Halloween!
Actually... it's the first year that no one's come over for Halloween. Neither of the people I asked could end up making it. Sigh. And our street, usually so busy for Halloween, was less crowded this year. Apparently they all go to a different street now.
So I harassed the neighbors instead. There's 4 of them. Triplets and an older girl. They're all in high school right now. They used to hang around all the time, but I don't see them around much anymore. I followed them around the block. Then when one of the boys and his friend were hiding in their front yard to scare trick-or-treaters, I snuck up and scared them. ^-^ That was cool.
I wore my red Ed jacket and threw on black pants, shirt, sand boots. My white gloves completed my half-ass costume. I don't usually end up cross-dressing, but my girl costumes are too much hassle. Plus I got a heckuvalot due next week . Why does everything have to be do right after HALLOWEEN!!??
~*~
Monday, October 31, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Comic Practice
I was gonna wait until I finished a few more of these, but Crystal bugged me to put them up.
During my classes, my teachers do a lot of talking. So I started drawing some of the comics I'd been wanting to do.
I find it kinda interesting how each one is better than the last. Though none of them are great. But you should see the ones I did a few years ago. Those ones are total garbage. These ones at least have some redeeming features.
I wonder if my writing is legible... Let me know if it's not.
Okay, here's the first one I did. Katani and Tri, from my story. And that's Melly that appears in at the end.
Here's Katani again. And Melly too.
Now I move into my Pokemon fanfic. That's Cara (the Pokemon world version of Fern) and Ben, and Hari. Hari is the wild boy they found. Hence his crazy hair. And he only wears Ben or Cara's shirts, which is why they're so big on him. In one chapter,
Cara called Hari her pet. Which is where this came from.
Cara and Hari again. And Polaris, her Ponyta. That's one of the new Pokemon. A rather ugly one.
Now this is where Fern visits InuYasha's world. Yes, that is Kagome even if it doesn't look like her. And that's Fern's wolf, Fang.
Tell me what you think, guys. Please!! These took lots of time. Time that I could have spent listening to my teachers.
I'll probably finish some more before long.
During my classes, my teachers do a lot of talking. So I started drawing some of the comics I'd been wanting to do.
I find it kinda interesting how each one is better than the last. Though none of them are great. But you should see the ones I did a few years ago. Those ones are total garbage. These ones at least have some redeeming features.
I wonder if my writing is legible... Let me know if it's not.
Okay, here's the first one I did. Katani and Tri, from my story. And that's Melly that appears in at the end.
Here's Katani again. And Melly too.
Now I move into my Pokemon fanfic. That's Cara (the Pokemon world version of Fern) and Ben, and Hari. Hari is the wild boy they found. Hence his crazy hair. And he only wears Ben or Cara's shirts, which is why they're so big on him. In one chapter,
Cara called Hari her pet. Which is where this came from.
Cara and Hari again. And Polaris, her Ponyta. That's one of the new Pokemon. A rather ugly one.
Now this is where Fern visits InuYasha's world. Yes, that is Kagome even if it doesn't look like her. And that's Fern's wolf, Fang.
Tell me what you think, guys. Please!! These took lots of time. Time that I could have spent listening to my teachers.
I'll probably finish some more before long.
Monday, October 24, 2011
The Society After Society
There's a lot of stories I want to write, many of which I've been working on longer and have more developed than this one. But this one seems the most important to me, which is why I want to work on it after I finish Katani (Katani was actually a relatively new idea when I started it, although I incroporated a lot of older ideas into it, like the whole prophecy thing.
That Aftermath episode only helped a little bit in developing my story, and it remained on the back burner for a while longer.
But then I started my climate change class this semester, and ideas came pouring in. I've been building up this society since the beginning of the semester, and I'm getting a pretty good idea about the 3 main characters and the world they're plunged into. I also discovered what will trigger the last breaking of society. And I recently realized that this will probably be the next story I work on.
The story takes place where I live, in the future by about 50 years, maybe? No doubt some countries have gotten off better than America, but some countries are in much worse shape also. I'm not sure what too do about them yet.
I'll start just before the collapse of society, following one girl. I'll go through the collapse, and some time after it. Then I'll skip about 10 years to what the society sort of solidified into given time.
There will be a few people who live in cities where they manage to live off the scant amount of renewable energy available, and they try to develop better energy sources. They can still use technology there. The cities are the only places that keep contact with other countries.
The majority of people will be stuck in the newly formed slums, which were once the suburbs of the old world. They scavenge on what's left of the old society and do their best to grow food and keep alive.
But then a few people will have taken to the woods. The first girl we meet in my story decided to move to the woods to try to protect them from the swarm of people who try to kill all the animals for food and cut down all the trees for fuel and shelter.
I'm going to have one main character from each of these 3 settings.
There's a man that lives relatively well in the city. A girl that lives in the slums, taking care of abandoned cats and growing her garden. The girl that took to the woods lives with a pack of abandoned dogs, trying to protect the wilderness. She also has some horses that were turned loose or escaped, which let her travel fairly well.
This girl was my original character idea. Being the nature fanatic that I am, I was worried that if society came to a messy end, people would swarm all over the forests and totally destroy them in their desperate attempt to get resources (Which in turn makes me feel equally bad for those people). So I thought what if some people decided to try to protect the forests? Good for the forests, but not so good for the people who want wood and game. Which means that the forest guardians are pretty much universally hated.
Last week I finished reading a book that gave me some more ideas for my story. The book was called Tracker, and it's the true story of this boy who learned to track and live in the woods from an old Native American man. There's some really amazing stuff in that book. But the part with the wild dogs is what I want to use in my story. Because the woods this boy hiked all over in had packs of wild dogs. These dogs had no qualms about attacking ad killing humans. Some of that stuff is terrifying. But the most amazing part of the book is when the boy and his friend actually help a pack of dogs out of a hole, and what happened after.
This is what gave me the ideas about the wild dogs that the woods girl has to deal with.
So, I won't go into any more detail here (I could talk about a lot of my stories for ages), but there ya go. the Pandora's box of the end of society has been opened. I did it all tonight after all, even though I have class tomorrow. ^-^'
That Aftermath episode only helped a little bit in developing my story, and it remained on the back burner for a while longer.
But then I started my climate change class this semester, and ideas came pouring in. I've been building up this society since the beginning of the semester, and I'm getting a pretty good idea about the 3 main characters and the world they're plunged into. I also discovered what will trigger the last breaking of society. And I recently realized that this will probably be the next story I work on.
The story takes place where I live, in the future by about 50 years, maybe? No doubt some countries have gotten off better than America, but some countries are in much worse shape also. I'm not sure what too do about them yet.
I'll start just before the collapse of society, following one girl. I'll go through the collapse, and some time after it. Then I'll skip about 10 years to what the society sort of solidified into given time.
There will be a few people who live in cities where they manage to live off the scant amount of renewable energy available, and they try to develop better energy sources. They can still use technology there. The cities are the only places that keep contact with other countries.
The majority of people will be stuck in the newly formed slums, which were once the suburbs of the old world. They scavenge on what's left of the old society and do their best to grow food and keep alive.
But then a few people will have taken to the woods. The first girl we meet in my story decided to move to the woods to try to protect them from the swarm of people who try to kill all the animals for food and cut down all the trees for fuel and shelter.
I'm going to have one main character from each of these 3 settings.
There's a man that lives relatively well in the city. A girl that lives in the slums, taking care of abandoned cats and growing her garden. The girl that took to the woods lives with a pack of abandoned dogs, trying to protect the wilderness. She also has some horses that were turned loose or escaped, which let her travel fairly well.
This girl was my original character idea. Being the nature fanatic that I am, I was worried that if society came to a messy end, people would swarm all over the forests and totally destroy them in their desperate attempt to get resources (Which in turn makes me feel equally bad for those people). So I thought what if some people decided to try to protect the forests? Good for the forests, but not so good for the people who want wood and game. Which means that the forest guardians are pretty much universally hated.
Last week I finished reading a book that gave me some more ideas for my story. The book was called Tracker, and it's the true story of this boy who learned to track and live in the woods from an old Native American man. There's some really amazing stuff in that book. But the part with the wild dogs is what I want to use in my story. Because the woods this boy hiked all over in had packs of wild dogs. These dogs had no qualms about attacking ad killing humans. Some of that stuff is terrifying. But the most amazing part of the book is when the boy and his friend actually help a pack of dogs out of a hole, and what happened after.
This is what gave me the ideas about the wild dogs that the woods girl has to deal with.
So, I won't go into any more detail here (I could talk about a lot of my stories for ages), but there ya go. the Pandora's box of the end of society has been opened. I did it all tonight after all, even though I have class tomorrow. ^-^'
After the Apocalypse
I think this post deserves the record for how long it's been put off. I think I wrote this stuff down in the summer, and It's taken me until now to finally post about it.
So, for a while, I've been building up a story idea, which I think I might work on after Katani. I got the idea from some of Miyazaki's movies, like Nausicaa, that take place after the end of society. Actually, I think that "Origin: Spirits of the Past" is what made me decide to make my own story based in a world after society has broken down.
Since I'm an environmentalist, this society will have broken down because of our destroying the environment, especially our reliance on fossil fuels, which are severely depleting. It will also be suffering from other environmental and societal problems, like climate change and resource degradation and overpopulation.
Sounds nice and cheerful, huh?
So, I'd had this idea for just a little while, but I hadn't really done anything with it because I had no ideas about what such a society would be like.
Then I saw this TV show which I decided to watch (I watch random TV shows maybe 5 times a year, one of which was last night, which leads to a random digression: I watched the first episode of something called "Once Upon a Time" as I was working on a picture for DA. It's interesting. I may watch more).
Anyway, the TV series I saw that helped me with my story was called Aftermath. I'd seen one episode of it before about what would happen to the planet if all humans suddenly vanished. There's some interesting insights (basically at this point, the planet could heal itself almost totally in about 100 years or something like that). But I couldn't help wondering what would happen to all the nonnative species we've imported everywhere. Would the native species regain control? Or would the invasive species continue to spread and wreak havoc until something happened to control them?
So, this Aftermath series has some strange scenarios, like what would humans do if Earth suddenly stopped rotating?
But the episode I saw was what would happen if all of the fossil fuel wells suddenly went dry. It gave me the first ideas of what a society would have to do without if the fossil fuels we depend on so heavily were suddenly torn away. The planet continues to consume fossil fuels while making very little progress in developing renewable energy sources. The closer we get to running out of fossil fuels without developing alternatives, the harder it will be to make the big transition. Because as the amount of oil in the ground decreases, it's harder to get the last bits of it out. Unfortunately, it's already too late to make a smooth transition, but the longer we wait, the worse the change will become.
I'm just gonna list some of the effects of a sudden decrease in fossil fuels that they had in that TV episode (with some of my own notes).
Jobs would be slaughtered.
Energy would be severely regulated. Electricity, phones, ex, would be cut off. Only emergency services would be kept running on what little renewable energy there is.
Ships and trains would be stopped for lack of fuel. Airplanes? I don't think so. They use tons of fuel.
Gas for cars would be really hard to get.
Even the gas you save for emergencies would go bad before long.
You could still use diesel trucks though, and ethanol and electric cars (if you had somewhere to plug them in).
How would you get to a hospital if there was an emergency?
Disease would spread.
No garbage pickup.
Groceries wouldn't get delivered. People would have to start growing their own food.
Livestock wouldn't get fed.
A lot of stuff is made out of fossil fuels, like toothpaste, lipstick, and plastic. But pesticides and fertilizers we use for our crops include fossil fuels too.
Cities could get abandoned.
We'd use sugar cane, corn, and soybeans to make ethanol and diesel. Which means those plants aren't used as food.
Their given solution is that we'd used algae as our primary energy source, but that would take a while to implement. We'd probably have to use a mix of renewable energy sources though, not just rely on algae.
Actually, I thought this series was prong pretty generous. They didn't mention the millions of people on the planet that are only alive because of fossil fuels (remember what I said about agriculture? That's the food that keeps the billions-large population alive).
Does this sort of stuff scare you guys as much as it scares me?
I have another post about further development of this story which maybe I'll do tomorrow.
So, for a while, I've been building up a story idea, which I think I might work on after Katani. I got the idea from some of Miyazaki's movies, like Nausicaa, that take place after the end of society. Actually, I think that "Origin: Spirits of the Past" is what made me decide to make my own story based in a world after society has broken down.
Since I'm an environmentalist, this society will have broken down because of our destroying the environment, especially our reliance on fossil fuels, which are severely depleting. It will also be suffering from other environmental and societal problems, like climate change and resource degradation and overpopulation.
Sounds nice and cheerful, huh?
So, I'd had this idea for just a little while, but I hadn't really done anything with it because I had no ideas about what such a society would be like.
Then I saw this TV show which I decided to watch (I watch random TV shows maybe 5 times a year, one of which was last night, which leads to a random digression: I watched the first episode of something called "Once Upon a Time" as I was working on a picture for DA. It's interesting. I may watch more).
Anyway, the TV series I saw that helped me with my story was called Aftermath. I'd seen one episode of it before about what would happen to the planet if all humans suddenly vanished. There's some interesting insights (basically at this point, the planet could heal itself almost totally in about 100 years or something like that). But I couldn't help wondering what would happen to all the nonnative species we've imported everywhere. Would the native species regain control? Or would the invasive species continue to spread and wreak havoc until something happened to control them?
So, this Aftermath series has some strange scenarios, like what would humans do if Earth suddenly stopped rotating?
But the episode I saw was what would happen if all of the fossil fuel wells suddenly went dry. It gave me the first ideas of what a society would have to do without if the fossil fuels we depend on so heavily were suddenly torn away. The planet continues to consume fossil fuels while making very little progress in developing renewable energy sources. The closer we get to running out of fossil fuels without developing alternatives, the harder it will be to make the big transition. Because as the amount of oil in the ground decreases, it's harder to get the last bits of it out. Unfortunately, it's already too late to make a smooth transition, but the longer we wait, the worse the change will become.
I'm just gonna list some of the effects of a sudden decrease in fossil fuels that they had in that TV episode (with some of my own notes).
Jobs would be slaughtered.
Energy would be severely regulated. Electricity, phones, ex, would be cut off. Only emergency services would be kept running on what little renewable energy there is.
Ships and trains would be stopped for lack of fuel. Airplanes? I don't think so. They use tons of fuel.
Gas for cars would be really hard to get.
Even the gas you save for emergencies would go bad before long.
You could still use diesel trucks though, and ethanol and electric cars (if you had somewhere to plug them in).
How would you get to a hospital if there was an emergency?
Disease would spread.
No garbage pickup.
Groceries wouldn't get delivered. People would have to start growing their own food.
Livestock wouldn't get fed.
A lot of stuff is made out of fossil fuels, like toothpaste, lipstick, and plastic. But pesticides and fertilizers we use for our crops include fossil fuels too.
Cities could get abandoned.
We'd use sugar cane, corn, and soybeans to make ethanol and diesel. Which means those plants aren't used as food.
Their given solution is that we'd used algae as our primary energy source, but that would take a while to implement. We'd probably have to use a mix of renewable energy sources though, not just rely on algae.
Actually, I thought this series was prong pretty generous. They didn't mention the millions of people on the planet that are only alive because of fossil fuels (remember what I said about agriculture? That's the food that keeps the billions-large population alive).
Does this sort of stuff scare you guys as much as it scares me?
I have another post about further development of this story which maybe I'll do tomorrow.
Get Good Teams
So, I think I'll post again right after this, because I'm gonna whine in this one. I've put this justified complaint off since Friday. But it's about that big project I mentioned.
Okay. So take an entire semester course, put it into one big project, and make that project due last Friday instead of at the end of the semester. That project includes a full paper along with several smaller papers, a binder full of our sources (I had to print out about 300 pages - I kid you not), trips to our specific wetland, and interviews with at least 3 experts on the site. And then add two group partners who you're supposed to work with and split all of the "smaller"tasks with.
My partners didn't even start their interviews or anything until a week before the project was due. I had visited my site twice, done all my interviews, and foud most of my sources and even then I had to use all of my free time the last week to go through my sources and write my paper.
My group mates were supposed to get most of their stuff to me on Tuesday so I could start organizing it into a binder. They didn't. So I told them to get it to me Thursday evening. They didn't. So we had to meet before class to finish. I assumed we'd use that time to put all of our stuff together and for me to burn my CD, since my computer wouldn't do it for some reason.
Not so. They hadn't eve FINISHED their papers 3 hours before they were due. And they were working on those instead of all the organizing we still needed to do as a group! I know they did a totally sucky job, and they didn't even really finish their individual reports and CDs. So I couldn't even start putting the binder together until the last second.
I was concerned about the guy from the beginning, and he admitted that he might not have even DONE the project if he didn't have group mates. But I was hoping the girl would at least have her act together...
I was so busy trying to get them organized that I only got to go over my own paper once. I know I did freakishly better than them, but I still could have made my own paper neater.
I freaking hate group projects.
Never get stuck with bad group partners. I can't wait to burn them on our team evaluation sheet. They better not screw up my grade.
Still, I'm amazed at how I was able to communicate with them normally that last morning. No screaming, swearing, or even glaring evilly at them. Considering the circumstances and how I felt about their work, I was perfectly civil. I'm rather amazed I was able to do that in hindsight.
Okay. So take an entire semester course, put it into one big project, and make that project due last Friday instead of at the end of the semester. That project includes a full paper along with several smaller papers, a binder full of our sources (I had to print out about 300 pages - I kid you not), trips to our specific wetland, and interviews with at least 3 experts on the site. And then add two group partners who you're supposed to work with and split all of the "smaller"tasks with.
My partners didn't even start their interviews or anything until a week before the project was due. I had visited my site twice, done all my interviews, and foud most of my sources and even then I had to use all of my free time the last week to go through my sources and write my paper.
My group mates were supposed to get most of their stuff to me on Tuesday so I could start organizing it into a binder. They didn't. So I told them to get it to me Thursday evening. They didn't. So we had to meet before class to finish. I assumed we'd use that time to put all of our stuff together and for me to burn my CD, since my computer wouldn't do it for some reason.
Not so. They hadn't eve FINISHED their papers 3 hours before they were due. And they were working on those instead of all the organizing we still needed to do as a group! I know they did a totally sucky job, and they didn't even really finish their individual reports and CDs. So I couldn't even start putting the binder together until the last second.
I was concerned about the guy from the beginning, and he admitted that he might not have even DONE the project if he didn't have group mates. But I was hoping the girl would at least have her act together...
I was so busy trying to get them organized that I only got to go over my own paper once. I know I did freakishly better than them, but I still could have made my own paper neater.
I freaking hate group projects.
Never get stuck with bad group partners. I can't wait to burn them on our team evaluation sheet. They better not screw up my grade.
Still, I'm amazed at how I was able to communicate with them normally that last morning. No screaming, swearing, or even glaring evilly at them. Considering the circumstances and how I felt about their work, I was perfectly civil. I'm rather amazed I was able to do that in hindsight.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Doorway to Darkness
I just realized that this probably merits a post.
I finished a fanfic yesterday. The 3rd part of my Pokémon fanfic.
So as soon as I can, I'm gonna start part 4.
I say as soon as I can because I have a huge (really freaking monstrously huge) project due next week, and my two partners are less than desirable.
Ugh. As long as they give me their parts, I'll be happy.
I still have a lot to do. I've finally gone through the 200 page watershed management plan and picked out the information that will be helpful. That plan has most of what I need. But I need 20 other sources in addition to that. I've been to my site twice and done most of my interviews. Despite the sheer amount I still have left to do, I'm probably not in too bad shape.
My partners... not so much.
I finished a fanfic yesterday. The 3rd part of my Pokémon fanfic.
So as soon as I can, I'm gonna start part 4.
I say as soon as I can because I have a huge (really freaking monstrously huge) project due next week, and my two partners are less than desirable.
Ugh. As long as they give me their parts, I'll be happy.
I still have a lot to do. I've finally gone through the 200 page watershed management plan and picked out the information that will be helpful. That plan has most of what I need. But I need 20 other sources in addition to that. I've been to my site twice and done most of my interviews. Despite the sheer amount I still have left to do, I'm probably not in too bad shape.
My partners... not so much.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Opossum
Bwahahahah! Three posts in one day!
This is because I meant to post both yesterday and the day before and I didn't.
So on Friday when I went to volunteer at the humane society, Marisa tells me, "Tara, you're releasing an opossum today."
I went O_O
After several years of volunteering there, I'd never been present at a release. And I got to do this one all myself! I put the young opossum in a box with a towel and drove home with it.
I went inside and said to Mom and Dad, "guess what I've got in the back of my car!"
It took them forever to guess opossum. Dad's been bugging me to ask about releases for ages, but I never remember when I'm there because there's usually a lot to do (except during winter). So, it just kind of happened without my asking.
So Dad came with me and I drove behind the cemetery near my house where there's kind of a creek. Dusk was just starting, which is when you're supposed to release opossums. I walked down the hill very slowly because it was a bit muddy. I open the box where the baby opossum is diligently playing dead with his mouth open and his teeth showing.
Then Dad calls for me to wait so he can get my picture and he starts jogging down the slope towards me. I look over at him and seem him run down the hill past me, and I sort of think to myself, "why is he still running down?" Then I realize that he can't stop because of the mud! Finally his feet slip out from under him and he ends up on his back.
After than interesting little distraction, I pull out the possum-playing opossum and set him in a small trough I'd pushed out of the leaves, sheltered beneath a tree. I set a couple larger leaves over him to shield him from view, and then we headed off.
It wasn't one of those things where you open the box and the animal scampers off to freedom. The little guy will probably lay there until it's nice and dark.
Do well, little opossum! Grow up big and healthy!
This is because I meant to post both yesterday and the day before and I didn't.
So on Friday when I went to volunteer at the humane society, Marisa tells me, "Tara, you're releasing an opossum today."
I went O_O
After several years of volunteering there, I'd never been present at a release. And I got to do this one all myself! I put the young opossum in a box with a towel and drove home with it.
I went inside and said to Mom and Dad, "guess what I've got in the back of my car!"
It took them forever to guess opossum. Dad's been bugging me to ask about releases for ages, but I never remember when I'm there because there's usually a lot to do (except during winter). So, it just kind of happened without my asking.
So Dad came with me and I drove behind the cemetery near my house where there's kind of a creek. Dusk was just starting, which is when you're supposed to release opossums. I walked down the hill very slowly because it was a bit muddy. I open the box where the baby opossum is diligently playing dead with his mouth open and his teeth showing.
Then Dad calls for me to wait so he can get my picture and he starts jogging down the slope towards me. I look over at him and seem him run down the hill past me, and I sort of think to myself, "why is he still running down?" Then I realize that he can't stop because of the mud! Finally his feet slip out from under him and he ends up on his back.
After than interesting little distraction, I pull out the possum-playing opossum and set him in a small trough I'd pushed out of the leaves, sheltered beneath a tree. I set a couple larger leaves over him to shield him from view, and then we headed off.
It wasn't one of those things where you open the box and the animal scampers off to freedom. The little guy will probably lay there until it's nice and dark.
Do well, little opossum! Grow up big and healthy!
Fern and Ben Comission
Instead of working on my terrifying project, I will procrastinate farther and post the commission picture I ordered a while ago. It's from the artist Jeneko, who I asked to do a picture of Fern and Ben. I told her a little about them and just let her do whatever she wanted.
She hasn't put it on DA yet, but I'll update this when she does.
So pretty ^-^ I love Fern's wings. And there's a sunset beach behind them. With birds. ^-^
There's only one commission I'm still waiting for.
I'm still a bit obsessed with commissions, but I kinda need to wait until I actually get some more money. @_@
Leaf occasionally sneaks up on me while I'm on the computer and jumps on my lap. It scares the hell out of me. She did it earlier tonight. I thought she was in Mom's room, so I wasn't even trying to keep my eyes out for her.
She hasn't put it on DA yet, but I'll update this when she does.
So pretty ^-^ I love Fern's wings. And there's a sunset beach behind them. With birds. ^-^
There's only one commission I'm still waiting for.
I'm still a bit obsessed with commissions, but I kinda need to wait until I actually get some more money. @_@
Leaf occasionally sneaks up on me while I'm on the computer and jumps on my lap. It scares the hell out of me. She did it earlier tonight. I thought she was in Mom's room, so I wasn't even trying to keep my eyes out for her.
Katani Interview
So, I was planning on starting Katani's interview tonight since I really need to work on my terrifyingly large wetlands project. But I got kinda hooked on it, and Katani and I finished the whole thing. With some help from Tyra.
So, yes. Tyra is Katani's dragon. Lari, Len, Garrett, Tri, Melly, and Dominic are the human friends that Katani works with. They're all Retrievers, spread across two different teams. Each of them has their own dragon partner and they fly around collecting certain things. Cause the interview makes more sense if you know that. And they talk to their dragons with telepathy.
Character interview
1) What gender are you?
Uh, a boy, I hope.
2) How old are you?
Well, during the book I’m 16 and 17. I’ll say 17.
3) What’s your favorite dessert?
I have to pick one? Chocolate cake. With good frosting.
4) What’s your favorite drink?
Katani: Hmmm…
Me: I’m waiting.
Katani: I can’t think of anything!
Me: Come on! What do you like to drink!
Katani: Well, you won’t let me say coke!
Me: Well, you don’t have coke on your world! Besides, it’s bad for you.
Katani: Jeez! Just put that rice drink, horchata, and leave me alone!
5) What is your favorite food?
Pizza
6) What is your favorite ice-cream flavor?
Strawberry
7) What is something you hate doing?
Almost getting killed by wild dragons and people.
8) Do you hate anyone?
Only people that have tried to kill me.
9) What’s your biggest fear?
Uh… that the rebellion would go haywire and everyone would die?
10) Do you have any secrets?
Not that I can think of.
11) What's your weakness?
Katani: I dunno. None?
Me: Don’t listen to him. He gets mad when people overreact about his eyes. And he’s deathly ticklish.
Katani: How is that a weakness!?
Me: Because you’ll do anything to make someone stop tickling you.
Tyra: It’s fun to poke him with the tip of my tail.
Katani: go away, Tyra! This is my interview!
12) When is your birthday?
October 12
13) What are your hobbies?
I like working with rope and stuff.
14) What is your favorite season?
Fall
15) What's your favorite color?
Dark red
16) Are you social or shy?
I don’t think I’m shy…
17) Are you nice or mean?
I don’t think I’m mean…
18) Do you consider yourself a happy or a down person?
Katani: I guess happy most of the time.
Me: Can’t you sound a little more certain about these?
19) What do you think of your parents?
They’re pretty cool. Dad a little more than Mom, maybe.
20) What do you think of your friends?
They’re all crazy.
21) Which of your friends is most annoying?
Katani: Tri, Garrett, and Melly are all pretty annoying. Melly in a different way. But if you want to go beyond humans, the gold medal goes to Tyra.
Tyra: After everything I’ve done for you?
Katani: And all of my food you steal!
22) Do you love someone?
Katani: Nah.
Me: realllllly?
23) Ever kissed anyone?
No
24) Would you like to get married some day?
Sure, I guess.
25) Would you ever like to have kids?
I suppose so, maybe.
26) Which friend do you trust most?
Lari, I guess. And Dominic.
27) Which friend do you trust least?
If you mean with secrets, Melly. She could never keep a secret.
28) Who is your best friend(s)?
Hmm. That’s kinda changed. I seem to have more than I used to. Mainly Lari, Tri, Garrett, and Dominic. I haven’t seen Len in a while, but him too.
29) What do you consider fun in the day-time?
Hanging out with friends and visiting the city.
30) At night?
Actually, hide-and-go-seek in the dark is pretty fun…
31) What’s your favorite place to hang out?
The beach.
32) What’s your favorite place to vacation?
Dunno. I fly all over the place with Tyra.
33) What place would you really like to visit?
One of the other countries, I guess. Telian, maybe. They seem to have the fewest big problems.
34) How often do you work out/exercise?
I have to every day, as long as I’m a Retriever.
35) What sporty activities do you like?
Sword fighting is pretty fun.
36) When was the last time you cried?
Katani: I don’t know?
Me: What about that time on the beach?
Katani: That wasn’t crying! I got sprayed in the face by a wave!
Me: Is that right?
37) Do you have a pet?
Katani: Does an obnoxious dragon count?
Tyra: What are you talking about? You’re my pet!
38) What do you do on a regular basis?
Train and fly and try to keep my dinner away from Tyra.
39) If you could buy anything, what would it be?
Katani: A muzzle for Tyra.
Tyra: Katani, you’re sooo mean!
40) Do you consider yourself a warrior?
I hope so, considering how much training I have to do.
41) What's your nickname?
Sometimes my friends call me Katana to bug me.
42) What does that mean?
It’s a Japanese sword.
43) What do you usually wear?
Katani: Pants and a shirt?
Me: Thank you for being so specific. What about your Retriever uniform?
Katani: If I’m on a mission, yeah.
44) If you were a superhero, you'd be...?
Uh, a kid that rides around on a lightning-spitting dragon?
45) What’s your favorite movie?
Katani: Avatar, I guess.
Me: Really? You like that dragon-ish stuff even when you have an obnoxious dragon like Tyra?
Katani: What’s that got to do with anything? It’s an awesome movie!
Tyra: I’m cooler than any of the dragons in that movie. And you don’t need to attach your hair to my head to hear my thoughts.
Katani: Do you know how weird that sounds?
46) What’s your favorite book?
Jeez, I dunno. Hunger Games was pretty good.
47) What's your favorite song?
I’m severely limited in my choices considering I can only pick songs you know. I like that Japanese one, On Your Mark.
48) Do you have a favorite band?
Again, severely limited. The only band you listen to consistently is the Beatles. So by process of elimination, I have to choose that one because it’s the only one I know.
49) What did you want to do as a kid?
Be a Retriever.
50) What are you doing with your life?
… Being a Retriever.
51)? What would you like to do with your life?
… Be a Retreiver.
52) What would you change about the world if you could?
Katani: About your world or mine?
Me: My world, because mine is the one with real problems.
Katani: How are my problems not real? Fine then. Stop screwing the planet up, people!
Me: Ah, yes. Thank you for putting it so delicately.
53) And finally… what is your favorite Pokémon?
Katani: Seriously! You’re gonna make me go through all 650 Pokemon! You’ve gotta be freaking kidding. Okay, fine. Let’s get this over with.
…
I like Garchomp and Ninetales.
Me: Not Flygon? It’s a green dragon, like Tyra.
Katani: Gah! Stop comparing things to Tyra!
Tyra: But Katani, you know you love me!
So, yes. Tyra is Katani's dragon. Lari, Len, Garrett, Tri, Melly, and Dominic are the human friends that Katani works with. They're all Retrievers, spread across two different teams. Each of them has their own dragon partner and they fly around collecting certain things. Cause the interview makes more sense if you know that. And they talk to their dragons with telepathy.
Character interview
1) What gender are you?
Uh, a boy, I hope.
2) How old are you?
Well, during the book I’m 16 and 17. I’ll say 17.
3) What’s your favorite dessert?
I have to pick one? Chocolate cake. With good frosting.
4) What’s your favorite drink?
Katani: Hmmm…
Me: I’m waiting.
Katani: I can’t think of anything!
Me: Come on! What do you like to drink!
Katani: Well, you won’t let me say coke!
Me: Well, you don’t have coke on your world! Besides, it’s bad for you.
Katani: Jeez! Just put that rice drink, horchata, and leave me alone!
5) What is your favorite food?
Pizza
6) What is your favorite ice-cream flavor?
Strawberry
7) What is something you hate doing?
Almost getting killed by wild dragons and people.
8) Do you hate anyone?
Only people that have tried to kill me.
9) What’s your biggest fear?
Uh… that the rebellion would go haywire and everyone would die?
10) Do you have any secrets?
Not that I can think of.
11) What's your weakness?
Katani: I dunno. None?
Me: Don’t listen to him. He gets mad when people overreact about his eyes. And he’s deathly ticklish.
Katani: How is that a weakness!?
Me: Because you’ll do anything to make someone stop tickling you.
Tyra: It’s fun to poke him with the tip of my tail.
Katani: go away, Tyra! This is my interview!
12) When is your birthday?
October 12
13) What are your hobbies?
I like working with rope and stuff.
14) What is your favorite season?
Fall
15) What's your favorite color?
Dark red
16) Are you social or shy?
I don’t think I’m shy…
17) Are you nice or mean?
I don’t think I’m mean…
18) Do you consider yourself a happy or a down person?
Katani: I guess happy most of the time.
Me: Can’t you sound a little more certain about these?
19) What do you think of your parents?
They’re pretty cool. Dad a little more than Mom, maybe.
20) What do you think of your friends?
They’re all crazy.
21) Which of your friends is most annoying?
Katani: Tri, Garrett, and Melly are all pretty annoying. Melly in a different way. But if you want to go beyond humans, the gold medal goes to Tyra.
Tyra: After everything I’ve done for you?
Katani: And all of my food you steal!
22) Do you love someone?
Katani: Nah.
Me: realllllly?
23) Ever kissed anyone?
No
24) Would you like to get married some day?
Sure, I guess.
25) Would you ever like to have kids?
I suppose so, maybe.
26) Which friend do you trust most?
Lari, I guess. And Dominic.
27) Which friend do you trust least?
If you mean with secrets, Melly. She could never keep a secret.
28) Who is your best friend(s)?
Hmm. That’s kinda changed. I seem to have more than I used to. Mainly Lari, Tri, Garrett, and Dominic. I haven’t seen Len in a while, but him too.
29) What do you consider fun in the day-time?
Hanging out with friends and visiting the city.
30) At night?
Actually, hide-and-go-seek in the dark is pretty fun…
31) What’s your favorite place to hang out?
The beach.
32) What’s your favorite place to vacation?
Dunno. I fly all over the place with Tyra.
33) What place would you really like to visit?
One of the other countries, I guess. Telian, maybe. They seem to have the fewest big problems.
34) How often do you work out/exercise?
I have to every day, as long as I’m a Retriever.
35) What sporty activities do you like?
Sword fighting is pretty fun.
36) When was the last time you cried?
Katani: I don’t know?
Me: What about that time on the beach?
Katani: That wasn’t crying! I got sprayed in the face by a wave!
Me: Is that right?
37) Do you have a pet?
Katani: Does an obnoxious dragon count?
Tyra: What are you talking about? You’re my pet!
38) What do you do on a regular basis?
Train and fly and try to keep my dinner away from Tyra.
39) If you could buy anything, what would it be?
Katani: A muzzle for Tyra.
Tyra: Katani, you’re sooo mean!
40) Do you consider yourself a warrior?
I hope so, considering how much training I have to do.
41) What's your nickname?
Sometimes my friends call me Katana to bug me.
42) What does that mean?
It’s a Japanese sword.
43) What do you usually wear?
Katani: Pants and a shirt?
Me: Thank you for being so specific. What about your Retriever uniform?
Katani: If I’m on a mission, yeah.
44) If you were a superhero, you'd be...?
Uh, a kid that rides around on a lightning-spitting dragon?
45) What’s your favorite movie?
Katani: Avatar, I guess.
Me: Really? You like that dragon-ish stuff even when you have an obnoxious dragon like Tyra?
Katani: What’s that got to do with anything? It’s an awesome movie!
Tyra: I’m cooler than any of the dragons in that movie. And you don’t need to attach your hair to my head to hear my thoughts.
Katani: Do you know how weird that sounds?
46) What’s your favorite book?
Jeez, I dunno. Hunger Games was pretty good.
47) What's your favorite song?
I’m severely limited in my choices considering I can only pick songs you know. I like that Japanese one, On Your Mark.
48) Do you have a favorite band?
Again, severely limited. The only band you listen to consistently is the Beatles. So by process of elimination, I have to choose that one because it’s the only one I know.
49) What did you want to do as a kid?
Be a Retriever.
50) What are you doing with your life?
… Being a Retriever.
51)? What would you like to do with your life?
… Be a Retreiver.
52) What would you change about the world if you could?
Katani: About your world or mine?
Me: My world, because mine is the one with real problems.
Katani: How are my problems not real? Fine then. Stop screwing the planet up, people!
Me: Ah, yes. Thank you for putting it so delicately.
53) And finally… what is your favorite Pokémon?
Katani: Seriously! You’re gonna make me go through all 650 Pokemon! You’ve gotta be freaking kidding. Okay, fine. Let’s get this over with.
…
I like Garchomp and Ninetales.
Me: Not Flygon? It’s a green dragon, like Tyra.
Katani: Gah! Stop comparing things to Tyra!
Tyra: But Katani, you know you love me!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Matantei Loki Ragnarok
Leaf's asleep on my lap right now. It's so different having a cat that actually sits on my lap. Midnight wasn't like this.
I haven't been posting enough on this blog about my actual stories. Two days ago, I had an idea that I should interview some of my characters, like Katani. That would be fun. But I didn't know what questions to ask. Then yesterday, a friend from fanfiction actually posted a fictional character interview. It was like, "holy cow. How did you know to post this the day after I had the idea to do it myself!
I've changed a lot of the questions, mainly deleting and adding some. But I haven't asked Katani most of them yet. So as I'm working on that, I'll do another random post.
Two days ago I finished watching an anime that Nicole recommended to me in high school that I never really watched until last month (Actually, I did watch maybe 2 episodes when she recommended it to me, but that was before I really watched anime, so I didn't really grasp a lot of it. This was the same time that she recommended Ouran to me, and it freaked me out when I saw it the first time even though I love it now). Anyway,this one is Matantei Loki Ragnarok (Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok).
It wasn't bad. The ending was kind of confusing. But there was some funny stuff in it. The puppy was really cute (to look at, at least). And when the guy turned into the giant snake, I went "YESSSS!!!! TOTALLY AWESOME!!!"
And I can't help laughing about Heimdell. Once again, the voice actor does the voice of a short, tough guy. Ed, Hitsugaya, and now Heimdell. Heheh.
So, not perfect, but fun in its own way. But I'd say it's worth watching.
Which reminds me. My Little Pony was actually quite good. I finished the first season about a week ago. It had fun characters.
I did have a few My Little Pony's as a kid. And I actually went back and watched a movie that I remembered about as a kid. The movie was very bad. Heheh. Oh well. The new series is fun at least.
I haven't been posting enough on this blog about my actual stories. Two days ago, I had an idea that I should interview some of my characters, like Katani. That would be fun. But I didn't know what questions to ask. Then yesterday, a friend from fanfiction actually posted a fictional character interview. It was like, "holy cow. How did you know to post this the day after I had the idea to do it myself!
I've changed a lot of the questions, mainly deleting and adding some. But I haven't asked Katani most of them yet. So as I'm working on that, I'll do another random post.
Two days ago I finished watching an anime that Nicole recommended to me in high school that I never really watched until last month (Actually, I did watch maybe 2 episodes when she recommended it to me, but that was before I really watched anime, so I didn't really grasp a lot of it. This was the same time that she recommended Ouran to me, and it freaked me out when I saw it the first time even though I love it now). Anyway,this one is Matantei Loki Ragnarok (Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok).
It wasn't bad. The ending was kind of confusing. But there was some funny stuff in it. The puppy was really cute (to look at, at least). And when the guy turned into the giant snake, I went "YESSSS!!!! TOTALLY AWESOME!!!"
And I can't help laughing about Heimdell. Once again, the voice actor does the voice of a short, tough guy. Ed, Hitsugaya, and now Heimdell. Heheh.
So, not perfect, but fun in its own way. But I'd say it's worth watching.
Which reminds me. My Little Pony was actually quite good. I finished the first season about a week ago. It had fun characters.
I did have a few My Little Pony's as a kid. And I actually went back and watched a movie that I remembered about as a kid. The movie was very bad. Heheh. Oh well. The new series is fun at least.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Ok ok ok before you shoot me down, or tell me that watching kid's shows is fail, you have to watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It's really well done, the art style and direction is really good, with a wide variety of character styles and personalities. While the lack of guy ponies is a little strange, they do have guy ponies, even if they don't play an important role in the actual storyline.
I had heard good things about this show and I felt that I had to watch, so somewhat begrudgingly I started on the first episode. So while the first arc is a little...silly and very cliche and basic, the variety of characters makes it interesting as well as their designs. Actually you should just watch this. It'll take four minutes compared to the hour of the first two episodes that make the first arc, and you can see someone's reaction of not wanting to watch and being super-skeptical to really liking it and wanting a figure of one of the ponies to sit on his desk.
I had heard good things about this show and I felt that I had to watch, so somewhat begrudgingly I started on the first episode. So while the first arc is a little...silly and very cliche and basic, the variety of characters makes it interesting as well as their designs. Actually you should just watch this. It'll take four minutes compared to the hour of the first two episodes that make the first arc, and you can see someone's reaction of not wanting to watch and being super-skeptical to really liking it and wanting a figure of one of the ponies to sit on his desk.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Little Anime Convention
There was actually an anime convention think today at UC Berkeley. Not really close, but I thought it would be worth checking out.
It was pretty small. A fraction of the size of one of the rooms at fanime. There were a few nice booths, though most of the artists aren't as good as the ones at fanime. They're probably students at the campus.
I actually found out about it through an artist on Deviantart (one of a couple hundred that I follow O_O ). Here she is. Anyway, she's really good, and she was there, so I got to talk to her and I got a couple prints from her. I would have gotten more... but I gotta use my money somewhere else. Sigh.
I got the Okami one and the Princess Mononoke one. I've loved the Mononoke one for a while, so it was cool to get a real copy for my room. I also wanted this one and this one too. Heheh. I like pretty pictures.
Her comic is really beautifully done too. I recommend it.
It was pretty small. A fraction of the size of one of the rooms at fanime. There were a few nice booths, though most of the artists aren't as good as the ones at fanime. They're probably students at the campus.
I actually found out about it through an artist on Deviantart (one of a couple hundred that I follow O_O ). Here she is. Anyway, she's really good, and she was there, so I got to talk to her and I got a couple prints from her. I would have gotten more... but I gotta use my money somewhere else. Sigh.
I got the Okami one and the Princess Mononoke one. I've loved the Mononoke one for a while, so it was cool to get a real copy for my room. I also wanted this one and this one too. Heheh. I like pretty pictures.
Her comic is really beautifully done too. I recommend it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)