIRTHDAY! I swear: my birthday is a curse. The less people know it, the better.

I think...I need to wear brighter clothing. The black backpack, blue jeans and denim jacket isn't helping any. The fact that I'm small doesn't help either...

As for my writing project...I'm on Chapter 8...but I think I'm just going to rewrite the entire thing - I need to outline the story so that it goes the way I want it to.

Damn I'm bored. If anyone needs a part-time worker...well...heck, I'm a lousy worker - but I'm honest, respectful, and hard working. All you have to do is tell me what to do and how to do it. I can learn pretty quickly.

End Summer... as much as I like you... I have nothing to do.

With the long hours my parents put in, I can't go swimming. I can't get out of the house during the day cuz I have to be with my sister. I'd like to learn how to play some of the instruments I do have (I need a new G-string for the violin - I broke it again while trying to tune it while I was pissed off with my sister and it snapped), but my sister doesn't want me to learn how to play. Our house isn't exactly soundproof and the violin isn't exactly the only instrument. I have a small harmonica and three traditional Thai wind instruments called khlui. One is plastic and belongs to my dad. The other two are wooden (and my Dad tells me they sound beautiful and are good quality), one belonging to my sister, the other to me. My sister has no interest it in and wants to learn how to play a guitar or piano instead. Also, she hates it when I try to play something or even sing because she tells me I'm terrible at it (and that's partially true, but hey, I want to learn and I gotta know what something sounds like in order to arrange it the right way). So she tells me not to play or sing. If I disobey? Er...not a very good idea. When she's in a good mood, she wouldn't mind very much. When she's in a bad mood...(@_____@)she hits really hard.

I'd like to learn some Thai, but since my parents aren't home, all I can do is guess how the words sound and what they mean. My Thai writing skill stinks. I scrawled down my uncle's address once in Thai without looking at it. She saw it and asked if my uncle was the one who wrote it down because it looked like a drunk person wrote it (unbeknownst to me, my uncle was...somewhat intoxicated at the time).

Because I haven't been to the library recently, I didn't have any new books to read. The last one I read before the eBook above was a book by Terry Pratchet called Thief of Time and I really liked it. It was funny and interesting and just plain funny. I love it how the Auditors behave like savages when they go inside a human body and their heightened senses are their downfall. Eating was a sin to the Auditors, because the Auditors would get attached to them and stay human forever. The good Auditor, the first to be in a body for an extended period of time, decided to try some dry toast. She nearly killed herself with it from the "intense" flavor. You should see what she did with chocolate.

I can go online all I want, but I have no idea what to do anymore. I can watch videos on youtube.com, but I gotta know what I'm looking for. I go to fanfiction.net, but it's so hard to find any good stories, much less a good story with a good writer who knows good English grammar - same goes for fictionpress.com. A lot of good plots, great ideas...down the drain because of terrible writing.

And my writing project...not exactly motivated right now, but I do as much as I can and write a little everyday.

TV? Nothing good on until the evening.

All this equals a very boring summer. School - please start.

Also one more thing before I go... I WANT MORE OISHI GENMAI FLAVOR! It's a green tea drink made by Oishi that's sold in Thailand. I had some a year before - the summer before Freshman year of college and at first I was like...eh...smells funny. After a while, it started to smell like milk to me and I got friggin' addicted to it. This time, Tai brought a bottle back with her with some sad news. Since its not a hit drink anymore, sales are winding down and they're hard to find.

T-T

NOOOO!!!! So now, I'm savoring my last bottle of Oishi, Genmai Flavor. OISHI!OISHI!OISHI!OISHI FOREVER!!!!!!!!!

T-T

Oh and by the way, Renee...Tai left some stuff with me for you to pick up.

They're shooting a movie today at my school. I got a little too close and the security guy said, "Excuse me, sir. Could you stay behind the stairs please?" And I left. Five seconds later, I realized something and I screwed up my face at it. Dude! The guy thought I was a guy! What the heck?!

Summer sessions has finally started for me... and I spent my last few days free trying to reboot my sister's computer while she played on my laptop. I'm still in the process of writing chapter 7. I've got about two pages or so down.

It's been so long since I had to come to school that I was worried I would miss my stop. Got here just fine anyway and the guy next to me is creeping me out how he just randomly starts laughing while staring at the computer screen. My first class today starts at 10. Yay.

My sister finally got her ds lite and she's pissed because I keep beating most of her high scores. Oh well...we're still trying to figure out all the other stuff it can do. I should go now. I'll be back online in a couple of days to post up Chapter 7 on fictionpress.com.

Bye!

Helloooo everyone!

I just posted chapter 6: http://www.fictionpress.com/read.php?storyid=2174535&chapter=6

I think that the more I write this story without thinking ahead, the crappier it gets. Thankfully, after I finish, I'll go over it and edit it again. There were things I was going to put in Chapter 3 that got pushed back and in Chapter 5 but got pushed back and finally it was to be put in Chapter 6 along with another detail of the story so it looks like it's gonna be put into Chapter 7.

I'm hoping to get Chapter 7 up by the end of the week before I start Summer Sessions.

So...Disneyland was....fun...

It took us about a half an hour to get there. Not too many problems getting there by freeway. However, once we got off the freeway, we got lost. Seriously. It turned out we went in the opposite direction. So we went back and found it. And then we kept getting lost. It was soo bad. We kept missing the parking lot entrance so many times. The signs were so confusing. It said if you wanted to go to this particular parking lot, stay in the two right lanes. We did that and were about to turn right and the sign above that lane said "No Right Turn." And we were like ??? So we past it. Right when we passed it, I realized we were supposed to turn right into the path after the sign. Long story short, we missed that path three times before we finally got in.

When we did, there was this car ahead of us, a dark green volkswagon jetta, that had a very...disturbing family. Right when we turned in, that car was in front of us and the driver put the car in park, got out of the car and picked something off the ground. We were thinking he dropped it out the window. Boy were we wrong. We heard muffled shouting and it took us a while to realize that it came from inside the car. It was this blonde haired plump woman screaming, "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! IHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOU!!!" at the guy. My parents were like o.o "Oh...my...god." The guy gets back in the car and tries to hand the paper he picked up to the woman, but she *tries* to throw it back out the window on his side. I was thinking "Poor guy," but then he shouted back at her, "SHUT UP! YOU'RE GIVIN' ME A F***** MIGRAINE!" My mom told my dad, "Don't drive too close behind them," and my dad nodded. The woman shouted back at the guy, presumably her husband, "I HOPE YOU GET A F***** MIGRAINE!" And she goes off on another round of I HATE YOU's. So we follow them throughout the parking lot along the path set up by the employees of Disneyland. All the while, the parents are arguing. My sister and I were like "pook kids in the back." The next thing I know the boy in the backseat turns to his sibling and starts fighting. My sister and I go wide-eyed. Well, I guess that means no one feels left out or sad.

While we were parking, my family and I were like "Whoa! Whoever designed the parking lot is a genius." The parking spaces looked something like this:

\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
-\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \

\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
-\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \

That way, the cars can double park. The cars ahead can drive forward out and the car in the back reverse and drive out.

And the way they designed the lines in the theme park is pretty good, too. They could turn a few of the bars so that the line can be longer.

We had a pretty good time. Like the Indiana Jones ride. I went on and had a good time through the first half. And then the fun kinda wore off. So I sat there, trying to tell my sister to stop screaming her head off whilst being jerked around on the ride. She was screaming and screaming and screaming. Her reply to me was more screaming. Truthfully, the ride felt a lot like driving through the streets of Thailand over the bridges during an earthquake- a lot of ups and downs and side to side jerking movements. After the ride was over and we were about to get off. The idiots in the back started screaming their heads off. I was like, dude... you guys are like two minutes too late. Should've been doing that two minutes ago.

Then we went back home. While exiting the parking lot - er... the parking lot connects to the freeway.

It was funny when we got back. I was coming out of my room to use the bathroom. The hallway was dark and I just turned to light off in my room. There's some light coming from the kitchen. There's this dark figure coming down the hallway. It's arms go up in a Dracula-like fashion, cape/wing thingy included. Then - it yelled "RAAAAHH!" Like what any sensible person would do, I screamed. The figure came closer...and I realized it was my mom. She started laughing and my sister, who was behind her, started laughing. Apparently my mom was trying to take off her jacket to put away in her room, which is across from mine.

Anyway, I've got a Life Science final tomorrow at 6:30 pm. It ends at 9:30 pm.

Right now, I'm writing up Chapter 6 of Faraway. Unfortunately, I rough drafts for chapters 1-5 only and managed to write them up faster, and so now, I really have to write chapter 6.

*sigh* Must finish this! I'm estimating this may be at least 10 chapters long. Hopefully no more than 20 chapters.

We are very likely to go to the happy place tomorrow, given that we know how to get there. My sis has settled for a nintentdo ds lite in black and is willing to wait a bit longer.

I've added chapter 5 to my story. It gets kinda...creepy from there on sort of. Lots of things happen. Stuff will burn. Animals will talk. The diffusion theory will be revealed. And any guesses what the crackling noise is? I did hit the seven page mark. Almost didn't until I realized stuff.

I most likely won't be home tomorrow.

I'm cranky cuz I don't wanna go to the happy place.

Renee...I think Tai is trying to reach you.

"Do you want to see a skeleton dance?"

Freshly baked hot sweet bread loaves with French vanilla ice cream in the middle tastes really good.

I had a dream last night. And part of my dream came from the story I'm writing and another part came from that incident at Save-on (hey is it Save-on or Sav-on?).

It was weird. The only part of it that I remember was for some reason I was in my high school uniform - the formal uniform complete with blazer. And I had this really nice long sword. The only problem was that it was to heavy to use and that guy popped up in my dream (seriously, I was wondering when I'd see that guy in my head). He comes after me, all psycho and everything but what got to me was the fact that he was carrying a wooden sword with the "blade" serrated. He tried hacking my legs with it. It didn't do much except leave really nasty red marks. And for some reason, he tossed me a different wooden blade - this one was lined with a sharp metal edge. Somehow, I had the wooden handle (I think it may be called the pommel) of the sword already in my hand and I caught the blade and attached it to the handle the way you would a seat belt. I remembered that it was very light weight and easy to use, even if the blade was only about a foot long.

Anyway, I don't know the outcome of the dream (since I woke up), but that part about the wooden blades was in my story...well, in chapter 5 anyway, which is the chapter I'm working on right now. It also happened to be the last thing on my mind before I fell asleep, but I was thinking about one of the characters, Rhona, not the weapons.

So, yeah, weird dream. But it made me realize that the wooden swords would be useless against other soldiers, since it doesn't deal that much of a damage. The swords lined with sharp metal edges would be more appropriate.

I'm hoping to give my fluffy pink bear a role in my story...but I don't know if it would work. And if you guys are wondering, my sister sort of named him. His name is Theodore Glumjob. The Glumjob part was her idea, but since I could never give him a name, I decided on Theodore because teddy bears are named after Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt and "teddy" is what I still call my bear. I know! It's pink and should be a girl, but its eyes and demeanor (sort of) always told me it was a guy! He always had mean-looking eyes, as if to scare off the monsters in the dark when I had to go to the bathroom. Now his eyes are much softer (^___^).