Pokémon Battle!

So, I have written a lot of Pokémon over the years. And a lot of Pokémon battles. They were always exciting to write, and I had a lot of fun trying to think of interesting ways to use different skills, traits, and field obstacles. Some chapters were almost entirely filled by important battles.

It turns out all of my Pokémon fanfic battles were excellent practice. Every time I write any sort of fight scene, between humans, dragons, or something else, I can't help thinking of my old Pokémon battles.
And I can probably write battle scenes very easily, and (hopefully) intense because of Pokémon.
Who would have thought, huh?
I just wrote a new fight scene for my Ashes story, and thought it would be fun to mention. XD

Digital Adoption

I wrote a rather in-depth post about this topic on Deviantart, but I thought I'd go a different route here, to angle it more at developing worlds and species.
In my worlds, I have a huge opportunity for creating creatures and cultures for them. And I have a lot of fun doing that. I think I've been creating creatures since elementary school when my friends and I were into Pokémon.
But most of my ideas are considerably newer and more creative.
Because of this, I love looking at world and creature information from other creators.
A book I've had for years now is about the different wildlife that appears around the Star Wars Galaxy. I have a book about the world of Avatar. And I have several books about dragons too.

So when I started noticing the world of adoptable species on Deviantart, I was intrigued. The designs, guidelines, and cultures were cool to learn about. But for the longest time I had no desire to try to get any. After all, I already have dozens of my own characters.
As opposed to now, where I think I spend too much time following this stuff. (I don't think I'll talk about the cost portion of this though. Some of the popular ones go for pretty crazy prices @_@ ).
So I wanted to feature some of my favorite species from Deviantart.


Levilarvae


Fishy


Romper


Tide Puppy


Glass Bauble Bab


Puddlesqueak
(Due to a bizarre misunderstanding, you can't even find these online, probably even if you search for images of them @_@ which is a shame, because they're beautiful.)


Tolm


Birdfolk/Akriri


Yevren


Puffshimi


Chaser


Waterdog


And here are some links to others that I think are awesome.
Chureep
Scarfox
Frigate Chaser
Gruffle
Weaver
Mantibab (These are insanely popular).
Guardians (These have changed somewhat recently. I love these old ones).

Some I REALLY love:
Koddoe
Fishy
Dipling
Ice Cream Devil


(Also, something I find kinda adorable or hilarious is how some artists refer to their characters as their children).

Heartbreaking Music

I recently discovered the most heartbreaking song I've ever heard.
For the longest time, I couldn't get it out of my head. I'm finally over it, I think.
But I figured I'd post about it anyway, since I don't think any song has ever felt nearly so sad to me.
Occasionally there are songs in movies, which I associate with sad parts of the movie. And that makes me sad.
But never has a stand-alone song made me so sad.

I actually posted about this singer before. Alexander Rybak. I said I liked him because he looked like he had a lot of fun during performances.
I didn't know about this song then.
I actually ordered one of his CDs, which is something I never do. And there are some good songs on it.
And then the total heartbreak that is the song 13 Horses.
I'm not sure if I should link to it...

The End of the Week

So, the camp went very well. Everyone had a lot of fun, including me.
Some of the kids said that it was there favorite camp.
They loved playing with the chickens, and wading in the pond to catch salamanders. There were some fun games (I love bat and moth).

And at the same time, my family from Portland is visiting.
So it was a very busy week. But a good one.

Red Seeker Taglines and Loglines

I wrote about taglines and log lines a while ago, and said I'd post soem of the ones I was playing around with for Red Seeker (I wrote some for my Ashes story too, but I need to find them first. I only know where one is).
These aren't necessarily all refined. They're just some of the ideas I came up with, for examples.

Taglines:
Do you take the choices you are given, or do you make your own?
Red or Green - which will you be? (I mostly like this one just because it seems dramatic).

Loglines:
Can Katani mend the rift between Red and Green in time to help the kingdom?

Taglines are more fun for me, because you can take bits of theme and tension and make them into little dramatic phrases.
Loglines are harder for me. I wrote down several, but most aren't any good. But I do need practice boiling down the essence of the story to a line or two.
I should probably try to make more of these. Taglines, because they're fun, and log lines because I need to work on them. @_@
What do you guys think about them? Any feelings?

Off to Work

So, I do a lot of work. Every summer I'm a counselor at at least one camp. And most weeks I'm at the wildlife center, taking care of animals.
Except I don't get paid for any of that.
I earn money in unusual ways, by selling some of the stuff I make (like my Etsy shop) and by working for people I know. For example, I help Mom with her jewelry work, or I help my aunt with some of her gardening/landscaping business, cat-sitting.
I don't have an official job.
Next week, however, I actually have a job I'll get paid for.
Ananda has a farm, where there are going to do a little summer program for a week. And I'm going to be one of the counselors. One of the 3 main people.
Usually I'm just a volunteer, so I don't have that much official responsibility. But not this time.
I'm slightly nervous, but I'm sure it won't be any different than the others I've done. I like farm work, and it's fun to paly with kids, so it'll probably be fun.
Except I actually get paid this time. XP
I could probably work out homw much I'm going to earn, but I kind of want it to be a surprise until the end. XP

I'll post if anything interesting happens. Probably at least once more, just to say how it went.

Determined to be Wrong

I heard about a study recently which just kind of makes me disappointed about people. Especially since it's a problem that we learned about in my major, and a problem that I've seen myself.
So, people hear something, or get their own ideas about a certain topic. And they get attached to those ideas.
That's understandable.
Except then they hang onto those ideas, even when they learn that those ideas are wrong.
For example, the study I mentioned looked at people's views on a certain medical issue. The participants believed something about this procedure that simply wasn't true. And when they read a report on why they were wrong, they were MORE LIKELY to stick with their own ideas. Even when faced with evidence against them.

People don't want to learn. They want to go on living in their own dream world.
Well, I've got news. You may not think you're sick, but that doesn't mean you aren't. Refusing to recognize the truth will not change reality.

Here's the example I heard today while I was volunteering.
Sometimes when people find a baby bird, they decide to take care of it themselves.
This is a terrible idea.
Baby birds need very specific care depending on the species. They are very fragile, and if you feed them wrong you can kill them. Or it can cause problems in them for the rest of their lives (nutritionally, ex).
Today, a lady brought in a swallow, and she'd kept it for a week, trying to take care of it. And she'd been feeding it the wrong food. She finally brought it in because it wasn't doing well.
Big surprise.
So Greg, one of the guys I work with, went out to talk to her. He told her that the birds system was all gunked up because she'd been feeding it the wrong food. We'd try to help the bird, if we could, but it might be too late. Because of her care of it.
But the lady didn't seem to take him seriously. She apparently worked at a vet office, so she figured she knew best. Except wild birds are not what she knows about. She knows about domestic animals. And I bet she doesn't even know about domestic birds (which is a much more specialized field than dogs and cats). Just because she knows something about a few animals does not mean she should ignore the guy who is an expert on wild birds.
So, if she ever finds another baby bird, she'll probably make it really sick too by trying to take care of it...

I mentioned that this problem also relates to my major. Climate change is a good example. If people don't want to believe in climate change, then no amount of evidence is going to change their minds. Because if climate change is real, that means they have to change their habits. The horror.
Sigh.
There are so many awesome people out there who want to learn more and make the world a better place.
But I will never forget one poll I took part in. The results showed that the great majority of people would rather remain blissfully ignorant.
Again, people. Ignorance does not change reality. It just makes it so you can't fix your problems.

Art Class

I went to an art class over the weekend. It was supposed to be a full weekend, but not enough people signed up so it ended up being just a morning.
The artist, Carianne, showed us how to do the style of painting she used. A very free style that uses different tools and paints.




I wasn't that interested in it at first, but by the end of the class I was starting to get it more. I think it's because they really don't look like ANYTHING until you add the final touches.
And when you start, you have no idea what you'll end up with.
And this is also very different than any other art I've done, so it took me a while to warm to the idea. Especially the part where you don't know what you're making until the end. Probably because I have so many ideas that I always work on those instead of just going with the flow.
When I paint, I inevitably end up with some extra colors. So I may use them for these kind of projects next time.
I should order some of those great markers we used...

Panic!

I felt the need to share this.
I re-read the end of Ouran High School Host Club. I realized that if anyone ever said anything romantic to me, I would probably act the way Tamaki does here (at least inwardly).



(It does read "backwards")
Heheh. It would probably make a good comic.

Book Proposal

Working on grad stuff still.
I'm trying to figure out if one teacher will be an adviser for me (to replace someone else). She asked me for some information, including a summary of my story.
So I sent her to one, and she said it was bad, because she expected a full book proposal.
So I wrote a proposal and sent it to her within a few days.
I'm technically supposed to meet with her next week.

I thought proposals were mostly for non-fiction work. But it will be good practice.
I'm still not sure if she's planning on being my adviser though? That's what we were supposed to discuss when we met.
So we'll see.
I really hope I can finish my program this year.
I still need to plan those exams...
Wish me luck.