Yarr, and Other Such Things

Wow, this thing's still here? And painfully blue as ever, I see. Geez. I mean, the second to latest entry is over a year old. You'd think they'd have some kind of automated process that purges these blogs after some time of inactivity. I almost wish they did. I hate this thing.

Anyhow. I am here to announce, that I have randomly and inexplicably decided that it would be fun to start a blog about ethnic cooking on a budget. Look, I'm twenty years old, and my still-developing neural networks are very friendly and accepting of stupid ideas right now. So I might as well go ahead before I age up and realize what kind of a mess I'm getting myself into.

Oh, and I no longer work in Grease Trap Hell (less commonly known as McDonald's.) I'm a barista-in-training at Port City Java, and let me tell you, it's infinitely more interesting than typing up orders or mopping floors. I am learning all the ins and outs of making good coffee and espresso, and it's really, really exciting and interesting. It's like an art.

...That's about it. I'll update soon with the location of my new cooking blog. (Seriously, what am I thinking?)

Outdated Much?

This blog, I mean? So, yeah, it's been a while. Just a few sentences to catch up...

Since Christmas I have been working at McDonald's, where I was the January Employee of the Month and spend half my time in the drive thru cashier booth. Which is the WORST part of the job. I am still tutoring in the AT3, though only 2 hours weekly. I am also taking 16 credit hours this semester (never again, not so long as I also work 32 hours a week). I have become financially independent in some but not all areas. I am also more mobile - I get myself where I need to go, as well as where I'd rather not go (*cough work cough*). And since my family has acquired a Wii, I have become quite addicted to playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

So, Homeland Trilogy isn't going to be a trilogy. At least, I don't know. Planning the whole story around trilogy was really making me mad. I finally said, screw this, I'll just write until I'm done and then see how much it is. Could be one book, could be ten, could actually be a trilogy. I don't know. I just need to finish the story. Which might be easier, now that one of my characters has finally gotten the spark of life he needed. He was like a little popcorn kernel, constantly bombarded with steam, but he finally popped and exploded and expanded on his own time. And, of course, he turned out to be a good one, one of the three most important characters in the story.

Here's the idea: When the god of my invented world, Andor, created the earth, seas, and heavens, he also created four non-corporeal beings. Homelandians who believe in Andor call them the Four Artists, because Andor entrusted them with the task of creating living creatures to inhabit the world. (An important thing to keep in mind is that the Four Artists are not gods in their own right - this is not a pantheistic system I've come up with. They are creations of Andor, doing what he created them to do. They're not even immortal, not entirely. I prefer to think of them more on the level of angels or commissioned artists.) The first Artist, Kavall, created the stars. The second Artist, Terim, created all vegetation. The third Artist, Meracila, created animals. The fourth Artist, Sylvan, created humans. The humans were special in that Andor chose to infuse their blood with his energy, making them essentially immortal. Well, somewhere along the line, Kavall became jealous that Andor didn't choose the stars, and decided to revolt. He turned half of the stars against Andor and the other three Artists, promising them glory and wealth in return for their allegiance. Whatever stars wouldn't voluntarily join him, he imprisoned in the sky (they used to roam freely.) Then he and his stars declared war on Andor. Because there were a heckuvalotta more stars than animals, plants, or humans combined, it was pretty much a fair fight. Through the war, the three loyal Artists protected their creations in battle. However, during the war, Kavall mortally injured Sylvan. In order to save his life, Andor transferred Sylvan's spirit to a human body.

And that's who the character is - James, Sylvan in human form. Because of the residual energy in his body leftover from being his true self, he has a much longer lifespan and is much harder to kill than most humans. (He has lived for four hundred years at the time of my story, though his body has aged about thirty-five years.) He also has slightly more intuition into the supernatural than other humans, but is limited by his human senses. He wishes there was a way to return to his true form, but is pretty sure that when his human body dies, he'll die. 

His personality is a melange of Mrs Whatsit (from A Wrinkle in Time), Abram/Raphael (from G.P. Taylor's books), and the Tenth Doctor. He's really fun to write, because he's got that common element of total nutcase on the outside, wise on the inside. I'm a total sucker for that persona, which, I suppose, is why I adore the abovementioned characters so much.

Not sure what else to say, really. Except that I still can't stand this blue. Worse, I'm too lazy to change it.

Did You Ever Have One of Those Days...

1. When you were woefully behind on all your schoolwork?

2. When you knew you'd run out of laundry by tomorrow and had no idea what to wear the next day?

3. When you had to be forty different places at once?

4. When you wanted to scream because you had a character that simply REFUSED to be named?

5. When you forgot to bring your water bottle to PE?

6. When you realized that there was no way you could possibly put anything interesting and positive about your day into your blog and therefore resented the blog?

Yeah. Let's just leave it at that.

Why I Hate My Blog, and Other News

Yes, it's official, me hearties. Sorry to disappoint. You might not want to read the line below if you're easily brought to tears. The rest of you, brace yourselves, cause here it comes:

I hate my blog!!!

Everybody okay? Good. I'll continue.

As I have already so eloquently put it, my blog is a thorn in my flesh. Reasons why:

1. I have to update it. Why can't they just make a smart blog that updates itself?

2. It's bright blue. Normally blue is my favorite color, but this is BLUE.

3. It has nothing of consequence on it.

4. Yet another password for me to keep up with!

And there you have it. But this blog has been here so long, I guess I can let it live...for the time being.

In other news:

To any friends reading: Remind me never to try and write a paper about Hamlet again! Just because it's an awesome story doesn't mean I have to try and write a paper on it! Why didn't I stick to something easy like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight?! Bleh! There, I've said it. Now, other than this STUPID PAPER, I am really enjoying this English class. Because it's the only class I'm taking, I can do all the reading and research I want to without having to make room for the assignments from other classes. Everyone should take summer classes, it's worth it.

Also, since I haven't officially announced it yet: My sister Sarah Jo has finally married Gabriel! My feelings about the union are like this: Glad for them, wish she'd email me once in a while, and is one niece or nephew too much to ask for? Anyhoo, they are currently living in Eden, where she sits at home, bored all day (by her own admission) until Gabe gets home from work. Maybe I should go up there one day while he's at work and bug her until she gets out of the house: "Hey, Sarah, what you doing? What you doing? Huh? Can I help? Where you going? Can I come along? Where you going, and where did this pie come from? Did you make this pie? Huh? Can I have a piece?"

Oh, and I can drive now. YES! No license yet, until I can pay for the insurance (a subtle hint in my direction to GET A JOB), but I can drive! Isn't it awesome when you think you're hopelessly incapable of doing something, and you find out that, after all, you can?

Well, we're going to Sarah's place for dinner tonight. Should be fun.

Glad to have all that finally on the blog. But I still hate it.

My aunt and dear friend, Jennifer, has just lost her mother. Please pray for our family.


Among the Mourners
(In memory of Judy, Jennifer's mother)

May You carry this woman
Safely into the stars
Hold her close in Your arms
And begin to slow dance

May You comfort my friend
Deprived of her mother
Among the mourners, hold her close
And show her how to dance

May You slap me in the face
That I may see stars
Remind me that I promised You
A dance, first and infinite

May You comfort us all
Among the mourners
But especially my friend
Grant her one star of remembrance

For Jennifer

המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שער אבילי ציון וירושלים

Sick Day, Blessings, Literature, and Music!

Yeah, so my family is currently battling strep throat. Wahoo. For the past week, nothing has been wrong with me, but when I woke up today, I had a sore throat. The right side was sore, and when I looked at my throat in the mirror, the right side was bright red and very swollen.

As I have NO DESIRE WHATSOEVER to be sick, I have been tending to my throat since 7 AM. Homeopathic throat spray; gargling ginger oil, sage oil, and saltwater; drinking lots of hot Earl Grey tea (which has bergamot oil in it;) eating salted boiled peanuts; eating salty chicken broth; taking vitamins; taking collodial silver; avoiding singing; and drinking lots and lots of water. And guess what - it's working! I looked at my throat again a quarter-hour ago, and the swelling has gone down, and the redness is not quite so bad. (We have antibiotics, but I'm keeping them as an absolute last resort.) Hurray for natural healing and for paragraphs when I go into far too much detail, like this one.

Whether I get strep throat in the end or not...neither rain nor snow nor strep throat can stop me from writing! I have written a scene for the Homeland Trilogy when Helena, shortly after becoming a Senator, is blessed by a stranger and told she will be Queen within seven years. I'm actually quite proud of it, and though I probably won't use it in the books anywhere, I have it for reference. I was inspired by the scene in the Bible where Samuel anoints David as the future king of Israel. Here's a rough draft of the blessing I wrote:

May your words to Andor and to humanity never fall in vain.
May you always grow in dignity, integrity, wisdom, strength, and beauty.
May the earth reward your toil, the sky refresh your spirit, and the sea satisfy your wanderlust.
And when your earthly dance has ended
May Andor dance with you aloft in the stars.

Compared to "blessing poems" that I tried to write a long time ago, I don't think this one is too shabby. Maybe I'll mess with the word choice some, but I think I'm satisfied with the content.

Okay, enough bragging about my accomplishments today. I am currently reading Beowulf for my next English class (world literature) and I LOVE IT. It may end up replacing Odyssey as my favorite ancient work of literature.

I also had to read Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection, which is an ancient Sanskrit play. Can we say EMO? That play made me laugh when I shouldn't have. Did you know that Sanskrit plays were never tragedies? Because it didn't agree with their religion, they Did Not write tragedies. All Sanskrit plays have Happy Endings.

Another awesome classic read - Poetics by Aristotle, which is the earliest known literary criticism. I think all writers should get a chance to read it, for there was some very valuable advice in it.

I can't wait to read Hamlet - though I've read it before, so I can't wait to reread it. I prefer Shakespeare's poetry to his plays, but Hamlet is a pretty darn good read.

I found on the internet the original Elsie Dinsmore novels - my sister Hannah has some editions where the dialogue is updated to sound a bit more current, but I like the elevated, Austenian style of the originals. Now, don't get me wrong - I normally don't enjoy those books, simply because doe-eyed Elsie and her sadistic family irritate the living CRAP out of me. I usually end up on a soapbox when I read those books. But I read them for Horace, Elsie's father, who I think is one of the most fascinating characters ever made.

I now have all the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks! YAY! When I'm working on the Homeland Trilogy, I like to listen to them, combined with the Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, and National Treasure soundtracks. All mixed together, they have the perfect sound for my books. The next soundtracks I'd like to find are Titanic and Beauty and the Beast.

Off to gargle more saltwater, have a bowl of chicken broth, and work on a new scene for HT. Good day!

Quick Update

Because Sarah Jo will be moving out in a few days, and Hannah will be moving into my room...my room is a complete and utter mess. I should be cleaning it right now, but I just had to sit down for a minute. I have a rather grim announcement to make: The Purpose Crisis is over and it has taken Paramnesia with it. That project is now cancelled. Not only did the story have really no purpose, but I think I was also forcing the wrong characters into the wrong story. This is a little hard, because Gavin, Kelsey, and Mara are some of my favorite characters. So I'll just keep them in reserve until I have the right story for them. I'll be doing further character work on them, and I'll probably still use them in prompt responses. In the meantime, I am still on a roll with the Homeland Trilogy...

Gotta run.