Horseys

Dad and I got back from our trip to Reno yesterday.
For the first time, we took the train there. It was a nice ride, and the station was just a couple blocks from our hotel.
Dad's friend drove us around for one of the days, and we went up to look for wild horses. We saw more mustangs than we've ever seen before - either 35 or 36 gathered in 4 separate bands.
The train was about 3 hours late on the way home though. I didn't mind, because we weren't in a rush, and I had a book and a sketchbook and stuff. Dad was actually happy for the delay becausehe got to spend more time on the train (he loves trains).
The guy across from me was angry though. He was on the phone most of the time, complaining about how this was his first train ride and it was awful. When they passed out free treats to apologize to the passengers, he actually threw his on the ground in disgust. He was making himself really upset.
What's the point of getting so upset? You can't make the train move any faster. Getting angry isn't a fun thing to do. Isn't it nicer just to calm down and read a book or something? Or enjoy the scenery? (I get upset about things too, but I've gotten pretty good about letting it go quickly).
I think Ghandi said something like this: If there is a way to overcome the suffering, then there is no need to worry. If there is no way to overcome the suffering, then there is no use in worrying.
Basically, worrying won't get you anywhere. It just makes you upset. And getting upset often makes more bad things happen.
That's what's great about Pollyanna. She always finds the good side of things.

Fanime Zombies

I went to Fanime yesterday with Ellen, and we met Nicole, Daniel, and Kelly there.

Aah, Fanime is great.
Random people come up to hug you, people wear amazing costumes (some of them are beyond amazing), you're stopped to be photographed and you stop others to take pictures of them, and zombies sneak up on you to eat your brains.
I dressed up as Midna (I'll post a picture when I get home - I'm going to Reno with Dad tomorrow). Ellen was Dark Link. Her costume was great too (It looked a lot more professional than mine).
Since we were "traveling" together, a bunch of people asked for pictures of both of us. Especially out in the halls, where we had to keep posing as several people in a row asked for our pictures (though at that time we were also in the company of an awesome Skull Kid and Tatl).

There's always so much stuff to see!
But anime stuff is soooo much cheaper in Japan. Heh. If only Akihabara was easier to travel to. And they've got everything anime there.
Aaanyway, I digress.
I saw some of the artists I know from DA and we went for our traditional Chinese dinner in the evening.
But the highlight of the day, beyond a doubt. A girl dressed as a redead scared the stuffing out of Ellen.


I was a few paces away, and looked up just in time to catch it. Ellen was talking to a girl dressed as Shippo. The redead girl tapped Ellen on the shoulder, and Ellen turned to see a zombie face fight behind her head. She froze for a second, then gave a panicked cry and tried to bolt.
She couldn't bolt very far though, because there were people in the way.
Ellen has very deeply ingrained instincts against redeads from so many years of Zelda.
And for a few minutes, the three of us (Ellen the redead and I) stood together laughing (I apologize for laughing so much at you Ellen). It took about that long for Ellen's heart to slow down again, it seems.
I wish I had that on video.
Ellen said if the redead girl ever saw us again, she should jump on Ellen and pretend to eat her brain.
We ran into her once more. But we saw her coming, so she couldn't ambush Ellen to eat her brain.

FREEE~

I got my proposal turned in last night.
I thought I'd be able to work on it slowly over the summer break, but my teacher said to get it to hm ASAP with my new references and everything. So I had to do more research for that.
I'm not sure if my adviser will still want more changes, but I think I might actually be freee for the semester!
(Even though my last class was on Monday).

Now I really gotta work on my thesis story.

Elsa and Elphaba

I just finished the season finales of a couple different shows. And I wanted to gush about one of them, to try and get some of it out of my system.
There will probably be spoilers.

Once Upon a Time is one of them. I gotta say, I loved Regina in the last half of this season. Even before she became a hero. ^-^
I was a bit disappointed in the Wicked Witch, but then again it would be hard to compete with Idina Menzel's version as Elphie.

I'm not sure I was supposed to laugh during the wedding scene, but that had me cracking up.
The Back to the Future Reference was funny too.

Regina did so good at the end though. And they had to go and hurt her again! Stop torturing the poor woman! She's suffered enough! TT^TT I hope she doesn't hate Emma again... And that she finds another way to be happy.....

Ohhhh man, the end of that last episode... The liquid spilled out of the jar and started to form into a person. I started thinking, "hmm, which character will this be? That looks a bit like water. Ice, maybe? Heheh. Ice. Elsa. Whoa, gloves. Hold krape, a cape! IT IS ELSA!"
That had me laughing for two minutes straight, to the point where Dad came out and asked what the heck I was doing.
Since Frozen came out, I wondered if they were going to try to incorporate it into the series, but I figured it was too soon for them to work that into the plot. I guess not.
I wonder what they're going to do with her. They introduced her like she'd be a villain. I don't want her to be evil. TT^TT
Then again, I really liek Regina now...

I'm always a bit torn when I discover that a new season will be coming out. I guess because I've had too much experience with shows being dragged out waay beyond their fun-ness.
So, I just hope the next season will be fun to watch (even if it has me burst out laughing shen someone says "Will you marry me?" That's not a normal place to laugh, is it? )



The other show was My Little Pony. XP I feel obligated to keep up to date on it, sicne I started getting more more pony commissions again (I don't get any for half a years, and then I get three within a few weeks of each other. Possibly a 4th. Heh). Most of the season wasn't too memorable, but I liked the Daring Do episode ("Daring Don't" I think). Although that's probably just because it's about a writer. Or more accureately a super-hero who's also a writer.

Documentary Dramas

Fair Warning. This will probably just be me complaining about annoying TV/Movie stuff.
Dad and I went to see that Disney documentary, Bears.
I figured this would happen, but I was still disappointed that it did.
Because they've done this in most of their documentary movies. They try to turn the animal stories into human dramas, and it's really annoying. I don't want to hear your stupid commentary about "ooh, the baby bear's looking at all the old bears because he wants a good role model, but those bears are too sweet, and those bears are too lazy."
Don't give me your stupid commentary. I just want to watch and learn about bears!
And of course they go through the whole "oh my gosh, the baby bear is dead! Oh, no he's not. He's actually fine. Psych!"
Dad thought they were trying to dumb it down for kids. Even if that's true, it's still no excuse. Kids aren't stupid. And that dumb commentary isn't going to help anyway.
Sigh.
That's what I like about the people that make those Planet Earth documentaries. There's amazing footage, and the commentary is good too.

And this is barely related (to kids being tougher than we assume), but I just watched the Captain America movie (the first one). It was better than I thought it would be. I liked the character.
And I really liked the part where he first gets his powers, and he's chasing the bad guy. The bad guy throws a kid into the river to try to distract Captain America. But the kid goes "Go get him! I can swim!" Hah! That was great. Thank you for that. Kids are tough. They don't always make good "damsels in distress" because they aren't necessarily helpless. I just heard about some guy who stole a car with two little boys in it. But one of the boys started attacking the guy, and he had to get the kids out of the car, because he couldn't handle them. Heheh. You are an awesome kid. Keep it up!

Restart

(Ugh, I've been working on one of my homework things to turn in next week and didn't realize how late it got...)

I started working on the beginning of Ashyn's story again. I finished re-writing the first chapter last night.
Sigh. So many other distractions from writing. Like school, despite the fact that I'm supposed to be writing this story for school. I was also trying to edit some more Katani stuff though. And I did a bit of fanfic stuff too.
But Ashlyn is a tricky one to write for. It's not so bad if I really sit and focus on it for a while. I've got to get in the mood too, and the beginning has a pretty hopeless feeling which makes me reluctant to write it some evenings.
I'm definitely glad I rewrote the first chapter though. Now I at least have something more solid to work off of.

In the time it's been taking me to rewrite Chapter 1, I've also figured out more about Ashlyn herself, and about what drives her decisions in the beginning of the story. It's great to get some of those gaps filled. I still have about a million gaps to fill. Not counting the fact that I have no idea how to make the climax happen.
That's okay though. I always am missing most of the story when I begin. I fill it in as I go.

Empty Shell

Well, it was my last full week for school for the semester, and it was pretty crazy for a lot of reasons. Which I guess it to be expected for the last week of the semester. It's nice to have all that behind me, at least. --_--
Just one day of class left (though I still have to turn in some big assignments online). The last day doesn't have anything big though. So summer vacation is starting to feel close.
I'm not out of work though. To the contrary, now that I have a break from school, I really gotta get to work on my thesis story. My main adviser asked an estimate of when I'd have a working draft. I said I'd send him something by the end of next semester. I don't want it to be my first draft, obviously. I'm going to have to push myself to have an edited draft by then.
It's a bit nerve-wracking to think of... considering how slowly I've been working on Katani's stuff......
(Bad Tara)
Whoo
Wish me luck, guys. Make sure I don't slack!

Last night on the way home, I drove past the scene of that fire.
I was shocked - everything was gone with just a few empty brick walls standing. The entire front part was gone completely, as were the trees that had been there.
I thought there would at least be a skeleton of the building remaining. It makes you realize how powerful fire is, even in a city.
I didn't have my camera, but Nick sent me the pictures he took of the fir (Thank you, Nick!)

$_$

Wow, I actually won a scholarship. I've only applied for one before this semester (mainly because I always lost track of the deadlines and they were always in the midst of other schoolwork that distracted me - and I was just lazy).
It's still rather surprising to think about.
And I have to write a thank you letter now. I need to figure out something polite to write so I'm not just saying "Thank you for money!"
XD

James Herriot

I read James Herriot's books back in high school. If you don't know, he was a vet in Europe who wrote about some of his experiences many years go when the vet practice wasn't as... sophisticated as it is now.
But one of his books has been sitting on my shelf for years and is a compilation of his dog stories. That is probably the books that has been sitting unread in my room for the longest. I'm finally reading it. I've actually read almost all of these before, but I forgot most of them and am reading them again (though I skipped a few that I clearly remembered). I forgot how much fun they are. He's a great writer, and it's fun reading his stories over again. It's not often that I laugh aloud while reading a book.

Hmmm, I'm not sure if I can add this to the list of romances I like because these are all true stories... but poor James sure had some trouble with his girlfriend before he finally got married. Awwww, but the way he writes about it is so sad and funny...

Proposal Speech

So yesterday I gave my defense speech for my thesis idea. It as basically like other speeches I've given to class. I read a couple pages of my story, and then talked about environmental fiction, and gave some examples of how it's actually made a difference.
I actually probably should have prepared for it more, but I slacked a bit on practicing since I'd given a very similar speech last semester. And it went fine anyway (hopefully I won't subconsciously decide that I don't need to practice much before a speech because of that @_@ ).
The teacher said something along the lines that he was pleasantly surprised at how well did. Which I wonder, does that mean he didn't expect a good speech? Heheh.
Ah well. Since it's a topic I've been researching the past 2 semesters, it was easy for me to talk about without hardly looking at my notes. (That was a pleasant surprise to me, how everything just kinda poured out of my mouth almost naturally).
Anyway, after flute solos, talking for 20 minutes in front of 10 people is no problem at all. I wonder if it would be harder with more people.
Hmmm... public speaking...
Flute solos are terrifying... I really gotta try to get over that some. Maybe I should make people sit and stare at me while I practice.....