An All Nighter (aka-I think I’ve lost a day)

There’s an well known joke at my college that it’s not tomorrow until you’ve slept. So, for those of us who haven’t slept, I guess that means tomorrow hasn’t come. The fact that it’s dismally grey outside isn’t helping this perception either. I got to watch the sky gradually start to lighten at around 7am. I didn’t realize it was so dark so late. I guess this shows what time I usually get up. But, back on subject, I did in fact pull an all nighter, meaning I haven’t actually slept in..I think we’re coming up on 24 hours (I had a small, interrupted nap yesterday from about 2:00-4:15, with about 30 minutes cut out of the middle). So, what does this mean other than that I’ve been guzzling copious amounts of tea to stay awake? Well, I got breakfast for once, even if it was only a bagel (yes, I know, heresy. Speaking of heresy, did I mention I got to decide what I thought was and wasn’t for this latest midterm?). I head back to my room and change, because it’s started raining. It was threatening to rain last night when I went from work to Swem, but overnight the storm really hit. So, I walked home without an umbrella, changed, and skipped class. While skipping, I worked on the midterm. And then it was time to be off to my next class, this time armed with an umbrella, rain coat and boots. The rain was more fun this time. Unfortunately slogging back across the Sunken Gardens wasn’t as fun the second time around.

Back in the dorm room I finished my midterm and realized I was early. Great! I started the printing and ran to do some business. When I got back I discovered my printer had just had a seizure. It claimed there was a paper jam. There wasn’t. Halved the paper in the printer and tried again. No luck. Look at the time. Ten minutes till class. Have I mentioned that my printer not only hates me, but it’s also slow as mud? I decided to run to the closest computer lab. Normally the place is deserted. I get there and discover that not only have they removed half the computers (probably a money saving measure) but all of the computers are taken. So I literally ask the room if anyone would let me print something off quickly. One guy came to my rescue and let me print from his computer. Don’t know his name, but THANKS! I then run to class where I spend the rest of the period trying not to fall asleep (falling asleep means bad notes). Have I mentioned it’s still raining? Cold rain. With a wind driving it in at a 45* angle. This same wind is trying steal and/or maim my umbrella as well. And this is supposed to keep up tomorrow and Friday as well. Wonderful. I’m sure you all can see just how thrilled I am.

And now, since there is a strange movement on my screen, I think I’m going to bed.

Remember, when the computer screen starts to swim, it’s time to go.

Comments are appreciated. They make me feel loved

Monday Night Movie (aka-Twilight)

Yes, I will admit that this one is my fault. Not totally or completely, but it is still my fault and I will take responsibility. You see, I watched this movie last semester. I have a bad habit of trying to make informed decisions when I say I don’t like something (sometimes these informed decisions are quite traumatic). I watched Twilight, and regretted it. I also, in a rather sadistic manner, wanted to inflict it upon someone else. This someone else happened to be Skiffy, of course. And thus Twilight with Rifftrax got onto the list. And there it stayed until last week when the vote came down to it and Land Before Time 11 (no, I’m not making up the number, it really does go on that long, God help us.) At least Twilight had the Rifftrax going for it. (Now, for those of you who are thinking what the heck are “Rifftrax”, they are a humorous, separate sound track played with the movie itself. From the makers of MST3K. Good stuff.) Still not the best choice in movies, to say the least.

This week’s movie seemed to start out okay. The rifftrax showed promise of at the very least making the movie bearable. There were even some gasps when the van almost crushed Bella (I was still rooting for the van). And then the sparkles began. Last week’s scream-o-vision was back, in stereo. Imagine if you will, a chorus of screams, and wailing and gnashing of teeth every time sparkles appeared on screen (and to give you some idea of how tired I am at current, I originally had that written the gnashing and wailing of teeth…). As the Rifftrax said, that’s not a vampire, that’s a metropire. And the movie went downhill from there. Way, way, way down hill. And it wouldn’t flipping end. Why won’t it end?! Ugh. I ended up being annoyed enough by it that I couldn’t write my review straight away after the movie ended like I normally do. I went and did homework to cleanse my brain. That’s kind of sad when you think about it.

Speaking of homework, I’ve rewritten With the Water (hereafter referred to as WtW) It has jumped from just under four full pages long to well onto the sixth page. I hope that I got a lot of the characters across better and that their motivations and such will satisfy the class. I sigh. I’ll email that out tomorrow. You know, after I’ve had some sleep. Heh, sleep. Not going to get much of it tonight. Oh well. If you all would like to read the new WtW, then all you have to do is head on over to the Fifthwind forum. Its under the prose section, Kuro’s assignments (or I suppose you could just use this link). I’m much happier with WtW this time around, so I kind of hope you all will agree with me. If not, I’d like to hear that as well.

So, now that it’s 4:17 and I have to get up for work tomorrow, I’m going to say goodnight! Sorry the post is short.

Remember, even Rifftrax can only do so much for a movie. It’s still better than without them, though.

Comments are appreciated. They make me feel loved.

More Work (aka-Pounding My Head Against the Keyboard)

You might not be seeing as much of me around the internet until this semester is over if my professors have their way. Earlier today I was handed a take home midterm. Two essays. I was also reminded that I need to revise With the Water for class next week. This is on top of the three longer essays I already know I have to write soon (possibly a fourth, but I’m not going to look. I’m not that brave). So, if you can’t already tell, I’m going to be very, very busy for the rest of this month. With any luck I’ll be able to knock out the midterm in the next two days (planning on starting tonight) and I’ll get some reading done too. Of course this means that I should be cutting down on unnecessary things like forums and internet in general (I can’t say web comics since I haven’t actually read any since some time last week).

It also means that the three day, two night camping trip I was planning for this weekend just got cut down to a daytrip on Saturday. I’m not terribly sad about the loss of the day trip, but it will be much better for getting work done. I wonder if I could get away with bringing books to the event? I usually end up volunteering to pass the time anyways. I suppose this means I should. Oh well, it’ll be along the themes of the event anyways. Sort of. I mean, Saint Ignatius was a medieval monk, so that means I can read him at a medieval event, right? Yeah, that’s what I thought….

So the point of all of this is that you probably won’t be seeing much of me until at least the first essay is written, to say nothing of the midterm or the story I have to rewrite. I’ll still procrastinate on the internet, and you’ll probably see me hanging out on messenger, but I (hopefully for the sake of my work schedule) won’t be about the forums as much as I have been. Sorry to anyone that might be counting on me. If you need me, message me here, on messenger, PM me, or just tell Havoc to give me a yell.

And now to rant about my stories. I’m going to be rewriting With the Water for next week because of the three stories I’ve written for this class, that’s the one I’m least comfortable with. I don’t know enough about the characters, and I certainly don’t know enough about the events leading up to the flood. Why the heck did the dam break? Why doesn’t Patience like to shower? Why is Jack such a little brat? And Uncle Lawrence, what the heck is his problem? Part of the problem here is going to be page length. As this story grows, controlling the length is going to be a bugger. Thankfully there isn’t an upper limit on the final word lengths. I just hope that I get my answers before I have to actually rewrite the story (please expect to find me doing the rewrite next Tuesday).

Remember, mountains of work make me hide out in Swem until all hours of the morning. Oh wait, I was already doing that.

Comments are appreciated. They make me feel loved.

Monday Night Movie Review (aka-Freakazoid)

What can I say, this was one of my favorite cartoons growing up. It ranked slightly behind the Animaniacs, and was part of a class of cartoons that were much more intellectual than a lot of the cartoons that are on television today (most of today’s cartoons are either teaching based, or humorous. They no longer seem to be able to find some kind of a happy medium where they can both amuse and instruct children, and perhaps amuse the parents too. Yet another of the many reasons I never plan on having children.) It was a hit with Skiffy to say the least. As the first episode started the room burst singing to the opening theme song. I think some of the people were ‘getting’ some of the jokes for the first time as they rewatched the episodes. I know I was noticing things that I’d never realized were there. Lots of political and possibly offensive jokes are thrown in. Not things that kids would get, though. The show, like many others of the time period, is also very self aware. It likes to make jokes at itself as well as everything else it’s making fun of.

Best line from the first episode: “That was shallow and based solely on hormones. And that’s okay with me.”

During the third episode they introduced “Scream-o-vision”. Every now and then the word “scream” would appear on the screen, telling the audience at home (or in this case, in school) to, wonder of wonders, scream. The best part about this is that Skiffy has no shame, and will do anything they think is funny. Imagine, an entire room of people aged 19-27+ screaming on cue. Now imagine them doing it while Freakazoid is trying to kiss someone, and him reacting to our disturbance. It’s hilarious.

I would definitely suggest watching Freakazoid, especially if you were one of us lucky ones that got to watch it as a kid. Watching it now makes it even better (the same is true for a bunch of cartoons of the time period. My own personal favorites include Road Rovers, Animaniacs, and Pinky and the Brain. They’re all pretty good (though Road Rovers is admittedly my favorite. I’m still upset about that show being canceled. It was also my first discovery of real fanfiction).

I think I’m going to cut this one a little bit short as it’s far too early to be saying much more. I will tell you that next week’s film..leaves something to be desired. We had a lose/lose vote this week. It ended up being one of the later Land Before Time movies VS Twilight with Rifftrax. I cringe at the thought of both, especially since the damage done by watching Twilight the first time is just starting to heal. I cringe more at the Land Before Time movie, though. At least we have Rifftrax for Twilight.

Remember, Rifftrax are a point in any terrible movie’s favor. Especially when the alternative doesn’t have them and/or is worse.

Comments are appreciated. They make me feel loved.

Tea at the Library (aka-Swemming as a contact sport)

To those of you who don’t know, the library at my college is named Swem. Don’t ask me why, it was probably some donor or other (that’s how all the other buildings on campus got their names anyways). So, the joke has been since my mother went here 30 years ago that going to the library is going Swemming. It’s actually one of the most popular hang out spots on campus. Not that we all particularly want to be here, but we’re all neurotic enough that staying up until 2am doing homework at the library seems like a good idea. I mean how else are you supposed to print things when your roommate is already in bed? The computers here also have duel sided printing capabilities-perfect for printing for my creative writing class (speaking of which, I heard back on Satan in a Christmas Tree. They loved the opening and ending scenes, and gave me tons of ideas as to how to improve upon the story.)

Starting either a semester or two ago, I’ve been spending a lot of time here in the library. Mostly because of the history and religion courses I’ve been taking. Unlike English courses they require a bunch of extra curricular reading when one does a paper for them. Unfortunately I have a tendency of getting to the library after peak time. This means that most of the prime spots are already taken. Finding a place to study can be a pain when you arrive at say 9pm or 10pm instead of earlier in the evening. I’ve had to sit on the floor before in order to be close enough to an outlet to plug in my laptop.

Another good reason to get to Swem early is Starbucks. I’m sure anyone who regularly stays up until all hours of the morning can tell you that tea is your friend about 1:30am. Especially if you want to be sounding anything like coherent in whatever you happen to be writing at the time. While it will do, the vending machine tea definitely leaves something to be desired. Its tea concentrate that’s blended when it’s poured, and always tastes like it’s just about burnt. Starbucks tea is much better (you get an actual teabag too!) but it means you have to get there before they close at 10pm. That just happens to be when I get off work on Tuesdays. I have good tea today. Hopefully it will help me get my prospectus done in good time (even though I am currently procrastinating by writing a blog).

On another note, I finally bit the bullet and joined the forum on Robin McKinley’s blog. I am no longer a nameless lurker. I am now a lurker with a name! Or something like that. I’m still waiting to be approved by the moderator. Hopefully they won’t find me too creepy to admit.
Update! I’ve been accepted. Evidently I fooled them (haha, joke).

Remember, it’s not polite to elbow people when trying to get a table at the library.

Comments are appreciated. They make me feel loved.

Monday Night Movie Review (aka-The Monster Squad)

The movie starts with exposition. Apparently Van Helsing ‘Blew it’. There’s this weird amulet that can open a direct portal into Limbo and sucks Van Helsing in at the start of the movie. The movie then skips to the “Present Day” (which is about 1987 or so) where two kids are getting yelled at for drawing monsters in class. Blah, blah, blah, Dracula can fly as fast as a plane, blah, blah, blah, Van Helsing’s diary in a yard sale. Quote from finding the Diary: “This is Great! This is German…” So they go to ask the scary German guy (who just happens to be a holocaust survivor) about the German. He is a HUGE help to them (and gives them pie). There’s also a line in there about him knowing a lot about monsters that then shows his numbers. By the way, did I mention that Dracula was rounding up the big five monsters (Dracula, the mummy, the wolfman, the creature from the black lagoon, and Frankenstein). Except Frankenstein seems a little more like the book version than normal. Oh well, still not nearly as verbose. Anyways, after making their own weapon in shop class (including casting his own silver bullets!) the one badass guy in the group proceeds to kill the three brides of Dracula, AND the wolfman! (By the way, if this movie teaches us anything, it is that you can’t kill a werewolf with dynamite.) There are several other great scenes in the movie, including burning Dracula with pizza (the garlic, I suppose) and the part where the fat kid shoots the creature from the black lagoon, then says to the former bullies: “My name,” he cocks the shotgun, “Is Horus!”. On the subject of the swamp monster, it apparently likes Twinkies: “Creature stole my Twinkie.” And apparently virginity is still lost, even if your first one “doesn’t count”. Funny movie if you’re watching it to make fun of it. I personally wouldn’t recommend it if you aren’t properly fortified with lots of sugary drinks and/or a crowd that will help you make fun of it.

On a different note, I am now my own national emergency. If you’ve been paying attention to the news, the H1N1 Virus has been declared such. And guess what I caught? Well, they aren’t actually sure that is what I have/had, but it showed all the signs of being such. I caught a relatively mild strain of it, but it was still enough to really slow me down. I’m over the fever and getting better every day, but I still have a cough and less than average stamina. On the bright side I didn’t have to go to classes for several days. On the down side, I had the flu. Oh well, at least I was mostly recovered by my birthday. That was yesterday by the way. Oops.

Remember, even if they’re in bloody chunks, werewolves will come back if you don’t shoot them with a silver bullet.

Comments are appreciated. They make me feel loved.

Finished (aka-Another Chapter of Satan in a Christmas Tree)

At almost 2am this morning I finally finished All is Well (which shall here after be referred to either as AiW or Satan in a Christmas Tree). For those of you who would like to read it here’s a link. Unfortunately the library was about to close and so as I made the mad dash to the finish line, I neglected to notice a two errors. I also didn’t have time to proofread or edit. Truth be told I probably shouldn’t have been able to print the darn thing, but the security guard was a nice guy and could see that I was very hurriedly putting together packets. I have to assume that this isn’t a rare occurrence-he didn’t say a word to me about leaving. A big thank you to the man, and a long sigh of relief. Except that now I have to work on the project that’s due Friday, and..worry about the take home exam that might or might not be handed out tomorrow and due Friday. With any luck at all the midterm will be pushed back a day (due to our class schedule being behind by a day) and instead of it being due Friday, it will be due Monday. Of course this presents some problems in and of itself-mainly that Sunday is my birthday (shhh!) and I have plans to go to Bush Gardens.

Forgive me, for now I shall ramble about Satan in a Christmas Tree. I can easily lengthen this piece when I get a little more time, so that’s one good thing. I’ll probably add more scenes of the family disintegrating around the Christmas tree, everything spurred on by one little goat ornament. I have to say, I’m very satisfied with how the song played out in the piece. It adds some lovely irony that I will hopefully be able to bring out more fully when I add onto this work. I think as it stands now it doesn’t have the full pop I want, but then, that’s what edit time is for, right? I’m hoping that the opening and ending scenes will be enough to make up for the lack of inner content with the class. On a side note, I spent quite a bit of time this evening watching Christmas trees burn. Most of the description you see is taken directly from watching those videos. I’d actually recommend a few. They’re rather pretty, so please have a look. This one’s my favorite.

Remember, research is an essential part of the writing process. It’s even better when you could do the research all day.

Comments are appreciated. They make me feel loved.

Monday Night Movie Review (aka-Dark Wing Duck)

This week in Skiffy we voted in episodes of Dark Wing Duck. I’m sure most people my age have fond memories of this superhero spoof. To give you a little intro to the first episode: Dark Wing Duck is an egotistical crime fighter who lusts for glory, but is still working the small time. He gets his first big break when he spots an interesting condor (who can do aerial maneuvers like no one’s business). There are a ton of inside jokes that only adults would get (personally I really like shows that cater to both children and older audiences. I really wish that more shows today would do the same, but evidently the writers of today’s childrens’ shows don’t realize that there might be older people watching with their kids-either that or they didn’t go back to watch their childrens’ shows). I also have to say self aware characters, even when they are in context, are awesome. And now for a few notable quotes.
You really have to work on your narration. They’ve got better stuff on Saturday Morning Cartoons.
I’m the thing that surprises you in the night. I am the surprise in your cereal box?
Now you’ve done it! Now I’m going to have to sick my ants on you.
Lets get dangerous!
Mom was right. I should have been a dental hygienist.
The police were puzzled, the feds were foiled, and the gardener’s association was stumped.

Also, we’ve figured out that Dark Wing and Launchpad are gay for one another. Or something similar. Why else would the two of them be adopting a child together?
I want buzz saw cuff links.

I’ll spare you from more of the one liners, but needless to say, they’re extremely amusing. I would actually recommend this series if you haven’t seen it. Even if you have, go take a spin around YouTube. It’s definitely worth a watching an episode or two.

Now that the movie is over, I’m going off to work on Satan in a Christmas tree. I’ve written the opening scene so far, and I’m going to work on the ending scene. That way I’ll know how much I have to add into the middle (sad to say, but I’m going for length with this one right now. I’ll add more to the story, but it’s going to be after I have the project due Friday over with).

First Draft (Aka-I stayed up way too late last night)

Well, I did it. I stayed up until 3:30am on Monday night and officially plowed my way through the first draft of Goodnight Earth. Now I’m going to put it away for another month. Not that I want to. I really want to jump right into editing it. Or writing again. I really don’t want to be working on All is Well at the moment. I think part of this is the reactions I’ve gotten from the first two readers of Goodnight Earth (here after in this post Goodnight Earth will be referred to as GE and All is Well shall be referred to as AiW). I don’t think I’ve gotten much higher praise for any of my other writing, and I really want to go and work on the few sections that were pointed out to me. But I can’t. I need to go read for my Imperial Spain class. I need to start researching for a paper in that class too. I need to edit the two papers I have so far for my creative writing class, and I really do need to get AiW through the wringer. I’m feeling more inspired for that piece than I have for either of the other two, so I have hope for it, but right now all I want do is write more for GE. I also need to figure out what I’m going to be writing after I’m finished with GE and AiW. I know that I need to do some serious revisions on With the Water and Never Get Mad (my first two short stories for my creative writing class), but I’d also like to start planning my next writing project. I do have more ideas for short stories, but I have no idea which one I’d want to use.

Now, on a completely different note, it is very hard to do direct and accurate translations for the romanticized versions of languages that have words that sound the same but look different when written in their native tongue. My example for this would be the Japanese language. A sentence that should have read ‘I secretly wink at Looney and James’ ended up reading something like ‘I am secretly Looney, and watch the signals cherishing James.’ It was WEIRD (and didn’t actually make as much sense as the sentence I just wrote.)

On another random note, it is now suddenly fall here on campus. When I left last Friday, it was in the 80’s. When I got back it was in the mid 70’s. Somehow overnight it has gone down to the 50’s. The leaves, which were all green last Friday, have started to change colors, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get warmer any time soon (yippee!) so yes, fall has landed. Now I just have to be careful not to be standing under any of the trees on campus when they loose their leaves all at once. It does make a satisfying ‘whump!’ when it happens, though. Kind of like snow when it falls. Yes, that was a joke attempt.

Remember, falling leaves can be dangerous to your well being.

Comments are appreciated. They make me feel loved.

Writing Heresy (aka-Satan in a Christmas Tree)

So, after yesterday’s reference, I figure I’d better explain “Satan in a Christmas Tree”. Two weeks ago in my creative writing class we had a prompt based on an object in a bag. I happened to get a goat beer topper (not that I knew that it was a beer topper until I was told). Anyways, to make a long story short, I thought it was a Christmas tree ornament to begin with (we had to guess what it was without looking first), and so I’m stuck with a grinning goat on a Christmas tree. Now, anyone who knows their medieval lore can tell you that one of the forms the Devil takes is that of a goat. So, who else is a grinning goat going to be? I hope you all get where the nickname comes from now. The actual title of the piece is going to be “All is Well”, named after a Christmas carol that’s playing as the tree goes up in flames. Ah, nothing like hellfire to liven up your holidays, eh? Of course, it won’t be direct hellfire (the teacher doesn’t like magic, so I have to slip it in under the radar), but I think I like this prompt more than I have the other two. I guess we’ll see when I actually get around to writing the thing. I’m still a little shocked at myself, though. This will be the first time I’m writing something so sacrilegious (wonderful, just wonderful. I wonder what level Dante would assign me for this one? Or is it symbolic of the commercialization of the holiday? Like I know. I just write what Anansi tells me to write.)

Anyways, I’ve just gotten back from lunch with my mother and her best friend, and I am currently..waiting to go to tea with my grandmother, even though I’m not hungry in the least. Oh well, it’ll make Nana happy. We’re bringing her scone, which she’ll love (she’d better love them, there’s literally a little bit of me in those scones. I managed to grate my finger while I was making orange zest. Never done grated before. I don’t recommend it, it hurts.) Afterwards I’ll be back online and actually working on Goodnight Earth. Or at least I will be if all goes according to plan. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you all exactly how often things go like I’ve planned them.

On that note, I will probably be updating one more time before I go back to school (and, since I’m at home there won’t be any Monday Night Movie Review. Sorry to those of you who read for that). After I get back, updates are going to be a little spotty again. What can I say? School eats my life. I’ll try to at least get onto a more regular update schedule, though, even if I can’t update every day. We’ll see, though.

Remember, grating your fingers hurts.

Comments are appreciated. They make me feel loved.