Goodbye

This is the last post I will ever make on IRCaF. Really, really, honestly. So... I want to say goodbye, and update a bit before I have to consign this blog to the archive heap and switch over to That Blog Whose Name Changes Muchly (currently... um, I think I forgot the name...)
Well I am in northern Alta California as in the state in the USA. And I am drowning in trees. Drowning drowning drowning. there are so many of them. I'll post photos - no, wait. I won't.
Oh, and it's my birthday at 4:40 TS time, 3:40 here and 5:40 where I was born (PM. I'm not that cruel! I wouldn't do that to the poor doctorses) so happy early belated, and actual birthday to all.
And now I go.
*disappears in a flash of blue smoke muttering 'Wait! I never told them why people kept mistaking me as a boy in Mexico City~! oh well...'*

Deathly Hallows, or According to Some People, I Read Too Fast

on the 25th I got a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as it was in costco in LC. I got it at 3:55 pm and finished it 427 minutes, or 7 hours 7 minutes later.
Other than that I am also going to the US soon and I have a twitter badges to show. (I sure hope they work right in posts...) Prototypes for use on SLI whose name will change every month. I may make mastheads for each name but if I do then I'll probably get in a bad mood trying to make them work right on Blogger, oh well...

With friends number one

The flash: just me one you already know

follow me at http://twitter.com

An HTML just me one that I have yet to get the hang of

Back

Hi! Here I am! I'll post photos when I get them off of film and memory card alike (the former shall take a while) but here's a version of a song that was going around while you wait that was making fun of the amount of backpacks (three per person) they were giving us and of how you had to put your name on everything

Cuando fui a la Convivenica
Una mochila encontré
Cómo no tenia nombre
Yo me la quede
Ay, mochila
De quien serias?
Pues ahora no me importa
Porque ahora eres mia


Rough translation:

When I went to the convivencia
A backpack, I found
As it didn't have a name
I kept it
Oh backpack,
Whose could you be?
Well it doesn't matter
because now you belong to me.


Laters!

What am I thinking??

I've been awake since four in the morning. Ridiculous. Well, for your viewing pleasure, here are two new drawings of Karen and Akaia, both done in Photoshop, both triggering yelling on the subject that Photoshop doesn't have a metallic silver effect - well, elements 2 doesn't. Enjoy. (If there was a silver effect they would be sooooo awesome ^_^ )

In the order that they were drawn. All (c) me and so on. Plagiarize and I'll chew on your head.... Well not really. Who knows where it's been? ;)

Read This Message or Be Tomato'd

I now have a first bit of my book, chapter zero. Here it is (first draft, that is) and criticisms welcome:

The Death of All Stories

Book One

Chapter ZERO:

Through the Eyes of Gods

I don’t pretend to know everything. That would be boring. I just guess.

Rather strange thought, isn’t it? Considering that I’m a god.

Well, goddess to be exact. My name is Nârēn.

You humans may have a bit of trouble comprehending that, ‘specially if you don’t believe in us. So let me say this nice and slowly: My name is Nârēn, and I’m a god. Got it? Good.

You’re going to need that knowledge for the rest of the story.

Now come on! Time’s a-wasting. Read on.

It’ll be interesting, I promise.

Or maybe not.

Look. There’s a group of worlds that are more transparently polytheist, as a general rule, than most. The group is called – wait, should I tell you that? I shouldn’t. Fine. The group is called – something, and I rule it. In it, I’m the supreme goddess. Period.

So, I rule this-place-C-doesn’t-want-me-to-name, under Her, of course.

If I’m a – the! – supreme goddess, who’s She? Who’s C?

Hah! Who’s C? She’s the kid who invented me, of course! I live in her head! You don’t really disagree with landlords when being evicted may be fatal!

Well, maybe not. It could be, but then it couldn’t. However, she wouldn’t write about me anymore, and that would mean that I’d only exist in the limbo that her other abandoned ideas inhabit. Boooooooring.

I don’t intend to let that happen. I hope you’ll help. Of course, by reading this you already are.

So... I’m really going to have to swallow my pride to say this...

Thank you!

Please don’t tell anyone I just said that.

So. Back to ThisPlace.

There are a lot of sub-div’d worlds in it. Basically they come down to three sub-groups, in which intervene some worlds from other groups altogether:

• The Tarekas series, which has a lot of magic, and so the magic-users in it are (a) quite common and (b) often powerful, just as the norm;
• The Analek, in which magic, when it exists, is rarer than water in a desert; this series also contains world Ny, C’s world. No offense to those who live there, but it seems to me it’s a depressing, magic-less mud pit whose gods’ visits to pop in and say hi are few and far between; it’s redeeming qualities are cool technology (though some Analek worlds with slight magic have that) and that it seems to be an endless fountain of good authors. For that, it’s awesome. Maybe that’s where all it’s magic went? That’s C’s theory, at least;
• The Daer’shin, in which magic is rare, rarely acknowledged, strange, sometimes sadistic and amazingly powerful. It’s a mage’s dream... or nightmare.

And I get to boss most everyone in most of them around (while being bossed around by some adolescent girl myself) ! Doesn’t that sound fun? Yes? Well, you’re about to see some of the consequences of decisions gone wrong.

Then tell me whether it’s a dream or a nightmare, not before.

Welcome to my mind, either way.

*shudders* Ugh, text pasted in from MS:Word...

Well today was originally the date that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was supposed to come out and don't I wish it had. But it's coming out at the end of the month instead. On the subject of not-out books Scott Westerfeld is giving copies of his unreleased book Extras to the first commenter on his blog. I am trying to be one of the first commenters. Wish me luck?

And now for a quote: "Behold! The consequences of decisions gone wrong made by gods whose brains were freezer-burned!"

NOTE: I may post a drabble for the side story taking place in one of the Analek worlds later (I think Analek C - it resembles Ny a lot)

Well, I'm back, but only for a while

Hi.
I've graduated from my school, with a really annoying cavalcade of diplomas (I bet most people were very annoyed with me, and others, as some students got six diplomas and had to keep walking up.. it took about 15 minutes per diploma. My feet hurt so much that day, you know, there's this invention called chairs, maybe you should try it? Someone should say that to my school!)
Well anyway I'm free, on vacation, since the 3rd, we had the awesomeest ever year-end party on the 4th (Happy independence day, USAdians) and I have made it my July-am-bored project to get S.L.I. up and working, and to prepare for NaNoWriMo, as I plan on participating.
Yes, I know it's cheating to start working on your novel ahead of time. :P

So, I've decided I have an idea for the comment page for this post (remember it? Maybe you don't, and that's why I don't get many ;) ). The idea is: Answer the question "what are you doing this summer?" if you want. I really am curious. And what am I doing? Going to mexico city on the SEP's pocket, coming back, and going to the USA - California and Florida. Because visiting family and friends thereof is obligatory ;)
And I am most nervous because I go to the Mainland on the 14th which draws ever nearer as we speak. Eth.

Update, 07.07.07: I wish I could've skipped it, but I was

• in the Escolta
• in the graduating class
• one of those proclaimed 'model students'
• going to Mexico City (Whee! More diplomas!)
• valedictorian and have been for six years (So three valedictorian-related diplomas)

I'm sorry if it seems like I'm bragging, but I am proud that the diplomas were not only because they needed something to do with all the extra heavy paper!

With aplologies to SparkLife and Animaniacs, the sources of the quotes.

Me: " 'Two trains leave Cleveland at the same time in opposite directions. What the heck were you doing in Cleveland?' "
Dad: " 'The same thing we do every night, Pinky: Try to take over the world!' "

Well not only am I inteligent (I'd like think) I am also appearently Unteligent

78% Untelligent!

You are one smooth chick! Your score is higher than the current worldwide average of 63%!

Your score is unique, however, so keep reading.

Score Breakdown...

Intelligence
Sense of Humor
Violent Tendencies
Bravery
Observational Skills
Morality
Self-Confidence

Here is the custom report of your personality than led our team of geeks to conclude (with confidence) that you are a resourceful and sly woman:

" The subject shows an astounding level of intelligence, and her sense of observation is one of her best qualities. Considering this, she shows a lot of potential, but that's only part of the equation.

Finally, the subject displayed a pathetic and useless (seriously bad) sense of humor, a nearly satanic lack of morality, and a hot-shot level of self-confidence. The balance of these three traits is important; high levels of confidence, medium levels of morality, and a good level of humor make for the strongest individuals."

Well would ya look at that! Huh. Now time to take the IQ test from the same thing, eep.

"A mashed potato glass to put martinis in!"

I finally got an explanation for the Legendary Martini Glass to Put Mashed Potatoes In (see blog entry for 27-02-07); it was a Mashed Potato Party.
Hmmm.

Ehy, I'm back!

Hi.
I'm baaaaack. And the Parlimento was fun.
I met some friends, namely those who I will refer to as Ladies X, A, B, and L. Why Ladies? Because I feel like it.
Hmm... I'll have to get the photo off but there's this very weird hairy rock thing... I ... um.... "found", shall we say. Taking guesses as to what it is. Will post what it is on Monday or possibly later.

On another subject altogether, I have my strategy for making comics worked out. I will have four, interlacing stories that will update weekly (since there are four they will each update once a month or so, maybe more, depends on how much of a brat Nârēn is being and then divide how much inspiration she provides by time, scanner access and homework/other things) (in order of when I came up with the ideas for them)

The Dæ^hisharean Chronicles, The Kaen Files, Shades of Gray, Normal Isn't Good Enough

in the end they will all come together in
The Death of All Stories
What I'm trying to decide is if I should make The Four separate or the same (under the same URL)
Any opinions?

But...

Okay.
I've been having a bit of an attitude problem recently and I'm very very sorry... but now the answer seems to be, cannot read webcomics much may thee.
Gist of which, can't read much webcomics. But oh no I had to rhyme.
Anyway.
Tomorrow I am banished to a hotel in LP for the first of three days. I say banished because only my teacher will be there that I know (I don't know if any of my friends from the Olimpiada are going or not) -_-. I am going for the Parlimento Juvenil, the gist of which means that I get to be a Diputada for three days. Yay me. *listlessly twirls a flag around with one finger; the flag says 'insert witticism here' on it in tiny letters that barely fit on the tiny flag*
And back to the lack of webcomics. What shall I do to get the ban lifted? Try to find more successful ways of bottling up Anger, to be sure; They all say it's bad for you but you know what? In my experience being 'open with your feelings' and all that are worse. You try it, tell me what you think. Bah. Also, I shall unleash the Listlessness full force.
Because I've been feeling like that anyway, I've just been trying to shield people from the brunt of it.
That'll teach Them to tell me what I can and cannot read!
(Hmm. That does give me an idea. I wonder if Dad would be opposed to it - don't tell Mom or I shall be dead!)
(And will someone please tell the SEP thank you? Your tests have brought me almost nothing but regret that I took them, maybe you should work on your strategies and policies and what-have-you)

A teaser for an avatar I'm working on

Enter Jashret. The real avatar will be better, and higher quality, because the real avie will be my AWESOME AVATAR OF AWESOME AWESOMENESS!!!
*ahem* *ahem* Sorry 'bout that. Got carried away. Please tell me what you think. Comments below, and am done with homework whooooooo!

Tablet hand becoming veeery tired.

For tommorow I have to finish a six page historieta for school as the end-of-term assignment and of course am overdoing it. But I'm almost done. Also, definitive name for the comic marching under the name of 'The Random Mushroom': Shades of Gray. Or Grey. I can't seem to decide.
Also, curtesy of Naren and may someone whack her on the head for it because it's making me procrasitnate, significant advances on the character of Jashret and a very strange uniform idea that makes him look even more androgynous. Mmmaybe Dad had a valid reason to say that looking at the faces of the people I draw he can't tell if they're male or female, but I think he's overreacting.
Of course, it can't help that I reaaaally don't like drawing facial hair, so that's one indicator gone. (basically the type of people I like to draw are between ten and twenty... because then I can use myself as a model. Ha. Yet another reason why the guys are androgynous.)
But back to Jashret.
You can probably blame the character development on listening too much to Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera's soundtrack.
I bet Mom is sooo sick of 'Angel of Music' right now. Especially since I just sing random parts and am wearing headphones. :D

Forbidden Magi (Magic and the Sciences that Resemble It, Part One)

Because I have some time on my hands, and because I feel like giving you some background, and because I don't want to forget this, here we go with some info on the comic I'm making. Spoilers. Don't read if you're not interested/won't forget it in two months.



...



Really, I'm serious, there's spoilers....




Okay. There are the four divisions of magic you know about - earth, water, plasma (including Fire and Energy), and air. There's also shadow, which is very strange and often sadistic magic, but we won't go into that here.
A mage - a normal one - can be any of the many specifics (such as ice in water) and also has a passive, or non, attribute, which often comes from the same family (division) or a similar one. You can't pick your powers (only Shadowmancers can pick - yes I know the term Shadowmacers has been used before); they usually come from something about you. The Fae are slightly different: Their powers usually come in subspecies of Fae**. But again, that's off-topic.

Then there are three elements that are widely claimed not to exist, and when they are acknowledged as not myths, are most strictly FORBIDDEN to practice.
They are

• SIGHT


• TIME

and

• THOUGHT

Since there aren't hordes of magi balancing out their powers in the mortal astral planes, these must have avatars every generation. The avatars are extremely powerful, and often can't control their powers because they have ALL the power of an element - the same power as, say, all the magi that practice anything in one Family's magic, COMBINED.

The three are the Seer (of SIGHT)*, the Time Bandit (of TIME) and the Soul Thief (of THOUGHT).

Two of one sect cannot coexist. That makes training very difficult. Usually dimension and time travel are needed. Limbo dimensions can be very useful, but are usually only accessible to Time Bandits.

Time Bandits, Seers, Soul Thieves and the Forbidden Disciples are widely acknowledged as myths.

They aren't.



(Where does Jashret fit into this, you wonder? He's a Soul Thief. That's what's with the gloves: Soul Thieves, like many other types of magi, focus their power through their hands (specifically through the tips of their fingers)- but since the Forbidden Magi can't control their powers, they have to have something keeping them from doing anything they could regret (many Seers wear enchanted glasses as they focus their power through their eyes). The gloves are enchanted as well because otherwise, since Jashret is very untrained and extremely volatile, they would be in charred shreds (though the Forbidden can't have nons). (FYI, Time Bandits focus their power through the palms of their hands. They can actually get away with leaving their fingers unprotected, but it looks weird)

*SIGHT is the most powerful. There are very few, but some, who have a nearly nonexistent Sight non. It is very useful but SO rare. In some dimensions there have been experiments in reproducing Sight through mechanical and technological means, but of course they haven't advanced at all. Anything that says they have is all lies. *clears throat uncomfortably* ALL LIES, I SAY!

The colors of SIGHT, TIME and THOUGHT are as follows
Sight: light blue
Time: red
Thought: Yellow


(This was actually written at this time on the 24th, but I didn't just tell you that!)

**I spelled it wrong the first time. I know the common form is Fey, just as the common form of the singular is Fairy. But that's not how I spell it, which is why it's wrong ^^ Remember, I RULE Dæ^hishara. I can do whatever I want. It's the power of authors, and why I included them in the classification of Thought magi in respect to those who can't control it. Since there are three types of people who use Thought, perhaps more, Thought may be the most powerful - I cannot say. If so, then Jashret is doubly scary. :P

News

Hmm. Well we got results from the Olimpiada. My ribs hurt from being hugged so much. Why?

Well I'm sure you can tell. Why would I be hugged if I lost?

10th place of the 10 who are going to Mexico City for a week in late July. Yes, I know, You idiot Cosima, can't you've studied harder? Believe me, I've thought that often enough: I almost didn't make it, why are all you people so proud of me?

In related news, the generation of students in my school that I'm in (the generation that is) is quite possibly going to be named after me at graduation.

What the za? When did I get so important?

Mmmaybe I'll get a webcomic up (but I won't update 'till August or so)

If I do, however, and don't come up with any better name, this will be it's banner

...Only *slightly* dead! Slightly! ...Torok...!

For some reason people in my class keep asking me if I'm depressed! (Can't a would-be authoress angst in peace?) I don't understand it! And then Dad comments on how dark my comics are... I mean, Torok, can you give a person some rest? And what's wrong with dark comics? Aren't humans dark?
... Most of my characters aren't humans... But still~!
So I direct everyone to blame Nârēn. It's standard procedure.

Nârēn

I'm the ghost in the machine and the machine is Cosima's mind, and it goes against its coding a lot even without my help.

She sometimes wishes I would leave, but then who would bug and poke and nudge and cajole her into drawing and writing about the characters who walk into her head, myself included?

I'm her muse, her inspiration, her creativity, her imagination - you might even classify me as her Æther. I also happen to be the most powerful god or goddess in her Dæ^hishrara multiverses but one - she can overrule me - for which I am kind of thankful, but don't tell anyone.

I inhabit her head along with the other characters who I champion.

But I really don't think she's schizophrenic.

More Author Avatar-ing

Another pic of my comic avatar. The comic it's from would be a spoiler as it is the end of the rough storyline I came up with for taking Virçoise/Vircoise online. Now all I need is a system of updating, 50% of my time given back to me, blue graphite, decent paper, and a URL. Basically everything. But hey! I have a plot, which is more than can be said for most of my stories (I usually have puppets of characters who I put in situations and watch with interest in the place of a plot)
You at least can't say 'they have no script' with me. 'The writers flipped' is (1) arbitrary and (2) redundant. Of course I flipped, but it depends on how you define flipped. And watermelon. And purple. And also how you define shar'denat, but that's only because I've been asking Nărēn to shar'denat my teacher since I came up with that word so I'm pretty glad (1) she doesn't listen much (both Nar' and my teacher) because (2) it means damn. What? The stories I'm writing have a lotta gods in 'em! Gods damn people! I needed the word! Don't look at me like that! I didn't just want an expletive! What do you take me for, myself??

Yellow, Padwan

Boy: "And you, Padwan, have learnt the way of the vacuum."
Me: "And you, Padwan, have learnt the way of the Person-Who-Reads-AEther"
Boy: "And you have learnt something!"
Me: "And you have learnt something else!"

Only a test of keyboards

I´m using the spaish lanuguage - or quite possibly french, the ñ isn´t in the same place as on the ones in my school and there´s a ç - keyboard on the computer at cafe - how do you do accents? And the ? is above' next to 0, while ´is in the place of ' - too weird - Café (e and ´ simultaneously; shift e ´ gets you Ë or É, depending on which you press first, I think ) Brown, trying to blog. My fingers are already (partially) used to the keyboard, but this computer uses IE and the lack of Firefox or at least something with tabs (Update. Your. Programs. For. My. Sanity!!) keeps confusing me.
I just like to record the different computers I get to play with; you needen´t bother reading but I think messing with this keyboard is fun.

Countdown to 200 and a lithp resulting from badly-used archaic language.

What I was trying to say, in reference to trying to find some sketches of Lord Tedd to help my strange pursuit of doing a fanart of him that doesn't make my eyes want to bleed:

And there thou hath thy long-sought-after Lord Tedd sketches.

What I lithped:

And there thy hath... heth... theth... somethingth I can't pronounthce...

Also: Definitive template for s.l.i UP!!!! I finally went with a modified version of Ms. Moto.

A post that had I had my way, would've been horribly angsty, so consider yourself lucky unless you actually want to know how my miserable mind works.

I've been drawing comics in my spare time. However in my opinion the art/stories/probable updating times are so awful that no one would want to read them; the storylines remind me of comics I like, and I am mortally afraid of being called a ripoff, almost more so even that of being wrong; and there are much better comics that deserve the readership far more than I. The consequence of that is that I've been depressed the past few weeks. And whenever I re-read the EGS Painted Black storyline (which is sometimes semi-daily, when I don't have anything to study for) I feel like I'm going to cry. ('Why do you read it then?' you ask. Well, I really really like it and it's really really good. Which is the same reason I cry.)
My mother says that the angst comes with being an artist. Damn; I was hoping it came with being a (pre-)teen and would go away in 2-10 years, which is better than in forever.
However, here's some concept sketches for an avatar of mine so you can decide for yourself. If you like them feel free to comment, but I'll probably still be miserable. *sniff* Click for big.


The first draft of my female avatar. I was so worried about doing the ears a similar (okay, very similar) style to Dan Shive's that I probably rather panicked Dad by crying about it. Oh well, at least he doesn't dismiss it as mere angst.


Female and male avatars, without fur. Or tails. As in 'noticeable lack of tail'.


A mini-comic making fun of the fact that I thought the male avatar was kind of cute.

In the Shadows Lurk the Nightmares Made by SEP...

Tomorrow I go to LP.
The day after I take the second level of the Olimpiada del Conocimiento Infantil standardized test.
I previously had gotten 52/70. I aim to top that.
I'm aiming for Mexico City.
Wish me luck.

[Update] the SEP need to work on their nightmare-making. It wasn't that bad. The exam was fun. But when did WWII end? [/Update]

MAJOR 'SQUEE'-age, just warning you.

I. Got. A. Cell phone!!! this afternoon. It is a pink LG chocolate MG800c. Yes, pink. Because I don't like white, and black is kinda... um, I don't know, but all my electronics are black. Uh... so... off to install the software and babble at my dad! Oh, and in a week I will be in LP. But I will not allow that to distract me from my squee-age. So there.

On a book which I just finished today, automatically recommended -

'This is going on my list of stories that might actually be real. Along with... with Kiki Strike and that's about it...
'If not, whoever blogs for them is incredibly dedicated. [and an insanely die-hard fan - you know, like me with the Inheritance Trilogy or the Chrestomanci Chronicles.] And never gets bored.
'Oh, and is really good at faking X-rays and what have you and who knows what else.'

Ya see, this is too weird and too complicated not to be true.
I can't wait till the next book comes out.
To think that I only started it this morning/finished it a couple minutes ago.

MaximumRide.com
The aforementioned blog

Playing with Vista

Got an opportunity to mess w/ someone else's machine: one of the ones in the Ricardo Amigo real estate place. My primary analysis? Vista is basically a slightly prettier version (but not much) of XP. I am speaking of Windows here. Well, I admit, some of the glowy stuff is cool. But still, my machine is slow enough as it is!!
However, have not run into that 'cancel or allow' stuff yet. Every cloud as a silver lining.
Admittedly, a thin one. But we can't be picky.

In other news, it is Cinco de Mayo. I forget what it's supposed to be. I am sure we will be reminded on Monday.

I am making a timeline (and it is rather, uh, huge- primary estimates based on my first segment of eight that was handwritten indicates around 5ft each, 45 feet or so. But some will be typed.

This machine is relatively (ok, very) new. It has a little Windows Vista sticker on it, and a small keyboard, which I think was not the best design choice; ditto on the mouse buttons that don't stick up at all. Speaking of annoying. And though it is new... ish... 'enter,' '?,' and '.' don't allways work right. *sigh*

Though I admit I don't like the keyboard much, there's something about the arrow buttons that mine lack.
Oh yeah.
Lack of overuse.

...wait, did that even make sense?

Since we're on the subject of homework...

'In the space of 3 measly days I intend to start and finish a paper on geometric figures, start and finish a timeline for every chapter of this book [my history textbook] and tape them all together. Fun!
'I'm an overachiever, this is what I call fun.'
Me, to my mom, today.

Return of the Homework

I don't know if you find me posting my homework annoying, but this was just so unberably cool I couldn't help it. Check it out.

Whoa!

A parade, carrying the Dia Del Ni~no Queen, Princess and Ladies In Waiting for my school, including our dear little midget queen (she's a first grader! Although... she could be a second grader for all I would know unless they announced it! They're all shorter than me! Therefore, they're all midgets to me!) on top of what looks like a limo.

Happy Dia del Ni~no to all the kids out there (be they 1 or 101)

I feel remarkably dead for someone alive

"No, just - stop laughing. That's better. Yeah. Okay, wave at Sanity... Can't you see her-? She's over there- yes, like that, wave byebye to Sanity. Good girl."

This is what comes of reading the Raining Noodles archives.
Actually, I think I was looking at the source code when I cracked up...
Weird. Source code makes me laugh.
Maybe it was the utter insanity of what I'm going to do on S.L.I..
Oh well. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to google HTML for the brainless, see what comes up.

baaaaack...?

No, I haven't disappeared. I half wish I had; I'd love to see the comments. But aside from that? I haven't been posting because I haven't been doing much worth posting about. Let me think.
*sound of crickets chirping*
Uh...
Well, my class went to the Pescadero school yesterday along with 5C and I managed to get a mouthful of sand falling off monkey bars, fell off a wall, walked on a tree, and had to get out of another tree - that had I fallen off of I would've been covered with mud, so good thing that I wasn't, I would've been in major trouble - precariously because of my teacher ("Rose! GET OUT OF THEIR TREE!" O.o). And what can be learned from that? That now my right arm hurts because I hold on longer with it for some instinctual reason because I'm right-handed, that I climb a lot, that football is boring to watch, that the reason I never play sports voluntarilly is because everyone assumes that if it's not intellectual I'll be awful at it and why let the awful people practice? We don't want equality and opportunity, we want to win so I don't get any practice, no one wants me on their team (however, I have never had "I'll take ___" "I'll take... Uh, professor, can I pick the rock?") and I feel bad about even playing because again, we're loosing, why should I play? I'll just make us loose worse...
Gods damn the star system at play in most schools. Or all. It seems to be basic human nature - and spiteful, ugly, and underhanded it is, it must be human nature.
People wonder why I call myself Cat. It's because, according to my observations, the human species is not one you would want to be anything more than a long-distance phone call away from sometimes. It is not something you want to be affilated with. It is something you can despise, regard with sympathy or fondness, or find funny, depending on your disposition and the time of day.
But it is not a species I want to be.
Tough luck.

On Pronunciation of word that end in A

"You listen, you'll hear her saying R's [for words that end in A]-"
" 'Arse' is a completely different word."
*sound of laughter coming from behind a weighty book*

Exam results

Do you remember those panic-filled Mexico-wide sixth-grade exams I would rant about? If you don't, no matter; suffice to say that the prelims were eighty questions, all subjects, mystifying and A-D. Four of eighty I had to guess.
Out of something like 10,316 people, I learned Thursday morning, I got second place.
You probably think I was elated. And I was. But there was one thing that filled me with simmering resentment- if the exams had been a week later I wouldn't've had to guess those four! - and another that left me ruefully panicked, though that paled in comparison to the INCOMING! exams in LP where we would, of course, get to meet the mayor...
The teasing if the first place person was a boy, who out-exammed me, considered smart and a bit of a pain-in-the-butt feminist by the boys-
The teasing would positively kill me.

The title of this post was bland because otherwise, if it was to apropriately express my mood, it would be Ohmygodsohmygodsohmygods... and I think I did that with Michael already. But, for the sake of mystifying you until I explain it on Evolution of a Writer*, and possibly and then some-
Seradoc somemighty on a stick...
This is really happening.
I'm scared.
*It (the thing in italics) is a reference to some of my favorites out of the gods and cavalcade of demigods I invented for the book that the surface area of dragons: The Evolution of a Writer chronicles the most.

New drawings

I've been wanting to scan some of my drawings in particular for a long time, and thought you might like to see...
Also, I started a blog (another! Ye go- whoops, don't want to summon them again by accident - ) that chronicles my writing. Check it out if you like.

Yet Another Attempt- I must be crazy

I once *again* tried to rewrite the CSS on SLI. Still no sucessfullness: my code ruined the page, and I ended up having to reload the current hole-full, awful template from disk. I am coming to hate that blog.

I think I shall finally dream something to blog about!

Had a strange dream last night. Lesse. There was this thing on this beach, a privately owned beach - how weird is that - , and a bunch of people were invited - and did I mention my parents were still together? Weeeeeeirrrrdddd, I say - and so they were down at the end of this steeply slanted beach, but my best friend in the dream and her little brother got bored so we started walking up but around halfway up we stopped to rest in these enormous plastic beach chairs with red upholstery, honestly they were as big as cars, but then this huge! tidal wave came and smashed the chairs, and she was pulling him out and his foot was still in the chair when kablooey! and I was still sitting there but I had grabbed my stick because when I go to the beach, I always grab driftwood for witches' wands and staffs, and this one was a lovely six foot one and I got blasted straight out of the back of the for some reason slightly smoking chair and the stick stuck in the dune wall at the top of the beach, so I just held on since pretty much the wave just blew us to safety and as we screamed and screamed the alarm for the grownups, but then there was this huge wave going down the middle and most of the grownups were gone but my mom was running in front with her wrists drawn up to her shoulders, flapping her hands, kind of shriek-squawking and jumping with both feet together just ahead of the ravenous wave, which for some reason resembled a leopard seal, which prey on penguins, and my dad seemed to think she had gone nuts-
And then we were there, and the grownups were safe and pulling out their cell phones to chatter loudly about how "I was, like, so scared and there was like this huge wave, it was like huge," so we slipped quietly away to somewhere more interesting, to find someone who would care that the rapidly spreading wave had adverse effects on adults' sanity, already tenuous as it is.

This was a highly remarkable occurrence as I don't dream much. Maybe I'll make a habit out of it. It would be interesting to look like a dreaming nun.

How Blog Entries are Made

*looks askance at username and polishes nonexistent glasses, stroking beard* *remembers she doesn't have a beard* *her brain wanders off in search of cheese leaving her in front of a computer; ("Ah well," she shrugs, "might as well type, then")*
And that is how blog entries are made.
From a recent (ie happening right now) chat.

In other news, I am recovering from a very nasty flu going around. Of course it is nasty. Things that go around have a tendency to be nasty, otherwise they'd loose momentum and fizzle out.

I'm baaaaaaaaaack!!

From camping and I'd just love to give you a full report only I'd like to comment on Z, who hated me before I left for winning a game of chess. So this is our IM conversation to date, spanish and ingish (spanglish for english or ingles)
"Hola fool"
"Todavia me odias?"
"Si."
"Y entonces me estas platicando porque...?"
"nadamas y si quieres callate"
"o_O"
"o_O eso que?"
"*rolleyes* humanos..."
"eres un humano rose o no eres un microbio?"
"gato"

"Hello fool"
"You still hate me?"
"Yes."
"And so you are talking to me because...?"
"Just because and shut up if you want to"
"o_O"
"o_O what's that?"
"*rollseyes* humans..."
"You are a human rose or are you a microbe?"
"cat"

Thought you ought to know...

...that I'll be gone for a week or so, camping east of here. I'll take photos and see you on sunday or so!

Do not disturb: am making stickers to promote the blog where I report whatever you say

"I'm making stickers, you see."

"Stickers"

"You see in the thing I was reading, he said that he wouldn't be surprised if blog urls started showing up on bumper stickers... So I'm not going to surprise him."

Wordplay *is* a Girl's Best Friend.

Today I didn't really have a good day. I went to the plaza after honores for Juarez and spring and a bit about the petroleo which is actually a kind of ridiculous thing to celebrate. The Escolta, being bored, made some prank calls on operators, then when it was all over I called and said I was really sorry for the inconvenience and the time we had probably wasted and hung up before the someone on the other end could respond in order to save more of it. A piece of set (canvas and thick wooden planks rolled up) fell on me.
During recess I was called a crybaby (I am not) and told my feet resemble or are turtle flippers (they aren't). Though I sometimes express an opinion similar to that last sentiment hearing it from someone I really don't like was a different matter, and anyway I still have a couple grudges against Nitwit to harp on, so I let that pass (relatively; I called him what he is, if I remember correctly, his reaction "What did I ever do to you?") and fell silent plotting a dastardly revenge or failing that poking him insane. A minute or so later, he asked if he could borrow two pesos. "No," I said starting out quite calmly. "You jerk why not!" "Well, I don't have any money and I HATE YOU AND WOULDN'T GIVE YOU MONEY IF MY LIFE DEPENDED ON IT!" "You don't have to scream" "Oh but I like to" "I'm not deaf-" (around here we both were yelling at once and Z was whispering something that will be revealed soon) "Oh really I could argue to the contrary-" "I'm not stupid-" "Evidence to the contrary right there!-" "What did I ever do to you?"
Now, let's think about that. You (Nitwit) were the first person ever to call me a bitch, but that I'll give you credit that you might have forgotten it. It was a couple months ago, and it was in a "friendly" context, or so someone who can strangely stand you told me. But you just insulted my feet, and I kind of like my feet. (You know, big feet makes falling over *much* harder, even if you run like a crazed - and animate, and constantly twitching (ooh, twitching windmills) - windmill.)
Anyway, back to the future. He says:
"I'm not you," "And that's how I know you are deaf!" (He talks over people horribly. Thinks he's always more important. Remind you of anyone? Say, Mrs. K?) "Oh no I'm not that's why-" (Z bends over, whispers something to me. I grin.) "Stop whispering to her Z!" "Oh I know you're not me that's how I know you're deaf-" - Z tries to say what she had told me as she thinks I'm not going to say it - "unlike me you have no ears. Also, you're stupid. Unlike me, you have NO BRAIN!!"
However afterwards someone said "rose que tienes?" (Literally "what do you have?" but meaning "what's wrong?")
"Feet like turtle flippers," I said.
Wordplay is a girl's best friend.

Flag Carrying Monkey passed me this

Aaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww... But by the Tórok, how the heck did they manage that?

Documentary

As you might've noticed by watching my Twitter updates I was just interviewed by a nice lady with a camera doing a video documentary on americans living in foreign countries. She was very nice, and says daddy (he was interviewed yestarday) and I will get copies of it when it's done.
I like being interviewed. It's almost like blogging. I have the freedom to say whatever I want and say it, and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk. What fun!

Eep...

The Big Exams are tuesday. The Historia/Geografia little exam which is still nervous-making is monday.

I really don't feel like studying.

...&monkeys

Am busy falling asleep on mousepad so my fingers are writing this. Walked around for half an hour with two hundred or so other people representing all ages from fifth grade to CECYT, carrying signs. Went to secundaria, watched their sucky Escolta-to-be (they're really awful), shouted that they need practice and was told how can I know with a heavy implication that I was an ignorant girl so leave them alone. And this on International Women's Day!!!!! Talked to Z and Da Stick about how awful they were, after raging at Z that me? not know? hel-lo?! vanguardia de la izquierda in one escolta and abanderada in the other! me? not know? it's them that can't paso redoblado right the half of them! pfft!, sat on REALLY COLD concrete for an hour and a half waiting, waiting for their thing to be over. Returned to school. Went for asistencia, to check how many kids came in our assigned classes. Came back.
School let out.
Now I'm free, free falling (free, free falling)

SLI yet again - maybe I'm starting to understand CSS? Can I hope?!?

SLI looks pretty good now, and I'm working on refining it, and pinking it. Yes, pink. The Girl has Spoken, and Thus it Shall Be. For now, at least. Look at it now, I mean RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT!!!! now, to see something pretty funny - it's caught between two worlds, some parts are pink, some parts are purple. Haha.

Past life diagnosis. Sounds like I'm ill. Is a past life a disease?

Your past life diagnosis: I don't know how you feel about it, but you were female in your last earthly incarnation.You were born somewhere in the territory of modern Central England around the year 1150.
Your profession was that of a teacher, mathematician or geologist.
Your brief psychological profile in your past life: Such people are always involved with all new. You have always loved changes, especially in art, music, cooking.
The lesson that your last past life brought to your present incarnation: The world is full of ill and lonely people. You should help those, who are less fortunate than you are.
Do you remember now?

...Okay, so I haven't been around again for almost a thousand years.

http://www.thebigview.com/pastlife/

disclaimer

An introduction to random people, part one.

I just realized I haven't done an 'introduction' bit for a while, so here goes nothing:

Porcelain Doll
Member of both Escoltas, middle in the formal one and I think middle in the other too, I can't even remember, she's so unobtrusive, almost like a tree or something. She's very pale and has very dark hair and is shorter even then me and her uniform always seems to be too small though, and she has a tendency to forget miscellaneous parts of it, for example her tie or her hat. A more rigid perfectionist than me if that is even possible, I have only heard her talk a couple times since we've been in Escolta together, for a year, and before then I haven't heard her speak since early third grade, since after that her mother switched her into the dreaded A class. She looks eternally angry and sounds eternally hoarse, and no wonder.

Da Stick
Member of both Escoltas and rather quiet comandante in both the Formal Girls' and Official. Her classroom nickname is Hueso or, when the teacher leaves her and I in charge, Maestra Hueso*. She is stick thin, though not quite skeletal; all in all she's one of those people who I've always been jealous of and looks rather like a model and seems to be better at me than everything except schoolwork and yelling: People laugh at her jokes!! When was the last time someone laughed at a joke I made up or I was able to participate in a conversation that had a lot of slang in spanish in it without burdening Z or Stick with a semi-constant hiss of "what does that mean?" "you don't need to know." "but I WANT to!" "tones" "ha ha" "Tones para los preguntones" "but what does it mean?!?!?!?!?"? Let me think here. Oh, um, NEVER!
Not that I begrudge her - or at least not much. She's a very nice person and I like to think she can't help it. But I really wanted to be the Officially Sanctioned Yelling Person! *sigh*

Flag Carrying Monkey
Flag carrier of the official escolta. Stick's ex boyfriend (I think they lasted a week, which seems to be a sixth grade record). He's sometimes nice and sometimes so annoying I consider re-taking up chasing people with shoes**, though half-heartedly.
All in all I guess he's nice though. And if he's annoying while we're practicing for the formal ones then I can poke him with the asta-bandera.

*There's one for me too but I've never been able to hear it well and when I asked Z to define it she said it doesn't matter so I'm pretty sure it means fat because unlike Da Stick I have a butt. Kapeesh?

**It was put on hiatus around fourth grade after I proved in a rather definitive and actually accidental (don't tell anyone!! ;) ) way that bugging the goody-goody bookworm foreigner really isn't worth it. Oh, and my current favorite pair, the ones I'm wearing now (I wear shoes all the time, even if I'm just sitting in the office) are kind of strange, really low heel and mostly cloth with only a bit of leather and of course black, but most importantly the heel is mostly an inch thick but at the heel something like one and three-quarters so they make wonderful booming and tapping sounds when worn, and would also be great for chasing people with, but they wouldn't've fit me back then. Okay you probably didn't care about that anyway. *sigh* Ow.

Oh. Yeah, when you think about it that way it's painfully obvious.

Yesterday, went to the doctor's (the one I went to was, incidentally, Porcelain Doll's father.) and was prescribed antibiotics after an examination, told I have a throat infection.
We went to the generic pharmacy in the ex-Pilar hotel which is now a color-coordinated type of oranges that if it was anything but the building that I liked faded yellow faded orange and faded green wouldn't be as hideous as I perceive it. Girl looks in book. No they do not have the prescription. They are specialized medicines. We go to the ISSTE. No they do not have the prescription.
Guess who does have it? Porcelain Doll's father's pharmacy.
They were kind of expensive ($250 pesos [around 25 us dollars] ) for one box but it turns out that if we had gotten generic medicine I would've had to take it for ten days so the cost would've been about the same, since this I just have to take three times a day for five days. Apparently no he was not trying to get us to have to shop at his pharmacy, he was trying for the least amount of time needed taking the vile stuff (they taste the way the antiseptic in public toilets smell) and was also trying to prescribe a syrup since I am a kid - I HATE syrups. Mom asked for it in pills. While Porcelain Doll's mother who is a dentist was ringing it up she said wishfully and kind of amazed, "she takes pills?" Mom informed her that I hate any other means: I have a mortal fear of needles and syrups have a tendency to make me throw up.
I didn't, however, get the pain medication he prescribed. So though I'm almost back to normal and am going to attempt at school tomorrow, my throat hurts and my head both is throbbing dully and feels like some giant has my brain in it's fist and is squeezing it slowly, as you or I might a lime, to see what juices come out.
Even though I have strep throat I'd rather she'd've gotten the pain medication: I'd rather not hurt and get better a bit slower than the situation I am in now.

Overheard from dad on the phone because I'm nosy.

"A martini glass?... A martini glass to put mashed potatoes in?... but what will I put my martini in?... [skipping part here]...Oh, wine. Ok. And a martini glass to put mashed potatoes in."

I'm sick so I didn't go to school, instead I went to dad's trailer but now we're in town. My throat is sore and my nose is stuffy and I feel like God or something sucked all the energy out of me with a giant straw and like I'm thinking through treacle.

It hurts to laugh but I did anyway.

the consequences of being a budding cantante

Probably from singing too much, I now have a sore, rubbed-raw throat.
Three guesses why.
After all, I've been talking since the age of five months.

I'm just going to get this out of my system

I was with my mom at the Hotel C. Flashback was doing the first night of their live recording, and at about 11:40 it all became too much: the sugar, and the loudness, and the sugar, and the bright flashing lights, and waking up at 7, and being teased because on a pop quiz two years ago a boy bested me... and I... started crying whenever there was a drumbeat. Or anyone said something. Or anything at all came out of the speakers.
In other words, pretty much continuously. Damn eardrums and school curriculum and threat/encouragement to get to school 25% earlier than everyone if you're in the honor guard... I'm really not like that usually, but by the time the week is over I'm pretty much at the breaking point. (four day weeks should be the standard. FIVE to SIX WEEK DAYS ARE NOT HUMANE)
I probably would've been able to shut up long enough to get out of the hotel, but my mom thinks that the only way to get me to be quiet while crying is to yell at me so I'll shut up out of being startled (or at least, she probably thinks out of being startled.)... whatever happened to asking nicely?
Sorry for griping at you... it's been weighing on me all weekend.

What always happens when you drop the knife?

Found in the Baja Western Onion:

EL MIRADOR BECOMES LA PATRIA SUR - Hello everyone!! This is Kathy Gordon Aviles of the magazine El Mirador and I would like to let everyone know that I have returned to Todos Santos. I have changed the name of the magazine to “La Patria Sur” and my first print edition will hit the streets on the first of April. I can be reached on my cell phone at 612-119-3903 (locally that would be 044-612-119-3903).

It is such a wonderful feeling being back in the country that I love and with the people that I adore. Also please remember that we have the free online Gringo Telephone Directory at www.elmirador.tv and getting listed is really easy once you go to the site. -Kathy

She's back. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's like what always happens in the horror movies, when they drop the knife the monster comes BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She changed the name so it would be momentarily unrecognizable as the dog paper of ts. Okay someone kill me. SHE'S BACK!!!!!!!!!!!

the possibly mutual Crush

[Update: "ski"?]
I just received the news that The Crush (#1) likes me from a kind of untrustworthy source (a couple sibling classmates who are chatting with me) but what the hell. I like warm fuzzy feelings and I have one. So there.

----------(pseudonym pending)----------- says:
si THE CRUSH medijo que tequeria [me]

z says:
ami tambien [me]

me says:
q????????????????????????????

me says:
te dijo eso??????????????

--------- says:
si

z says:
si

----------- says:
si

me says:
*muere*

z says:
si

------- says:
ski

me says:
de verdad?

z says:
si

---------- says:
si

--------------- says:
siiiiiiii

me says:
"x sabe quien me gusta entonces ella dijo a todos" "pues eso es lo que hacen los amigos" -yo y mi papa

Recent obnoxious message

"Hi, I'm looking for a place to stay, it's friday - " Oh, I hadn't noticed!! " - I have a phone - " Um, duh. You're calling. " - and the number is... wait let me find my number" - half a minute or so of LOUD static - "Okay I left my number in the car so I'll just have to... call you back."

Pre-Valentine's Day Add

CLASSIFIEDS:

FOR SALE

Flowers. Unfortunately, have been sat on, and stepped on several times. Otherwise quite nice red roses, a good prop if planning a breakup, if drama person.

Beigeish knight in slightly tarnished armor. Get it before Valentine's Day for people on a budget! Special refund rate if you wait until the 15th, though. Simply bring proof-of-purchased: squashed bouquet.

Opinions needed. CSS knowledge also.

So I got most of SOMETIMES LIFE INTERRUPTS's template up, using a bizarre combination of:

• A little of Blogger's (in need of improvement...especially on the subject of color codes and seeing what color you have and inserting your own) WYSIWYG template editor (not. much. at all. It should've stayed in Beta longer. It really needs help.)


• Some very minor copying (just on little things, like the basic CSS, so no one get mad at me please, look at my soon-to-be primary and perhaps only blog and then look at the wonderful It's Raining Noodles! and tell me if you can tell that every now and then there is a patch in my design that was modified form her template) from the source of raining noodles for css tags that I, with my absolutely and completely almost utterly lacking knowledge of that language, had no idea how to do.


• A haphazard combination of rule-of-thumb rgb and hex color codes, editing the basic blogger tags, and writing and/or seriously modifying additional ones (see above)


• And a little - or a whole damn lot - of luck.

Don't get me wrong, at first it was qualifying parts of the blogger template as text to just display in a great big weird block above all content. That was annoying. And then the colors decided they didn't feel like being what they should, and all in all if you go there you'll see the end product of probably half an hour to an hour of work and some aching eyes on my part. Okay I just tuned the brightness on my monitor down. That helped a lot, but if I'm going to be photoshopping I might have to turn it up again. Bother...
Your persistent (because I don't know if anyone cares) update on the new firefox: It doesn't accept Okay as a word unless you format it too, nor does it accept photoshopping, an essential part of my vocabulary, and it would be nice if instead of trying to take HTML and CSS tags as words it would give you a hand with them. I dream of 3.0.
Also, roaring wind outside, and the power was going on-off-on-off-on... for a while. Since I have a laptop that wasn't much of a problem, I just played Solitaire until the Internet connection came back, but a friend of mine who I was IMing and who was working on a desktop regularly went offline for a while every couple minutes. Dinner thing with four people and steaks of tuna fish tonight, and I have a stuffed animal cat (fake everything of course. WHAT DO YOU TAKE ME FOR??????) stuck in my sweater so if I have to hug something, there 'Tolomeo* is.

*The way Ptolemy is pronounced in Spanish. You don't pronounce the P. Correspondingly, if speakying English he is 'Tolemy.

I've just about given up.

qwertyuiop

Pause the chewing, I might have something!

what about this?

Well? TELL ME DARNIT!! I WANT THIS TO WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Italic didn't work. Chew chew chew!!

CHEW CHEW CHEW

It worked kind of. This is the second test!

this is the second test this is it's second chance to avoid a head-chewing a scolding WILL IT WORK????

Does this work?

I just edited my template with much trepidation. Does this work? If it doesn't I'll chew on blogger's head I don't know what I'll do . Sulk, I guess. This had better work. You do not want me to Sulk.

america in the eyes of some diggers 1

by waiting2awake 4 hours ago

[comment buried, show commenthide comment] + 34 diggs

When you grow up you just might realize that not everything is a partisan political move. Sometimes things are wrong, regardless on who does them. From an outside perspective, there is no difference between your republicans and your Democrats - they are both the same, tugging at certain issues to illicit an emotional response because as long as you are thinking emotionally you will be likely to fall for the blame game.

Republicans = Democrats.

The only losers are the American people and you all are too busy sling monkey poop at each to even bother noticing that both sides are playing the same game.

by halleyscomet 4 hours ago

[comment buried, show commenthide comment] + 9 diggs

@waiting2awake

Shhh. Be careful. You're spewing "Common Sense" and injecting reality into a partisan debate. Both Repubocrats and Demlicans object to that kind of behavior, and it goes over very poorly in most discussion forums, particularly Digg.

(For those who missed the gag, I just switched the first two syllables on the words "Republican" and "Democrat" to illustrate the fact that there really isn't that big a difference between them. There are no other attempts at punnery inherent in the switch, nor am I trying to make either name sound like a different word.)

by waiting2awake 3 hours ago

[comment buried, show commenthide comment] + 3 diggs

@hallys

*looks around in shame* I'm sorry. was I interfering in something nonsensical again? Cute word play too. It is probably going to get worse before it gets better with the average Americans understanding of this stuff. But I guess that is the easiest way to control a population. Give them only a narrow field of the available options, then divide that narrow field into two halfs, then have the two sides play off one another giving both the illusion of chioce yet having complete control.