Pictures from Rita-Weekend

This is me and my football bruise! Well, one of them. So maybe it's a good thing that Symphony was canceled, 'cause I was gonna wear a sleaveless dress . . .


If you look closely, you can see some Quad 2 guys playing football in the hurricane!
This is us Saturday night at TCBY after trying Marble Slab (which was closed), Starbucks (for those who wanted coffee), and Whataburger (which was closed).

Interesting Weekend

Well, I've had an interesting week. . . . I was all excited about symphany, and then they canceled it. Then we were gonna do something anyway, and then we weren't, and then we were, and then we weren't, and then we were, and oh my goodness--talk about confusing. On top of all that was the stress of a test on Monday, a quiz on Monday, an abstract due Monday, a website due Monday, a mountain of Spanish homework due Monday, a presentation last Thursday, and all the other homework. And then the bookstore closed early so I couldn't get any money for gas or anything if I needed to leave. Oh, and what was that other thing? Oh right, the HURRICANE!!! So, they start posting all these emergency procedures everywhere so we'll be prepared for the horrifying and scarey hurricane Rita. Then a bunch of evacuees came and tons of people donated their mattresses, pillows, blankets, sheets, books, cards, and crayons for the evacuees to use. Then . . . the hurricane came!! And was somewhat disappointing. It rained a bit and blew pretty bad, but it really wasn't that bad at all. I thought maybe a little thunder would have been nice . . . ;-) So, by the end of the day it was fine, and we went out for coffee and ice cream.

Oh, and we had our most fun intramural game the other night when we played football against G2. They actually just wanted to play to have fun--what a crazy idea! And I know quite a few of those girls, too, so that made it more fun. But, I got the most beat up I've ever gotton at a football game. I got a huge bruise on my shoulder that I don't know where from, and I bruised my knee up pretty badly, too. And my other arm and knee have various bruises. People keep trying to hug me and stuff, and I keep saying, "Gently!" or screaming in pain. ;-)

Last night, I had this dream that these kids were running away from bad guys in a really big hotel. The kids wound up on the roof and they didn't know what to do! So, they jumped off and immediately "You don't know what we could find. Why don't you come with me, little girl, on a magic carpet ride" rang through the air and the kids used parachutes. It was a fun dream.

I guess that's all. I don't want the week to start again. I'm not ready for it. Especially since I didn't get to go to symphany, and I've had a severe lack of hanging out with friends time lately. Well, I guess I've gotten to hang out with friends, it just feels like I haven't reached my friend quota for the weekend, so I don't feel ready to go back into the week. Oh well, such is life. I know what it is. I haven't gotten my supper socialize time this semester. It makes me sad. We all seem so much busier than last year (which last year I would have thought impossible). I miss all my friends . . . . :-( Okay, done now. I guess that's all. Until later!

Quick Update

I don't have much time, but I thought I'd post a little something. The lake party was a blast! We rode jet-skis (Jen and I flipped one over--twice!), hung on the tow line at the back of the barge, jumped of the party parge, ate grilled food, and just otherwise had a lot of fun! Um, what happened next?

This week is crazy! I have so much I have to do! I had a Spanish test on Monday, I have a large website project due around the end of this week, a presentation tomorrow for which I had to write a digital poem, I found out today about a Philosophy test on Monday plus our "Outside Reading Assignment" due in a couple of weeks, and an abstract due Monday for which I've done pretty much nothing. And now I'm going to symphony! Talk about busy . . .

Symphony this time is Roommate Roulette, so last night, a whole crowd of girls came into my room and we spent around (estimating here) 45 minutes trying to set everybody up with somebody. It was pretty fun.

Oh! And yearbooks are in! Yay! Speaking of which, I'd better get to lunch and see if they have the yearbooks. Until later!

Weekend

So, I had a fun, but sometimes slightly frustrating weekend. After a crazy and stressful week of trying to do all of my homework so I could go on the Freshman retreat, realizing I didn't have enough money to buy my parents birthday presents and Christmas presents, trying to get engine coolent in my car, and various other activities, I collapsed Friday afternoon and slept. Well, I did try to do homework first, but that didn't work. And I was so tired that I didn't even think about e-mailing my PA to tell her I couldn't go on the retreat, even though I fully intended to. So, I stayed back from the retreat. Friday night was impossible to do homework on because I'd been doing homework what felt like non-stop all week, so my brain was dead, I was tired, and I wanted some socialization. Unfortunately, nobody wanted to socialize, so I read and played guitar until Shawna came back and let me hang out with her and her friends. We had a girl night, which was fun. Saturday, after a highly needed morning of sleep, I did homework until I went bed. I did get to see my sis some, 'cause we went and studied together at Starbucks, so that was fun. And I broke for supper. And a half hour when I tried to figure out what was going on the next day. Other than that, I did homework until one in the morning. Sheesh.
Sunday was Quad 2's lake party that they actually invited us to! Which was incredably nice of them (historically, it's been a no girls event). I had so much fun!

Happy Dad's Birthday!

Hmm, let's see. What's up in the life of me? First, I have to check to see where I left off. Okay. So, Thursday night we had our first intramural football. ::::sigh:::: I love football. When I'm playing, I mean. We didn't win (I mean, ELH-3 always wins!), but we did really well, I think! Better than last year (not that that would be hard--I mean, ELH-3 always wins!). And we had a great turnout! Half of our floor, plus some brothers to help coah and cheer. Yay! Q2 has its first game tonight, but I can't go . . . Maybe I can go see part of it. Because of Singers, don't cha know.

Oh, and today is my Dad's birthday! Yay! So, happy birthday to my dad!

Um, Friday I actually did homework until dinner! Amazing! But it worked. I didn't have to do much this weekend, so I'm going to try to keep it up. Friday night we saw Sahara (with no 'h' on the end) in the Assembly Building. That was a funny movie. Almost as funny as Transporter 2. I think we played Apples to Apples after that, but I could be wrong.

Saturday was Longview Blitz. I hadn't ever been before, but I got up to go this time. We went to Windridge Esquestrian center and tore down a shed. But first, we got to say hi to all the horses. It was fun! I hadn't been around a horse in forever. We went out into a pasture of about 20 friendly horses. A couple of them were pretty big draft horses. One was half Clydesdale/half Shire (maybe). He was very interested in Tim who is pretty tall himself. Alisha and I decided that we're going to be professional hole diggers.
After a hot morning and some heat exhaustion, we went to Wendy's for lunch. Yay for food! and frosties.

So, I discovered that my car needs engine coolent, so I have to drive to Wal-Mart (it should be okay), buy some coolent (oh where does the money go???), and find somebody to help me put it in.

Speaking of money, still no word on the job front. I guess I'm gonna have to find some different places to look. The library said they would send me an e-mail either way, but they haven't, so I dunno. I don't really want a job since I don't have that much time anyway, but if I want any money next semester for deoderent, toothepaste, and the odd IHOP run, I need a job.

Sooooooo, I guess that's enough of a life update for now. Er, wait, I forgot about last night. So I went to dinner last night at Lina's house :::::deep sigh of contentment::::: and watched a funny movie. When I came back, I noticed that the floor smelled like something had burned. My suspicions aroused. Then Kendell ran into me and said my roommate had something to tell me. So, Carolyn burned some popcorn again ;-). When the room filled with smoke and all that jazz, she and Rebecca decided to hold the microwave up to the open window to air it out (when she said that, I was so afriad she was going to say they dropped the whole microwave down three stories!). Well, they forgot about the lazy susan plate and--three stories later, it's in several pieces. I laughed my head off. Carolyn and I certainly have interesting roommate experiences. Did I mention how I woke her up in the middle of the night the other night because I had had a nightmare? Yeah. ::::laughs:::: This is going to be a fun semester.

On a more serious note, I have such awesome friends. There's no way to express how much they all mean to me. You guys (ELH-3 and Q2) are just awesome. You have no idea how much your friendships have meant to me and have helped me to become more myself. ::::shudders:::: That just sounded sappy. But it's true. Before I was on ELH-3, I was a shy, scared, hurt little girl. Now I'm loud and obnoxious (working on that . . .), but I'm not afraid of people anymore, and it's almost entirely due to the love I get from my ELH-3 girls. I love you! Thanks for being such awesome friends. (P.S. Shawna D. rocks!)

Okydoky, it's about time for class. By the way, if you want to see what I've been doing in class, go here:my class website

Until next time!

Annie

P.S. Talk Like a Pirate Day is next Monday!

Bowling, Swimming, and Creepy Music

Oh, by the way, if you want to hear some creepy music listen to a clip from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe found on Narniaweb (which is an excellent site, by the by).

So, after a thoroughly stressful first week of classes, things are going better. Sunday and Monday I was really, really stressed. It wasn't very nice. I got sort of snappy, which was bad. I'm sorry if I snapped at you! Although I'm pretty sure I managed to keep my upsetness to myself (meaning I only really snapped at inadament objects and appliances ;-) ) but if I did snap, I'm sorry. But, I had a good emotional release time (yes, I rather cried; it felt good), and Monday night I had Singers, which I warmed up for first--yay!--so it went really well. I like being a first soprano and singing the high notes. Then, about ten of us (::::deep breath:::: [see if I can get everybody] Kendell, Alisha, Shawna, Kurt, Jason, Dave, Bryan, Evan?, Matt [who got in on the second game]--oh, and me) went bowling. That was so much fun! I discovered that bowling is very stress relieving. I bowled 95 the first game, which is much better than the 56 I got last time I went bowling. I didn't do as well on the second game. And I discovered that it's not good for me to talk and drive at night when I don't know where we're going . . . :-D

Monday and today I woke up extra early (6:30) and went swimming. I'm really enjoying it. It gets me alert for my classes. Speaking of classes, I'd better go if I want lunch before my next class. Acidy throats are no fun. Talk to you later!

This update in the life of Annie was brought to you by Klutz Co. Apple Sauce

P.S. It sort of stinks when your old "invisible" friends are the only ones who get a joke . . . ::::deep sigh:::: Oh, to be young again.

A Looong Update

Yay! I got into Singers! It's exciting and intimidating at the same time. We had our first rehearsal on Thursday, and I'm so out of practice! Isaiah put me as 1st soprano for the song we were doing, and I went flat on all the high notes. I'm gonna try to practice some this weekend admist my loads of homework. But homework in a minute. It was really fun to be in a choir/part-singing setting again. Ah, I'm excited. And we're going to Florida for our Spring Break tour! It will be fun, but it's also a little sad 'cause that means I can't go home or hang out with other people if I want. But Carolyn and Jen are both in Singers, so it will be like hanging out with people because I will be hanging out with people. I'm just one of those weird people who wants to experience and be a part of everything. I dreamed last night I rode the Batman ride again . . .

Oh, and I started my new story! Well, it's not technically new since I'd already come up with the idea several years ago, but still. So, which of the stories did I pick? Well, I didn't actually pick one from the poll--go figure. I decided that When Evil Comes and Telepath would be really fun to do, they just aren't what I'm in the mood for right now. I'm a bit sick of sci-fi right now, and When Evil Comes is too dark for the moment. So I picked Keeper of the Cats (working title that nobody can steal!!!!!! :-) ). I'd give you a plot summery, but for one thing, that would ruin it and I wouldn't be able to keep writing (it's a weird writer/Annie thing, don't ask) and for another, I don't really know yet what's it about.

School is evil . . . and fun. Argh. I'm excited about my classes, especially Digital Literature, but there is a lot of work this semester, and I have to get a job. Darn that money! For Digi Lit this Tuesday, I'm supposed to read three chapters (three stinkin' chapters!) of a netlibrary book. And then I have a ton of other homework. Homework is evil. So, my grades, social life, and sleep habits will suffer this semester until I wind up collapsing in an exhausted and emotionally broken heap either halfway through the semester, right before finals, or both. And I'll probably get sick around finals, too. ;-)

Oh, last weekend, Shawna, Alisha, Amanda (Fro, for those of you who might get confused), Amanda's new roommate Valerie (ironic, isn't it?), Kurt, Scott, and I went to a Rangers/Twins game. It was really fun! My first baseball game! The Rangers won! We had a blast and took some artistic, CD cover pictures. Then a guy came and asked for a couple dollars for food, so we bought him some food, and some bug spray, and a first aide kit, and Amanda gave him a Bible. The result of that was that I didn't make it the dessert with your mentor thing. And we lost our PA at the Freshman Service project. In getto Longview. Not so good. She's okay though. And she got into Singers too!

I've been having interesting dreams lately. First that the world was going to end, then--darn, I don't remember! and then elevators are the place to have deep conversations, and then I went on a rollar coaster. And there were scarey people! And a car! And a gun! AHHHH . . . interesting dream . . .

Okay, off to EO. Until we meet again!
Annie the up and coming novelist who is about to die from fear of overhomework--do the professors conspire or what?

Lunch Break

So, here I am at school. It's hard to believe that I've only been here two weeks. It feels like a lot longer. Classes started yesterday. I'm excited and not excited. I don't want to do homework and write papers, but maybe if I really keep up with it this year, I'll be able to do it. I'm sitting in on Cornerstones again (as Themelios). This is the third year I've heard that class. I think Dr. Hummel is a good Cornerstones mentor.

Yesterday, I slept in a little (it was my last morning to be able to), and then got up and ate breakfast. After that, I started the job hunt again. Finding a job is redicules on this campus (and yes, I know I can't spell redicules--I've tried). Every office tells you to go to another office which has no idea what you're talking about. Oh well. I turned in applications at the Business office, Phys plant, and Student Affairs. Oh, and I went by the Assembly building to see when tryouts for Singers was. I didn't have a pen, so I couldn't put my name in one of the time slots, but I decided to come back before lunch and see if I could write my name down then or something. So I went up to MSC-3 and warmed up a bunch. Then I went back to the Assembly building, and he wasn't busy then, so I tried out. It went amazingly well! I was just excited at well it went, whether or not I get in. And he said I had a good voice, so that was cool. (AHHHHH the phone's ringing!!! Oh, it's for Carolyn.) I'll find out this afternoon when I get back from class if I got in or not. Last night, I dreamed that all the Singers went to the Trinity Courtyard in their dressy Singers' clothes and started to singing to me to tell me I got in. Ha ha. That's funny. It probably means I didn't get in, but I might as well be hopeful. ;-)

Oh, and our brother floor escorted us (not courted us, not extorted us--it's funny what people mishear) to communion last night. I thought that was nice of them. It was also nice to be able to sit with everybody as a group.

And, I have to go to class at 12:25pm for the first time. This is the first semester in the four (starting the fifth) semester that I've been here that I haven't had an 11:20am class on M-W-F. It's really throwing me off. Anyway, I probably ought to go eat. Rebecca (R-Duck) might eat with me which is nice because everybody else has class at this time. But if not, I'm reading a fascinating novel by Agatha Christie. I'm not sure what it's about yet, but it's pretty interesting.

I hope that's enough of an update for everybody. Oh, I'll have to talk about baseball later and losing our PA later. I always say that, and then I never do. Oh well, maybe this time. Until then!

Annie

An Eventful Start to the Semester

So, here I am at Themelios training, but we need stuff from the print shop before we can do anything else. Themelios training is a lot more fun than Peer Advisor training. Not that Peer Advisor training wasn't fun, I was just copletely freaked out at the time. ;-) But I was half an hour late 'cause I thought the schedule said 9:30, which it did, but it said 9:00-9:30. Ooops. Apparently I didn't miss much.

So, I've had fun so far. The school got a bunch of new mattresses on our floor, so the old mattresses were in the hall. ::::mischevious grin:::: And then we decided to go watch a movie (Thursday night, by the bye). So, we picked the 10:10pm showing of Must Love Dogs 'cause Jodie thinks it might be based off of one of her (highschool?) teachers. Jen, Carolyn, Jodie, and I got to the theater to discover that the website was wrong--the last showing was at 7:05. Oops. So we decided to rent a chic flick that we'd never seen and found The Wedding Date. That was a twisted romance movie. The guy character was a male prostitute. It was just . . . weird. So, before we watched the movie, Carolyn decided to use our microwave to make a snack bag of kettle corn popcorn. She left to go get it and came running back saying, "There's smoke in our room!" And she meant it to. Lots of smoke. Billowing and pouring smoke. Carolyn stuck the popcorn out the window while some of us fanned the smoke detectors (which really should have gone off) and somebody else sprayed some fabreeze. We opened the microwave (which had been spotlessly white, thanks to me) and discovered it brown and burned. Well, it turns out that I had forgotten that I taped down the glass tray so it wouldn't break while we moved. It very much burned.

So we had an adventurous first night. I'll tell more later maybe. About the jet-ski and scaring the other ELH girls. ;-) 'Til then!

Back At School

Well, I'm back at school, sitting in a very messy room and listening to my new Celtic rock station. It isn't too rocky, but it's not the really quiet stuff, so it's cool. I stayed up till 4:30am Tuesday night (Wednesday morning) packing and then got up at nine to put the finishing touches on and load out. We didn't leave until around 11am and then we had to go back for the guitar. ;-) So, we eventually got here and unloaded stuff. Then we ate Whataburger for supper. Mmmm. And then I unpacked some. I tell you, it's hard to unpack when you arrive the same day as your roommate. Not that I'm not glad she's here, it's just a mess. I think I need some shelves. Well, we brought stuff back from the storage unit today and then Mom and Harry left.

So, now I'm all hot and stinky and I have the IMPACT dinner tonight and the retreat tomorrow. And I discovered that Themelios have a lot to do. So, I'm gonna be exhausted by the time school starts. Oh joy. It should be fun, though.

Oh, and I finally got to turn in my change of major form! And the registrar didn't know if I could yet, which makes me hope I was the first one. Yay! Digital Writing, B.A. Sounds fun. Anyway, I should get back to unpacking, just wanted you all to know that I'm not dead. Later kids!

PACKING!

Well, I'm almost halfway through packing. I haven't started on clothes yet. I can't believe we're leaving tomorrow. It's crazy. I'm going crazy. Why do I always have so much trouble packing? Ahhhhh!!!! I guess I should get back to it.

Oh, and by the way! Late Sunday night--da da da da!!!

!!!I FINISHED MY BOOK!!!

Well, only the first draft, but it's the first story I've actually finished except for the short book thing stories and one book thing wanna be. Yay! I have finally reached a long lost goal!

So that means that I need a new story to start. So keep voting! So far I've got 3 for When Evil Comes and one against; two for Quest or Curse (which I reread the other night, and it's actually pretty funny); and half of one for Tom and Eleanor. By the way, the titles are working titles. I reread the synopsis for When Evil Comes and it's a lot cooler than I remembered. But I'm kind of hung up on Telepath right now, so I might do that.

Okay, break time is over. Back to packing! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

The Choice Is Yours!

"The city is gone!
The city is gone!
They tell me that life
life will go on
I can’t see it . . ."
~~These Are the Voices by Anne M. Waitz

The city has FINALLY disappeared! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Oh the great oodles of joy. Just a few more loose ends to tie up and the book is finished! Anyway, I figured once I finished this book that I should write a different book. You know, take a break from this series and hone my writing skills. Especially since it’s been five years since I’ve written a different story. I could use a break. I will definitely get back to this story, I just want a break. And maybe a short story that I could get published under my belt. So anyway, I can’t decide which story to write, so I thought I’d take a poll. I narrowed it down to six stories in four genres. Vote on which story you’d like to see me write! Or just vote ‘cause you feel like it even if you don’t really care . . .

All titles and synopsies contained herein are the sole property of Anne M. Waitz, not to be used or copied without express written permission of said Anne M. Waitz.

Science Fiction:
Aysa Norris
A down-and-out, drunken, once-famous, physically impared space racer is recruited to help a band of mercenaries find a priceless treasure.

Telepath
An highschool girl discovers her telepathic abilites and is thrown in the midst of a covert civil war between her government and the underground telepathic community.

Fantasy:
When Evil Comes
A warrior-reject runs away from a twisted spartan society and returns years later to rescue the land.

The Prince’s Story
The story of Cinderella from the prince’s point of view.

Romance:
Tom and Eleanor
A guy and girl are in love. Guy has to become sailor to make his way in world. Girl gets kidnapped. Both travel the world. Eventually they find each other again.

Short Story:
Quest or Curse
A young girl is forced to go on a quest or her best friend will be turned into a purple lizard and she will be cursed forever!

Well, after I wrote out the synopsies, I realized they were a paragraph long each, and who wants to read that? So I narrowed it down for you. Vote away!

Celtic Rock, French Musicals, Sibling Bonding Days, and (of course) the Epic Novel

Hola. ?Como estan mis aficionados? Estoy muy bien . . . ish. Well, I'm fine now. I had a bit of a bummer moment earlier this evening when I could find none of the music I wanted at Barnes and Noble. I finally got Master and Commander which I've been wanting for awhile (love that cello music--yay for Yo-yo Ma). It just gets frustrating when all my music I have to buy online. I'd really like some celitc rock, but they didn't have any Runrig (stink) and if I was gonna get a Flogging Molly CD (recommendation of Sarah), they didn't have the one I would get. Stink again. And of course they never have the Ceili Rain CD or Maire Brennan CD I want. Double stink. Oh well. Oh, and they didn't have Tuck Everlasting. Come on people . . . I'm happy with what I got, though. I'll just mooch other music off my brother. I also got the Lord of the Rings planner now that they finally came out with it. I hope they have a Narnia planner for next year.

So it turns out that the Les Miserables CD I got at the library was in French. I actually think it sounds better in French, but I couldn't quite catch what the songs were about.

Oh, and I got my latest writing craft book! Conflict, Action, and Suspense. Yippee! Did I already say that? :::checks:::: No, apparently I didn't. I guess I didn't write about sibling bonding day. We had a sibling bonding day on Thursday when we couldn't find Harry's fencing. After honking at the pidgions, Harry made an executive decision that we would go hang out at the Quarry. That's when I got my book. At Border's. Then we ate Jack in the Box and then watched The Island. Maybe I wrote about this in my journal 'cause it seems very familiar. Anyway, it was a good movie. I liked it. Neelix was in it! Hooray! And Sean Bean. Awesomeness. So Conflict, Action, and Suspense says that happy families are boring and unhappy families are unhappy in their own way. I guess it kind of stinks that my character has the perfect family. I get conflict from other places. Besides, unhappy families are really overdone. And they aren't normal. That's why I'm writing about a normal, happy family for once. And, it's kind of cool 'cause it shows that even if you have the greatest family and love them a lot, you still need to get out on your own to figure out who you are. I like my story.

Oh oh oh oh oh oh, speaking of which! ALMOST DONE!!! Muahahahahahaha!! Yay! Just a few more things to go. It's actually the day before the city disappears. Coolness. I'm so excited.
I guess that's all I intended to say. Except that last night I dreamed R-Duck stole an airplane and Shawna was on the phone with her telling to go to the runway to take off while cops chased her. Then we did Christmas decorations and listened to boring speeches. And then, a dog died very gorrily and went to heaven 'cause all dogs go to heaven. Seesh, I've never even seen that movie. Weird dreams . . .

That's all for now! And it's not long enough at allllllll. Oh, but do you think I make a good Elinor and Polly? It think it fits about. Ooookay. Bye!

Dreams . . .

I think Harry’s been playing DTA: San Andreas too much lately. Or at least, I’ve been watching him play too much. The other night, I dreamed that I was riding in a car full of people (we were trying to get to the city to stop the alien invasion—it was actually part of my story; I wish I could remember my dreams better!). We were driving down a dark road when all of a sudden, we hit somebody! He sort of splatted into the windshield and rolled off the car. It was rather gory. I recall thinking in the dream that Harry had been playing San Andreas too much. What’s sort of funny is that the guy we hit was a character from my story. What’s worse is that his sister was in the car. She, of course, started screaming. It was sort of amusing. In a twisted sort of way. Of course, I knew it was a dream, so it didn’t bother me so much.

The next night, I had this weird dream that I was with this cheaper by the dozen sort of family that had a ton of kids and we were going to camp out in a driveway. We had to do something with moving a bunch of boxes so that the police wouldn’t get suspicious of a bunch of people camping out on a random driveway. Well, it turns out that the family had robbed whoever owned the boxes of $50,000. I was upset, of course. But it turns out that robbing the people wasn’t unethical because they had the help of a fairy. Okay, that part didn’t even make sense in my dream, but I decided to let it go. Man, I have weird dreams.

So, last night Sarah and I went to the college Bible study. I really like that group. Too bad I’m leaving for college next week. AHHHHH!!! Anyway, she decided to spend the night. It was fun. First, we traded lap-tops and read each other’s stories. It was great! How many people can you do that with? I bet only a few. Sarah’s the only one I know. By the way, her story was pretty darn cool and she’d better finish it and let me read the rest! And, I’ll send her the rest of mine, too . . . Harry had Luke and Steven over last, too. So, at about 12:45 am, we decided to go out and do something. I don’t even normally go out that late at college. So, we went to Wal-Mart, and after looking through the sad media collection, we had a lightsaber fight in the isle. I’ve always wanted to play with the toys in the isle and Wal-Mart, and can you believe I never have? Twenty years and I haven’t done that. Unless you count the time I shot Karen with a blaster in K-Mart. I got a funny look. And then we went to Whataburger. It was pretty fun.

Oh, and today I found out that Jodie’s still on our floor! Kermit the Frog yay. :::waves arms around like a puppet:::: YAY!!!!! That makes me happy. It was going to be hard for her to spend all day on ELH-3 and then have to go to G2 just to sleep. ;-) Let me count. ::::counts:::: I think that’s thirteen out of twenty-one of us who are staying on the floor! Coolness! Well, I guess that’s all for now. Later!

Speaking of Stories . . .

So, I had to take Harry to the Orthadontist today (it's great, 'cause as long as he keeps going to the Orthadontist, I keep getting free stuff! shoes today). He wanted to go somewhere afterward and suggested the library. I thought that sounded fun (especially since neither of us had a very good trip last time). So, after the Orthadontist, we got on the highway and drove to down town. We picked an exit and just drove around until we found the library. As Harry said, that's the great thing about down town, you just know which direction to go in. (Of course, that was before we found out we'd already driven past the library once, but oh well.) We passed The Magestic Theatre, The Alamo, and the Wax Museum. We we got to the library, we found a bunch of CDs. Harry even found The Reason CD! Yay! That's a good song. And I got a Clannad CD and the Soundtrack to Les Miserable. Cool stuff. I also got Ivanhoe (Harry informed me, after my own fruitless searching, that Ivanhoe is one word) and flipped through a ton of DAW books. I'm begging to feel quite hopeless. My book doesn't fit into any category and why would a sci-fi or fantasy publisher want it? The world isn't that different from ours. My one comfort is how long all of the DAW books are. So we had fun. And we didn't really get lost coming back either. Nice library trip.

Speaking of stories, I'm reading an old story that I wrote when I was fifteen (actually, my last endevour before the series I'm working on now). It's actually that bad considering I fifteen. (I'm not saying all fifteen yearolds write terribly, but I have only recently improved my craft to anything noteworthy.) The characters are awesome! They make me laugh so hard! You've got the space pirate with a soft spot, the nameless girl, and the random passenger who just decides to tag along in their adventures. Aha ha ha. The chemestry is awesome. Too bad the space pirate is too old for the nameless girl. It's a nameless story, too. But I'm thinking it might actually be salvagable, which is exciting.

Speaking of stories, last Sunday, I got a call from Sarah who said her mom wanted her to call either me or Daniel to see if we were going to the college group that night. I thought that was funny since my mom had been saying the same thing to me about Sarah and Daniel the whole summer, I was just being lazy. So, Sarah came over and we went to the college group. It was pretty good. People kept asking us how we knew Daniel, and I started thinking, "How do we know Daniel?" I think I started to explain that his cousin was my brother's friend or something and the person I was explaining to said something about a second cousin's dog. Ha ha. It was funny. I love the little community my family has. When people asked how Sarah and I knew each other, I kept nearly saying we're sisters. I guess it sort of feels like that after five years. No, it's been more than five, hasn't it? Maybe not. But it's been awhile. Anyway, Sarah spent the night that night, and we had fun. We watched Labyrinth and messed with my crazy computer. We decided to start another story like we wrote one time over e-mail (a story I affectionately call 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 . . . BOOM, but which has no actual title, though it has a lovely Shakespearean death scene). So this time we're using a story website and calling it Assins Inc. Ha ha. I love writing fun stories! If you want to read it (don't know why you would unless it's really late at night and you want a laugh) go here: Assasins Inc. My character is Tal J. Rico, just in case you wondered.

Anyway, it's about time for supper. And almost time to go back to school!!! Writhing Agony!! Just kidding, I'm excited. Oh, and I finally got to Sophomore year with my memory book. I might have gone overboard printing pictures. I have about a three inch stack. I'm on Fall Fest right now and trying to figure out how to put my IHOP map into the book. . . . A dilema, to be sure. Anyway, time for food! Yippee! Ah, farewell my adoring public!

Commentary on The Archives of Anthropos and 34 pages

I finished The Dark Lord's Demise yesterday. It was pretty good. But it was one of those where everybody's a bad guy, so you can't trust anybody, so my mind says, "AHHHHH!" He he. I think I like the first four books the best. I've decided that my favorite is Gaal the Conqueror, which is odd for me since I almost always like the first in a series the best (although my sister pointed out that I did like The Two Towers best). I do still love The Tower of Geburah though. Once I got over the initial shock of, "Oh my, these were written for kids!" and got past the books I'd read a million times so practically knew by heart, I really enjoyed them. I used to not like The Sword Bearer, but I liked it this time. I like the whole idea of The Changer and the Mystery of Abomination. It's pretty cool. Plus, adults can go to Anthropos whilst you get too old for Narnia (which is entirely unfair). I only have two things I really disliked about The Archives of Anthropos: we never got to find out about Uncle John's other adventures, and the lack of consistence. The main characters stay approximately the same age through the whole series, but they go through about three decades. It's like The Hardy Boys. They (not the Hardy Boys) start out in seventies cloths and a few months later in the books mention a movie copywrite '93, even though mathmatically, the book should have taken place in 69 in order for one character to be the age he was. Ha ha. Amusing. Maybe I'm just the only one who notices things like that, but that would explain my large folder of notes on my story in order to keep everything consistant. Speaking of writing . . .

I beat my record! Well, at least any known record. I did 34 pages in one day!!! That's nearly 7 hours worth of writing, and boy do I believe it! Of course, the next day I only wrote two pages, but I made up for that by writing 12 at midnight last night. I got to the awesome emotionally charged climatic part! Oh, I think I already talked about that. ::::checks:::: Yeah, I did. Anyway, so I've just got the storm, the invasion, and the vanishing act left to go. Yippee! My poor character doesn't know whether to be devistated or excited right now, not that he has much time for emotion at the end of the novel. Ooooo, I'm so excited. And I'm glad I got rejected because I'm going to go change some stuff in the first book. Just little stuff, like adding references to events here and there. I also think I'll rewrite the first chapter and make it more hooking. Oh, and I'm going to give the book a continuitous plotline. He he.

So that was long, drawn out, and probably entirely unreadable. I need to start writing in my journal again so that I stop boring my avid blog readers . . .

Heart Attacks

Watching Gargoyles. I hope they put the second season out on DVD. I like this show. When I was little, it was a little dark, but it’s cool.

So, I had another missed-my-classes-during-the-first-week-of-the-semester dream. Stink. I don’t like those dreams. Although, this one was better because it turned out my clock was wrong, so I hadn’t missed class. And then it turned out that it was Tuesday, not Monday, so I didn’t actually have class until four that afternoon. So it wasn’t so bad. Did I mention my dream the other night where I was sword fighting but I kept loosing because I was short? That was amusing. I got so fed up I started crying until the Jesus character from the allegorical book I’m reading gave me leg and arm extensions so that I could fight. It was funny. ;-)

Deep contented (and exhausted) sigh. 17 pages. In one morning. Lately, my quota for each day has been no more than 15 pages accept for yesterday which had a record 25 pages. I’m talking about my book, by the way. I haven’t measured in awhile, but my average is generally 5 pages an hour. We’re talking notebook pages, handwritten. I finally got to the part I’ve been wanting to get to for years! Yay for climatic parts! I got so worked up about it that I actually felt as nervous as the main character, sort of cold and nauseas, heart pounding. It was awesome. Although I’ve decided that I probably shouldn’t continue my writing career into my old age or I might die of a heart attack at the climatic point. I’m still not done with this climax by the way. And I’ve got two more climaxes to go, and then I’m done with the book!! Oh excitement! Oh pure joy! Anyway, I should probably go clean the kitchen. Poor Mom is stressed about the homeschool round-up next weekend. If you think of it, pray for her! Oh, and I finished Quest for the King this morning, so now I can start reading the last in the Archives of Anthropos book The Dark Lord’s Demise, which I haven’t read yet. Right, kitchen time. Woohoo. And then back to epic novel writing. :-D Until next time, may you not die of a heart attack while reading my book.

Friends

So it turns out that my foot was actually hurt a lot worse than I thought. I had been walking around on it like normal just wearing a brace when it started to hurt after a week. I looked down and noticed that my entire foot was somewhat green. Yeah, a pretty bad bruise. So I've been keeping off it for the most part. Which sort of stinks because I just figured out two new songs on the piano and I have to keep playing them in order to remember them, but I can't use the pedal with right foot.

I got to see a lot of friends this past week. First of all, I got to hang out with Sarah (who I don't see very much because of school even though we live in the same city). That was loads of fun 'cause I hadn't seen her since I first got back from school. We hung out at Barnes and Noble for awhile and then she came and watched Hide and Seek which wasn't too R-ey even though it was rated R (I mean it was violent, but there wasn't a whole lot of cussing or other objectionable material) and was pretty good as far as suspense horror goes. But it was really fun to watch it with Sarah (I'd already seen it). Then on Thursday, my sister, her fiancee, and I went to the Quarry and hung out with my two cousins Tiff and Liz (who actually live in my city now, but also whom I hadn't seen in forever) and one of my really old friends, Amanda. I mean, she's not that old, just a couple years older than me, but we've been friends for a long time. I hadn't seen her in forever either, so that was a lot of fun. I hadn't realized how much I missed their kind of silly and crazy. It was very refreshing. Then on Friday, Holly from the Valley called because she and her mom had to take an emergency trip to our city and asked if they could stay at our house. They got here after supper, and so Holly got to come with us on our traditional something-came-out-at-midnight trip to Wal-Mart and Krispy Kreme to get the newest Harry Potter book. Then Holly and I talked for a really long time, and it was a really good talk, too. I told her some stuff that I hope will help when she goes to college, and she gave me some really good advice. Oh, and I did get to see my other friend from here, Shayla the week before last. That was fun. We went to the mall and did girly my-sister’s-getting-married stuff. My friend Audrey will hopefully be visiting in August, so that would be awesome. Lina won’t get to visit this summer, so that’s not fun, but at least I’ll get to see her in the fall.

So, I guess this has been a pretty nice summer. And I’m almost done with the Archives of Anthropos. I’m about a third of the way done with Quest for the King. And then on to the last book, which I haven’t read before. After that, I’ve got some good Vesper Holly books to read (love those exploding sausages!). Also, I’m getting along nicely with the book I’m writing. Having to stay off one’s feet does have an upside. :-) Anyway, off for now!

Voice of Aslan and other tidbits

A few bits of news. Not really. For one thing, I've heard it rumored that Liam Neeson will be the voice of Aslan in the new The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe movie. It hasn't been confirmed yet, so who knows. I suppose it's as good a choice as any if it's true. I still think James Earl Jones would have been a good choice if he wasn't already Mufasa. ;-) Check out this link if you want to read the rumor: The Voice of Aslan at last?
In other news, my foot still hurts. It seems to have gotten worse as time went on. That stinks. To high heaven.
In other, other news, I finally just skipped two months of my story so I could get to the interesting stuff again. I wrote something along the lines of: "And then there were a bunch of battles, it was the same old, same old, again, and two months passed." I figure, if I'm tired of battles, the reader must be almost as tired of them. So I decided to make it as brief as possible. I really like the character I just introduced. He's different than the other characters. He almost seems to have more--er, more--what's the word? Nobility? Moral character? Charm? He he. He's cool. But I had to kill someone off again. I hadn't killed anyone for, it must have been more than 20 chapters. It's terribly sad though. :::sigh::: They die so young.
I suppose that's all. I'm looking forward going back to school and seeing friends. I'm not looking forward to homework, and I'm dreading Saga food. Dear me, dear me--just the thought of it makes me sick.
Oh, and comment on what you think about Liam Neeson for the voice of Aslan! Other people who supposedly auditioned for the part were Jason Isaacs, Timothy Dalton, Sean Bean, Gerard Butler, Ian McKellen, and Ralph Fiennes. The original Aslan was Brian Cox. All of these actors have been villains at one time or another: (don't read if you don't want spoilers; some villains aren't revealed til the end) Brian Cox--Bourne Identity (or Supremacy --can't remember which); Jason Isaacs--Harry Potter; Timothy Dalton--The Rocketeer; Sean Bean--James Bond, National Treasure, and Lord of the Rings doesn't count; Gerard Butler--The Phantom of the Opera; Ian McKellen--X-Men; Ralph Fiennes--Harry Potter; Liam Neeson--Batman Begins; and even James Earl Jones was Darth Vader. Anyway, that was longer than it needed to be. Until later!

Creative Geniusy

I don't really have much to say, but here it is anyway. Ooo, I ryhmed. I'm reading a good book right now called Gaal the Conquerer. I like it. You should read it (and ignore the blatant typos and slightly confusing writing--it's not as bad as The Sword of Shannara, I promise :::wink wink::::). Oh oh, I'm excited because I wrote a song the other night, which hasn't happened in awhile. And it's a happy song, which also hasn't happened in awhile (my last two songs were about hopelessly trying to make someone proud and trying to get away from a manipulative control freak--sheesh, what's going on in my mind? ;-) ). And I figured it out on the piano, and it's a love song which has nothing to do with anybody I know; it's just a fun song. Ah, the wonderful flow of creative genius. I've been debating creating a seperate blog for writing stuff, but that would pretty much serve no purpose since I don't post things I write because I'm paranoid about my work. :::wink wink::: Anyway, I gotta go make a phone call before we go to the library. Until then!

Anne the Creatvie Genius

P.S. Plus I figured out how to add titles to my entries. And blogger is so much cooler than xanga 'cause you can edit the html. Yay blogger!