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.

Top Ten Lists For Summer Break

List A - What I Love Most About Being Home

1. I have more time to write.
2. I can sleep in.
3. I have more time to practice on my pennywhistle.
4. I can actually sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee.
5. I can go outside on beautiful mornings, instead of being cooped up in a classroom.
6. I can wear my sweatpants.
7. Chores do not feel like a burden, since I don't also have homework and assignments to tend to.
8. I have time to daydream, to read poetry, and to just be, without having to do anything.
9. Whether I'll find time to do my homework while I spend the weekend at David and Jen's is a non-issue.
10. No homework!

List B - What I Miss Most About School

1. My classmates.
2. My English teacher, Mr. Brandon.
3. My supervisor, Mrs. Martin.
4. Walks across campus during breaks.
5. The art studio.
6. The tutoring lab.
7. The library.
8. The piano.
9. Tutoring.
10. A roasted chicken breast sandwich from Subway and a cold Dr. Pepper.

The Post Without A Title

...Because I was too lazy to think up a clever title.

You know you're out of school when you view doing laundry not as an unavoidable hindrance, but an intriguing challenge. Today I did ALL the laundry in the ENTIRE house - washed, hung out to dry, brought into the house, folded, put away - all except for folding two loads. Mom took on one herself (even though I promised her that she wouldn't be doing chores now that her summer classes are underway) and I delegated Sarah to fold the other. One thing that makes laundry days interesting here - we have no clothes dryer. We have a clothesline, and on rainy days, we hang up clothes inside the house. I did a great deal of griping about it during the winter, especially when I had to hang out clothes when it was cold outside (I always had to wear gloves.) Now that it's spring, I actually - dare I say it - enjoy hanging clothes out to dry. Today was especially nice. It stayed mild, windy, and sunny all day, and I had my secret weapon: an MP3 player, which makes the process ten times easier. It's amazing, the sense of pride and accomplishment you can get from doing all the laundry for a family of six in one day - without the convenience of a dryer. (Actually for a while we had no laundry basket either - just these horrid small round hampers - but I put my foot down, so to speak, and Mom bought a nice big basket.)

My other great household triumph today was coffee. I finally perfected a coffee treat recipe I've been working at for a while, which consists of coffee with cream and sugar, cinnamon, and a few other spices. I made some cups for myself and for Hannah and Jesse today. They have since been insisting that I sell the recipe to Starbucks. I'm calling it St. Nick's Coffee, since it takes like a Christmas drink.

Well, it's 44 days until my summer class starts. Without Sarah Jo to drive me to school at that time (she'll be married by then) it's finally time for me to grit my teeth, grab the wheel, and DRIVE MYSELF TO THE DARN SCHOOL ALREADY. I got new glasses and renewed my driver's permit, and was pleased to learn that when you're over 18, the graduated licensing program no longer applies to you and you can get your license whenever you want. With this permit, I have to be with a licensed driver at all times, so I need my license before the 25th of June. (I can't very well take my parents to school.) Now, I have driven around a couple of times since getting my permit, but not enough to be again skilled enough to drive long distances. So I'm getting murderously serious about it now, and I told Dad as much after dinner. He agreed that I need more practice, and he said that he would let me drive more, starting tomorrow, if nothing comes up. I want to drive as many consecutive days as I possibly can, preferably every weekday. I vow before my Internet audience that June 25th will not catch me without a license.

I am determined to lose weight before the wedding. Enough said.

This weekend we are going to see Prince Caspian! I wish we could be there for the premiere on Friday, but Elijah has a football game early Saturday morning. But no matter - one way or another, we're going to see it! Finally, three years of waiting are about to be paid off! (Thank goodness I won't have to wait as long for Dawn Treader.)

My paycheck from working in the LAC is supposed to come at the end of this month. Thank heaven, because I desperately need new clothes. I'm still wearing t-shirts from two years ago, and I only have like three outfits that I would wear in public. Maybe Sarah Jo will go shopping with me...? We haven't been out shopping since that one time in the winter when she hit that lady's car.

Signing off.

Sushi Is Not Always an Acquired Taste

Explanation of title: Today I tried sushi for the first time. It's Sarah and Gabe's two-year anniversary, and they went to a Japanese steakhouse of all places, where they ordered sushi of all things, and they generously allowed me to eat some of their leftovers. Not sure what everything was, but it was certainly tasty! People say that sushi is an acquired taste, but I liked it right away. Now I wish I could go to a sushi bar, but that's unlikely.

Anyway, today was my last day of school. WHOOT! Until after Sarah's wedding, I don't even have to think about RCC anymore! All my finals are finished, all my papers graded, all my LAC timesheets signed, all my financial aid forms processed. And -- surprise -- today I found out that I'm getting an extra scholarship for English class this summer. YAY!

Now I have more time to devote to writing (if only I could do it on my own computer, though.) And today I took on the Story-A-Day challenge at FM. So we'll see how that turns out.

Bad news: Paramnesia is currently in the middle of a dreaded purpose crisis. You know, when you ask yourself why am I writing this and you don't have an easy answer? Not good. This endangers the entire project. Gavin, Kelsey, and Mara are sitting on the edge of their seats, biting their nails...

Good news: Because of the purpose crisis, I can now focus more on the Homeland trilogy, which is more meaningful and rewarding to me now than it was two years ago. And the political intrigue I've been layering into the story is really keeping me hyped up. Two years ago, I would never have dreamed of putting politics in a fantasy story, but now, my story line has more humanity and more versimilitude. It's almost beginning to remind me of the Star Wars prequels, actually -- how the political threads of the story are so intricately braided into the more mythical, spiritual threads. They coexist, they're symbiotic, without one, the other lacks depth. The two storylines in Homeland are becoming more and more connected and meaningful. Moral of the paragraph: Don't dismiss politics in fantasy stories -- it's awesome!

My eyes just dropped shut for the fourth time since beginning this entry. Good signal to go to sleep. Good night, world!

In Soviet Russia, Job Works YOU!!!

Title comment: Don't ask. For your own good, just don't ask.

As today, I had no classes or exams to take, I simply worked in the LAC all day. (And I do get paid for that extra time!)

Oh, my. Had a lot to do.

First I printed my April timesheet and signed it. Easy. Then I went to get Ms. Martin an ice tea out of the Pepsi machine. Not that easy, because the machine ate her dollar at first, but eventually the problem was solved.

Then she said, "Will you go clean out those filing cabinets in the back?" and told me how to file the papers I would find there.

Of course I agreed, because I'm a good noodle.

Wow. I swear if you took eighteen oversize-print Bibles and stacked them next to the stack of papers I had to file, the papers would be taller. And most of them weren't stapled, paper-clipped, or sorted into manila folders. Most of them were just loose papers that I had to put in the appropriate drawer. Ever thumbed your way through a stack of papers that was as high as your chin? I'm amazed I never got a paper cut. I started the job at 9:15 and wasn't finished until lunchtime. It would have been so much easier if the papers had already been sorted, but no, as it was, I was bouncing from place to place with papers, something like this.

This one goes into the Commas drawer. This one into Misplaced Modifiers. Ms. Martin, do you want this email from the NCTLA that dates back to 1995? No? Goes into scrap paper. Oh, no, wait, it's double-sided. Goes into the recycling bin. This one goes to Subject-verb agreement. This one is about semicolons? Ms. Martin, there is no Semicolons drawer. (I had to create one.) Recycling bin. Subject-verb agreement. Scrap paper. Subject-verb agreement. Commas. Quotations. Scrap paper. IF I SEE ONE MORE BLOODY PAPER ABOUT SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT I SWEAR TO GOD -- Oh, wait, it's old. Recycling bin. English 070 tests? We have an English 070 course? No? Then how did this get here? Recycling bin. Oh, look, more Subject-verb agreement...Whose file is this? Mr. Brandon's? Then shouldn't it be in Mr. Brandon's office? Recycling bin. Subject-verb agreement?...No, this time is Subject-verb identification. Sigh.

Anyway, the rest of the day was easier. I emptied the closet and the bookshelves, and I microwaved Ms. Martin's lunch in the faculty lounge. That's the first time I've been in the faculty lounge, and probably the last time too. It smelled like wood varnish, had a fridge, a high-tech microwave, and a clunker of an oven that looked like it dated back to the early 1960's and needed cleaning. On one wall, there was a collection of mailboxes, each labelled with the names of the professors that work in the Humanities building. There were two or three letters in the boxes, but it looks like their main function is to serve as a shelf for coffee cups. Curious, I looked for all my teacher's coffee cups. Hopefully I didn't find Mr. Brandon's - in his box was a pink coffee cup that said, "I'LL START MY DIET TOMORROW," and I really hope that wasn't his. Mr. Drake's was absent, as his coffee never leaves his hands. Of course Mrs. Harden, the Earth Mother and Advisor To The Underworld, had not coffee, but tea, a pretty box of herbal tea in front of her teacup. Mr. James's coffee cup was nondescript white. They still have a box set apart for jolly old Mr. Davies's coffee cup, though he retired last semester.

So, yeah, I had to move around a lot today. My feet hurt.

I wish I could get to my writing. But the power adapter for my laptop has busted, and I can't order a new one until next Thursday. Grrr. I guess I can write without my material, but it's complicated. Reading a little of what I've already written is what gets me ready to write more.

At least my laptop is my own again. Mom and Sarah just bought brand new Dell laptops, so they have no need of mine.

Thank God for flash drives.

Stream Of Consciousness In The Studio

Here I am at the computer in the art studio at RCC. Nothing really much to say, just wasting time. All my projects are turned in for grading and there's nothing to clean at the moment.

I have about three poems boucning in my mind, itching to write them, but I can't. I would really love just a moment to sit down and write a story or a poem instead of studying for finals or tinkering away at my reasearch paper about Emily Dickinson (my favorite poet, and yet at the moment I am thoroughly sick of her very name.)

It's about twenty minutes until time to go home. I am SO hungry. Nick is on the other side of the room eating a Subway sandwich, and darn it, it smells good. I'm going to go home and eat a big bowl of chips and sunflower seeds.

Virginia came by a few minutes ago to see what I was doing. Shouldn't really bother me that my blog is being read by somebody else (otherwise it wouldn't be here and I certainly wouldn't be working on it in public) but still...I don't know.

Today I sorted all the art books in the studio. I didn't see much of Vincent Van Gogh, who I still believe is the best artist that ever was.

Gotta go now. Hope you enjoyed that irrelevant and very weird ten minutes of life in the art studio.

A Change of Profession (and Pants)

I don't know what the pants thing in the title is all of about. Just felt like being silly, I guess.

Anyway, I am thinking of changing Mara's profession in Paramnesia from an FBI agent to just a regular art teacher who happens to conduct her own private investigation of the ACC murders.

One of the main reasons for this is that I'm not even sure if the FBI ever has anyone work undercover when they investigate a murder. And even if they did, Mara's cover, as a temporary art teacher, doesn't sound plausible. At the same time, I don't want her to be an in-your-face Special Agent either, because that makes her inaccessible to Gavin. He is very intimidated by law enforcement officials, and anyway, Mara would be more severely treated for being too familiar with a suspect than I originally intended. The biggest reason is that I have no idea what to write next. I'm stuck, and it's at a part where Mara is going to have to exercise her authority as an FBI official. I don't know what can happen from there.

Now, when I consider her being merely just an interested party, I have many ideas for what could happen next.

Of course, a middle path I could take is that she is a psychological consultant for the FBI. Still an FBI official, but also a civilian, and still accessible. Nobody has to know to who she is except the FBI. Now that I think of it, I need some kind of psychological authority in this story anyway. Kincaid's specialty is forensics, so he isn't right for that sort of job, and Berkley definitely isn't (there's a reason I've nicknamed him Jerkley.) And Stark is going to die, so...Mara would be my only choice.

So, two choices:

1.) Psychology consultant (I need to double check at fbi.gov to be sure there is such a thing - but if there's linguistics and mathematics consultants, why not psychology?)
2.) A mere interested party who investigates the ACC murders on her own time a sort of Nancy Drew in this respect.

And if we want to go Nancy Drew, then the consultant is a good choice too. All that her job contract allows her to do is interpret evidence collected by Special Agents, not collect that evidence herself. Of course, she, being the subversive nonconformalist she is, will overstep the boundaries of her job contract and do a little sleuthing of her own - when the FBI isn't looking, of course.

When Mara finds a clue, she'll have to plant it where the FBI can find it, instead of pointing it out herself - like Elizabeth in Dead Man's Chest having to yell "What's that?!" before the crew of the merchant sees the "heavenly sign" she has given them to get them to sail to Tortuga. That weird comparison shows you how tired I am.

Okay, so I'm changing Mara either to an FBI consultant or a civilian. Good enough. All in a day's work. Bye!

Lessons From Nancy Drew

Don't laugh.

Okay, fine, laugh if you must. As a newbie suspense writer in search of insights into creating a good mystery, I've pulled out all my old Nancy Drew books (the 1929-1936 editions!) and studied them. For all their simplicty and charm, the Nancy Drew books actually are proving quite a fantastic help for writing mysteries.

Here's some principles I've gathered, in relation to Paramnesia.

There seem to be two situations Nancy gets into when she takes on a case:

A. Nancy knows who the villain is but can't figure out a motive.
B. Nancy knows the motive, but not the villlain's identity.

Of course, there are variations in detail. Sometimes Nancy's original theories are disproved. And sometimes there's more than one suspect, all with very unclear motives. In one of the best books, "Mystery at Lilac Inn," Nancy could name at least six people that she suspected were involved in the crime, but she had no substantial evidence of anyone's guilt. She only found the true villain after she temporarily suspended logic and trusted her intuition. I think that that was really a growing process for her, as a private investigator. In later books, she was more willing to follow hunches and do unexpected, even rash things - much to the enjoyment of this reader.

But I digress. What I wanted to draw attention to were the two basic situations. Now, Paramnesia doesn't fit either of those situations. Not that it has to, but still....The villain and the motive are both unknown. (Of course, I know them, but Gavin doesn't, and the FBI doesn't.) So should I fix that? Is that okay or would it be easier to write (and follow) if I at least give some clues?

Another point: Though the cases Nancy took on were always on the behalf of somebody else, there was something at stake for her, too. It could be a friendship, her credibility as a P.I., her self-esteem, her sense of duty and/or justice, even her life.

Gavin and Mara are the main investigators of the ACC murders (Mara officially, Gavin privately.) And of course there's something at stake for Gavin - he's trying to crack the case to protect his reputation, his self-esteem, and his life. Not unlike Nancy Drew. What about Mara? What's at stake for her?

Well, obviously, her career. She's failed to solve a number of cases, and this is her unofficial last chance to redeem herself. As an FBI agent, her main strength is establishing rapport with victims or suspects. That's why she is often assigned to work undercover. But her investigational skills aren't what they could be. She's doing this to save her career.

Also, she feels somehow responsible for Gavin. After her first experience with him, she can't shake the feeling that somehow, his well being depends on her ability to solve this case. I know, this doesn't sound terribly plausible. Gotta work on it.

And of course her life is on the line. Clear enough, I suppose, after the "drop the investigation or you will die" message.

But is this not enough? Should there be more on the line, something more personal? Even if I just borrow Nancy's fundamental sense of justice?

Of course, one weakness I have noticed, (because every great masterpiece has one,) is the quite frequent and irritating use of the deus ex machina, which in Nancy-Drew-ese is "most unkind tricks played upon Nancy by fate" or "the smiling of Providence upon Nancy." No matter what you call it, it's still a deus ex machina. And it will stay out of my story.

I'd love to keep talking, but I've got to go to sleep. Nighty-night!

Marooned (Sort Of)

Well, this is upsetting.

I am currently in the James Library at RCC, computer #24. I should be in swimming class right now, but it looks like swimming class was cancelled. Blast! Now I'm pretty much stuck here until 2 PM, when I have to go to work. And I haven't even washed my hair yet! (I may try washing it at the gym, but if the showers are still broken and there's only cold water - forget it.) Here I am with dirty hair and all my swimming class crap stuffed into my backpack and - ! Anyway, I called Mom and told her not to send Sarah Jo to pick me up until 3:30, when I get off of work. (Usually she comes for me at 1:50, when swimming class is over, because I need a ride back from RCHS to the college.)

"Bless your heart," she said. "What will you do about lunch?"

"I still have money," I said.

So here's my plan for the rest of the day:

1 - 2 PM: Research for English paper (and possibly try to wash my hair)

2 - 3:30 PM: Go to work.

3:30 - 4 PM: During the ride home, finish what math homework I can.

4 PM: Finish all math homework and then start writing English paper

8 PM: Forego watching American Idol if I'm not finished with my homework by then. (Novel concept!)

9:37 PM: Come back to this blog and lament the day.

I hate Tuesdays.

Health Care Reform

One of the most irritating and worrying issues that keeps coming up in the 2008 Presidential race is health care. A lot of people are all for universal health care, but I have some misgivings. It sounds way too good to be true, and it probably is. I, being a hardcore Jeffersonian, don't think that we should give the government ultimate control over the health care system. Not only will federal spending and tax rates go way, way up; the government will be in control of more than they already are.

So, while I was showering, I came up with a "brilliant," conservative, Jefferson-friendly, market-focused, win-win plan for reforming health care.

Step One: Reduce corporate taxes and taxes on the wealthy. Dramatically. Supply-side economics says that when these taxes are reduced, corporations and wealthy people will be more willing to just pay their taxes instead of going to their lawyers and accountants and trying to escape from the taxes. By cutting these taxes, the government will actually bring in more revenue.

Step Two: This requires some government regulation (which I don't like,) but less regulation than a universal health care system. The pharmaceutical companies give doctors bonuses for every prescription they write. This needs to stop. Instead, require that pharmaceutical companies only give bonuses to doctors if they can submit proof that the prescription was effective (and proof must be submitted both to the company and to the state governments within one year.)

Step Three: Offer pharmaceutical companies annual or semi-annual grants and awards for every, say, hundred thousand successful treatments that they can submit proof of. Use the extra revenue from the corporations and wealthy people.

This will take the healthcare industry's focus off of writing prescriptions and put it on actually making patients healthy. This will also increase competition in the medical industry and in the pharmaceutical industry. This will affect the health insurance companies as well. Since their focus will also be on making people well, they will not deny as many people coverage due to preexisting conditions or anything else. Demand for health insurance will go up, and less people will be dropped without warning. This could even reduce the need for entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Since affordable, high-quality health care will be available, entitlement programs won't be as necessary. And who knows? Maybe some money can go back into Social Security.

Sounds good on paper - or pixels, as it were. The hard part would be getting the primarily Democratic Congress to agree to cutting taxes.

If only there was a way I could get this plan out into the public for someone in power to hear.

Another Manic Monday

That sure wins the Original Title Award...

Well, Monday is not my favorite day of the week, but hey, it sure beats Wednesday, when mid-week-fatigue sets in.

I woke up with a sore throat. Mom had me gargle saltwater and a mix of ginger and tea-tree oils, rubbed lots of other essential oils into my skin, and even made me take an ibuprofen (I despise taking any kind of pharmaceuticals unless absolutely necessary). And yet my throat still hurts. What is the point of a sore throat? All it ever does is hurt, hurt, hurt. I felt lousy, but not too lousy to go to work and school.

Today was a good day at work. I work in the Learning Assistance Center in RCC as an English tutor, though I'm still in training. I got in an hour of training. Since she is trying to verify the records and expenses for when the auditors come, this made Ms. Martin, my supervisor, very happy.

School was the usual rise and fall. Wonderful English class, okay math class, terrible U.S. history class, okay art class. We went to see the student exhibition in the WSC, which was awesome, of course. (I had a few drawings in it.) The only bad part is that we had to vote for our favorite 2-d and 3-d pieces. There were so many fantastic pieces, I couldn't decide. I can't remember what I picked for 2-d, but for 3-d, I eventually settled on a wire sculpture of a mother goose and a gosling. It was so graceful, and yet the wires added energy. Almost reminded me of something by Giacometti. I wasn't the only one with several favorites. Virginia (a friend in my drawing class who has her head on straight) said, "I just picked one. I couldn't decide, so I just picked one at random." That's close to what I did, but I was also remembering that Mr. Drake said that the winning piece would be printed on the RCC postcards.

Now I'm at home with a ton of math and English homework that I really should be doing. Also, I should look at the review guide for history. Swimming class tomorrow, ugh.

Good news -- I asked Mr. Drake, and he said that in order to pass Drawing II, I had to have three finished, show quality series of drawings. And I do! So art will be easier from here on out, I guess. He said I could submit my current drawing for extra credit.

After this semester, I think I'm going to be finished with art -- at least in classes, I'll still draw independently. Taking these art courses has been an absolutely wonderful and memorable experience, and it's given me a bigger appreciation for the visual arts than I ever had. But art is not my desired profession. I love art and I make art, but I'm not a devoted artist, and I need to stop pretending that I am.

Of course, I will still hang out in the studio. It's my favorite place at RCC. And who knows, maybe next semester I'll get to hang out with Helen again. Helen's an art major that I became friends with last semester, but since our schedules were different this semester, we don't get to talk very often. I think she has a Live Journal; maybe I'll ask if we can share our journals.

I was reading Lisbeth's Congstation. She's reading "Angels Fall" by Nora Roberts, I think it is, and her description of the movie sounded quite intriguing. I wonder if I can find a copy of it?

Oh, dear, I just remembered I still have challenges at FM to finish. 4000 words on Paramnesia, at least 30 haiku or tanka -- yikes!

Not to mention a math worksheet, two math lessons, an APA assignment, three poems to read, and two papers to write. YIKES!

Get to work, Shelley!

Scribblings At Blogger Is Now Open

Hello!

Now I'm here at Blogger as well as Live Journal. Whoop-de-do. I'll try to update as much as possible. We'll see.

Check out my friend Lisbeth's blog: http://congstation.blogspot.com/

Also, check out Pen-Wielder's Guild: http://pwguild.blogspot.com/

And my profile has been vastly expanded. So now, if you ever wanted a comprehensive list of every book or movie I ever loved -- you now have it.

J. Shelley