Writing Program and References

I don't think I mentioned this on the blog, so here goes.
I'm going to apply for a writing workshop this summer. One part of it is a workshop where people help you improve your writing.
And the other thing is something you apply for separately. It's a grant to stay up in one of their cabins for a week fro free as you work on your writing.
I need to edit a bunch of my poems, and the beginning of Katani's story to submit. Katani is what I want to work on a lot (as well as Arith and Saleera's story). I better finish soon.
And for the grant, I needed two professional references. So I asked a couple of my teachers from this semester. I asked my writing teacher and a teacher from my climate change class who graded a lot of my papers.
I just got my references from them. Was I supposed to read them? Because I did.
:3
Getting all emotional because my teachers have nice things to say. Hahah! They were nice to read though. A good morale booster.

Summer and the Day of Black Sun

First of all (belated post, since this happened on Monday) did you guys witness the solar eclipse?
It wasn't a full eclipse here. I think the full one happened around Carson City, Nevada. So Carter, a friend of the family, must have had an amazing view. When I went outside to look at it, I noticed how the lighting everywhere was dimmer than usual. It was so strange and disorienting.
And you're not supposed to look directly at the sun during an eclipse. Dad has this cool way of holding binoculars up to a piece of paper, and then the crescent of the sun will be reflected down onto the paper so you can see what's happening.
And then someone went, "oh my god! Look at the shadows!" And we did. All of the shadows on the houses, cars, and streets, were made up of countless tiny little crescent shapes. It was amazing. I'd seen anything like that before.
Man, I wish we could have gone up to Carson City to see the real thing.
I'll get pictures up. Maybe on the next post.

So, on to part two.
Today was my last final.
Gasp gasp.
This was a final for the teachers that drives me (and most everyone else) crazy. Some of the things on the final I don't recall ever hearing in my life. I won't go into how horribly the last test went for everyone. But dude, the teacher was 35 MINUTES LATE for the final. What the hell?
Whatever the results, I'm just glad it's over.
And then both before and after the final, I was running a wild goose chase all around campus (literally) trying to sell back textbooks (during most of it, I had to carry said books around, and they weighed a LOT, especially since I took the train and I still couldn't get rid of the two biggest, heaviest books) and trying to finish applying for graduation. The graduation thing had me going about five different places. It would make a very long (and boring) post if I detailed everything. I wish they didn't make things so hard.
So, very exhausting. Glad to have it done, for now.

And on the train ride home, I finally let my mind relax a bit. And I got some good thinking done about the Arith and Saleera story. I'll have to send Ellen a nice long email.
I don't think vacation has sunk in. Maybe after a little while of not having to worry about homework, I'll finally come to that amazingly wonderful realization. Heheh.

Aww fricksickle! (<-- blame my friend for that one) I gotta finish my Fanime costume! Hahah! I wonder how I should do the collar...
Anyway, I'll give the next thing its own post. Somehow this post has turned into a complaint again. Bad me! Next post will be better.

Legend of Zelda and the Ocarina of Time Medley

Yesssss! I finally got it up! This is the Zelda medley I wrote back in high school! I've been wanting to put it onto Youtube for ages, but it wasn't working on my computer. the computer guy came over a couple days ago, and couldn't get it to work either. Finally he recommended a different program. I thought it would be hard to figure out, but it really wasn't. Now I can mess around with movies more~

Me on flute (Sun's Song is my solo), Ellen on piano. Friends of mine are also on flute, clarinet and violin. It was funny, because I had no idea that she was such an amazing violinist! Both of them were wonderful.
Also includes bassoon, trombone, and several percussion pieces (including tambourine, snare, cow bell).
Starts with Zelda's Lullaby, then Saria's Song, Sun's song, back to Saria's song as a round, Epona's song, song of storms, song of time. Then we have Sheik's theme (not one of the ocarina songs, but I love his theme), Minuet of Forest, Prelude of light, Bolero of Fire, Serenade of Water, Nocturne of Shadow, and Requiem of Spirit. I put little snatches of Sheik's theme between the temple songs to simulate Sheik teaching the melodies to Link. And then we tie it up with Zelda's Lullaby, which is what ends the game.
It would have been so cool to have a harp playing.

I've been playing with the idea of playing a bunch of songs on my flute. Pieces from movies or anime, or classical pieces. I really don't put my flute playing to much use outside of band anymore. And considering my Youtube channel basically gathers dust, I figured I should use it for something. And hopefully this will keep me from neglecting my flute over the summer. Heheh.
The next piece I'd like to do is on my ocarina. I told someone I'd try to play Lugia's song on an ocarina. I'm not really used to ocarina, but it's very similar to flute. And I have a very nice ocarina too. It's a bit tough to keep it in tune, but forunately I'm used to fixing that sort of stuff.
Considering the business of the semester, I have been practicing the ocarina song very slooooowly. But I'm pretty much ready now. I tried recording it tonight, but the recording doesn't seem to have great sound quality. The high notes are a bit screechy, and they are not in real life. I'm wondering if the screechiness will disappear when it goes onto youtube. Maybe I'll give it a shot.

Your Brain on Fiction

Cool article my fiction teacher showed our class.

Summer Approaches

Next Tuesday and Wednesday I have one final each day. And then finally it's SUMMERRRRRRRRRR!
Never in my life have I been so relieved to see the end of the semester. And now the blog will no longer be a place of me moaning about how much school stuff I have. Well, not as much at least. Homework is always fun to complain about.
Ugh. Never ever again will I take seven classes at once...
Thursday, one week from now, the first day of summer, I am trying to plan something. I've been psyching myself up for it for several months. And I'm finally ready. Now I just have to see if Thursday will be a good day for it. ^-^' May be that schedules won't work.
I was actually planning on doing this "thing" Wednesday, but that was when I got sick.
I would like to do it before Fanime. Cross your fingers for me.
And yes, I'll bet a couple of you have guessed what I'm talking about. Tell me if you have.

Black/White 2 Trailer

This is actually pretty freaking awesome.

If this was a trailer for a new anime, I might even be convinced to watch it. But I think it's just trying to get attention for the new games. Sure got my attention! Though maybe I'm just excited to see N in animated form. He has a voice now!
The fan view of N still confuses me. Seems most of the girl fans see him as dashing and romantic (I haven't the faintest idea how they came up with that). Others see him as a creepy creeper. I don't buy either of those, but I really like his character. Can't wait to have him in my fanfic. It'll be fun because Cara will get along with him half the time, and want to strangle him the other half. Heheh.
Which reminds me. I need to read the Black?White manga. I want to see how they do N.
Animated N~
^-^
If he showed up in some of the anime, I might actually watch a few episodes.

Siiick

So, yeah. Got really sick and so canceled plans from Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Although I didn't really have the energy to do anything, it's more free time than I've had all semester.
It's sicker than I've been in a long time. No doubt from trying to do too much. The three days off were an incredible relief.
I added the finishing touches to a picture that had been sitting on my laptop for a few months. it's not great, but I'm sick of staring at it. And I did a quick picture to enter in a thing.
Finally got around to playing a bunch of the game Crystal lent me. First games I've played in a long time. I forgot how quickly they can eat time! So now I must finish my homework for tomorrow. Heheh.

I found a thing. I'm not quite sure how it works. Can you play with it? Theoretically something will happen.