Ashlyn

Remember I mentioned my character development sheet that's more than ten pages long?
I filled it out for Ashlyn.
Since I've been stalling on starting a new story project, I've been working on some side projects. Like the character development for Ashlyn.
I would like to fill this out for all of the characters in Katani and Ashlyn's stories, but they take so long to do... I probably should do a few more though. For some of the other main characters, at least. Or my favorite characters.

Another thing I've been doing is working on the guides to my two worlds, Magic-Earth and Soreina. I've still got a long way to go, but it's nice to make progress on them.
I'm still not entirely sure what I'm going to put in my Soreina guide. I think that one requires a lot of pictures, for the different creatures. I can write some of it though.

I also have a list of stories I have in mind. It's a very long list. The first part is stories that I have a pretty solid idea of. There are 17 of these.
The second part is stories that I have bits and pieces of. I have 20 of these.
And the last part are stories that I have only a vague idea of the main point. There are 28 of these.
Probably some of those will be combined, as that inevitable happens as I think about them more. "Hey! I can actually fit those two together!"
A couple might be short stories.
But I have this list all ready to peruse~

~Merry Christmas~

Merry Christmas everyone!
I hope you all spend a nice time with your family, or friends, or both.


And while you're probably sick of hearing about this by now, I caught 2 shiny Pokemon the day before Christmas Eve.
On my Y version, I was shiny hinting via hordes for a Nidoran M (one of 2 shinies I missed catching about 10 years ago).
And I found a shiny Starly. I wasn't sure what to call her, but we made Pumpkin pie that morning. Pumpkin didn't seem to fit, so I named her Pie.
I might keep her unevolved. She's cuter that way, and I'm not as fond of Starly's evolved forms.


I kept hunting for my Nidoran, and I finally found him! The blue bunny I missed catching back in the original Gold game.
I named him Aran (after Samus Aran, because I'd been playing Metroid Prime that day).

He's now a Nidoking, and he looks awesome.


So, 2 shinies on one day.
5 in the month.
Maybe I should keep looking for my shiny Girafarig while my streak is still going. The other one I missed 10+ years ago.
Though it seems like they're a bit too easy to find now.
Then again, 4 of those shinies were from X and Y, and I had never found a shiny in those games up to this point.
Hmm.

An Actual Working Computer

I finally got my replacement computer plugged in today!
It's such a relief to be able to actually use the internet on my desk computer. My old computer had been slowly self destructing in regards to the internet.
First email and deviantart stopped working well. Then youtube started getting touchy. Some other websites wouldn't load at all, or wouldn't let me log in. And last week it wouldn't let me post on the blog anymore.
So I am finally on my new computer, typing out a blog post XD
Whoo! That means I can start to watch more stuff on the internet too (because one of the things to stop working were most anime websites. That was a long time ago).

Whoo!

Possible Start

I'm still debating about which writing project I want to get into right now.
I did start writing part of that newer story I mentioned. Hmmm... how should I refer to it to make it clearer? Star story? Unicorn story? Evva? It's not really about the star, but that's my favorite part... Heheh. Stars and unicorns. So sparkly.
Not really. It's rather darker than that.

While I know how some of the story will go, I had absolutely no idea how to start it. But while I was walking to my last creative writing class of the semester, I thought of something.
So, I've written part of a first chapter. I like how it started, and I know how the chapter will end. But the middle is kind of flailing.
Eh. Maybe when I finish the chapter, I'll be able to fill in the rest better.

It's been so long since I started a new project!
I wanted to talk about it with you guys, but I haven't seen anyone recently.
I've got to stop debating about it, and just pick something. I couldn't focus much on writing tonight because I can't settle on my next story.

I feel like this is a really dumb dilemma...

Moving On

I finished going through Katani's story again. There are still a couple more ideas/culture stuff that I want to incorporate throughout, but I think I'll wait until the next read-through so I can get them in more smoothly.

As for my Ashes story, I don't think I'll work on that anymore until after I graduate (beyond any changes my advisers want to see).

Which means that I need a new writing project.
I've got 20+ story ideas, with varying degrees of development. Some I'm more enthusiastic about at the moment. There are a handful I would consider picking up as my next project.
Usually the story I've been thinking about most is the one I'm most enthusiastic about.
The problem is, that story is usually my newest idea.
Which means that a lot of my older ideas keep sitting around. They get bits and pieces added, but they don't get started.
Katani's story was one of those newer ideas. So new that it was more gap than it was story.
And the story I'm most excited about right now is the same way. It's a new story that is mostly hole.
So, my dilemma. Go with a story that I'm really into right now, but has very little development. Or go with an idea that's been around longer, and thus is more whole (still a lot of holes, but that's inevitable, with the way I write. I fill in most of it as I go).
Whatever I start, I'm sure I'll get excited about on the way.

I should probably stop myself from listing all of the stories I could potentially start...

Green Ninja

I went to a job interview yesterday.
At least, I assume that's what it was? (Since I've never actually been to one before).
I've never really looked into any proper jobs, since I'm still in school. But this one was perfect for me, so I thought I'd give it a try.
I'd work with a middle school class, and help them create environmental stories.
I hope the interview went well. I think it did. She seemed really interested in my projects (my writing, and my volunteering at summer camps, ex).

I suppose it's natural to look back on these sorts of interviews and wonder if you came off as a total idiot, or if you were just fine.
I wonder how many really dumb things I do without realizing I'm doing them.
I know there have been some, that I realize in hindsight. But how many do I not even know about?
@_@

Wish me luck! It sounds like it'll be a fun job for the semester. Especially since I pretty much finished all the classes I need for my grad program.

What is this Nonsense?

Three shiny Pokemon in one month?
How is this possible?
And to top it off, my favorite Pokemon! Who I have, of course, always wanted as a shiny.



My very own shiny Ponyta!
I named him Starlight, because there was a shiny Rapidash in my fanfic who's named Starlight.
Alpha Sapphire - I was actually wondering if I could find a shiny with the Dex Nav.
...And I did?

O_O

O____O

Now I just need a shiny Nidoran M and Girafarig (I found those two as shinies in the original Gold/Silver, but I missed catching them. So I need to make up for it).

I wonder how many grad students get so excited about shiny Pokemon?

Endings~

I finished going over Katani's story once more.
It's at a point where I feel really good about most of it. Though I do still have some notes of stuff I need to add or clarify.
There was a lot more culture I wanted to add, but I'll probably have to save most of it. It would be too cluttered otherwise.
I'm debating about sharing it. I guess I've been doing that a lot recently, come to think of it...
It feels good to finish another draft! Except it's not really finished, because like I said I still have a few other things to add.
So I will get to that next~
Tomorrow, maybe.
Except most of the stuff are little bits of world and culture that need to be integrated throughout the story. I've been putting it off because I know it will be hard to do. I need to find several places to slip them in neatly. I gotta get through them one at a time, I guess.

The Miracle fo the Friend Safari

Two Pokemon posts in a row? What?
So, yesterday I found a shiny Mienfoo in the Friend Safari. I had heard rumors that shinies were more common in the Friend Safari, but I had never found one. Until yesterday.
And today, I was using the Friend Safari on my other game (X this time - I caught Chris on Y). I just beat the Elite Four today, while in the car for a long drive, so I finally unlocked the Safari in X. I went through all the stages, just seeing what was available.
And I found this.


A shiny Pumpkaboo!

What is this nonsense? Two shinies in a row, a day apart? Usually I find less than one a year.
This year I found... four?
Seriously?
@_@
I wonder if they're making them too easy to find in the game. But I'd never found any in X or Y before this.
And I love all of mine anyway~
I have 11 that I found myself (not including GTS and events). This is all of them, except Echo, my Bellossom, and Chris, the Mienfoo. I want to draw all of them together. All my shiny babies~
I have too many things I want to draw...

Oh, her name is Alira. Because I was watching a movie, and there was a vampire who had a name like that, and I thought it would suit my little pumpkin ghost gal.
I have to stop naming them after movies...
I wonder if I should evolve her. Except she requires a trade evolve, and I only have one 3DS.
Hmmm. Stay, or evolve?

Chris

I caught a shiny Mienfoo today!

After hardly having picked up a game all semester. @__@
I named him Chris. I was watching a movie, but I didn't really know the characters well, so I named him after an actor who's in several movies I like, since he was also in that movie (Christopher Lloyd).
This is the first time I have ever found a shiny while I was actually looking for one...
I'm really excited about this one~
It wasn't even that long ago that I caught my shiny Gloom!

Overanalysis

In my young audult fiction class, we've read a few things about something called Lacanian theory. I'm still not sure that I understand it, but it seems to say that everything in a young adult novel is about rebelling against authority. And they made some really weird connections. Like if a character is an orphan, they seek out a parent figure just so they can have someone else to rebel against.
And how in Charlotte;s Web, a little girl save sthe life of a pig, just to spite her father.

No.
Just no.

Sure there's plenty of truth to the idea that young adult fiction is about reellion.
But just because you have a theory doesn't mean you should twist everything to fit in that theory.
A little girl saving the life of an animal, especially in Charlotte's Web, is not about rebellion. It is about love.

And if an orphan seeks out a parent figure, it's not necessarily to find someone that they can rebel against. More likely they want someone to watch over and help them. Someone that they can love and confide in.

It is possible to over-analyze things.
Which is probably one of the reasons that I loathed high school English.
I was thinking about this recently, about how good I would do at that kind of analysis now, if I were to take those classes.
And then I realized that no. Those weird tests they had us do about analysis were just crazy, and I don't know that I'd do much better at them....

Chapter

I'm adding a new chapter to Katani's story!
I've been meaning to do so for a very long time. Probably a couple years, or more. I could never decide where to fit it in.
But I finally managed to find a home for it, near the end of the book.
It's a new mission, one where Melly and Katani have to work together. I wanted to use it to get more into Melly and Mekki's characters.
And we get to travel to a new place too.
I haven't written a new scene with Katani in a long time, so this is fun to do~ I'm almost done writing it, and then I'll have to go over it to edit.

Background Photo Bomb

This is something I wonder about occasionally.
How often do we show up in pictures other peopel take?
I'm not talking about people you know and take your picture. But people you don't know.
For example, Fanime, with everyone taking pictures of everyone else because of their cool costumes.
And also if you happen to show up in the background of a totally random picture.
What were we doing when those pictures were taken? Is it a picture we might like to own? What do strangers think when they see us? Do they even notice?

Something funny happened to me a while ago.
I was on the train, and across the way was a group of high school students. They were talking and having fun, goofing off as friends do. It was fun listenign to them.
That evening, I was tagged in a photo on Facebook. It turns out that a friend of mine knew those peopel. They took a picture on the train, with me in the background. My friend spotted me in the picture and went "oh my gosh! That's Tara!" And she tagged me.
So, that random photo taken on the train found its way back to me.

Shadow Scale

I finished reading Shadow Scale. It's the second book, after Seraphina.
Most of the book was really good. Awesome buildup, good characters, and a pretty intense antagonist. Cool world too.
But the finale and the ending were... disappointing.


Spoilers.

The final buildup was mostly just waiting around, stuck in the castle. And for the big climax, I was really hoping that Seraphina unlocking her power would be the key to ending everything.
Well, It kiiind of was? But not really. Instead it was a giant person? Why? He just comes in and fixes everything? And he takes away that lady and we never hear from her again?
And the resolution didn't feel very refined. It felt like it could have been done a lot neater.

Sigh. I was even more disappointed than usual because the rest of the book, and the book before it, were so good!

Have any of you guys read it yet? What did you think?

Craft fair

So, my craft fair went well.
And I learned something by comparing this fair to the one last year.
I shouldn't bring bigger fancier stuff. I should bring more cute little things. There are these little felt animal I make, but those are entirely hand-stitched, and take forever. So it's not really an efficient thing to make, considering how much I'd have to charge for one for it to be worth my time.

Most of the time, I just experiment all over the place. But a lot of my patterns are getting pretty solid now. I'm always torn between making something new, and improving on something old.

So, I have a year to think on that for next year.
Simple cute things. Hmmm.

Ghost Chapter

Last week, in my scifi/fantasy class, we had a fun assignment due. We had to write a ghost chapter, from one of the readings we did in class.
Which is a lot more interesting to write than an essay.
We've read dozens of short stories. Some I like, but couldn't find a gap to write about. Others I didn't have any good ideas for, and some I just didn't want to write about.
I finally settled on "We Can Remember if for You Wholesale," by Philip Dick.
This is the short story that Total Recall is based off of.
I wrote my chapter on a certain encounter Douglas has as a child, with some little aliens.
Two of my friends in the class really like it. Maybe I'll share it? I wonder if there's a section for it on Deviantart.

Sewing Sewing Sewing

The little craft fair is coming up in a little over a week. I've been spending all my free time this month sewing stuff to bring. There's a cute pair of cuttlefish on the couch right now~
So I haven't been writing as much as I'd like.
But hopefully I'll get a bunch of new stuff made for the craft fair!

Stress Relief on the Road

Considering the crazy, dangerous stuff some people do with cars, driving can be really stressful sometimes.
Sometimes I just hate cars.
And I've found that music can really help in calming me down if someone just did something really stupid near me.

First of all, music can help re-set your mind, depending on what you're listening to.
But if you're me, I take it even a step further. As in, "I'm really mad at that jerk! But I really want to sing along with this song..."
And almost immediately after I resume singing, I feel better.

I've found a lot of ways to help me not get as upset about things. Which is great. It means I don't spend much time stressing about things I can't change.
Which seems all too common in a lot of people.

Letters to the Dead

In my YA fiction class, we just finished a book called Love Letters to the Dead. I didn't care about the book much, but our blog assignment for the week was that we could write our own letter to the dead.

In the book, the main character wrote her letters mostly to famous people - singers, actors, etc. Which is a good option, if there is a famous person who influenced you.
But maybe a loved one died. You may want to write a letter to them.

Or maybe it's someone that you never got to meet.
What I did was write a letter to both of my grandfathers. I never met either of them (my Grandpa right now isn't technically related to me, but he's been the best Grandpa).
What would I say to them if I could meet them? How would we get along?

This is an activity I'd recommend. Write your own letter to someone who is no longer among the living.

Letting out the Air

So, as you may have been able to tell, I spent most of the last two months frantically trying to get my project ready to graduate.
But that's not going to happen. At least not this semester.
So much for all of that insane work, and complete lack of most other activities/socializing.
I have to take another semester, so that's going to cost a lot. I'll have to find out what I'm supposed to do now.

I guess I'll wind down a bit. I wonder if I should actually try Nanowrimo this year.
I actually got to work on Katani's story last night. First time in months. Maybe even half a year? I don't even remember. It was so refreshing.
Maybe I'll do more of that tonight. I've been looking at Ashes too much. And making weird changes to it that shouldn't be made.

Also, Ellen and I went to a Quincenera yesterday~
Our friend and her Mom were crying XD The little baby has all grown up. ^-^

Music of Poetry

I like both poetry and prose, and many novelists also write poetry. But I know that's not universal among writers.
During creative writing class this semester, my teacher mentioned a link between poetry and prose, which I think is worth talking about.

If you write mostly prose, you obviously want your writing to sound nice. If it flows nicely, it can be more enjoyable to read.
Poetry has a musical quality to it. Learning this can help make your prose more musical too. It helps you find the rhythm of words. You learn about what the word sounds like - if it's soothing to say, or more jarring. It helps fit the tone you want.

Writers are also told to "cut it down." Get rid of any excess words, phrases, or scenes. When you see deleted scenes in a movie, and usually you can tell why they were deleted. The movie was more streamlined without them.
Poetry helps you tighten up the language. You can fit an image or idea into a couple lines, or a couple words, in the course of a poem.
And since each word has a different feeling to it, even if it means something similar, you learn to pick a word that's perfect for the image and tone in your head.

Movie

So, there are possible plans to make a Hollywood movie about my uncle.
The script is written. But if there is a movie, it wouldn't be for several years. There hasn't been a definite "yes" or "no" yet. But Uncle Rob knows the actor Robert Redford. So if they can get him on board, the movie might be a go.

Whoo, that would be pretty amazing. I hope it goes through~

Wicked Hill

I haven't written about my other class yet.
It's about science fiction and fantasy.
So far, we've been reading a lot of older short stories. The foundation of the genres (especially scifi). It's interesting to see how things have changed as these kinds of stories got more popular, and as science improved.
During class, we discuss the stories, and the era they were written, and the authors.

The teacher wrote a book called Wicked Hill. I had him sign my copy, because I don't have very many signed books. This is the second novel I have by one of my teachers.
I'm almost done reading it. It's pretty short, and I like it so far. Maybe I'll take 20 minutes to try to finish it tonight.

Though I still have stuff to check for my project. Ugh.

Ineffective Silent Treatment

I really don't want to talk to people involved in my grad program. Bleh. But I've already ignored my project for a full day, so I better spend my last hour of the day on it.
Refusing to respond to an email for a day isn't really much of a silent treatment. I'm not very good at those anyway.

I want to see everyone again. TT^TT

I just finished another long-term art project today. For the past couple months, I've been slowly going through the photo gallery on my computer. That doesn't even include the photos I took before I got a digital camera.
I've been picking out all the photos that are the highest quality, to make a sort of photo gallery for myself. Although some of them are funny or weird too.


There are several pictures of animals. Some of plants and landscapes. And even a few of people. I showed it to my parents, and we tidied it up a bit. Of all my many thousands of photos, some of them turned out really nice XP
It was fun going through all my old photos too. Lots of memories.

Last week, I went though the Japan photos - and the photos of the Nagasaki atomic bomb museum. And that week in my science fiction class, we read a short story that described the "shadows" an atomic bomb will leave on the wall. The story is called "There will come soft rains" by Bradbury. I think you can find it online. it's pretty short. There's a scene where they describe a burnt wall that outlines the shape of people. A woman bending over the garden, and two children in the middle of tossing a ball to each other. And I got shivers, because I've seen that myself. I'd just looked at the pictures of it a couple days before.
During class, they asked how we knew that it was an atomic attack. I raised my hand and told them about the wall from the bomb museum. There is a shadow of leaves on the wall, because the bomb burned so hot and so fast that it left their outline.

Disturbing the Universe... Accidentally

In the young adult fiction class, we're reading a book called Disturbing the Universe. Which basically analyzes a lot of themes in YA literature. The title comes from the desire of young adults to affect their surorundings. To "disturb the universe."
For example, refusing to do somthing you're told to do at school.
I think it was originally a quote from something else though (I didn't find the book too helpful most of the time).

But I think I accidentally did that yesterday...

Last week, during my creative writing class, I turned in a poem. I kind of wanted to share it, but I kind of didn't want to share it. So I turned it in without my name on it, just to see what would happen.
And this week, it appeared in the usual poetry packet, to my surprise.

Then the teacher said that she didn't like how it didn't have a name, and asked if it belonged to anyone. I was kind of curious to see if it would get read anyway, so I didn't say anything.
And then all these theories started flying around. The title of the poem was "Hidden from Myself." And Steve said that it was ironic as a title, because the author was hidden.
And then Natasha asked if someone didn't feel comfortable with the class, and this went on for a couple minutes.
And I still didn't say anything because I was starting to feel really stupid. And I started thinking about that "disturbing the universe thing. And "holy crud, why is this going so far? I just didn't put my name on something!"
I said we should just skip it.
Finally Claire said that the person probably was probably absent, as opposed to this being some elaborate act.
It was no longer an elaborate act. It was just embarrassment.

So, in the end, people probably decided that some dumb, absent student just hadn't remembered to put their name on their assignment.
And it didn't get read aloud, or discussed. But I suppose some people read it during the 2-minute panic.

So, I felt pretty dumb.

But I also read a short story later in the class. I haven't turned in another Ashes chapter, so I thought I'd bring something different. It's a 2-page scene from Katani's story (actually, it takes palce 10 years before Katani's story), which I've read in class a couple times as an example of enviornmental fiction.

The same person who said she didn't like Ashlyn said that she didn't like Shanka. It seems to be that she doesn't like people who fight to protect important stuff, because other peopel want to get that stuff?
And then I realized that I don't particularly like her characters either. I kind of wanted to say it, but that would have been a jerk response. I'm not sure why she keeps bringing it up though. She's told me at least three times that she doesn't like my main character. I get it. We don't like writing the same characters.

I'm starting to whine. I think I'm getting tired. Once again, the evening was spent on my project. Maybe I'll go read some homework instead. That way my brain doesn't have to think as hard for a little while.

Inktober

So, if you're on an art website, like Deviantart, you may have heard of Inktober.
Basically it means that the month of October is for drawing in ink. Marker, pen, ex.

~

#1 Preparing for Halloween by Picolo-kun on DeviantArt ~

I kind of accidentally started it.
During one of the books we read for the young adult fiction class, the character had a journal. Not not the kind of journal I generally think about. He didn't record events. He just wrote down thoughts and his state of mind and such.
I thought it might be interesting to try something like that.
So I went through my large stash of notebooks, and came across this pretty leather-bound one. It's the kind of notebook you get because it's pretty. Except it's so fancy looking that you never want to use it, because you don't think you can do it justice. I have a couple like that... this one must have been in my cabinet for years. I have no idea where it came from. Probably a gift. So, I finally decided to crack it open.
On every page, I write something I think about. Like how I almost never really notice what people look like on a given day. I don't pay attention to outfits, makeup, hair, ex. Unless it's something really uusual. Therefore don't ask me how you look... I'm much more interested in how you act.
A friend in my creative writing class, Claire, thinks this is funny. Or maybe she's annoyed that I never notice when she puts a lot of work into her outfit? She's a lot mores stylish than me...
But basically, I think that everyoe's pretty.

So, that's the kind of stuff I write about. Things that I think are weird about me. Or stuff I don't udnerstand about society. They're not really secrets, but I don't really ever say aloud them either. It's interesting to think about them and put them on paper. It lets me see myself better.
And then on the back of each page, I sketch one of my characters.

I found this nice black pen, which is really fun to work with, so that's what I've used so far.

And now we roll back around to Inktober. When I saw it was starting, I decided that I'd up my game with my notebook and try to write or draw somethign in it every day. I'd actually started the project a few weeks before Inktober began. I just stumbled on the event by accident and picked it up.

So I invite you to try it! If you have a pretty book (or any book) lying around, pull it out. Try some interesting take on Inktober, to pay homage to art by ink.

Email Shenanigans

I've feared ever since I started my grad program that it would be hard to get people organized.
And now that's exactly what's happening.
For over three weeks I've been sending out email after email, trying to get school people on the same page. I've had to ask some questions three times before I finally receive a response. It's like they're picking and choosing the least helpful parts of my emails to respond to. So I spend all my time waiting on responses. When I met with the two science teachers a few weeks ago, they told me that they had more notes they'd send along of stuff they wanted me to fix. So I've been waiting for that ever since, and I just found out that I probably won't even get them. One teacher hasn't even read my full novel...
I've just had to work off what they told me during the meeting.
And then to top it off, the two of them are hinting that I won't finish in time to graduate this semester. Even though I've been waiting on information from them all this time.

And meanwhile they're changing what they want me to do.
As of last week, the two science advisers decided that they don't want my full novel. They only want the first 7 chapters.
Which is baffling to me and my third adviser (he's the only one in the English department - the other two are in environmental studies). The first part of the story has the least amount of environment in it. It's mostly in the later parts of the story. And the later parts of my story are where all of the most important (to me) content is - the hope of a world rebuilding. That's also where my favorite character is. Heh.
So I met with my English adviser last week, and we commiserated about the weird changes it seems I'm supposed to make. I'm glad I have a fellow writer on my side. I've gotten some helpful suggestions from him so far. And he's the only one who's given me a full copy of my story that's marked up.
But on the flip side, he's the hardest to contact over email.

Some of the suggestions from the other advisers are more questionable. They want me to add a lot more environmental facts/explanations. Well, I can understand that, since this is a environmental studies project. Even if it's rarely good to provide hunks of background info to a story.
But when they want me to add more gore... well, that's no longer about the department. That's about you own personal tastes. Adding gore does nothing to improve the environmental content.

Luckily when I graduate, I can change my story again to the way I want it.

So,everyone is driving me crazy.

But I got the draft of my final project (with cover letter, literature analysis, and everything) sent off just now. So hopefully they'll get back to me soon and let me take my exams. I don't want to pay for another semester just because people won't give me the information I need.

And as I write this, I can't help wondering if they have a link to my blog, and are reading this. O__O
Either way, these guys are nowhere near as frustrating as the teacher who didn't grade my class for almost an entire semester after the class had ended...

Okay, vent done.
I've spent two full days trying to get this done, so now i'd better go and do homework for my other classes...

Dark Moon

I thought it would be fun to write about the super moon eclipse, even though it was a few days ago. I took some pictures, but I'll have to see if any came out decently enough to share.

There were clouds, but luckily the moon rose above them before it broke out of the eclipse. So I got to see it when it was faded and red.
Later I and walked up the street, to go for an evening run. And I saw the moon again. It was still mostly dark and red, but along the bottom was a sliver of bright silver light. It was such an amazing contrast.
After just a short time, you can forget the brightness of the moon. But when it brightens again, it's more amazing than it was before.

The moon isn't always bright. But don't ever forget how bright it can be, on those nights when it's in the sky.

The Character Behind the Character

I've kind of known this for a while, but today was the first time I'd really thought about it.
I've mentioned before that Hugh Jackman is my favorite actor, because when you see the behind the scenes footage, he seems like an awesome guy.
And at one point I was wondering if Idina Menzel might be my favorite actress (because I love her voice). But I was never able to find enough behind-the-scenes footage to really decide.
Perhaps some day I will.

I recently re-watched some episodes of Once upon a Time, season 2 because I was looking for a couple specific scenes.
Captain Hook isn't an ally in season 2, though he does become one. I like him because he's funny (I just realized this, but he's a bit like Tamaki, with the "aren't I fabulous" thing).
The actor for Hook had an interview (ooh, I actually found it):


I'll admit right off the bat that I like accents. Especially Irish accents, since you don't seem to hear them that often (David Tennant has one - my favorite Doctor so far).
But I also decided that I liked the actor for Hook.
And when I decided that, I suddenly liked Captain Hook better too.


Apparently the people who act out characters influence how much I like the character. And I don't mean their acting skill, but what they seem to be like in real life.
Luckily the reverse hasn't happened yet. I don't know of any actor who's destroyed a character for me. Though that may be because I'd detach a loved character from a nasty actor... it's not the character's fault if they get stuck with a mean actor. TT^TT

Waiting Game

Still working on re-writing my story.
At this point, I can only go so far. I keep waiting on my teachers to get me more information about what to do next. I never go full comments from any of them. I'm just going by what I heard from the meeting. So that's one thing I'm waiting on (One thing from 3 different people).
I've been trying to plan my exams for two weeks now. I want to have them this week, but I've gotten no word about it.
Which is frustrating. I keep sending out emails, tryign to figure out who knows what and if it will be ready. It's hard to keep everyone in communication.

I have a lot of other homework this week too.
One of my homework assignments this week is a literary analysis essay.
Remember how much I used to hate those? Well, this time I have a good book to review. I'm doing Thirteen Reasons Why. It shouldn't be too bad. I've got the intro mostly done, and I have a bunch of ideas for the rest of it.
It's amazing how much difference there is about writing a literature analysis between something you hate and soethign you enjoy. Especially when you ocassionally pick apart books/movies/anime you like, to see what makes it tick. Or when you write about them on a blog.

Not in a Sharing Mood

I've been taking this one creative writing class for several semesters. I've made several friends there, and run across a couple old friends too. This is the fifth full semester I've gone.
But this is the first time that I haven't known what to turn in.
I have plenty of stuff I could turn in, actually. What I really should turn in are chapters of my Ashes story, so I can get more feedback from my grad project.
Except I don't really want to turn in the next chapter...
There are a few reasons.
First of all, since the last chapter, it is a dramatic shift in the story (the start of part two - there are three distinct parts). And it's a part that I've always thought might be the most touchy.
For example, one of my friends in the class told me she liked my writing, but that she hated Ashlyn. Which I can understand, because Ashlyn's "job," though very important, affects a lot of people. But it made me even more reluctant to turn in the next chapter. (I wonder, if she had seen Princess Mononoke if she would still hate Ashlyn...)
Plus the other chapters I've read have been over the past two semesters. Now there are a lot of new students. Only a fraction of the class has read the other chapters of my story. So they have no context for what's going on.

I think despite my attempts to explain, some people can't understand the angle I'm getting at.
"Just let people cut down the trees! Sheesh!"
"Yeah.... and then if everyone did that, there wouldn't be anything left and everyone would die. Is that really a solution?"

I knew from the beginning that this book would be touchy. But I've been working really hard to make it relatable. I guess that's just not possible for some people.
So, I don't know what to do. Should I just turn in the next chapter? Should I turn in something else? (I have plenty of stuff, but I'm not certain about turning any of that in either).
Any suggestions?

Flop

I tried to have a garage sale today.
It's rotten timing for it, but I'd signed up for a neighborhood garage sale this weekend before I knew I'd be on a constant grind to finish my graduate project.
(I'm currently trying to get three other people on the same page for what to do with my exams, which is proving quite a bit more stressful than I imagined, in more than one way).

So, the last thing I did that was like a garage sale was the Fanime swap meet. That went very well. While I have plenty of stuff (too much stuff, actually) for a swap meet, apparently I don't have enough for a garage sale. It was still a ton of stuff, but I guess it wasn't nearly as much as the piles of crud other people try to get rid of. And though my prices were not high, I could tell that a lot of people thought they were. And sometimes they were pretty obvious about it.
Not that many people even showed up. I think someone ripped most of my signs down... What kind of jerk does that? They were up less than a day! And on nice paper, and I planned the layout of them and everything.

When I was little, I tried to do these embarrassingly bad garage sales. This one was better than that. But that's not saying much. I don't think it was worth it. I only got rid of a few things. I closed early, and I don't think I'll do another garage sale.
Bleh.

Back to work (work that's actually important).

The Marvels of Procrastination

It's amazing how much you can get done when you're procrastinating.
Ooh, I'd better finish reading my homework. Gotta write a blog post. I should sort that out. Aah, I can get rid of some of this stuff.
Hey, if I do all this stuff, then it will be out of the way when I actually start working.
But does the list of stuff to do never end?
Can you guess what I'm procrastinating on?
(Not to say that I haven't started, but I do have a helluvalot to do...)

Young Adult Fiction

So I'll talk about one of my classes this semester.
Young Adult Fiction. For this class, we read a full book every week or every two weeks. During class, we discuss the readings and have 20 minutes of silent writing. We also have a blog to post on for homework.
The first two books were interesting. While I didn't fully love them, I liked them, especially certain parts of them (I liked them more than most of stuff I had to read in high school, at least). But I really liked the third one. It's called Thirteen Reasons Why. I just finished reading it today.
The format was fascinating. The author did a really great job of blending the tapes into reality. How they alternated the contents of the tapes with the thoughts they triggered in Clay. And it really made you think about how things that seem so pointless to you can have a deep effect on others.
I kind of wish Clay's role in the tapes was more intense. Though I guess I'm not really disappointed about it. There was plenty of suspense as it was.
I know I've heard of this book before. Did they make a movie of it? I'll have to check. Either way, I added it to the list of books that I think are worth reading.

In the Next Month

Belated post. XP
Mostly I've been trying to gather the energy to write it.
On Wednesday, I met with my two main advisers, to figure out what I'll need to do to graduate this semester.
Here's the scoop.

By the second week of October, I need to:
1. Complete my graduate exams, which other students don't have to do, but I do because I'm doing a project instead of a research paper.
2. Address all the comments of my teachers on my project so they'll sign off on it. In addition to my grad story, I also need to review environmental literature in a separate paper.
3. And finally last of all, plan and do my thesis defense. (It's not a thesis, but I still need to talk about my genre and give a reading as a final presentation).

So, there are a couple things which will be most frustrating.
1. The main thing they want me to change about my Ashes story so far is that they want me to pack it full of environmental facts and descriptions. I've always learned to not do info-dumps, but I guess I'll have to ignore that temporarily. Plus, all of that will make my story a lot less of a young-adult book. Teenagers aren't usually going to be interested in reading big hunks of scientific info. That's something I see in adult environmental fiction, but not YA environmental fiction.
2. There's one book in particular that one of my teachers wants me to read (He brought it up during the meeting, and in a separate email this evening, so I guess he's serious about it). It's called The Road, and he says that it's like my story. Now I've seen the movie. And I hated it.
I'm not one to jump to conclusions, but I'm 95% sure I'll hate the book even more than the movie. I haven't seen very many similarities to my Ashes story. No more than a lot of other books, at least. And it's very very different than what I'm trying to do. I actually want to have some positive stuff in my story, and some hope. There doesn't seem to be any of that in The Road.
(I might not feel this strongly about The Road usually, but I am currently reading two books which I thought would be really helpful for my project, and I thought I'd like them because I liked another book by the same author. But not so. Both of these books are completely dark and depressing and gruesome too...)

(I seem to have gotten into lists today. I don't know why).

Anyway, the next month will have me very busy. Tomorrow I will have to devote mostly to it.
Wish me luck!

But I also have some really cool news! I'll write about it when I have more to show you~

Huang and Kakao

Here's the next installment of my Retriever series.
Katani's mentor Bai Huang, and the Sun dragon Kakao.



This was going to be the last dragon/human pair of my series (for Katanis's story at least). But I thought of one more. I've drawn it alread. I just need to color it (She doesnt' actually get a dragon in the story, but she does after it's over). And then once I do her, I want to draw all of the Betas. I'd like to do a group picture, but maybe I'll draw them separately and use photoshop to put them all together.
I might draw a couple of the other dragons too. Like Tyra's Storm dragon teacher. And the other Imperial Loong who lives at the palace.

Specials

I just finished reading the third book of the Uglies series.
It wasn't quite as exciting as the other two, but it still had good stuff in it.
I'm amazed at how the author puts Tally in three totally different mindsets through the books, and has you empathize with each one of them.

The ending got me on this one, because Tally ended up choosing exactly the same path as Ashlyn from my grad story. Wow.
I guess I'm on the same page as Scott Westerfeld.
In a couple weeks, I'm going to do a book presentation on Uglies, for my young adult fiction class. That should be fun~
So, this book I actually got to read as part of my homework. (I wonder how the 4th book will be. It's got a separate story and characters, but is in the same world, so that'll be cool to see).
I still have to read another entire book by Wednesday though...

Classes

I haven't posted about my classes this semester.
There are two main ones - young adult fiction, and science fiction and fantasy.
Since my grad project is a young adult sci-fi, I thought these would be helpful.

And these classes mean that I have a ton of reading... This week I need to read 1 1/2 full books. Plus I should technically be reading the full length of a third book, though it's a lot longer than it looks, so I'm not sure how far I'll get.
And there's another extra book I need to finish pretty soon.

I'll write more about my classes after I've gone through more of the class meetings.
I'm also in band, and my creative writing class. And I have a class that gives me credit for working on my project.
I've been crazy busy so far. I don't know if it will calm down at all, or if it will continue like this.
I hope I can finish this semester.

Submitted!

I finally got my grad story sent out to my advisers. @_@
It's such a relief to get it out there.
I hope they like reading it.

Of course, I made a few changes immediately after I sent it out. Ah well. It will have many more before I get their comments, probably.

Paper Recycling

When I go to anime conventions, I inevitably end up bring home a couple dozen business cards of artists that I want to look up.
And some of them have really amazing business cards. To the point where I actually made a collage with a collection of them.
I don't want to dump them in recycling. But I don't want to have a giant wad of random business cards floating around.

I did end up recycling most of them a few times.
And then this last year, after Fanime, I had an idea.
I could cut out the pictures and patterns that I liked and paste them onto cards and gifts. I currently have a pen pal in the Czech Republic, so her cards are decorated with bits of cut-up business cards.
And when it was my cousin's birthday, I thought, "Ah! I can send him a card to use the skull and robot designs!"
I've been having too much fun with it, I think. Especially on ones for my parents.
I have some old printouts I made of pictures from the internet, so I can use those too. Also old cards, and cool pictures I saved from the newspaper a long time ago.
My aunt often uses pictures from calendars to wrap gifts. Her gift wrapping is like an art form itself.

So, if ever you have random scraps of paper floating about that are pretty but not-needed, try to think of some creative way to send them along.

Reading the Past

I've been working on a little project, because I want to record some of the times that I went to Virginaia City with my dad, to look for mustangs.
It's not as little as I thought though.
I've been going through all of my old journals, trying to find the days that these trips happened, and then trying to link the photographs to the proper days. @_@
I'm almost done though.

Usually I skim though a journal until I notice that I'm in Reno.
But sometimes I stop and read something that I remember, or something I forgot.
It's so bizarre re-reading my old thoughts and re-living old experiences. Some things I remember so vividly. And others I have mostly forgotten. I'm still completely baffled about one exchange I recorded.
And sometimes I think, "Wow, I was so picky in high school." There are several times where I said "It was good, but..." I sounds like I wasn't satisfied with stuff, and wanted to find something wrong with it. Or maybe I just wanted to find details to write about?
I don't remember!
But because of my journals, a lot of memories are preserved that I would have lost otherwise. There's complaining, but there are some things that surprised all over again.
And sometimes I felt like I was re-living that time.
Very nostalgic.

So, I definitely recommend keeping some type of journal. This is the first time I've gone back through them, since some time in middle school. But it's amazing and will let you relive your life.
Or maybe some day your kids will be able to see what your past was like.
My Dad has journals going back for decades. He writes something every day, even if he didn't really do anything.
I only write about significant days.
I'm a couple days behind, actually...

Coming Back to Life

I was thinking about something recently and thought it would be worth mentioning.
When you're reading or watching something, the death of a character can come as a real shock.
Or course, this can vary depending on the skill of the writer.
The ultimate goal is for readers to be sobbing when the character dies. I'm sure you guys have been heartbroken at the death of awesome characters that you've gotten really attached to.
It's definitely happened to me.

Except something may change that feeling.
Because when you go back to read or watch the story again, the character is alive once more, in all his/her awesomeness.
And then of course you have to watch them die again.
But sometimes when I think back on a character that died, it doesn't feel to me like thyey died.
I think it has to do with when and how the character was killed, the story they go through, and their role in it.

I'm not sure why this example stood out to me, but spoilers.
In the movie Van Helsing, Anna is the heroine, and is not one to be messed with.
Until the very end, when she's killed very suddenly.
Whenever I think of Anna, I don't think of her as being dead, because she's there so strongly for almost all of the movie, until the very end.
Plus I have seen the movie more than once, so her "revival" has come many times.
I don't really picture her as being dead.

And then we have the game Final Fantasy: Crisis Core. I have only played that once. So when Zack died, it felt very final. Like Anna, his death was at the very end, but the story continued on in other games. So his death had many other impacts in the future.
And it's so freaking sad...
Unlike Anna, Zack does feel like "someone who died."

I'll mention Les Miserables too. That's an unusual case, because almost everyone dies. So there are characters that fall on either side of this line. I don't think Jean Valjean will ever feel dead to me.
While many of the other characters feel very dead.

Now I'm curious what other authors think as they're wriging one of their characters die. Do they ever make themselves cry?

Sitting Straight

So, whether you write or draw or work on the computer or go to school, the way you sit at your desk makes a lot of difference.
People are starting to say how sitting can be really bad for you. You need to get up and move around sometimes.
Which is definitely true.
But sitting wouldn't be nearly as bad if you sat well.
So many people hunch. They let their chest and shoulders collapse in and their neck drop down. Peopel on their smartphones do this a lot.
I used to be like that all the time. Probably because of how I worked at school desks as a kid.
And I've spent a couple years fixing it.
Now I'm a helluvalot better.
My neck still sinks forward sometimes. And sometimes I start to hunch when I'm drawing, or something. But my chest and shoulders are a lot better.

I tried to fix it for a long time, by adjusting my posture randomly during the day. But in less than a minute, I'd be back to the way I was used to standing.
What finally helped me fix a lot of it is this. Every night before bed, I'd sit and just try to relax and focus on my posture. I'd hold it for as long as I could remember. Then I'd fix it and go back to try again.
I'm still workign on my neck. I now know just how to hold it. I just need to focus on keeping it there.
(It helped me get to sleep easier too).

You should definitely try to fix your posture. It'll make you a lot happier in the long run.
It takes a long time. You ahve years of habit to fight, and muscles to change.
But I'm so happy abotu the progress I've made.

A few pointers.
Scoot your tailbone back
Roll your shoulders back
Feel for the bottom center of the front of your rib cage. Relax it down, so you're not arching your back.
Your neck should line up with your spine (that took the longest for me, since my neck always hung forward so much).

Draft 2

I just finished the first full rewrite of my Ashes story.
@-@
And now I must sleep.
Feeling happy~

Back to Work

My grad classes start tomorrow.
Sigh.
I really need to finish editing my grad story. Actually, I've only got about two chapters left to rewrite. But then I want to go over the whole thing once more, just to smooth some stuff out.
I wanted to finish the first rewrite tonight, but I think it might happen tomorrow.
And I'd better read through it again within the week.
I don't want my advisers to have any excuse to not finish reading it in time for me to fix it up and graduate.
Wish me luck~

Pictures of Beijing

For a while now, I've been afraid that I lost the photos that I took while I was in Beijing. It seemed like they, and many other older photos, had gotten lost during a switch to a new computer, many years ago.
So I was very disappointed, obviously. I still had some of them saved, but a very small portion of them.

But I found them!
In a very strange location, and not in the normal photo format.
I haven't looked at them all yet, but I looked at a bunch of them. It'll be fun to go through the rest.
So yaaay!
And this will be so helpful as references for Katani's story. @_@ I realized they were lost as I was trying to find them as references.



You know what's funny? (Or lame). I forgot to tip this one guy, and I've felt awful about it ever since...
So don't ever forget to tip you rickshaw driver. You will regret it forever. @_@

Len Acrostic

I'll share one of the character acrostic poems I wrote.
I've done several already. I think I'll do at least one more (since I already wrote the name on a piece of paper, I'm obligated to do it. That's how I trick myself into finishing some things).
Here's one of Len, from Katani's story.
I seem to write them about the main problem the character is dealign with. I guess it's fun to write them when tehy're a bit dramatic.



Learning all my books have to offer, everything I can find.
Each day, something new to file away,
Nearing my goal to become an expert in my field.

Studying justice, the laws of our land, is always fascinating, though I
Admit, things seem different now. It
Seems so empty, with my sister gone, my other half, and my friends too,
All off having adventures across the country. I
Know we’re all doing our jobs, but it’s a strange feeling.
I wonder if this is what lonely feels like.



(I haven't drawn Len yet... curses. Maybe I'll draw Katani and his friends together as kids. I've been wanting to draw the beach scene.)

Favorites of Mine

As I've been writing my Ashes story, I recently realized something.
My favorite character popped out at me, about a week ago.
Lukas is one of the few characters I've had planned since the beginning of the story. He was one of the four characters that provided the original foundation for the story. The other three are Ashlyn (the protagonist), Chloe (a girl who she meets and teams up with) and Riley (the little girl who gets kidnappd, triggering Ashlyn's search).

So, it turns out Lukas is my favorite character from this story.
I'm not really sure why. Although I think I know why I just discovered that fact.
The new chapters I added let me spend more time on Lukas.
He doesn't actually show up until about half way through the story. He's the last of the three core characters, and in my first draft he got very little time. Since Chloe and Lukas show up so late, these new chapters gave me a lot more time to expand on those characters. Mostly on Lukas. Ashlyn had time to get to know Chloe, but that didn't happen at all with Lukas.
So as more of Lukas unfolded, I suddenly discovered that I really like writing him.
I don't think he was the character I would have expected to be my favorite. He's not really like the other favorite characters I have.

For example, in Katani's story, my favorite characters are Kazuhi and Fei Yen (The King and the Lieutenant). Especially writing about them together.

I was telling my Grandma about this story, and she said that there should be some kind of romance with Lukas and Ashlyn.
To wich I immediately went "noooo." I can't picture them as a romantic couple. Partially because that idea is so far from them during this story. Especially Ahslyn, who probably wouldn't think about another person in that way. At least not for a whil - not the way she has to live.
I doubt it, but for that to be considered even a bit, it would have to be in a few years when Ashlyn can pick up something like a normal life. Her "job" is sort of an anti-social way to live. Plus, she would see Lukas almost never for a few years.
Still, that all-present need for romance that people seem to expect in books. @_@
I like Ashlyn ans Lukas as friends. I can't picture them together, even a few years down the line.

I've drawn Ashlyn, but I don't really have a picture of Chloe. And I have no idea what Lukas looks like. I'd better draw them. Probably Riley too.
I started drawing Ashlyn's dogs. I've already done her main dog, Rogue (Did I post that picture?). So I need to do the others. I'm going to try to draw them in the style of the Okami warrior dogs.

Nearing the End

I'm almost done re-writing my grad story.
I just finished adding in the new section, which was a few chapters long.
So now I'm nearing the final stretch.
Which is good, because I want to finish it before classes start in a couple weeks. That way I can send it to my advisers right when classes start.
I've been trying most of the summer to get all of my advisers coordinated, so hopefully I'm almost done. @_@

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.

Filling In

(Can you tell I'm trying to finish my "ten blog posts a month" at the last minute? @_@ Oops. )
I'm still re-writing my Ashes story. And tonight I arrived at the spot where I'm going to need to start filling in big gaps.
I've added a couple new chapters so far. But this time I'm going to add an entire new mini-arc. I think I really need it for character and world development. And also for pacing/suspense, etc.
I especially think it will help because two of the three main characters don't show up until half way though the story. Or over half way, depending on how much I add from here on... I'm still not sure if that will work well. Or if I should somehow try to introduce them earlier on with their own chapters. Except I'm not sure that would really help.
I know where the new arc starts, and I kinda have an idea of where it goes. So hopefully it will unfold as I move.
I need to rework most of the ending too (although I think the climax is fairly decent).
But now I need to sleep. I'm tired and I need to get up kinda early tomorrow. --_--
(But I got to help a little bit with shearing a sheep today!)

Environmental Plots: Extinction

On to another one of my environmental plots.
This one ties in to a lot of other posts - some i've written, and some I haven't.

Extinction.
When a species disappears completely.
There is also Extirpation, where a species disappears from one area, but still exists somewhere else.
And a species can be extinct in the wild, but still exist in captivity.
There are a couple other levels too. There may be so few of a species left that they can no longer fulfill their biological role, as predators or scavengers or whatever they happen to do.
Or there may be so few animals left that there is no way their population could ever recover. Or even if they do begin to pick up their nnumbers, their gene pool may be so small that it puts the entire populaton at rsk of disease or disaster.

There are a number of things that can contrbute to the extinction of a species.
Habitat destruction. When we cut down or build over their homeland, the animals/plants no longer have anywhere to live or look for food. This is one of the biggest causes of extinction.
Overharvesting. When we hunt and kill/capture too many of a species, we can drive them to extinction. An excellent example is the passenger pigeon. Long ago, there were so many of these birds that flocks of them would darken the sky from horizon to horizon. But people were so intent on hunting them that there are none left.
Invasive species. When species are brought from a distant land, they may not have any predators in their new home (I'll have a whole post abotu invasive species). Some invasive species are able to out-compete more fragile native species. They'll eat all the food, or eat the species themselves. The California red-legged from is one such species that is put at risk from a tough outsider (a bull frog).
Pollution. Chemicals and air pollution can put species at risk. For example, when a highway runs near sensitive grasslands, like the serpentine grasslands in California, the exhaust from the cars can actually change the composition of the soil and make it harder for the native plants to grow in the rare soil type that they evolved to use. Also, trash can choke animals that eat it (sea turttles swallowing plastic bags, thinking that they're jellyfish). And toxins can kill animals too.
Climate change is a newer threat. Climate change causes the ice caps to melt earlier and freeze later. Which is very bad for animals like polar bears, who need the ice to hunt for food. But climate change can also warm certain areas, and allow diseases and fungi to spread to places that they haven't been before. This is very dangerous to amphibians, who are vulnerable to hese sorts of things because they can absorb bad stuff through their skin.

What can extinction cause?
Well, first of all, we are causing an entire species to disappear, which is terrible and beyond anything our species has the right to do.
But also, what if those speciees could be useful to us? There are many plants in the rainforests that have gone extinct before we even knew they existed. What if some of those plants had important medicinal qualities that could have helped with terrible diseases?
But even more important has to do with the niche that the species fills: their role in the environment. Every creature does something to keep the ecosystem in balance. And some species are incredibly important to their ecosystem. These important creatures are called keystone species. For example, the sea otter. Otters eat sea urchins. But when too many otters were hunted for their fur, the sea urchins didn't have that predator to keep their numbers in check. So the sea urchins ate the bases of the kelp that made up the kelp forests. Big hunks of the kelpforest dimply drifted away, making large areas of that habitat completely disappear. All because one species started to go into decline.
When wolves were hunted out of North America, that top predator was no longer there to keep deer and so many other animals in check. And because of the larger numbers of prey animals, many areas actually changed drastically because of the many deer eating more foliage, and more beacvers building more dams and flooding more land.
When a species disappears, is can potentially have disastrous effects on the areas it used to live in. And that is not a risk worth taking.
In the words of John Muir, "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."
Everything is connected. The more you unbalance the delicate system of the planet, the worse things could end up.

It's not always the big impressive animals that are important. Remember, tiny fish, bugs, and ever flowers also need to be preserved.
Even so, hundreds of species are going extinct today. Humans are now the cause of a massive extinction - and there have only been a handful of those in the history of the planet. For example, the comet that wiped out the dinosaurs.
We are now causing as much damage as that.

Who else has used this idea?
A manga called Cat Paradise. In this series, the gods of extinct animals came back to try to take revenge on the humans that caused their speciesto disappear.
Jurassic Park looked at what might happen if a species that had been extinct for many ages appeared into a new, different world.
In Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home, humpback whales are extinct in the future. But humpback whales had friends on a distant planet. And when the whales stopped communicating, these aliens came to investigate, nearly destroying Earth in the process. Captain Kirk and his crew have to go back in time to bring a pair of humpback whales to the future, to save the planet and save the species.
In the anime Wolf's Rain, many speces have gone extinct, such as the elephant. Most people think that wolves are extinct too. But wolves have learned to disguise themselves as humans, in order to survive.
In the book Oryx and Crake, the members of a secret organiation all had code names of animals that were extinct.

How can you use this idea in a story?
Maybe an important species goes extinct. It could send an area into chaos. Or perhaps the people living there had a very important use for that species. What are they going to do now that it's gone? Did the species provide wool? Or was it a medicinal plant?
Or what if a species that is starting to go extinct starts to fight back?
What if humans were in danger of going extinct?