Character Development

Sometimes when I'm watching a TV show, I get super impressed with character development.
And then I start to think of how I would write such a character.

But I'm not sure that you can develop a character in a book the same way you can develop a character in a TV show.
It can be similar, of course. But the episodic nature of a TV show lets you go through a number of individual stories about different characters.
A book is more of a steady progression. So while there can be some episodic development, it not nearly as much.

Also, when someone falls down on TV, it can be hilarious. But reading about someone falling down is almost never so funny.

I don't know what my point is. Just a thought I had.

Deep in the Mountains

Dad came to visit me today, and we visited one part of the park I'd never been to.
Man, the high country is so beautiful. I could spend months up there and not run out of stuff to see.
I've got to get some pictures up here.

Trying to meet my minimum blog posts XP
I really should got to sleep now. I don't sleep as well up here. And I don't get too much writing time, either for my story or my blog.

Speaking Up

I don't usually try to start conflicts.
But when someone starts to mess with people I care about, I'm not going to sit by XP
(Even though I doubt anyone will look into my "complaint." But if things don't get better, I'll raise hell XD )

Stupid company @_@

At least we finally got a new girl today. Hopefully that will help with our crazy amount of work.

Saddle Up

Work's been kind of weird and frustrating. For many reasons.
I think we're in the neglected corner of the company.

The trail rides are usually nice. The trail is beautiful, and it's nice to ride horses, and just be around horses (and mules).
It's also cool to meet all the people who come on our rides. I get to talk to people from all over the world.
My cousins came up yesterday to take my ride. That was fun.

Since I've been working with so many saddles recently (saddling a bunch of horses in the morning, adjusting saddles for all of the riders, and taking off the saddles at the end of the day) I've started thinking again about the saddle designs for my different dragon species.
I sketched out a rough outline of a saddle a while ago, and I want to draw out a full reference sheet for them.



But there are some factors that I just can't figure out.
Mostly because I want the dragon saddles to be able to fit multiple people. But that would make the shape of the saddle really awkward.
And it would mean several sets of stirrups, probably? Because stirrups are so important for stability. But several pairs of stirrups would be so clunky and awkward.
I thought about having a bar along the saddle, for the feet to rest against. But it's important for the stirrups to be adjustable. If they're too short, your legs cramp up. Too long, and they're useless. And everyone has different length legs.

The saddle would sit on the dragon's shoulders, just a hair in front of the wings. And since dragons are so much wider than horses, someone couldn't just straddle the dragon's back. The saddle would be raised up, and be about as wide as a horse (This is hard to explain, and would make more sense as an image).
If the saddle were just for one or two people, that wouldn't be too problematic. But for a saddle that can fit four or five people, that raised area would have to be really long. It would make the saddle huge.
And it's already be difficult to get a saddle up onto a dragon's back.

It's tricky to get a saddle on a tall horse.

There are bars on the front of the saddle for the rider to grip during trick maneuvers. And anyone riding behind them would also need a bar to hold onto.
But the placement of those is also hard to get right. Unless I divide the saddle into distinct segments.

It's possible that some saddles could be for individual riders, and other saddles could be for multiple people.
But Katani and the Retrievers would need the saddles that seat multiple people.
If they're out on a mission and they get called to help people or carry people or anything, they cant' turn around, fly all the way back to the GRA, and get the bigger saddle.
Plus they often pair up for missions and have to share saddles.

Still trying to find solutions that aren't too complicated XP

Stressing

My parents came up to spend a day with me. It was nice to hang out and relax in the valley. I get an awesome food discount for being an employee.

I had breakfast with them and they went home this morning.
It made me feel a bit homesick again. I don't really have anything in common with the people I work with, so it's a strange sort of lonely.
I miss my cat XD
I may be just a bit cat-obsessed.

I knew something was a bit off when I got back to the house.
Apparently one of the guys in our house got drunk and started cussing everyone out and making a disgusting mess.
So, he got kicked out the day I was gone. He's been demoted to a tent, apparently.

Yikes.

Man, I'm really glad I wasn't there though. I would have freaked out.


On top of that, we've been trying to hire new people all freaking month. We keep hiring new people that never show up.
We were supposed to get two new girls today.
Then never showed up.
We just found out that some people up in the organization are finding some creative ways to screw up. The new people are getting lost in the system.

We're going to be losing some people, and we've got no one to take their places. We already work harder than everyone else in the area. We have way longer hours, and the work is hard and potentially dangerous.
When I tell people where I work, they say "Whoa, you work hard over there."

So yeah. my stress started to get pretty high this afternoon.
I think I'm starting to calm down a bit.

Book Update

It's been about a year since my last overview of what I've been reading.
So I'll get started on a new one.
As usual, I write individual posts about the books I want to talk about specifically. But I'll pick out some that are worth mentioning.

The Five Ancestors
I started reading this because it's set in China, and I thought it would be helpful to read in reference for Katani's story. Though there really isn't much Chinese culture in the books.
(I love the book covers though)


Legend of Sleepy Hollow + Rip Van Winkle
I've actually read these before, but it was a super long time ago.

The Wise Man's Fear + The Slow Regard of Silent Things
Yeahh, I've already written about these. Heheh.
I read The Slow Regard of Silent Things again. I really really like it. It might even be my favorite book. It's like poetry.
I can't wait for the last book to come out, and I really really hope that it ends well. I'm sure it will, but I've been disappointed before. TT^TT


The White Dragon
One of the Dragonriders of Pern books. I was told that it's not really worth reading anymore of the series beyond this point.
This series is one of the foundations of all dragon stories. Mostly stories where people cooperate with and ride dragons.
One of the short stories from this series got me hooked on dragons, back in middle school @_@
(The Smallest Dragonboy)

This Star Won't Go Out
If you follow the Vlogbrothers, you may have heard of Esther day: The day where you tell the people you care about that you love them. We don't do that enough in our lives.
This book is about the real girl who created Esther day. A teenage girl who died from cancer.
Needless to say, it's very touching.

Sandeagozu
This is the kind of book I would have been super into in middle school/early high school. It's about a group of animals, lead by a big beautiful python named Sherahi. They are traveling across the country to reach a paradise called Sandeagozu (say that word aloud and see if you can figure it out).
There was some good stuff in this book, especially about speciesism. I think it's worth reading for animal lovers.


The Foretelling
This book was a gift from a fellow horse-loving friend. It was a nice read, and I enjoyed it.

Myst: The Book of Atrus
I played a couple of these games back in middle school. So when I saw a book about them, I thought it would be interesting to check out.
Although when I finally read it, I remembered almost nothing about the games. Heh.

My Bonny Light Horseman + Rapture of the Deep
The next books in the Bloody Jack series. I'm continuing to enjoy this series, though some things are getting a bit repetitive.
It's always fascinating to see what angle they're going to use next.

Cirque Du Freak
I finally read the second and third books. Considering that they are pretty short, I'm going through this series very slowly XP
I think I like the manga better, actually. Heheh. Probably because I've gotten a lot more picky about the quality of the writing.

Extras
The final book from the Uglies series. It's a pretty good book, though I like the others better.

Sabriel
I mentioned this book earlier, but it was a good book. I just started the second book in the series.
It's about a girl who's job is to keep dead spirits from rising and attacking the living.


The Fifth Force
This was written by a friend of a friend.
Kind of a spiritual superpower thing. It's a cool combination. There's a second book that I've got sitting on my shelf ready to read.

The Dowry Bride
Someone recommended this because I asked for books about Indian culture.
It's a rather bleak and small picture of Indian culture, but it does bring to light ways in which women are basically property in a lot of the world.
The backstory of the villain was pretty disappointing.

Drowned Cities
I liked the first book (Ship Breaker). I didn't get into this one as much.
An environmental fiction that I read for my grad story.
I think now that I've read this author's adult books, I can't stand how bleak and violent he is.

Cinder
I quite liked this. It was a really cool take on the Cinderella story, and I loved how they incorporated all the interesting details of the story into their own world.
I read the second book, Scarlet. It was good, but I did like Cinder better. I'll keep reading the series though.


Hiroshima
Man, talk about intense. I couldn't stop thinking about my visit to the atomic bomb museum in Nagasaki.
This book has accounts from some survivors of the first atomic bomb that hit Hiroshima.
Again, super intense and scary.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
A novelization of the movie (The movie was based off of a comic series, so there's quite the chain of media going on with his one).
It's a typical novelization. If you've seen the movie, you'll know what the book's about.

Turning Point
The second book of Miyazaki's writing.
Man, this would have had some great stuff for my grad project. Hehe. It's got all the articles and speeches about Princess Mononoke.

Yeah, I'm Miyazaki obsessed. I think there will be a third of these books. I'm buying it whenever it comes into existence.

Tyra

Sometimes when I talk about my stories, I mention my dragon Tyra.

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Storm Dragon by Ferngirl on DeviantArt
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And sometimes I get an interesting reaction from her name. They'll say "Oh, Tyra sounds like Tara!"

I definitely did not name Tyra after me.
The origin of her name is far more weird, so I thought I might as well talk about it.

For my Pokémon fanfiction, one of my characters was a Tyranitar named Tyra. Tyra, Tyranitar, Tyrannosaurus Rex, etc etc.
I liked the name, and Tyranitar is a similar color to Tyra the dragon. So I just snatched the name from my fanfic.

It didn't occur to me at all that it sounded like my name.
Heh. Oops.

Becoming a Character

I think one of the main reasons that cosplay is so fun is because you get to feel a little like the characters you're dressed as.

And seeing other people dress up as characters is a little bit like meeting those characters.

The Stages of Homesickness

Our internet’s been out. Hopefully we’ll get it fixed next week.
I’ll type this out now, and post it next time I can access the blog.

I guess it’s been about 3 weeks since I started? Still a long ways to go.

I’ve been away from home for longer than this. I was in Europe for a month, and I didn’t get homesick then. But I have never lived away from home. And I’ve never been faced with the prospect of being away from home for three months.

The first few days were hard. There’s so much to learn, and my legs weren’t used to so much saddle time. And I wasn’t expecting the hours to be so long.
Hopefully we’re going to get in a couple new people soon, because we need the help.

The first few days left me really homesick. Mostly because of learning new work, and the thought of being away for so long. I miss everyone, especially my cat.
I started to get adjusted to the work and the schedule, and began to feel better.

Then came last Sunday, which was a pretty awful day. A whole bunch of unrelated things came together to make for a bad time.
But I did get to go home on Sunday night. The drive was 5 ½ hours, and I got lost on part of it. I rather hate cars and driving, and I started to panic until I finally found the turn I needed. It was another nasty part to a nasty day.
Then I got home that night and I got to see my cat. She was so happy to see me, and so nice to snuggle with. And I got to spend a day and a half with my family that’s visiting (they’re the reason I came home. I wish I could have spent more time with them.)

When it came time to head back to my summer house, I could barely drag myself out to my car. I didn’t want to leave my safe place and drive six hours to a place where I just had a really bad day.
I didn’t want to leave my cat for another month, since that’s probably when my next home visit will be.

But I did make it back.
And I’m starting to settle into work again. Even though my legs are still chafed to hell.
I’m pretty lonely. The people I work with are nice, but we really don’t have anything in common. And without the internet, it’s difficult for me to email people, and I can’t use Skype to talk to Mom and Dad. And with no cell service I can’t call my parents either.
They’re supposed to visit in a little over a week, and some other people want to come visit over the summer. So hopefully that will help with the loneliness.

Basically I’ve been learning lots of big lessons about non-attachment. To my home, to my usual way of life, to food (the produce here sucks, the variety is low, and the prices are stupid). And to people, though that’s not so much about being away.

I keep telling myself that the stuff I’m going through is really mild compared to most problems. But that doesn’t’ necessarily make it easier to get through XD

New Sparkles

I feel like writing a totally random post.
Since I like to post about my shiny Pokemon, I might as well continue the trend. Even though the ones I'm about to write about happened a few months ago...

Near the beginning of the year, I tried to hatch a shiny Charmander. I've never succeeded in hatching a shiny before, but I finally hatched a shiny Charmander on my X version.
He's now an awesome blue Charizard.
I named him Gale, because it was a super windy day (And I was trying to get away from naming them after characters from movies/books).


During the spring, in my X version I went to the friend Safari to look for a few Pokemon. I stumbled upon a shiny Pancham.
I'd been singing "Haven't You Noticed I'm a Star" earlier that day, so I named her Sadie (So much for avoiding character names).


The very next day, I was still in the friend safari, on my Y version. And I caught a shiny Pansear.
I'd gone to Target earlier that day. My family likes to pronounce it fancy sometimes. Tarjé (like Tar-jay).
I named him Jay.

(A few weeks later, I was sorely tempted to name him Lars. Then my shiny Pancham and Pansear could match. I may or may not go along with that at some point).

I don't think I'll evolve either Sadie or Jay. I like their unevolved forms better.