You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.

Untitled (NaNoWriMo) Part 2/?

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:59:00 GMT

So. I doubt very many people who go to UCSC will be reading this, but the plays that Rainbow Theater is doing are all very good. Stop Kiss (a lesbian love story), Saint Lucy's Eyes (about Black women in the 60s and abortions), In The Time of the Rosalia (about a group of Honduran women) and Poet's Corner (basically a bunch of slam poetry).

And now, the next part of my still untitled story (when I come up with a title I'll go back and edit all of this).

This consists of my writing from days 3 through 6.

As soon as Cammie was home, she headed straight to her room and flopped backwards onto her bed. Who knew the first day could be so tiring? Trying to find someone who would talk to her (no bites) and avoiding Greg (which was a success following lunch), not to mention the academic aspect of high school was wearing her out already, and it was only her first day! How was she going to stand through four more years of this?

“Cammie, how was school?” Allison asked from the kitchen downstairs, from where the smell of spaghetti and meatballs wafted into Cammie’s room.

“Good. No friends yet.” Cammie called back down without stirring from her bed.

“I’m sure you’ll make some in time, sweetie.” Allison called back, trying to be reassuring but, being the preoccupied mother she was, utterly failing at it. “For now, there’s spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. I’m making a batch for Becky before her soccer practice, but yours will be ready in an hour.” She paused, as if waiting for a response that never came. “I’ll also be making garlic bread.” Cammie could practically see Allison’s knowing smile. Garlic bread was one of her favorite foods, and Allison was one of few people who could make it right. Most places either burned it to a crisp or made it too soft, while Allison managed to give her garlic a crunchy, comfortable middle.

“Thanks Allison.” Cammie called back after another silence, this time with a smile on her face. She got up from her bed and locked her door before taking a seat at her desk. She opened the top drawer, but instead of reaching into it, she reached under it to where a USB was taped. After removing it, she slid it into the USB drive of her laptop. She opened it and turned it on and, once she was logged in, opened the one Microsoft Word document, titled “Essay #4”. However, anyone who had read its contents knew that the document was not an essay, but a diary.

Cammie was immediately brought to the first log in her pixelated diary, titled simply “September 13, 2026”. It was a description of her twelfth birthday, and all the things her friends had given her. Her mother had just bought her a laptop computer. Since that date, she had decided to keep a diary, which she “wrote” in every Sunday religiously. She scrolled down, skimming through the other entries, but avoiding the December entries, as that was around when her mother had died.

Cammie continued scrolling, reading about her difficulty trying to live with her father. Then, when she reached around July, the text changed color. Before it was red, but from here on, it was black. To anyone else, it would be insignificant, but to Cammie, it was very significant. You see, most people don’t notice details, but Cammie did. One such detail was the date. The last entry written in red was titled “May 16, 2027”. The next entry and the first black one was titled “May 20, 2007”. Others might regard this as a typo, but scrolling further, it was clear that this was no typo. “May 27, 2007” and “June 3, 2007” followed, going further and further into the 2009s. This USB contained the only hints of her life as it was before May of 2027.

Cammie knew that she needed to keep this USB well hidden. If anyone found it and read its contents, she was fully aware that they would know that she was from the future, and most likely find some way to send her back. Sure they didn’t have time machines in this time, but Cammie had managed to get hold of one for her trip here, and they would send her back just like she came. Then she would return to her father and continue living a life of trying to make up for all the bad he has done.

Even though Cammie normally updated her USB diary every Sunday, she decided to wait till Monday this week so that she could write about her first day of high school. So rather than reading much further, she skipped to the end and titled her next entry “August 24, 2009”. She then proceeded to write out her entry, skipping the “Dear Diary” formalities and getting right to the meat of it, just like she usually did.

It’s my first day of high school and, unlike I anticipated, I don’t have any friends yet. So not only am I a little freshman girl, but I’m also a total loner. Wonderful. Nobody sat with me at lunch. Actually, scratch that, someone did. Greg Isaacs. He’s annoying. Yup, first day of school and dear ol’ Dad is the only one who finds me vaguely interesting. Granted, he doesn’t know he’s my dad because technically, he isn’t yet. Not to mention that he won’t even meet Mom for a few more months. Anyway, how sad is it when the only friend at school you have is your father? Ha ha, well it’s not too bad. My lab partner in Biology seems pretty nice, although I forget her name. There’s a guy in my English class who seems interesting. He keeps speaking out in class a lot. He sits on the other side of the room, but we don’t have assigned seating so maybe I’ll sit next to him tomorrow. My other classes are alright. Math is pretty boring. Computers is going to be easy, I can sense it already. PE may or may not be fun, depending on how much it rains, and Spanish… well I’ll probably be sleeping in that class anyway.

Other than my first day of school, nothing much happened in the past week. Getting ready for school, back to school shopping and all that... it was pretty fun I guess, because Allison finally acknowledged that I needed some new clothes. There’s a new shoe store at the mall but I didn’t get to check it out.

That’s all for now, Cammie Morgan

After saving the Word document, she pulled the USB drive back out before taping it safely to the bottom of her drawer and unlocking the door. Some might say she was being paranoid and setting up too many precautions, but with the amount of information that was on that USB, she couldn’t be too careful. She had enough to hide as it was, being a girl with powers. Add on top of that the fact that she was from the future and well, that was a lot to hide for a single fourteen year old girl. Most girls could spill all their secrets to a best friend, but Cammie could not, for fear of what would happen to her.

Now that she thought about it, perhaps it was a good thing that she didn’t make too many friends too quickly. One, it would draw attention to her, and she needed to blend in. Two, she knew she was going to have to return to her time eventually. She didn’t want to get too attached to the people in this time, or returning to her own time would be that much harder on her. She didn’t want to be missed too much, yet at the same time, she couldn’t exactly be a friendless loner, or she’d be picked on, and would get negative attention drawn to her. Plus, everyone needed friends, whether that meant a clique to hang out with or just one person who you do everything with. All this added up to quite a dilemma.

Suddenly, Cammie was knocked out of her thoughts by a voice. “Cammie, dinner!” She had completely lost track of time, and found herself staring at her laptop’s desktop screen as she drowned in her own thoughts. She shut down her laptop and closed it.

“Coming!” she called, standing up and heading downstairs to eat.

***

Cammie was just about to dig in when she heard the doorbell ring. “I’ll get that.” She said, standing up before Allison could finish sprinkling parmesan cheese on Josh’s pasta. Heading over to the door, she immediately looked through the peep hole, surprised to see a familiar face. She unlocked it and swung it open. “Todd!” she exclaimed, giving him a big hug before he could react. He just chuckled and patted her head.

“Hey. How’s my favorite sister?” Cammie giggled at this. Sure she wasn’t really his sister (but close enough, really) but between Becky and Cammie, it was obvious that she was his favorite. Becky and Todd never really got along for some reason.

Cammie pulled away and grinned. “I’m good. First day of high school was today, you know. And I didn’t see you anywhere.” She made a face. Todd laughed.

“Well I went off campus for lunch and because I don’t have a second period, I went back home after first. Didn’t have to go back to school until after brunch.” He answered with a chuckle. Cammie’s jaw dropped.

“Lucky! Do all seniors have such cushy schedules like that?” She couldn’t believe it. She was taking six classes, and he only had to take five!

“Some seniors have even less. I know some people who are taking four classes and a couple who are taking three.” Based on the look on Cammie’s face, it was obvious that she didn’t believe him. “No, really! You can ask Sarah. She’s taking all six classes, but most of them are electives.”

“You brought her?” Cammie asked, making a face. She wanted it to be just her and Todd and the happy family all together again, but he had to ruin that by bringing his girlfriend.

“Yeah I did. She’s running a little late, had to get an errand done.” Todd frowned. “Please be nice to her. She already suspects that you don’t like her, even though you keep insisting to everyone that you do.”

“I do like her! I do, she’s nice. I just wish you would come over by yourself every once in a while.” Cammie said with a sigh. “You know, it could be like old times… and I miss having you as a brother…”

Sarah chose that moment to appear in the doorway. “Hey sweetie!” She said. Her shining bright blue eyes made it obvious that she was completely oblivious of the fact that they had been having a serious conversation about her only moments earlier. She gave Todd a peck on the cheek. “Hello Cammie, Allison, Joshua.” She greeted the family, giving them a nod of the head as accompaniment. “So, are we all gonna stand in the doorway, or can we come in?” she asked jokingly.

“That’s right, Cammie dear, let Todd and Sarah in.” Allison said. Cammie turned around and gave Allison a look before turning to Todd and Sarah, replacing that look with a sweet smile.

“Yes, come in. We were about to eat dinner actually. Spaghetti and meatballs, Todd. With Allison’s awesome marinara sauce. Please tell me you still remember how awesome her cooking is.” Cammie teased. Todd hadn’t visited them in a while, so she often made fun of him, saying stuff like how he never had home cooking anymore because he lived on his own. Which was partly true; when she visited his apartment, she noticed his freezer was full of microwave meals, and his kitchen table was covered in coupons for Chinese and Mexican restaurants and pizza places. Obviously, home cooked meals were something Todd hadn’t had in a long time.

Todd and Sarah followed Cammie inside, each taking a seat at the table. Since Becky had gone to her soccer practice and Allison ate dinner after everyone else, there were just enough chairs for everyone. Todd sat across from Cammie with Sarah next to him.

“Hi Todd!” Josh piped up suddenly, a grin spreading across the six year old’s face.

“Hey little buddy. High five.” Todd reached diagonally across the table and Josh gave him an enthusiastic high five. “So, you started first grade this year?” Josh gave a grin and a vigorous nod. “How is it?”

“It’s so fun! I can use the big kid monkey bars now. I mean, in Kindergarten we had our own monkey bars, but they were really low. Now I can use the big kid ones. Well not quite because the fourth and fifth graders and sometimes the third graders get the REAL big kid ones… their monkey bars are even higher up than ours…”

Cammie stopped paying attention as Josh rambled on about monkey bars, tag, and drawing in the tanbark. Instead, she focused on eating her spaghetti. Peeking up at Todd and Sarah, she noticed that they too seemed to not be listening. Sure they pretended to, by nodding and saying things like “Oh wow” every once in a while, but ask either of them exactly what Josh had just said and they would probably draw a blank. They seemed to be more focused on eating their food, yet they managed to look up every few moments to smile and nod at what Josh was saying. In other words, a typical dinner in the Morgan household. Josh was always the one blabbing about his day while everyone else nodded and pretended to listen. Well, everyone but Allison, who was probably the only one who actually listened to every word. Then again, she was his mother.

“I met a guy today.” Cammie said suddenly, completely interrupting Josh in the middle of one of his rants about school lunches. When she spoke, he stopped talking and turned to look at her. Cammie looked up and noticed everyone else was looking at her too. Todd raised his eyebrows when she caught his eyes. Immediately knowing what he was thinking, she said “Eew, don’t even think that. He’s an acquaintance at best.” She sighed. “He’s a junior, his name is Greg Isaacs, and he’s annoying. Any questions?”

“Why did you bring him up if you didn’t want to talk about him?” Todd asked. Everyone else remained silent.

“I didn’t want to have to sit through his rambling anymore,” She jerked her head towards Josh. “and nothing else really important happened. Other than him sitting with me at lunch, I had little to no conversation with the other students outside of class.” She sighed.

“He sat with you at lunch?” This time it was Allison who asked the questions. Cammie had never mentions boys as anything more than friends before, so each time Cammie brought up meeting a new one, Allison became a little more protective.

“There were no other empty tables, Allison. It doesn’t mean anything.” Cammie lied. Well technically it wasn’t a total lie; there were really no other empty tables left. But she had conveniently failed to mention that Greg had moved from his table of one to sit with her.

“So what’s he like? Is he cute?” Sarah teased, grinning as she spoke. Cammie shot her a glare that made Sarah shut her mouth.

“No. He’s annoying as hell.” She heard Josh next to her gasp at her use of ‘the H-word’ but she continued anyway. “He insisted on sitting with me because I was alone. He wouldn’t listen when I told him to go away. I wanted to eat alone.” She told them. “Also he listens to his music really with the volume up really high so everyone around him can hear it too… I hate people who do that.” She shook her head. “But yeah, that’s it.”

“Is he your boyfriend?” Josh asked. Cammie turned to look at him and made a face. “…never mind.” Josh said quickly, realizing he had said something wrong.

Cammie stood and lifted her now empty plate. “I’m gonna go put this in the sink, then go up to my room. I have a lot of homework to finish.”

“Homework? On the first day?” Allison looked surprised.

“Yeah, I was surprised too. You have no idea.” Cammie rolled her eyes. “It’s mainly forms and stuff, but we have twice as many problems as our usual load for math because our teacher wants to get through the review chapters quickly.” She sighed before heading to the sink to dump her plate. On her way back, she grabbed Todd around the shoulders, giving him a quick hug. “It’s been great to see you. Maybe I’ll see you around campus or something.” She told him.

“Yeah. See you later. Good luck with school.” Todd said, obviously stunned at her sudden leave. Cammie gave them all one last wave before disappearing upstairs.

***

It was eleven o’clock at night, and Cammie couldn’t sleep. She lay awake in bed, hair spread out over her pillow, staring at the ceiling and thinking. Just thinking. Thinking of whether her lab partner’s name was Tara or Tina. Thinking of why it took her so long to answer number fifteen on her math homework and whether there was a better way to do it. And, of course, thinking of Greg. Greg, her father. This boy had half of the same DNA that she did. Sure they didn’t look alike (Cammie got most of her looks from her mother and her parents) but they had the same eyes, and some of the same elements of their personality.

One thing they didn’t have in common was that she was going to make sure that unlike him, she did things right the first time. This is why Cammie came to this time in the first place; to find her dad and prevent him from screwing up his life. You see, in Cammie’s time, her father was bad at best and a villain at worst. From her mother, she had learned that it was the death of his parents that pushed him over the edge. He became vengeful and would stop at nothing to kill those responsible for the death of his parents.

Eventually this killing turned into killing innocent people who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Granted, any killing was bad, but the fact that it was her own father doing it really affected her. She knew that what her father did was wrong, but she loved him and didn’t want to turn him into the police. After all, then it would be off to Kansas to live with her grandparents, and there was no way that she wanted to get shipped off to Kansas. People there didn’t even believe in evolution, much less super powers.

Cammie, being a technopath, knew a lot about the technology of her time, including time machines. If she hadn’t been a technopath, she probably wouldn’t have been able to use the time machine at all. Unfortunately, after staying hidden for two years, it wasn’t exactly in great condition. She’d have to fix it before her return, which may become a problem considering nobody here knew how to make one, much less fix one. Although she knew she had to wait until after Greg’s parents died to do anything (she couldn’t prevent their death, only how Greg reacted to it), she wanted to get things done fairly quickly, so she could leave and go back to her own time. That plus the fact that the time machine was getting worse as it sat unused made the job feel rushed, even though she had not much to do for the time being. Really, all that she could do now was get him to trust her. She’d have to try and blend in to everyone else, and she’d definitely try not to get attached to anyone (leaving would only be that much harder) but at the same time, he had to know her and trust her. Which kind of sucked considering how annoying he was, but this was her father and she loved him. It felt weird seeing him as a teenager, but she loved him all the same.

Cammie then wondered if she’d see her mother at high school. She knew her parents hadn’t met yet, but they did go to the same high school. Because Cammie got most of her looks from her mother, she wondered if people would think the two were sisters, especially considering the fact that Cammie being a foster kid wasn’t exactly a secret. Granted, not all of Cammie’s physical traits came from her mother, but they shared the same hair and body structure, and for most people, that was enough. Cammie’s other physical features came from her grandparents. Cammie’s personality, however, was more of a mix. She had similar interests and fears as her father, but general personality traits seemed to come from her mother. She began to wonder about what it would like to meet a younger version of her mother. She really missed her mother, and meeting her again, even if it was her teenage self, would definitely help her feel a little better. And as she began pondering whether or not she’d get along with a younger version of her mother, she began drifting off to sleep.

***

It was really too bad that the class Cammie had right before lunch was so far away from the cafeteria. It meant not only that she got to eat only out of what remained, but also that, once again, she found herself looking across the cafeteria, looking for a table to sit at. Well she could sit with her lab partner and all her friends… the group seemed to be the type who knew each other since elementary school and had all sorts of inside jokes and traditions. So maybe not. She could also sit near the guy from English, but Cammie didn’t feel like being the only girl in a group of guys. Her eyes settled on Greg, who sat alone, just as he had when they met. Sighing, as she didn’t believe what she was just about to do, Cammie walked up to Greg, standing next to the chair across from him. “Is anyone sitting here?” she asked him.

Greg pushed the chair out with his feet. “Well, you are.” He said. He was once again leaned back, clad in a black jacket, white shirt, and jeans. In comparison to Cammie’s dark red knee socks, denim capris, and yellow shirt, he looked very bland. Pulling the chair out a little more, she sat down. “So, what prompted you to return?” he asked, cutting to the chase.

“I have no friends.” She said simply. If she had other people to eat with, she would have. Granted, learning to get him to trust her so she could complete her mission was another reason, but she wasn’t about to say that.

Greg just nodded at her reply. “Fair enough.” He said. There was a short silence, then “What, the others couldn’t handle you?” he teased. Cammie rolled her eyes.

“I’m not exactly the most social person, if you haven’t realized that by now.” She shot back. “I don’t exactly go out looking for friends. Which provides a dilemma since seventy-five percent of the things you do in high school require having friends.” She sighed. “One of those things being eating lunch.” She made a face as she looked down at her ravioli. At least the food was, once again, edible. She wasn’t sure how long that was going to last though, seeing as the rumor had it that the food here was horrible. Sure it was nothing compared to Allison’s home cooking, but she didn’t expect it to be. As long as she could eat it without puking, all was well.

“I’m quite the loner myself, actually.” Greg said. Cammie looked up at him in surprise. The father she knew had many friends, in college at least. Cammie’s mother had told her that since she and Greg met, they had many friends. Granted, Cammie’s parents didn’t meet until senior year, when they were in the same class and later, learned that they would be going to the same college. They didn’t even start dating until later in their first year in college. And to think, they would have been such a perfect family if Cammie’s mother hadn’t left Greg when Greg refused to end his villainous ways. By then Cammie had already been born, and her mother refused to raise Cammie in a household with a villain.

Cammie shook her thoughts out of her head. That was in the past now. Well, technically in the future, but it was in her past, and with some gentle prodding and a little magic, she’d make sure that didn’t happen at all. In her ideal future, her parents would stay together and Greg would have never been evil. He would never have killed anyone, and although she couldn’t prevent his parents from dying, she could make sure that she returned to a happy family and not a broken one.

***

When the bell signaling the end of Biology rang, Cammie let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. All this time she had been staring at the clock, while the teacher ranting about the plasma membrane played in the back of her mind, she focused on the clock, begging it to go a little faster, but to no avail. Unfortunately, analog clocks never listened to her technopathic pleas.

As she packed her things, she heard a voice behind her. “Hey Cammie?” Turning around, she saw her lab partner; whose name, as she now remembered, was Tina. The two had been passing notes in class in their boredom and found that they had a good number of things in common.

“One second, Tina.” Cammie said, lifting a finger before turning back around to finish packing her things. After she finished, she turned to face Tina again, tucking in her chair with her foot. “Yeah?”

“Are you doing anything after school? A few friends and I were going to go hang out and grab coffee after school and I was wondering if you wanted to join us.”

A small smile spread on Cammie’s face. “Yeah, sure I’ll come.” She said as the two began to walk out together. “Thanks for inviting me, by the way. I never have anything to do, so I usually just surf Facebook after school.” She added with a laugh.

Tina laughed in response. “Yeah, no problem.” She paused. “You’re a pretty cool girl Cammie, just a little shy is all. I’m always surprised to see you alone all the time.”

“My friends all went to Caldwell.” Cammie said. She shrugged. “I sort of have to make friends all over again. It sucks, but hey, I’m getting to meet more people, right? Slowly but surely. I mean, I’ve already met you.”

“Yeah I know what you mean. I moved here in seventh grade and had to start over as the new girl.” Tina admitted. “But at least you aren’t seen as the new girl like I was. So many people are new here that it doesn’t really matter all that much.

“True, true.” The two walked in silence down the hall until they found themselves just outside the building. Cammie followed Tina to a patch of grass and the two sat down. They waited for some time for Tina’s friends to show up.

“Hey, there they are!” Tina said, waving over to a couple of girls. One was tall and athletic with curly blonde hair and the other was a curvier brunette. The two walked over and sat on the grass with Cammie and Tina. Tina immediately started introducing everyone. “Hey guys, this is my lab partner Cammie. Cammie, this is Kirsten,” she pointed to the blonde “and Jaime.” She pointed to the brunette.

“Hey.” Cammie said simply with a smile and a small wave. It seemed the three had been friends for a while, and Cammie felt like she was intruding. But then again, Tina had invited her… maybe she’d stay and see what they were like, she thought to herself. So far she knew Tina was a nice girl, so she assumed her friends were just as nice.

“Hey, Cammie, is it? Is that short for Cameron, by any chance?” Jaime asked. Cammie just nodded. “Thought so.” There was a silence, and then she spoke again. “So, we were going to get coffee, and hang out before heading over to Kirsten’s place to see a movie, since she lives within walking distance. That okay with you, Cammie?” Cammie just nodded again. Jaime was obviously the leader of the group, and Kirsten seemed to be the shyest. Tina and Cammie were somewhere in the middle.

The group stood up and began walking down the street to where Starbucks was. As Jaime started going on to Tina about some boy in her PE class, Kirsten and Cammie remained silent. Cammie figured she might as well speak to the girl, but wasn’t sure how to initiate conversation. She looked the girl up and down. Compliment her clothing, Cammie, she thought to herself. Kirsten wore a white peasant skirt with black and red trim, along with black ballet flats and a red tank top. “Cute skirt.” Cammie said. Cammie didn’t normally like skirts, but she had to admit, that one was nice.

Kirsten, who had been looking at her feet this whole time, gave a small smile before looking up at Cammie. “Oh, thanks. My grandmother sewed it for me.” There was a pause. “I mean, she bought the skirt, but it was just plain white, so she sewed the trim on. She knows I don’t like things that are just plain white.” She said with a smile.

“Well you’re really lucky. I don’t know anyone who can sew.” Cammie said. “I mean, my mother can cook really well, but sew? No way.”

“My grandmother can’t cook, so I guess that makes us even.” Kirsten said with a laugh. “When my mom was growing up, my grandfather had to cook so that she and her three brothers would have something edible to eat.”

“Oh, your mother was one of four kids? So am I. Granted, we’re all foster kids, but still. Big families are hectic, but a lot of fun.” Cammie said with a grin, picking up the pace without realizing it.

“Wow, four kids… I only have one older sister, Amanda. She’s a junior.” Kirsten said with a sigh. “She’s way more outgoing than I am though. She’s popular too. It’s kind of annoying.” Kirsten frowned.

“Hey, I know what you mean. My older foster brother Todd is a senior. He has a girlfriend and because he turned eighteen, he moved out and now he lives in his own apartment. He’s independent, had lots of friends, is very smart, and he’ll probably go to a really good college next year.” She frowned. “I’ll admit, I’m a little jealous. Not to mention I wish things were the way they were before he had moved out. We used to be really close, but now, not so much.” Cammie bit her lip. “Wow, I’m sorry… I don’t know where that came from.”

“It’s alright.” Kirsten said with a smile. “It sounds like you just need someone to listen, that’s all.” She paused. “I’ll listen.”

Cammie gave a small smile. “Thanks.” She said. “I’d appreciate that.” But before she could say any more, she looked up and realized they were already standing outside Starbucks. “Later, though.” She said, and Kirsten nodded.

The four of them stepped into Starbucks and immediately the scent of the coffee filled their nostrils. Granted, it was warm outside, so the corporate coffee shop was rather cool. The tables were littered with half empty Frappuccino cups, paper bags, and laptops, all belonging to what looked like high school and college students. Tina and her friends weren’t the only ones who would come here after school every day, it seemed.

After standing in line and ordering an iced caramel macchiato and a chocolate chip cookie, Cammie followed the girls to a table outside. They all sat down and, after munching on their food a little, started to talk. Jaime initiated the conversation again. “So Cammie, you met anyone interesting around here yet?” she asked.

“Well…” Cammie started to shake her head, and then stopped. “There’s this guy Greg, he’s a junior… he’s kind of annoying but he’s the only one who will eat with me.” She said with a frown. “I don’t like him or anything,” she quickly added “but he’s… interesting.” She shrugged. “That’s it really. Him and this super opinionated guy in my English class.” Cammie unfortunately hadn’t had a chance to sit next to him today, since she was late to class after getting lost in the Math wing.

“Oh my god, you have Peter Moore in your class?” Tina asked with an amused grin. “He went to middle school with us. He is so…”

“…amazing.” Jamie finished Tina’s sentence for her, also grinning, but hers was more one of happiness. “He’s an atheist, totally cares about the environment…”

“Jaime used to have a crush on him. We think she still does.” Tina said. “And actually I was going to annoying…”

“I do not!” Jaime interrupted. “Not since I found out he was against abortions anyway.” She paused. “Well he’s not exactly against them, but he thinks they should be controlled. Which, in my opinion, means you might as well be against them.” She sighed. “But he’s so awesome, provided that you’re not as political as I am.”

“Politics is interesting.” Cammie said simply. “But I don’t exactly live for it, you know? I have other interests.” She shrugged. She stayed quiet about abortion. In her time, abortion was no longer as big an issue because most people were pro-choice. Then again, there was also a female president, while in this time they had had enough trouble electing Barack Obama.

“Jaime does.” Tina said. “She’s probably going to end up majoring in Political Science. At Cornell or some other really good school like that.”

“Political Science or Feminist Studies.” Jaime corrected Tina. “Although I might just minor in Feminist Studies. And I highly doubt I’ll get into Cornell.”

“Well your sister goes there, and you’re way smarter than she is.” Tina said. “Jaime’s sister Page is a Literature major at Cornell.” She told Cammie. “She’s in her freshman year.”

The girls continued talking about colleges while Cammie just listened, munching on her cookie. It wasn’t long before she was finished. “Hey, I’ll be right back. I’m gonna go toss this.” She said, gesturing to the empty bag the cookie was once in. The girls nodded and continued their conversation and Cammie stood and walked into Starbucks once more, to toss her trash in the trash can by the door.

When she was about to turn and go outside, she noticed a familiar tuft of black hair, hiding behind a laptop near the window. “Greg?” The laptop screen was lowered and sure enough, there he was. Cammie gave him a look. Had he… followed her there? They had only come here a few minutes after school was let out, after all…

“I’ve been here since before you got here, honest.” He said. “And besides, ask anyone, I’ve been here since after fifth period.” He told her. Then, with a smug grin, he added “Because I don’t have a sixth period.” Cammie narrowed her eyes. Oh he could be so exasperating at times. And yet, he was her father. How was it that he was so annoying as a kid? What had changed? Oh right… his parents’ death made him evil. Cammie wiped the thought out of her mind and silently turned around and left, heading back to the table where the girls sat, still chattering away.

You know, at this point I don't care so much about whether or not I finish. What's more important is that I've already written more than I've ever written before (19 pages on Word!) and that I already know what's going to happen in my mind.

I should turn RP plots into stories more often...

Untitled (NaNoWriMo) Part 1/?

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:02:14 GMT

SO. Not much has been happening. Really. I have a lot of school work, is all. I joined Multicultural Advisory Committee and Secular Student Alliance. Also, I'm doing NaNoWriMo for the first time this year.

The story is basically about a girl who is taken in my a foster family and well... I can't tell too much more or else I'd have to kill you :P
Kidding, I just don't want to give away an important twist.

This consists of my writing from days 1 and 2.

The park on the corner of Walnut and Pine was nearly empty. A mismatched family, consisting of a mother and three kids who looked nothing like her, sat on a picnic bench under a tree, munching on chicken wings. It was apparent that the family of three had come to witness the sunset. The young boy looked to be a preschool child, and his older sister had to keep him from running off and trying to catch a butterfly that had neatly rested on a flower in the glass. The oldest one, a boy, read a book as he munched on a stick of celery.

Juxtaposed with the oh-so-happy family was a young girl, no older than twelve, sitting alone on a swing, rocking slowly back and forth. Despite her apparent sadness, her skin seemed to glow, which anyone would know if it wasn’t for the sheet of stick-straight strawberry blonde hair that hung in front of her face. Although it was a warm evening, she was buried under a black hooded sweatshirt and baggy jeans. All this made her look significantly out of place, and the looks the family gave her made it obvious that they had never seen her before.

Sighing, the girl drew patterns in the dirt with her foot. She was alone. She was slightly confused. She had no idea what to do. On top of that, she was hungry, and watching the happy family munch away at their dinner only made her stomach grumble louder. At this point, she wasn’t surprised if they could hear it, even though they were on the other side of the park. She reached into her left pocket and pulled out a strawberry flavored candy. This was all she had left. She wanted to save it, but she was just so hungry… she unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth, placing the crumpled wrapper into her right pocket, amongst the other wrappers.

She wasn’t paying enough attention to notice when someone sat down on the swing next to her. She was too busy drawing a smiley face in the dirt with the toe of her no longer white sneaker. The silence remained in the air until she heard a voice speak. “You’ve been here for hours.” She looked out of the corner of her eye at the person sitting next to her. It was a boy, perhaps three or four years older than herself. She wondered why a high school boy was taking any interest in her.

After registering what he’d said, she simply nodded, not feeling like speaking. “I’m Todd.” He spoke again. “Todd Tracey.” He held out his hand for her to shake. Finally lifting her head, she wiped the hair out of her face, tucking it neatly behind one ear and looked up at him.

“Cameron. Er, Cammie.” She said simply, reaching over and shaking his hand. His grip was much more firm, whereas hers felt unsure; unsure of him, unsure of herself, and unsure of anything around her. It was as if she had never seen this place before.

“You know, you should probably get home. Your parents are probably getting worried and it should be around dinner time.” Todd spoke once more as he let go of her hand. But Cammie just shook her head. Todd raised his eyebrows. “Well it’ll be getting dark soon… you shouldn’t have to walk back home in the dark. Once again, she shook her head. “Alright, then I’ll wait with you. When you’re ready, I’ll walk you home.” He was rather persistent, but Cammie started to shake her head one more time. Suddenly, she stopped, hesitated, and spoke.

“I don’t know where my parents are. I don’t know who they are. I don’t even know my last name.” she said. She blinked twice rapidly and rubbed her eye with the back of her hand. Even though she was staring at her feet, she could practically see it registering in Todd’s mind. Amnesia. Awfully selective amnesia, but amnesia all the same. The wheels were turning, all she waited for now was his reaction.

“Is… that all you’ve forgotten? Do you remember anything of your life?”

“I don’t remember anything involving family and only have vague memories of friends.” She said. “I remember coming to this park before and sitting on this swing… but not much about people.” She sighed and looked up from her face to his. Surprisingly, he didn’t seem creeped out. Instead, he looked sympathetic. His brown eyes had softened from their previous curiosity and he studied her carefully, as if wondering what to do with her.

“I’ll be right back.” He said. Cammie’s heart sunk. She had hoped he wouldn’t leave her. Sure she didn’t know much more than his name, but it was nice having company. She looked back down at her feet, then back up at the no longer occupied swing, still swaying slightly. The boy had walked over to where his mother still sat on the picnic table, and now they were talking. She wondered why he had, however momentarily, left his family outing to talk to Cammie, but then return to his family. She wondered if he would call the cops or the hospital. She hoped not. Cammie wasn’t a fan of insane asylums, and she didn’t want to be thrown into one.

The boy then started walking back over, the rest of his family in tow. This startled her, and she looked back down at her feet. She didn’t want to meet the rest of his family. She just wanted everything to go back to normal, whatever that was. She wanted her own happy family, not someone else’s.

The mother – a kind redhead woman – kneeled down in front of her, the kids standing on either side of her and Todd behind her. “I’m Allison, Todd’s foster mother. These two are Josh and Becky.” She gestured to each one and the two kids smiled. Becky gave a small wave and Josh hid behind his mother. “Would you mind if I asked you a few questions? I want to help you remember what happened.”

“Go on.” Cammie said with a small smile.

“Well, sweetie… do you remember anything about your family?” Cammie froze. Anything about her family. Anything. “Is there anything that you know that could help us find out who they are?” the mother spoke again.

“I… I can do things. Sometimes. Weird things. My parents could too but I don’t know what.” She bit her lip. “I remember turning the TV on with my mind.” She heard a small gasp escape Allison’s lips, but the reaction of the family of four wasn’t one of fear like they expected. Instead, it was one of hope.

“A technopath.” Allison smiled. “Don’t worry dearie, this is completely normal. You have the power to control technology.” She explained. “You see, we all have powers too.” She hesitated. “Well, most of us do. Josh hasn’t manifested his yet, you see. He’s too young. But… Becky, show her what you can do.”

The girl named Becky stepped forward, cupping her two hands as if to catch a ball, and stretched them out to Cammie. Cammie looked into Becky’s hands. Slowly, a marble-sized ball of green slime appeared. The ball stretched out into a small puddle and began to glow. Becky smiled at Cammie’s reaction, which was one of surprise. “You can touch it. It won’t hurt you.” She said. Cammie poked it. It was kind of like jelly, only it didn’t stick to your fingers. The slime formed back into a ball and Cammie picked it up, inspecting it, and putting it back into Becky’s hands. It then disappeared, and Becky wiped her hands off on her denim jumper.

“What about you? And Todd?” Cammie asked, now gaining the confidence to speak. As time went on, she was feeling more and more comfortable with these people. She was coming out of her shell a little more each minute.

“Allison has enhanced smell.” Todd answered. “It makes her cooking just that much better because she knows exactly what it needs before even tasting it.” Allison chuckled at the compliment. “I can travel through time.” Cammie felt a flutter in her gut when he said this.

“Have you ever tried it? Like, gone to the future just to see what it was like?” she asked. She had always been interested in time. What the future would be like… The Butterfly Effect… all that stuff.

“I have, but each time I do, I have more problems later on.” Todd explained. “If I use it too much, my life will get shorter and I’ll have more health problems as an adult.” He sighed. “It kinda sucks, but I know how to control it enough so that I don’t use it accidentally. And for now, that’s enough.” He told her. She nodded. She knew what he meant. Her power was controlling technology. However, she didn’t really know much about modern technology. This meant that at the moment, all she could do is turn things on and off and in some cases, use objects like TVs and phones without touching them.

Allison’s voice knocked Cammie out of her thoughts. “Honey, is that all? We know if you have powers, your parents must have powers too… but there’s a large community of powered people out there and we need to narrow it down a little more.”

“No.” Cammie said, shaking her head. “That’s all I got. It’s like I forgot anything that links me to my parents.” She said with a frown. At this, Allison let out a gasp. It appeared that she had an idea.

“Oh hon, I think I know… they must have erased your memories.” She said. “Your parents… I’ve known people who had the power to control memories. They could erase them, and even create new ones.” Allison put her fist in front of her mouth, tears forming in her eyes. “Oh you poor dear… you were abandoned and you don’t even know it.”

Cammie swallowed a lump in her throat. “Yeah… that must be it.” She said. She really wasn’t sure what else to say except “What do I do now?” She had nowhere to stay and no more food to eat.

“You can come home with me. I have these three as foster children anyway, and we could always use a new addition to the family.” Allison said with a smile. “What do you say?” Cammie gave a nod, wiping tears from her eyes that she hadn’t even noticed were there. “Well then, why don’t you come eat dinner with us? You look so thin, you need to eat something.” Allison stood back up and the family of four started walking back towards the picnic bench. “I hope you like chicken wings, but if you don’t, we have avocado sandwiches, celery, carrot sticks, fruit…” Cammie stood up and followed her new family over to the picnic bench, ready to eat her first supper.

Two years later…

Bleep! Bleep! Bleep! A thin pale hand reached out from under a heap of navy blue blankets to slap the alarm clock beside her bed. Though she had her blankets over her face, she could practically see the red numbers burrowing their way through her still closed eyelids: 7:30.

It was silent for one peaceful moment, before she heard footsteps from down the hall. Heavy footsteps. “Cammie, rise and shine! First day of high school! You don’t want to be late.”

“Yes I do…” Cammie grumbled so Allison couldn’t hear before yelling “Alright, be down in a sec!” and proceeding to grab her pillow from under her head and place it over it.
She remained like that for another half hour before finally deciding that maybe being on time wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Without even checking the clock, she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, rubbing her eyes as she did so. With newly cleared vision, she made her way down the hall to the bathroom where, surprise surprise, it was occupied. So she headed back to her room, deciding that she’d change clothes first, and then brush her teeth.

Cammie’s chosen outfit lay folded neatly on her dresser. She’d known what she was going to wear for her first day since a month ago when she bought her new tee shirt. It was a dark blue shirt with a cartoon panda on it. With it, she wore black skinny jeans and black flat shoes. On each wrist she slipped a chunky white bangle with black stars, and in her pockets she carefully placed her phone and her iPod. She heard the bathroom door open and close again and, grabbing her hair brush, headed over to finish getting ready.

A few minutes later, she plopped down at the dinner table, occupying the last of the four chairs. “Cammie, if you had started getting ready when I told you to, you wouldn’t be in this mess.” Allison scolded her, taking a sip of coffee. Cammie sighed and rolled her eyes. Oh here we go again.

“I told you, I don’t like Cedarwood High. I’d rather go to Caldwell with the rest of my friends from eighth grade.” Cammie let out a huff of air before reaching across the table and grabbing a blueberry muffin.

“Well I told you honey, we’re not in Caldwell’s school district. There’s nothing I could do. Besides, Cedarwood is so much better. You’ll make new friends.”

“Madina’s in our district and she’s going to Caldwell.” Cammie shot back quickly.

“Well she’s not supposed to.” Allison said simply. “If her family gets caught, she’ll be sent to Cedarwood.”

Cammie sighed. “If Vivs hadn’t moved to New Jersey, she’d have gone to Cedarwood.” She said. There was a silence before Allison spoke again.

“Todd goes to Cedarwood. You could always talk with his friends.”

“Todd has a girlfriend.” Cammie stated simply, reaching over and grabbing the carton of milk before pouring herself a glass.

“Well that doesn’t mean anything.” Allison replied, waving the thought away with her hand as she took another sip of coffee.

“Umm, yes it does.” Cammie replied matter-of-factly. “When a guy has a girlfriend, they hang out with each other. Sometimes they’ll hang out with his friends or her friends… never his fourteen year old former foster sister.”

“Just because Todd lives on his own now doesn’t mean that he isn’t your brother anymore, Cameron, and just because he has a girlfriend doesn’t mean he is going to ignore you.”

“Yes. It. Does.” Cammie said, completely ignoring Allison’s use of her full first name. She finished off her milk in two gulps and stood suddenly, grabbing her muffin from her plate. “I’ll eat this on the way. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a bus to catch.” And then, grabbing her bag from the coat hanger near the door, she was off.

***

In high school, it seemed everyone knew everyone else, and everyone knew exactly what to do when and how to do it. Not Cammie. She was a lone wolf. Other high schoolers had friends to sit with at the round tables, but Cammie instead found a long rectangular table that nobody was sitting at and picked the chair closest to the end. She hoped this would mean that somebody would come and sit with her. It appeared to be the only empty table in the entire cafeteria, and yet nobody came and took the bait.

From here she could see nearly everyone in the cafeteria, which is why she liked this spot. She liked being able to see everyone. If someone was to take the bait, she’d know well ahead of time. Plus, she could try and make eye contact with people she recognized from her class. That was always a good tactic. When Cammie didn’t see anyone she recognized from her class, she looked down at her plate. She had a slice of cheese pizza, some pasta salad, and an apple. Talk about boring. Hesitantly, she lifted her fork and began scooping the pasta salad into her mouth. She didn’t notice someone standing right in front of her until they spoke.

“Hey, is this seat taken?” Cammie swallowed her pasta salad and looked up into the shining brown eyes of a muscular brunette boy, clad in a red polo shirt that screamed “I’m popular”. He was leaning on the chair across from her, gripping the back with both hands as if he already anticipated her answer. She shook her head slowly. “Would you mind if I…”

“Go ahead.” She said, gesturing for him to sit down with a small smile. Finally.
The boy grinned. “Thanks.” He said, pulling the chair out before lifting it and carrying it off to another table, where a group of giggling girls waited for him. Cammie visibly drooped. No friend for her, then. Too bad, he was cute too.

“Don’t pay any attention to them. They’re all jerk offs.” Cammie looked left and right to see where the voice had come from. It was then that she realized that it was the guy behind her, sitting at a table for two, all by himself. He was leaned back in his chair nonchalantly and his black hair and blue eyes were vaguely familiar.

“Yeah…” Cammie said, not sure what else to say. She turned back around and returned to her pasta salad. She then heard him get up and drag his chair and tray over to the now empty and chairless spot across from her. Cammie let out a sigh and looked up at him, narrowing her eyes. “…can I help you?” she asked, sounding much more harsh than she had intended.

“I’m Greg. Greg Isaacs.” The boy introduced himself. He stretched out his hand to shake.

“Cameron Morgan. Or just Cammie. Whatever.” She said, ignoring his hand. He just raised his eyebrows and withdrew his hand. Obviously he was unsure as to why she was being so cold to him, but rather than walking away or confronting her, it seemed he chose to ignore it.

“So, you’re a freshman I’m guessing?” Cammie nodded, as her mouth was full of pasta salad.

“That’s cool. I’m a junior.”

“Why are you talking to me, then? Don’t you have friends? A girlfriend? Something?” Cammie said. He was an upper classman. Surely he had someone better to talk to than herself. Suddenly she wished that she hadn’t hoped so hard for someone to sit with her. Or at least that, of all people, it would be someone else. And on her first day of high school too…

“What, can’t a guy be an individual and eat with who he chooses? Or does he have to stick to the same pack every day?” This shut Cammie up. She really had no response for that, mainly because she had a similar philosophy. It was one of the things that Cammie noticed right away that she had in common with Greg.

Cammie and Greg ate in silence for a while. She snuck peaks at him. He was clad in a black jacket, white shirt, and jeans. Nothing special really. He also had one of his iPod ear buds stuck in his ear, music blasting out of it. She could hear it well enough to know what song it was. When he wasn’t paying attention, she stared at the ear bud, as if telepathically telling it to lower the volume. It did as she ‘told’ it to and Greg suddenly looked surprised. He took his iPod out of his pocket to check the volume. Sure enough, the volume meter had gone down to barely above zero. “What the hell?” he said, confused. He looked at Cammie, who shrugged, then back at his iPod. With a sigh, he turned it off and put it in his pocket. “Damn thing has been glitching on me all day… first the song changes randomly now the volume…” he muttered to himself. He took a bite of his apple and Cammie had to sink her teeth into her pizza to prevent herself from giggling. This guy was annoying, sure, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t annoy him back, even if he didn’t know it was her. After all, wasn’t that the best type of annoyance?

I know the beginning is a little cliche, but it'll get better once the plot starts to pick up. That is, once the plot actually gets introduced. :P

I have an LJ, whaat?

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 09:00:04 GMT

Sooo what's happened since I last posted? Well, I spent a month in India, and then had Orientation when I came back. Signed up for classes (which aren't offical yet, I'll post my schedule later), found out who my roommates are (also not official yet), got some dorm stuff... OH and I GOT MY BRACES OFF :D

I posted some more stuff on DA and wrote a couple more short stories which I haven't posted yet. I also started watching Skins. I saw up to the second episode of the second season, which, lemme say, is my favorite thus far (aside from the trip-to-Russia one). And although Anwar is awesome (and not just cuz I LOVE Dev Patel), I like Cassie the best. I want to create a character who is a cross between Cassie and Hannelore from Questionable Content.

So basically, said character is anorexic and OCD and emotionally disturbed (like if a guy dumped her she'd try to kill herself). She organizes stuff a lot (like food) and is really good with numbers and counting. She plays the drums. I might make her some sort of stalker, if she has someone to stalk.

I also posted a few new things in this baby: http://silencecanbeviolent.wordpress.com/
She's my rant/opinion blog, appropriately (I think) titled "Silence Can Be Violent" (it's a quote from Fistful of Steel by Rage Against the Machine). Check it out, there's some pretty interesting shit going on. And it's apparent that I have been reading too many radical feminist blogs. :P (although they haven't been posting much stuff lately, which I don't like)

Oh, and I joined the Tales of Series Forum (ToSF) site. Granted, I don't know much about tales (I did almost get one of the games, but we ended up getting FFX instead and now I'm just hoping something will come out for PS3 soon). Mainly I joined for the uber-awesome RPs that go on that an IRL friend told me about.

The latest Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged is AWESOME. I'm so into it now... if I go to fanime next year (which I REALLY want to go) then I want to make a shirt that says "Screw the rules, I have green hair" and then spray paint my hair green. I also saw the episodes of Avatar Abridged, but there are only 9 so far and they're not quite as good.

I haven't finished my summer homework for college yet (yes I have homework, since one of my classes is required)... I probably should. It's certainly not easy. It's to read Existentialism by Jean Paul Sartre... if anyone has read it, I'd appreciate help, since it's hard to read and there are parts I don't quite get.

Oh! My friends and I went to see the Twilight Knights one day a couple weeks ago. That was fun. We learned basic fencing and then we fenced each other and hung out for a while. A group of them went to play Mage: The Awakening at one of their houses (which I guess is something they always do after practice) and we almost came with, but it was too far and too late. Hopefully we'll be able to go again, and then we can play! :D

Oh oh oh and for those who like free music and video games and video game music, check this out : http://www.8bitpeoples.com/discography/by/anamanaguchi
It's a band called Anamanaguchi. They play music... get this... using an NES! There's an entire genre for this, called Bit Pop (like Brit Pop, get it?) or 8but music. Many bands put their stuff on that site so people can get it for free. Their first album is up on there, but the second isn't yet... I dunno if they intend on putting it up, otherwise you'll need to buy it. It had no lyrics, but it's still oddly inspiring for those who DO write lyrics/poetry, if you get what I mean.

Speaking of writing, I plan on posting a poem and maybe a short story in the next few days, so watch out for that.

But yeah, life is all around pretty good.

PS: I LOVE my current icon. Gaspard Ulliel as Hannibal Lecter is preety smexy :D

Been a while, hasn't it?

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:07:59 GMT

Yeah, it's been a while. So, what's new?
Well for starters, I got into three new serieses (?), of which I finished 2. I watched all of Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series first. I remembered watching the normal one on TV with my brother as a kid, so it was fun to see the Abridged version, especially since they poked fun at a lot of the stuff I'd poke fun at when watching the series the first time (Puberty Power!). Also, a friend recommended Fooly Cooly to me, so I saw that. Only 6 episodes. I don't think it has an abridged series, although that's probably a good thing; if it was any more abridged it would make a person's head spin. It would be like parody-ing a crack fic (which is really what FLCL is, one big crack fic, in a way).

I also started watching Tengen Toppen Gurren Lagann. I've seen up to episode 7 at this point. Not bad considering I just started today xD. But again, someone recommended it to me. Same person who told me to watch FLCL, actually. TTGL is not as crack-y as FLCL, although that seems to be mainly due to it being longer and having more plot. TTGL almost feels Pokemon-esque in a way... like they have a battle, and continue on their journey. That's from the first 7 episodes, though, I heard it changes a lot later.

Also, here's the school life:
TV/Film/Video: our video finished. It had it's "premiere" today actually. People didn't hate it, which was kinda neat, but they did think it was too quiet. Yeah, didn't have too much dialogue, and no music at the beginning. Or ambient sound. We'd recorded the voices and dubbed them over and normally we would've recorded ambient sound to put over it too, but there was no time what with all the animation and yadda yadda.

AP Calculus AB: Post-final project is tomorrow. I did a research project on synesthesia, and oral presentation (because it was required).

Economics: Today I forgot my textbook. Which I had to turn in to take the final. Tried calling parents at tutorial to get them to bring it over (I can't drive) but mom wasn't picking up and dad was stuck in traffic. I talked to Wilson, who said I could drop it off later today. My friend's mom gave me a ride home and halfway there, mom called my cell and said she was at school with my textbook. Apparently dad called and finally got through to her. Wooow. Also, final was easy.

Black/White Photo: We have a quiz tomorrow. Just on stuff we've been doing all year though. Mainly what aperture and what shutter speed to use under which conditions. No biggie.

Physiology: Final Thursday. Luckily not cumulative. Dissected a sheep's heart the other day. That was pretty cool. I was one of few who could touch it without gloves (he let us) although that's because I hate gloves more than I hate washing hands.

AP English: Had my Senior Project. It went well, I guess. Made those chocolate cupcakes with cookies in the center. Maybe I'll post the recipe here sometime because they're delicious. People loved em.

Also, I declared last Monday officially "Cookie Day" and I ran around giving people homemade chocolate chip (with some white chocolate chips) cookies for no reason except that I like baking and I like giving people food. And I figured it was a nice way to end the year. I didn't know it, but it was apparently also Senior Ditch Day. Huh. Not that I would've ditched anyway, but those who ditch must face consequences, including not getting cookies.

I'm thinking of starting an opinion blog for all the rants I post/intend to post here/on Facebook. Although I don't know what to call it. I'll just be on my opinions and things that bug me. Call it an outlet. I'm thinking "A blog of sterile acrimony" (reference to JFK's speech where he mentions 'a bog of sterile acrimony'). Only I dunno if it sounds too... Republican? Is that the right word? It doesn't fit for a liberal's viewpoints somehow, though I dunno why. Whadda you think?

Heroes finale. Finally. [heh heh]

Tue, 05 May 2009 07:31:16 GMT

My laptop is finally fixed. Yay! My posts will be few and far between until June. See after the cut for details.

So even though it's a week since it's aired, I still feel the need to review the last episode simply because it was the finale. So here goes.

Oh my fucking god. It was awesome. I can't believe the real Nathan is dead and the real Sylar is gone forever. Or not, as we see in the Volume 5 clip. I wondered how Nathan would get used to Sylar's old powers. But my god, things will never be the same. And they burned the body so Nathan can't mysteriously return. Unless more time traveling or a power involving alternate dimensions is involved. That'd be cool, and I wouldn't put it past NBC to do something like that. Also Nathan's death was really bloody. Yeah.

Poor Hiro can't use his powers. But he does anyway. So Hiro-like. I hope he's cured of whatever it is he has. It's like an ability cancer, it seems; his own body is reacting badly from overgrowth and hurting him. It's good that he has Ando. I'm gonna miss his and Ando's time stopping antics, even if they're just less frequent instead of completely gone.

I kind of wonder what Mohinder is gonna be doing now. Hopefully he'll take care of Molly, since Matt seems to have completely forgotten about her in pursuit of some other form of family. What did happen to her, though? And Micah. After it was revealed that he was Rebel, after he talked to Sylar, he was gone too. So many plot holes.

SYLAIRE OMG that was really hot and I want someone to write a fic involving Sylar and Claire... doing something, I dunno, but an extended version of the wine scene maybe? "Maybe even love me." Ooohhh that made me shudder.

The Danko and Noah thing was interesting, despite briefness, but the Sylar turning on Danko reminded me of why I love Sylar so much in the first place. Actually a lot of things reminded me of why I love Sylar so much, heh. Sylar was just awesome in this. I really hope he returns, even though I don't like Nathan's deadness too much, I loove Sylar. :)

I kinda liked seeing Angela vulnerable at Nathan's death. It was a nice change to her normal stubborn ambition. And yet it's not out of character at all. It was sad though too. Dragging Matt into everything and all... And what they did was really cool. Shows just how powerful Matt is really becoming. I mean, he can turn one person into another. Isn't that awesome? But I wonder what'll happen in the future. Like will Nathan randomly wake up as Sylar? Will there be more Sylaire? Sylar/anyone else? And most importantly, will Sylar return to his "normal self" or will he be in limbo as a cross between the two and how will Nathan react? Hmm...

The scene in the limo with Sylar and Peter was AWESOME and reminded me of why I like Peter. Although I did like Sylar more in this ep than Peter (who didn't do much other than that one thing, that was really cool, but still, he did like nothing else). Anyway, yeah, one of the best scenes.

Nathan fixing the clock made a slow smile creep up on my face, as did Tracy's (naked) return. I wonder if Tracy will try and get revenge on Nathan, and if she'll find out he's technically dead. And how she'll react to Sylar-as-Nathan. And how he'll react to her. I also wonder if Tracy's power has changed or just evolved. And an odd part of me wonders what the agent was thinking when he sees a puddle turn into a naked lady who wants to kill him. What is it with Ali Larter and being naked anyway? And what is it with Heroes and all their blond characters? I want Barbara to dye her hair brown or red or something.

This week: AP Calc on Weds, AP English on Thurs, Analytical Writing Placement Exam on Saturday.
Next week: Sapnay on Sat, Auditions at some point in time.
First week June: Senior Project due, finals for other classes.
GAH!

Also, anyone have any ideas for what to name an opinionated blog? I wanna start a blog this summer, just my rantings and ravings. Mainly about things that bug me in my life, liberal musings, etc etc.

And while we're naming things, my 1st gen iPod Touch needs a name. I named my laptop (Max) so it's only fair... :P

Been away

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 19:35:56 GMT

My laptop is broken, hence why I haven't posted anything in the past few weeks. I did watch the Heroes episodes and those were cool but I won't be reviewing the last two and probably not the next one either. When my laptop comes back from repairs I will continue.

Also, my birthday was last week, April 11. Yay! I turned 18. To celebrate, my friends and I spent most of the day in San Jose. We took the lightrail there, ate at Johnny Rockets, and roamed around. We met Paulo Condito, a contestant on a show (Sheer Genius, I don't watch it) and he showed us his salon. One of my friends is apparently his #1 fan. Then we just kinda ran around taking pictures and acting like fools. None of us had ever taken lightrail before so we waited at the wrong stop before realizing we should be waiting at the other stop. Oops! Then we went back. The mother of one of my friends had apparently made cupcakes and colored icing and set up a thing so we could decorate them. We all ended up making anemones and weird designs, hah. One of my friends made Mount Doom though. Then we all went home.

My family got me five books. Technically four since one was a cupcake baking kit thing with a book of recipes. The others were: Hannibal, Hannibal Rising, Eats Shoots and Leaves, and a book on writing comedy. One friend got my Oxymoronica (a book), another got me a really pretty necklace with an Aurora Borealis (sp?) stone. The third got me a cupcake decorating book, measuring spoons, and a picture frame that everyone signed.

Best birthday ever! :)

This episode has the word "asylum" in it. That's win enough.

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:41:58 GMT

But Heroes never stops there, oh no. It must have more win.
And win it did.

So. Much. Shipping. Nathan/Claire, Peter/Angela, Noah/Danko, even Sylar/Danko (who make the perfect duo/partnership/couple/thing).

Oh boy, another church. And praying. And... god. -.- There was also a lot of getting wet. Or no wait, only Sylar and Peter, but hey, who's complaining? And Nathan with fluffy drunk hair. :P

Freudian overtones, which I find all the more amusing cuz the Oedipal ones of Peter/Angela took place in a CHURCH. ... HEEE xD

"There used to be love in this family." Wow there's something to think about.

Nathan betting and drinking and Mexico and all that is oddly... hot? Agh, I dunno, something like that. :P

... they stopped synthesizing SYlar's voice to make it sound cool. Now it's just like Zachary Quinto's normal voice. Not sure how I feel about that :/ Or at least, they did for parts of this episode.

Still, this episode reminded me once again of why I love Sylar; his, as rtwofan worded it, laid-back snarky brilliance. Yeah I couldn't've said it better. :) And I love how they analyzed him, if only briefly. His wanting to be someone else, acting, because although most characters not meant for comic relief have uncanny lying abilities, Sylar takes this to another level.

Sylar and Danko talking about the shapeshifter, then at the club, was amusing. "He's a better you than you." xD Plus Sylar smirked so effing much in this episode, it made me happy. And watching the shapeshifter scream when he looked like Sylar was amusing.

Drunk Nathan saying he's going to "fix it all" is oddly sweet (even if he takes it back). As is Claire tucking him in. But then she pulls out the "real dad" card again... and it starts feeling really awkward (as opposed to the pure sexual tension when she was tucking him in and undressing him and etc). Maybe it's just me. "You're supposed to be Superman." ...?

Angela has a sister? Dun dun dunnn... More Petrellis = More Drama. Sounds like another Petrelli reunion coming up.

This ended on a really odd note. "Sylar" is dead. "If you succeed, you'll be the only one left." "Funny how that works." Plus Nathan and Claire + Angela and Peter, walking off arm in arm... It was probably the music that made it feel odd, but still. I rather liked this episode, overall.

Funny how with Heroes now, just about any ship makes me squee. Actually, any ship with Sylar in it, and/or Sylar's general sexiness both make me squee.

Paynesgrey's review of this episode plus the comments following got me intrigued... anyone know of any good fics where Sylar turns into someone else? Like Sylar-as-Elle/Claire or Sylar-as-Peter/Claire or Sylar-as-Claire/Peter? Or even just plain Sylar/Danko?

College, or why I haven't been posting.

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:04:48 GMT

Alrighty so for those who do not know, I'll be attending college in the fall. Which one, I have no clue, but just know that I'll be going. :)

I've been really busy and even missed Heroes this week (funnily enough, on the same day that I turned in my Heroes-themed muscle card for Physiology). I never reviewed the episode before it, so I have my thoughts summed up in a few sentences, plus a meme and college info, all under the cuts.

I haven't been following fanfic, but I'm betting the amount of HRG/Angela fics are rapidly multiplying as the series goes on. Also, I wonder how many Peter/Angela fics were sparked just from him saving her from the elevator?

The baby Matt Parkman with Hiro and Ando part was just too cute. Toddler Touch and Go! :D Also, return of the ~~jedi~~ powers! For Hiro and Ando gets his super blast.

I WAS SO RIGHT ABOUT MICAH BEING REBEL OMG and his voice cracked xD. I was teasing my brother cuz he (my brother) is 14 and his voice still hasn't cracked yet... but Micah's has. How old is he now anyway?

Also, Tracy is not dead. When she turned to ice, there was no blood-ice.

The Matt/Daphne scenes were so in character and so cute... ugh, I really liked Daphne, and even though I'll miss her, I'm not as pissed off about her death as I was about Elle's. Probably because Daphne ended with a sweet scene between her and Matt and Elle ended by being killed by a man she'd slept with not long before. Sigh.

Created by Recipe Star

Alright, so first, the ones I was NOT accepted to. UC Davis (expected), UCSB (kinda expected), UC Irvine (really wanted to go there but didn't expect to get in), Cal Poly SLO (expected), Pitzer (#1, seriously hoped to get in, denied Early Decision cuz Teacher Recs arrived late), and Occidental (also seriously hoped to get in, has biopsych and cog sci majors!, Obama went there till he transferred).

Now the ones I DID get accepted to. ASU (expected), U of Oregon (not sure what to expect), CSU Northridge (expected), Cal Poly Pomona (expected, but didn't expect to get offered for Honors College), UC Riverside (my first UC!), UCSC (hooray for hippiesville :P ) and Boston University.

So now I'm between UCSC and Boston U. I've made a list of pros and cons. Boston has lots of opportunities. It's a big city, sounds like a great place. The university even has a psychiatric rehab center and a neurobehavioral rehab center. If I could work there or intern there or something, it would be awesome, since neuroscience and psychiatry are two things I'm really interested in. The down side (and my parents keep stressing this) is the weather. Now I've never lived anywhere outside of my current house (in California), and the longest I've been away from home without parents is ten days. Sad, right? So my parents say I wouldn't be able to deal with the weather and should go to UCSC, which is a couple hours driving distance from my house. UCSC is pretty cool, very liberal and very politically active (a total plus). Also, in UCSC, you choose your college based on an ideal (diversity, justice, ethics, etc) and not based on your major. So you get surrounded by the type of people you want to surround yourself in. UCSC has a lot to offer (although not as much as Boston) and my family and two of my best friends will all be in the area.

So what it's really coming down to is this: do I take a risk, do something completely different, and go to Boston? Am I independent enough to do that? Or should I save that for when I go to graduate school (because I need an MD to become a psychiatrist) and stick with something more familiar while I get the hang of living life on my own?

I really have no time to read through my f-list, so if anyone has a particularly important entry, tell me about it.
I will really try to watch and summarize/review/whatever the last Heroes episode before the next one.

SCHOOL STUFF
1- TV/Film - We're doing an ad for the modern language department. "Modern language: what is it? how is it? why take it?" etc.
2- Calculus AB AP - Finished our last test... until the final. Which I am screwed for.
3- Economics - My stocks aren't doing well, but I'm doing pretty well in the class. I'm 26th in the stock game (of 36) but the teacher is 30th so as long as I'm ahead of him...
4- B/W Photo - Doing motion photography. Panning shots are annoying. So is trying to take a picture of a bouncing tennis ball.
5- Physiology - Doing muscle stuff. We had to make 5 trading cards for 5 different muscles, with a theme. Mine was Heroes. Daphne was Rectus Femoris (aka quads aka thigh), Monica was Biceps Femoris (aka hamstrings aka back thigh), Niki was biceps brachii (aka forearm), Hiro was triceps brachii (aka back forearm) and Alex was deltoid (aka shoulder). I used pictures from the graphic novels except for Monica where I used the one of St Joan from 9th Wonders, Hiro I used the picture in the comic book of Hiro stabbing Sylar, Niki was Isaac's painting of her banging down the door. Daphne's was of her running and Alex's was The Swimmer.
6- AP English - Finished No Exit, which I really liked and need to buy a copy of. Now we're doing The Stranger, which is interesting, expect for the writing style. :/

Dov Charney and Anti-atheist states

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:18:27 GMT

SO I was really planning on watching Heroes today and posting the summary like, right after. Only I had a sugar low and was really light headed so I ended up napping right through it. Oops.

Instead, I will post the things about Dov Charney I was planning to, and a few articles about anti-atheist states that I just read.

-Dov Charney
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14082498/
http://rageagainstthemanchine.com/2008/07/30/i-hate-sweatshops-now-which-one-of-you-wants-to-suck-my-dick/
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/14_american_apparel_models_freed
http://rageagainstthemanchine.com/2009/01/27/dov-charney-is-an-mra-pardon-me-if-i-dont-faint-with-surprise/
http://rageagainstthemanchine.com/2009/01/28/dov-charney-thinks-youre-stupid/
http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2009/01/28/fuck-you-dov-charney/

Want to spare yourself from reading millions of articles by radical feminists? Read on. For those who don't know, Dov Charney is the CEO of American Apparel. Now I dunno if you have, but many people have seen their ads of women wearing nothing more than whatever they're trying to sell. Maybe it's a jacket, barely covering their nipples. Maybe it's a pair of bright purple tights. Maybe even just a pair of underwear. (and of course lube instead of a top)

The article in The Onion mentioned how 14 models were being held in their LA compound in September of 07. They were "dazed, sallow, and undernourished" and "many of them had been given nothing more than a pair of tube socks or men's briefs to wear". The description of how the models were being held sounds more like what Prop 2 was trying to avoid. Since when to we treat women worse than animals? The models were 18-22 years but looked 12-14 (no surprise there). Of course AA brags their products are not made in sweatshops overseas. That's probably what lured these models in the first place. But as one of the models said, "Before I knew it, I was squatting on the floor in this humid room with a camera pointed at my crotch." Yeah, not somewhere I wanna work.

And that's not all. the CEO himself has been through six sexual harassment suits. He has admitted that he calls his models sluts, although claims it is an endearing term (what?). Then again, this is the same guy who has also had sex with a number of his coworkers, even in the presence of a reporter. Oh, also, he walks around wearing nothing but underwear. Now I dunno if you've seen any pictures of him, but ... that's not something I want to see.

Also, a few quotes of his I'd like to share with you:
“Women initiate most domestic violence, yet out of a thousand cases of domestic violence, maybe one is involving a man. And this has made a victim of culture out of women.”
Really? Because there are tons of statistics to prove you wrong. 1 in 4 women are raped or physically assaulted by current or former spouse or other form of dating partner. 1/3 of female murder victims are killed by an intimate. And you want to say that in a thousand domestic violence cases, 999 are women hurting women. Uh huh. And how has this made a "victim culture of women" (of should be among by the way)?

“By relentlessly pursuing efficiencies in management and production, we aim to make use of exploitative labor tactics not only unnecessary but actually counterproductive.”
Exploitation in sweat shops is a big no-no, but exploitation of 'boobies' and 'vajingos'? All for it!
He may not use exploitative labor tactics, but he sure uses exploitative advertising tactics.

PS: I was on their website like a week ago and was greeted with an interesting advertisement along the top of the page. The model was topless.

-Anti-atheist states
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/erbe/2009/02/17/arkansas-5-other-states-ban-atheists-from-public-service-seriously.html
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/undergod/2009/02/an_advocate_for_atheists_in_ar.html

I have no words for this, except: you suck.
Can't think of anything else to say.

Heroes and society stupidity

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:22:33 GMT

Oof, I'll do the Dov Charney post later this week. -.-

Also, I really need to keep up with the online Heroes stuff. Like Graphic Novels and etcetera. >.<

Where have I seen the actor for Luke before? Seriously, he looks familiar, but I can't place it... ugh. >.<

Anyway, the Sylar-Luke thing is cool. And yeah, it's kinda sweet how Sylar is slowly starting to find people to care for. First Elle, now Luke? Although it seems to Luke, Sylar is the father/older brother he never had, so for once, no shippage there. It's still cute though. :)

At first I assumed Rebel was Peter. I dunno why, I guess it sort of fit? But then I dunno how Peter would figure out all that stuff. He seemed to know where HRG was, but Claire has Peter's number, so it wouldn't be unknown. It has to be someone with access to the paintings and access to the government's plan. I then guessed HRG, but again, she'd have his number, right? Then I heard a theory that it might be Micah, which completely fits and would be an awesome way to bring the Sanders back into the series (which I really hope they do). Also, I was thinking Sparrow Redhouse, since the one time we saw her she was pretty rebellious, and since we don't know much about her except that she'll be appearing on the show (although there's no info about who they would cast as her so maybe that's in the more distant future). So yeah, hoping it's Micah or Sparrow. It could be a number of graphic novel people, but I'm not caught up with that so I can't be sure.

I liked the idea that Nathan let Tracy go... but nooo. :( Nathan's a bastard. Except not enough of one to kill people. Just enough to turn the temperature way too high on Tracy. The heat seems to be getting to her head, methinks.

Alex looks cool. Much cooler than West. I admittedly kind of shipped them, even though if I was in Claire's place, I probably would have slapped him at his reaction to having a blonde girl in the comic book shop.

The part where Hiro is jealous of Ando is pretty cute, even though Hiro saves Ando in the end. Plus, he can still be a hero without powers. Awww. :)

Rawr, I've been busy.

Valentine's Day came and went.
PS: Don't ever call in Single Awareness Day. That makes it sound like a cause. You know like how they have Aids Awareness Day? Being single =/= Aid, thank you very much. If anything it's Single Avoidance Day, because the point of this stupid holiday is for boyfriends to burn money on chocolate and roses and single girls to burn money on Prozac.

Also, in Physio, the teacher said to remember which one is the Fibula because it's feminine. Fib-u-laa! ...why is it feminine? Because it looks like a model's thigh or because it looks like her gagging stick? -.-

Okay, end rant(s). :P

Welcome back, Heroes! :P

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 00:35:08 GMT

Alright, Heroes is back!
Also, I'm trying to keep up with my flist more, although there's no way I'll ever be able to fully catch up. Eh.

Alright, so people are getting captured left and right. Tracy, Mo, Peter, Hiro ... all by some guy apparently named Danko. Then Claire saves them and the plane crashes.

Nathan's going evil again. Half of me wishes he'd make up his mind, half of me doesn't mind. At least HRG has always been morally gray, so it's not that bad. Nathan's just always tried to do the right thing, that occasionally ends up being the wrong thing, you know?

Hiro and his lair ... that was cute. Ando must save the world! On his Ando-cycle! And he uses it ... to pick up girls. So typical Ando, but that's why we love him, right? Plus, Ando is the important person... could totally see it coming but it was cute nonetheless.

Noah is definitely up to something, though. He needs a reason to be helping Danko. All he ever wanted was to help Claire, so I'm assuming they have some deal? Hands off Claire if he helps? No idea, but she's related somehow.

Speaking of Claire, hahah, return of the teen angst! Even though she it's not likely she'd be going to top Ivies (I mean really). But still, so much Paire, it makes me happy. He's the first one she calls, the first one he saves, yadda yadda.

Sylar trying to figure out his past is interesting. I guess I kind of sensed that he wasn't really the son of a watchmaker. But apparently he's the son of a taxidermist? I find that hilarious, a serial killer born from a taxidermist. I don't mind how disconnected it is from everything else, cuz Sylar does need his own journeys every once in a while.

Also, Peter should learn to stop hugging people. He hugs his dead daddy, and his powers go away. He hugs his brother, and is tasered. One would think he'd notice a pattern by now. Don't hug people who are sketchy.

You know, looking at these advertisements for Heroes, it seems nothing like the old 'save the cheerleader' type of stuff. It's so much more intense now, and the ads make it look like a completely different show. I love it nonetheless. :)

ARGH.
Haven't had time to watch Merlin (which I swore to myself I'd start following).
It rained today and I had to take pics for Photography in the rain. Meaning wet shoes. Oof.
My tooth implant fell out for the second time, meaning I need to get it re-cemented. Again. Meanwhile, my gums are swelling and it feels weird to eat, even though I'm SO hungry.
I haven't finished Red Dragon. In fact I'm only on Chapter 5. Why have I not had time to read it? Heart of Darkness for AP English, Physiology practicals, and AP Calculus. OOF

Also, the creative writing I wrote for AP English was 10 pages. Although, I didn't like it; I think it sucked. :/
Parts were funny though.
The plural of Nicholas is Nickolai. :P

The math test today sucked. It sucked logs, haha.

Also, there was a thing about George Carlin (the BEST stand up comedian EVER) the other night, in memory (he died last July at 71 of heart problems). And guess what? I MISSED IT. Hopefully it'll be up on Youtube soon.

I wanna rant on Dov Charney and his stupidity, but that'll be for another post.

I'm not dead yet!

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 08:00:15 GMT

First order of business: I'm not dead, just busy. I may or may not catch up with the flist, but I won't reply to much unless it's sooopar important or a really good story.

Second: I did indeed finish The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat AND Lolita. Both were amazing, albeit in completely different ways. The first was made of many short stories on neuropsychological illnesses (yay!) and lots of medical language. The second was so obviously romantic literature it wasn't even funny (they spent a lot of time driving and most of that time was describing scenery). It was interesting in a completely different sense.

Third: I met someone on Facebook. 8D Now before you go all bonkers on me, he's a friend of a friend (who I know in person). Anyway, we got to talking about books. He noticed I liked Hannibal Rising and asked if I'd read the books that come after it. I said no, but I planned to.
Two days later, our mutual friend comes up to me at school and hands me The Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs. The guy I met bought me two books, to keep, after only having known him for two days.
Did I mention he likes webcomics?
He's awesome.

Fourth: I recently fell in love with this song.
http://www.garageband.com/song?|pe1|S8LTM0LdsaSkY1i2ZGg
Listen to it. Download it. It's free. Oh yeah.

Fifth: SCHOOL
1- TV/Film. The broadcasting project got organized together really quickly and didn't fail. I'd give us a C. One of the interviews was asking a football player what sports he liked and to give an example of him running in place. Wtf.

2- Calculus. We finally got assigned seating. Only not assigned. I never know what to say about this class. Nothing happens. ln x -> 1/x ?

3- Government. Mock trial was alright. I started laughing when talking about my dead dog. Not good. Also, they showed me a gun and asked if it was the one that killed my dog. I had no clue. They used this against me. Then Chris, my "husband" is questioned. He saves my ass by saying "To my wife, a handgun is a handgun".

4- Photography. We made cameras out of pringles cans and took pictures. Pretty cool. Next, we're doing portraits. You know, studio-style?

5- Physiology. We're doing bones. Dissected a cow's bone. It's more fun when you're not wearing gloves, so you can actually feel the articular cartilage and spongy bone and stuff.

6- English. Frankenstein is ... eh. Don't like it much. The actual process of building the monster (which is the best part!) was like, half a chapter. And the rest of the book was him mourning. We analyzed a poem today. In a nutshell (in the words of someone else): Nature it pretty. Nature is still pretty, but there was some sketchy stuff going on here (maybe narrator killed a guy). Wow, this sucks. I have a friend.

Sixth: Winter-Een-Mas is in nine days. Obamamas (haha) is on four days. I will need to get a calendar within those four days. My current one is a George Bush countdown calendar and only lasts until the 20th.

Seventh: Happy New Year. 2009 is awesome so far. I don't believe in New Years Resolutions. My resolution was not to make one. Broke it as soon as I made it. That must be a record.

Lastly: Does anyone know when Heroes comes back?

Palm Springs and Santa Clause Day!

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 10:39:13 GMT

The ride there was long. Started with breakfast at Scramblez Diner (yay!), an Eggs Benedict. Slept on the way there. Stopped at a random Italian restaurant for lunch and had leftover gnocchi for dinner.
French restaurant means more Eggs Benedict for breakfast next morning. I never get tired of that. Went to the bottom of a mountain, took a tram ride to the very top. Sudden change in elevation gave me a bad headache for the rest of the day. At least the pulled pork sandwich was good. Went shopping. Saw a store full of cute hats and shoes, everything for $16. Only bought pants (bummer). Dinner at an amazing French-Belgian restaurant. Had cream of broccoli soup and shrimp and sausage brochette. Carolers came into the restaurant. I always though carolers were endangered species, like the unicorn.
Waffles for breakfast. The maple syrup was the thick, way-too-sweet kind. I'm too used to Canadian. Went to Joshua Tree National Park. Lots of Joshua Trees. Duh. Cacti fields as far as the eye could see. Snow covered mountains that looked like cookies and cream ice cream. Rocks topped with snow. Made faces on rocks and Joshua Trees by sticking snowballs on them. :P Skies streaked with sunset colors. Took many pictures. Bought Christmas gifts. Went home. Wrote college essays.
Went to a cafe for breakfast and had bacon and eggs. Mmm. We went for a tour in a canyon where Native Americans used to live. It was pretty nice. Took pictures. There were a few really nice spots, like near a waterfall, even though the rest was like a typical desert. My brother swore the tour guide was Peyton and Eli Manning's brother (he looked and sounded like them and said he had 2 brothers). We ate lunch at a grill and I had a BBQ pork sandwich that wasn't bad. We bought a bunch of nice chocolates and a slab of espresso fudge at the chocolate shop next door. Walked around a bit, went home, and took a nap.
Did nothing much all day. Slept in. Read a lot. Watched TV. Bought Christmas gifts. Packed up stuff. Had a pork sandwich.
Woke up, finished packing, and left. Ate at the same Italian place with gnocchi from the trip here. Ate lots of hot cheetoes. Finally got home and planned on buying last-minute gifts (me for my brother and my brother for me). Went to Fry's which was closed. Spent the evening with my baby cousin Rhea and her parents. Rhea can finally pronounce my name clearly! Before, it was like "Shishishi" xD

Sooo for Santa Clause Day. Heroes Season 2 on Blu-Ray and The Dark Knight on Blu-Ray. Awesome. But I can't take em with me to college, cuz the only Blu-Ray player is my brother's PS3. Also, a Flight of the Concords CD. Yesss! :D And a bunch of vegan, scented soaps, that all smell and look pretty. Almost too pretty to use.

The Dark Knight comes with a segment on the psychology behind the characters in the movie, with a real psychotherapist and all. Sounds interesting. Also, we got an HDMI cable for my brother's PS3. HDMI + 46-inch TV (gift for dad) + Blu-ray = I can see PORES O.O

Today the fam went out to eat with the family across the street. Can't believe I haven't seen them in so long. Their son is already 9? Yeesh! They're all musical geniuses (genii?) and last time I saw the son, he was starting cello. Now, he's awesome at it. God how time flies, eh?

Angry at perverts: rant and poem

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 07:22:41 GMT

Alright, so my brother (and by extension, me =P) has a Playstation 3. It comes with a trial of something called Playstation home. Basically, a typical create a character for a virtual world where you talk to people. Nothing new, right?

So anyway, I made a female character (uhh, cuz I'm a female?) and went on to try it out. There are little games you can play, like bowling and ice breaker and such, so it's pretty fun in that sense. But then, there's the people.

See, Playstation Home is full of guys, so as a female ... well, you get swarmed. Guys follow you around, hitting on you, asking for sexual favors. I was even hit on by a female character claiming to be a lesbian (although she was probably actually a guy). One example: I was in the theater trying to watch a music video playing on the screen and a bunch of guys come over and stand in front of me to talk. They're blocking my view, so I move. And they follow me. This went on for a while, until I figured out how to mute them. Also, there was a nice guy who stepped in and said "leave the poor lady alone" which was rather kind.

Another interesting thing was the age range. Granted, few guys would actually give their age, even if I asked, or they'd just say the same thing I said my age was (not likely). The two significant ages I remember were a 27 year old (that's how old my Government teacher is ... *shudder*) who left as soon as I said I was underage and a 13 year old who didn't actually hit on me, and actually helped me ward off jerks.

Also, I logged on today and found a new location and went there to see was it was. A group of people were actually having an intelligent conversation (!) about politics (only they sounded really conservative and liked Adam Sandler movies so I didn't butt in). But just as they started talking about good movies, I had to go. [by the way, intelligent conversation means they used proper grammar and spelling, which is hard on PS3, and weren't talking about sex, overusing words like 'pwn' and 'gangsta' or spamming. standards are getting significantly lower.]

And now, the poem. Warning: Sexual themes, angry feminist poetry, and awk-ness-ish-ly. Yeeeahh...
You had me: mesmerized
by the size
of the thing between your thighs.
But I could run faster than your horsepower
cuz you're only used to a whore's power,

Which ain't much, in truth,
more than a strip club booth.
You're so uncouth.
You'd do anything with two legs and a hole
(and boobs and two "X" genes and a soul)

But back on topic: it's been fun,
but hon,
you seem to be over done,
and worth less
than pregnancy tests.

The screwdriver you bought me? Not worth the screw,
cuz baby, it's not me, it's you.
So gtfo (that's your cue).
Not keeping you for so-called "good sex"
(so called by your Ego Complex)

See, like most men, you are a pig;
all you talk is about how you're big,
but it still feels the same as if it were a twig.
So maybe, size isn't always better,
but how people (not parts) fit together.

The poem isn't based on something that happened; I'm just really angry with perverted guys right now.

Although the line about anything with legs and a hole is something I actually told a guy once =P

It's funny, every time I write about something normal, it doesn't work out. But when I write something like this ... (or that another poem I wrote called Female).

Oh, and before I forget, I'm gone till Christmas Eve. Palm Springs. Will post upon return.

Heroes Episode yadda yadda

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 07:10:19 GMT

I'm beginning to see more of Claire's transformation into her future self. And she does take after HRG too.

Is Sylar dead? Is Meredith? You can never be too sure. Meredith probably is though. They'd better bring in new characters in Volume 4 cuz so many were lost this time. They'd better bring Sparrow Redhouse. They said they would, but they haven't. And Micah.

I kind of like the darker Nathan. Better than the "OMG Jesus loves me!" Nathan anyway. -.- Although his full-out hating his brother seems a bit harsh for him.

Wonderful. Our last awesome powerless character now had powers. Way to go Ando. (Btw e-sarcasm SUCKS) At least his power is still a sidekick power though, you know? Like he's still dependent on others, otherwise, nothing. And YAY for Einstein's theory.

Hiro was cool and not helpless. I love moments when he actually does cool stuff like this, cuz otherwise, he's all comic relief.

It's really easy to see the difference between brothers in this episode. Peter saves Nathan, and Nathan send out a hunt for evolved humans (something with I didn't think they'd actually follow through with). Oh, and as soon as the part with Nathan talking to the dude in the car came up, I was like "BARACK OBAMA?!?" Which is amusing because supposedly, the scene was filmed before election day.

I love Hiro bowing and apologizing before punching Tracy. So very Hiro. See, he's cute even when he's being awesome. :P

Knox is dead too. Lots of people are dead it seems. Plus, for the first time I noticed the red lining to the people-shards and now I have a morbid want to see frozen blood.

Mohinder's scales are gone. I figure he was cut by glass when he was thrown to the experiments. When they pushed over the tub of formula, I knew it meant Mo would probably go back to normal. I do wonder what happened to his powers though, cuz he hasn't used them since he first got scaly. Also, by the beginning of this episode, I almost wanted him to die. Now yall know how much I love him, so that is definitely saying something. Although, things will never be the same...

As Meredith burns down one Company, her brother burns down the other. And, people run out to escape. Like sister like brother, I see?

Lastly, a few quotes (cuz this episode was full of them)
All these heart references ... "a broken heart", "adrenaline can kick start a dead heart"
"so far all we know is that you can pass out really well." - LOVE Daphne's sense of humor. Brea Grant is awesome.
"scrunch gently. ... maybe too gently ..." - Hiro is the comic relief even when he's not there.
"like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum" "well I'd like to give him a good spanking" - I'm halfway between 'please do' and 'wouldn't we all...'
"you helped make me into who I am. I just wanted to return the favor" - So very Sylar. He would do/say that. Really. :P
"Pigeon. Help me. I lost the formula. I failed my father. I lost my destiny. And now I'm talking to a pigeon."

I was at a comic book shop the other day and saw a Barack Obama biography comic book. And thing is, I wanted it. :P

I am currently reading Body Hot Spots: The Anatomy of Human Social Organs and Behavior by R. Dale Guthrie. Something I found through Stumbleupon. It's actually on a website. It's pretty cool, so here's the link if anyone's interested.
http://employees.csbsju.edu/lmealey/hotspots/

My Government final was pretty easy, as was my Physiology final. ARGH calc tomorrow though.

There is a wire of my braces and it's poking me. Ouch. But at least I get to not have a wire on the top for a few days, so they can do an imprint to make the mold for the abutment (tooth part) of my implant. Yay!

Also, I tried Playstation Home for the first time. The result? A rant and a poem. But I'll post that in a different post.

Heroes. Plus stuff.

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 06:14:35 GMT

I had so much hope tha Elle wouldn't die, but now ... nope, she's dead. For sure. Ugh. And now Sylar's back where he started. >.< Although at least now, it's not like "the hunger" or anything anymore. Plus, his ability to always know when someone lies is interesting. Tingly, haha.

Hiro finally gets his memory back, and gets to see his mommy again! Aww. I always knew he was a momma's boy. And he was the catalyst all along! Pshht, way to lead us on and think it was Claire. I didn't really like the thing with the catalyst though, to be honest. A catalyst should be a chemical, not a glowing light power thing. The whole science vs magic thing is both what bugs me and what I like about Heroes. And it made sense that Hiro's mother died when she transferred the catalyst to him. Yet ironic (I think) as she's a healer and was ill. Plus, maybe carrying the catalyst was keeping her alive, for whatever reason? And, waffles!

Eh, I knew Peter wouldn't kill Arthur. Although I didn't expect Sylar to show up and do it for him. Not that I think Arthur's actually dead; I just have an ooky feeling he's not, you know? Eck, his death just seemed too ... vague, to me. But, such are many of the deaths in Heroes. Ando's death was vague, and he's alive. Elle's death, thinking back, wasn't as vague, but vague all the same. And she is dead.

Claire holding herself (haha) was rather sweet. She's either really developed or Mary Sue-ish (I can't tell which) cuz she's got the badass factor, the sweet sisterly (with her brother and the baby) factor, and the stupid teenage cheerleader factor. I dunno. And of course HRG would be suspicious. I just wonder if HRG ever realized that it was Claire, like he ever remembered her when she was pretending not to be Claire ... Also, the Claire-bear thing was cute. She nicknamed herself!

Thinking back, I never expected Mohinder to go bad. He's always been shaky and he still is. I think he'll find his way back to the good side, once he pieces his life together. I hope so. I've almost lost hope on him. Like I said earlier, the catalyst thing bugs me. But now that the formula works on the Marie guy, hopefully they'll give some to Mohinder and fix him. Granted, his power is more complex, but still. Scales are not hot. At all.

Right now, it just seems they're using the Matt-Daphne-Ando reading the book thing to raise suspense. The plot has faded away already. I want a plot back! I want awkwardly sweet Maphne-ness! D: Now!

Nathan returns to daddy dearest. Figures. He really is like his dad, now that I keep thinking about it. And of course, Tracy's been planning the whole time. Another plan to get Nathan into the White House. And with Arthur "dead", Nathan can take control of their operation. This plot kinda bugs me, but whatever.

I haven't been sick in a while and suddenly, I am. It feels icky. >.<
Stupid congestion and headaches. Plus, my parents bought Mochi this weekend and cuz I'm sick, I can't have any. Ugh.

1- TV/Film - We were supposed to split into 2 groups. One group organized themselves, the other just consisted of anyone left over. Today both groups chose roles. I was nominated as the writer. So I have to write news stories. Wonderful.

2- Calculus - Got a better grade on the last test than on this one. I can't figure out how to get the volume of a parabola rotated around the y axis. Also, I feel too sick to do homework. Ick.

3- Government - So we won't be doing the mock trial until after the break. In fact, we won't even get anything until then. Also, I need to work on my Supreme Court Case Project. On the 1940s case on the Pledge of Allegiance in West Virginia.

4- B/W Photography - Ehh, pictures, whatever. Sigh.

5- Physiology - We did the sweat lab today. Meaning we had to exercise. And I was sick. And now I feel worse. Uggggghh.

6- I have a quiz I should have finished by now.

Heroes + School Awkwardness

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:06:20 GMT

HRG is a voyeur and watches Syelle sex. But, yay for Syelle, making babies! Even though Sylar supposedly kills Elle. Which I don't believe cuz Heroes always has twists and besides, didn't they say a blonde girl would die? Claire died. Granted, she came back to life. Heroes has done that before.

Hatian-Peter-Nathan stuffs wasn't nearly as hooking as Syelle (but really, what is?) but I am very glad that the Hatian had a reason for disappearing. And that he's reappeared. Even if Nathan was a jerk (which can be expected, I guess). Plus, the Hatian vs his brother was interesting. But seriously, if they don't give in a name soon, I will.

Did I mention how much I love Matt/Daphne? Especially the plot. I love that she keeps saying that he doesn't know her when really, he doesn't care. Gaww. Plus, it's becoming easier to see the 'opposites attract' thing going on in them. In personality, not just cop + thief. Like he's more emotional and loves her no matter what, where she's less emotional (seemingly) and ... almost doesn't trust him to love her no matter what?

Claire comes back to life again. Eh, saw it coming. They wouldn't kill her off. Hopefully Hiro's showing her the past thing will stop her from whining about her ~~Electra Complex~~ daddy issues.

The comic book nerds with Hiro and Ando was amusing. Especially Seth whatsit. Can't remember his last name, but he was pretty cool. And finally, a new mission for Hiro!

Err, eclipse explanation, please? Or are we going to have to wait two more seasons? Ahh well, at least it's finally over! How long do eclipses take anyway?

Acks, I was so getting used to Sylar Petrelli. I want him to be a Petrelli so much now! Whatever happened to evil Petrelli grandbabies?!? D: Rawr.

Overall, great episode with an amusing could-have-been-cliffhanger ending. Hiro's randomly teleporting into the Syelle vs Bennet scene made me LOL. Like I literally laughed out loud. Tried to explain it to my parents, but they didn't get it (they don't watch Heroes so I had to explain the whole situation).

Alrighty, so this is a rather short rant, but eh. So in Government class, we're doing a Mock Trial to get an idea of how the judicial system works. I took Law in 10th grade (2 years ago) where we had 2 Mock Trials. In the first, I was a defense witness, and in the second, I was a defense attorney. Mr. Wilson (the teacher) let us write our preferred roles and qualifications into account. I wrote 1) judge 2) prosecution attorney 3) prosecution witness 4) defense attorney. I really wanted to be the prosecution, since I'd been defense twice before.

Before I tell you what role I ended up getting, let me tell you that I am an Indian female, and proud. So, was it really pure chance that I ended up as a prosecution witness who co-owns a 7-11? Oh, and my name is Ginny Burger. That's an awkward last name. Although slightly less awkward because I do eat red meat (even though most Indians don't) but what if I had been vegetarian? Also, my co-owner is a guy I've known since middle school, and is supposed to be my husband. Which, as my friend pointed out, is technically an arranged marriage. >< The guy wasn't at school today though.

Also, I need to do a project on a Supreme Court case. I got the case where they guy sued the school system for making his daughter say the Pledge of Allegiance, which has/had the words "under God" in it. Needless to say (or maybe not needless for those who don't know me as well), I am ecstatic. :D

My other classes aren't as eventful. We're starting our broadcasting unit in TV/Film, which means so far he's just been showing us how to use the equpiment. Math is same old same old. Government I just mentioned. Black and White Photography .. just finished taking my still life pictures. Guess we're developing them tomorrow then. Physiology we're learning the integumentary system (skin). AP English I need to finish reading as soon as I post this. Invisible Man is at least more interesting than the beginning. Only now, it makes me crave yams. Or sweet potatoes.

Picture Meme & Thanksgiving Weekend

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:03:58 GMT

Stolen from iluvbsbkevin

Rules:

01. Answer each of the questions below the cut using the <url=http://www.flickr.com/>Flickr</url> search engine.
02. Choose a photo from the first three pages.
03. Copy the URL of your favorite photos <url=http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php>here</url>.
04. Then share with the world.

QUESTIONS.

01. First Name
02. Favorite Food
03. Hometown
04. Favorite Color
05. Celebrity Crush
06. Favorite Drink
07. Dream Holiday
08. Favorite Dessert
09. What I Want To Be When I Grow Up
10. What I Love Most In The World
11. One Word That Describes Me
12. My LiveJournal Name

So for #5, I have 2 answers. The one I put (Cillian Murphy :D) and Demetri Martin. So, to be fair, here's a picture of Demetri Martin.

Very different, right? (although I suppose you'd need more than just these 2 pictures to know that)
If the two had a son with a cross of their (but mainly Cillian's) looks, Demetri's talents, Cillian's heart (morals/ideals), and Demetri's mind ... It's be absolutely perfect :D <3

Soo we got a new 47 inch TV. And we rented Batman Begins, so I got to see Cillian Murphy's face on a huge screen. Made me very happy. :D
Also, we had turkey for Thanksgiving (normally we have cornish hens). Which is awk cuz I don't like turkey, but this one was infused with Thai meranade and topped with peanut sauce-gravy and it was dee-licious. Very yummy.

Also, me and a few friends who graduated last year amongst others were going to go mini-golfing today. Only me and two others showed up; Alex (who organized it) and Peter (who's going to college nearby anyway). So rather than golfing, we went to Walgreens, then Pet Smart, then Best Buy. We pretty much just ran around making fun of stuff we saw. Stopped by the doggy day care cuz someone I didn't know but they knew worked there. Played the demo video games (Fore Unleashed PS3 and Mari Kart Wii). Yeah.
Then I got home and had a really good chocolate cake. Yummm. :D
Overall, amazing weekend (albeit unproductive; I didn't read at all so far)

1 TV/Film - Finished showing peoples' videos. Teacher said ours was the second best one in eight years (which is a real compliment, especially coming from him). Also, our group had fun picking at all the other groups' works. Like one of them had something where a girl ate a pumpkin and fainted and hit her head. It looked like a drug pumpkin.

2 Calc AB - I'm kind of getting it. We're doing distance and displacement. Not as easy to get as the stuff a month ago was, but meh. On Wednesday I just talked to Tyler and Roark. Until they started taking about computer hacking (I'm ... let's call it technologically challenged). Then, Isaac and Ben.

3 Govt - Test on Legistature on Monday. Also, we're going to be doing a court case soon. Which should be exciting. :D I want to be either attorney or judge. Judge would be cool. I've been defense attorney and defense witness in law, so I want to be prosecution attorney or judge, or prosecuting witness.

4 B/W Photo - Finished flip book. It's of Silly Putty crawling out of its case. Called 'Gak Attack'. Oh boy. Started still life. It's ... interesting. Yawn.

5 Physiology - Neuroscience > Integumentary science. You can't dissect skin. Also, skin isn't brains. Yeah. This section is kinda boring.

6 AP English - Retook Doll's House AP write, and think I did much better on it (my last one didn't even address the prompt ><). Had to copy notes from a friend. Behind on reading, raaargh D<

Soo I applied to ASU, where they have rolling admissions. Got accepted but ... to the wrong campus. West campus, not Tempe campus. Now I gotta call them on Monday so they'll fix it. But still, at least I know I'm not going to De Anza :D

Heroes

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 04:21:48 GMT

Overall, the whole eclipse thing is kinda lame. Really, lets just stop them in the middle of all their plots and have them wait for a super long time to get their powers back. Ugh. Are eclipses really that long? And, for that matter, that frequent? It's like one every other episode, and I've never seen an eclipse in over 17 years. Yet, here there are two, only a couple years apart. Meh, I'm just dwelling on the stupid stuff.

Claire was being annoying and her training with HRG was oddly ... squick. Like cesty, but not, since they're not actually related. But at the same time, it wasn't the normal Heroes mmm-cest. It's like ... ugh. Although it was midly amusing that while people everywhere lose their powers, what's Claire doing? Bonding time with daddy dearest. Sort of.

Mo sliding out of his cocoon naked and him Maya-stalking were the only two things that even remotely caught my attention about his storyline. Although I do hope that his side affects from his silly experiment will be gone. Skin peeling? Not hot. Sorry Mo.

The car rental thing was amusing. And silly Sylar and Elle, making out in front of a window. Plus, looks like Arthur isn't the only one who's voyeuristic when it comes to Syelle ... HRG likes it too. Although, he likes it cuz it makes them easier to kill, whereas Arthur, as mentioned in a previous post, just wants evil Petrelli babies.

Claire getting shot instead of HRG was oddly not as sweet as it could/would/should have been. Then again, maybe I'm just subconsciously comparing it to Zuko doing that for Katara in Avatar (Zutara is love) but eck. Anyway, it didn't have the same affect. It did really just feel like her being stupid again, instead of some heroic ... thing. Which is weird.

The Peter-Nathan + Hatian thing didn't do it for me. I dunno why. It should have, but it didn't. I didn't really like it. Granted, I missed the first few minutes, so I didn't quite get what was going on. Although the Hatian popping up just as their powers disappear was awkward. And Nathan getting caught as a scapegoat (not sure if that's the right word). On a completely unrelated note, why does the word "scapegoat" always make me think of "Capricorn"?

Matt/Daphne just gets sweeter by the episode, and Daphne's secret ... gaw. Character development/revealing makes me happy. :) So wait, she can't even walk without her power? Makes me wonder ... did she know about the eclipse? And is her disability the reason why she's so willing to use her powers so much? Well I mean, in comparison to say, Tracy, who was completely freaked out by it and tried to kill herself.

Speaking of Tracy, I don't really like her. She seemed cool at first, and at certain moments, but now she's just back to being a politician. At least Nikki was awesome and had an awesome son and such. Ugh.

Haven't had time for computer stuff lately. Maybe in December.

New Heroes episode + random

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:30:50 GMT

Hiro becoming 10 is like Mohinder becoming a monster. Granted, NBC's problems with Hiro don't last long. But anyway, I hope this has a real purpose, and isn't just stalling. Although, can't think of a reason to make him mentally a kid again. Memory wipe is what I'm guessing. Also, I don't remember Ando being this patient. Like, ever. Gosh NBC, quit using Hiro for comic relief? If you want to be funny, don't just stuff it all into one storyline!

Typical Paire, reunited again! :D So Claire saves Peter, then Peter saves Claire. Peter 2, Claire 1. You're still behind, girl. :P But really, I like this season's Claire. Standing up for herself instead of following everyone else and having to get saved all the time. Especially in combination with Peter's hero complex. And also, two things I liked about this episode's Paire- Claire roughly saying "I'm not gonna kill you; I'm gonna save you" and "I'm defensive player of the year". :D

I really hope Daphne doesn't flip sides again. Although considering she was on the good, she probably won't. Matt and Daphne need each other. Matt needs her because he's a big lovey bug and needs to fall in love, and if anyone deserves to live happily ever after, it's him. Daphne needs him because really, she needs love too, and she needs him so she won't go back to her old ways. Guh, their pairing is just so sweet and lovey. Contrast to Syelle. Plus, opposites attract [cop/thief]. :)

Not I'm kind of glad Sylar did his temporary good thing, because it seems to have given him time to think and have feelings. Even if he does end up going bad in the end. Same with Elle; she was fired from good, so she turned bad. Sylar/Elle is just so hot. Plus, they fit together really well. They just get each other, you know? Plus, she knows his favorite pie. :P According to paynesgrey, Voyeuristic!Arthur wants evil Petrelli grandbabies. Because after all, why else would he have stuck his only evil son in a chamber with a woman who wants to zap his clothes off? :P Ooh, I can smell the resulting plotbunnies cooking now.

Angela and Arthur don't seem like a married couple to me. If anything, a divorced couple (which is what a normal family would do instead of trying to kill each other, but since when was Petrelli normal?). But there was a hint of that past marriage, especially when Arthur said that they "used to be like that" [referring to Matt/Daphne]. Even though I think Arthur betrayed Angela (not vice versa), I still was able to feel for him, you know? Seems Angela is the only one who can bring out the human in him.

Tracy turning to Arthur's side didn't really surprise me. Very politician, haha. Nathan dashing [or flying] back to mommy dearest is so very typical as well. I hope he has some character development this season, cuz he's starting to feel almost stale.

I think the eclipse just makes peoples' powers manifest properly. You know, like maybe after the eclipse, the test subject get his powers and such. Maybe the mutations even fade or get better. Who knows?

Soo, anyone familiar with the comedian George Carlin? Well I found a bunch of his stuff while Stumbling and he is awesome. Unfortunately, he died 6 months ago. Rest in peace.

Finally figured out how to get links set up, hur hur. So now I need to find interesting stuff to link to. :P

Applied Early Decision last minute to a school. Recommendations and transcript may or may not get there on time. I really hope I get in Early; I really like the school. Not naming names, but it's a liberal arts school. A very liberal arts school. As in when I visited, one of the people on the tour found a magazine about communism or something. And oddly, it makes me happy. :P

Karma's biting me in the ass for having been so annoying to my [now ex] friends all these years. 7th grade, 8th grade, 9th grade, 11th grade ... it's all coming back in the form of a friend who needs so much attention, she isn't willing to give any of it up. I was talking about how stressed I was about college and she interrupts me to go on about her red Oreos. But you know what? I'm just going to deal with it. You can't always just pick and choose the people you want to ignore [unlike with foreign policy, apparently] and sometimes you just have to make your own choices and deal with what you get. If that makes sense. You can't change others; you can change your patience with others. Besides, she's my friend. She may be a bit ... histrionic ... but I'm not gonna make her change who she is. Because really, you need to learn to deal with other peoples' flaws, not just their strengths.
Mmkay, end of today's lesson. :P

Also, I think I may need a politics tag. How many politics entries do I have? Hmmm...

Heroes: Villains - Villains, + fic

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:41:04 GMT

Alrighty, so first I'm gonna go over the episode, then post a fic. :)

GABRIELLE IS CANON :D :D <3
But sad, cuz not only did she make him crazy, but I think that whole thing might've made her crazy too. But Gabriel and Elle were adorable nonetheless.
One thing that gets me ... what did HRG say Gabriel's power was? It didn't sound like intuitive aptitude.

Rawr, don't like Arthur. Although ever since they actually showed him sucking peoples' powers and such, I realized he probably didn't commit suicide or die of a heart attack. Although I never would have guessed that it would have been Angela to "kill" him until Linderman "told" her that Arthur planned to kill Nathan. Which was kind of weird, but I guess Linderman has more of a heart than Arthur, and hence saw the monster Arthur was becoming, what with altering Angela's mind and trying to kill Nathan.

I loved the Flint and Meredith thing. :D It really gave them both more character. :) Also, the brother-sister thing was sweet. "God gave you a big sister instead of a brain ..." Gaw. Very sweet, oddly enough. Although I do wonder what happened between then and now to make Flint a bad guy. Maybe cuz he was separated from Meredith? Will Meredith see Flint again, maybe when trying to round up the others from Level 5? Will he have a chance to become an agent, or will Meredith turn him good, or no?

Thompson was ... well I didn't realize it was Thompson at first. I thought it must've been, but then I wasn't sure. Guess it is. Anyway, Thompson was pretty cool. Like most characters in this episode, he showed himself to be more human (which I think was the point of the episode). I wonder if Meredith was bad before (stealing and such) because she thought Claire was dead. Which would explain why she stopped being bad and uh, retired to a trailer park. And also interesting how the fire Meredith started was the one Claire "walked through and didn't get burned".

Why must they kill all the Isaacs? First normal Isaac, next African Isaac ... who's next? Another Isaac from, say, Cuba? Or France?

Arthur popping up was very sudden tho. I don't think Hiro's going to die or have his power stolen; either Hiro will teleport his way out of Arthur's grip, or Ando will save him.

Heard rumors about a SyElle baby. Very excited. :D
An interesting thought to leave you with: Noah kept Future-Good-Sylar-With-Waffles "sane". As did Elle, until she let loose Trevor on him. Hmmm... maybe it's inherited? :D

Yes, another cliche masquerade Paire story. So sue me. >.<

Title: Moonlit Masquerade
Author: Me! Turkey! :D
Rating: PG probably
Pairing/Characters: Peter/Claire, Sandra,
Spoilers: If you know who Claire's parents are, no.
Warnings: Incest, but meh, it's PG-cest. Oh, and AU.

Claire never expected to be invited to a masquerade. Yet, here she was, clear as day. Well not exactly clear, seeing as she was wearing a mask. Her dress was sleeveless and black, making her pale skin and golden hair shine even more (if that was even possible) in the moonlight. Under the bust of the dress was a wide red ribbon, which tied in a bow on the back. The dress was rather long, so she had to lift it as she walked, her Dorothy-esque red slippers clicking on the stone path as she did.
She stepped up to the gate and gave it a push open. It was such a beautiful summer night that the host had decided to hold the party in his backyard. From the looks of it, said host must be a politician friend of Nathan's, she thought to herself. Although she had lost contact with the Petrellis in the past few years, she supposed they thought this a way to incorporate her back into the family. How they would spot her in a masked crowd, she didn't know. Although, come to think of it, Peter did have his mind reading ability.
Oh, Peter, she thought to herself. When she had last seen him, she was an eighteen year old girl, leaving for college. Now, she was a young woman with a college degree and a future in the veterinary field. No longer was she just a cheerleader who could heal herself; she was an adult who, someday, would heal others as well. She wondered what he was up to now. Had he returned to his nursing, or gone further in studies? Had he settled down and married, maybe had a kid, or did he even have a girlfriend? She sighed. He had always been a dreamer. Dreamers were romantics. He was probably married.
She looked around. There was an empty dance floor (the DJ hadn't arrived yet), a lot of covered tables, and a snacks table. Instead of sitting and eating, however, everyone was standing around and talking to everyone else. She looked around, spotting a few people she knew, and smiled to herself. It seemed as if very little had changed. Which, really, was just the way she liked it.
---
Over by the punch bowl, a tall man with dark hair stood silently, sipping red liquid from a plastic cup. His mask was dark black and covered the top half and left side of his face. Along with a navy blue button down, a skinny black tie, and black pants, his overall look was very ... dark. He watched as a golden-haired angel entered through the gate and looked around for a familiar face. She turned and faced him, and although he was too far away for her to see, he could see her clearly.
He'd recognize that round, shining face anywhere.
He watched as she walked towards the food table, and he slunk away in the opposite direction. Part of him wanted to talk to her after so many years, but part of him didn't want her to know he was here. He wanted to remain a mystery; someone she thought of and remembered the way he was; not the way he is.
You see, a lot had happened to Peter since he last saw Claire. For one, he now had a huge scar across his face, as well as a couple of others that, he felt, disfigured his face. Which is why his mask was so odd-shaped; to cover up these scars. Today, he didn't want to be Peter Petrelli: the man who screwed up and got screwed up. For once, he just wanted to be a normal guy.
Peter took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Claire was over by the pigs in a blanket, contemplating between one of those and a celery stick. He decided to approach her. He wouldn't tell her who he was, but he would try to talk to her nonetheless. He stepped up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder, hoping she wouldn't recognize him. She turned around and looked up at his face, as if trying to see it through his mask.
"Do I know you?" she asked, raising a thin, shaped eyebrow.
"I was hoping you'd be able to answer that." he said, his upper lip giving a small upward twitch that one might call a smirk.
"Alright then. Take off your mask." she said, nodding upward at his mask. He hesitated.
"You first." he said. She sighed and reached back to untie the black ribbon that held up her red mask.
After tugging at the knot, she sighed again. "I had someone tie it for me. It's too tight. Can you help untie it?" she asked. He nodded simply and after some struggle, untied the knot that sat neatly under her golden bun. He then held the mask on either side, watching a smile sprout on the two lips under it before lifting it from her face.
"... Claire..." he whispered, as if he had only just realized her identity. She nodded. Peter's eyes scoured her face. She hadn't changed at all. Then again, her power ensured that. However, looking deeper, he saw a maturity in her eyes that wasn't there when she left for college.
"And now, your turn." she said. She reached up to remove his mask, but he grabbed her wrist before it got half way up. He shook his head. "Well, how am I going to know who you are if I can't see your face?" she asked, taking her wrist back and crossing her arms.
"Well ... umm ..." he stuttered, then just stopped. How was he going to explain this? But then, she sighed, and lifted a finger and held it to his lips.
"I get it. You don't have to tell me." she said. There was a silence, and she looked down at the ground. "Besides, there's something kind of sexy about a man of mystery."
'Uh, what?' Peter thought. She thought he was sexy? But he was her uncle! ... oh wait, she didn't know that. Tonight, he was someone else. Not Peter Petrelli. Not Claire's uncle. He let loose a small smile. Claire looked back up at him. Somehow, their faces were closer now than they had been a few minutes ago. Their lips were inches away. Claire stopped moving. Peter leaned down, so she wouldn't have to stand on her tiptoes. Their lips brushed, lightly at first, then she hers pushed up. She held onto his shoulders as her lips parted, and instinctively, his did as well. Their tongues met.
"CLAIRE!" Claire pried herself away from Peter's mouth. "WHERE ARE YOU, CLAIRE?" a high female voice called out.
"I'm sorry, I have to go." she said, giving him an apologetic smile. She bit her lip. "Uh, call me? My cell number hasn't changed." she said. She then picked up her dress and walked away through the crowd, leaving Peter standing there. He looked down at Claire's red mask in his hands, his fingers tracing the black outline. How did she know he had her number?
---
"I'm here, mom." Claire said, stopping suddenly by Sandra's side. Sandra let out a breath and looked down at her daughter. Unlike Claire, Sandra had aged in the past few years. Despite this, she managed to age gracefully, and her shining silver dress showed this off.
"Ah, there you are. Just trying to make sure you haven't wandered off. Remember, we won't be here for long." Sandra said, fiddling with the silver mask in her hand that she had refused to put on.
"Yes, mother." Claire replied, sighing exaggeratedly. 'I'm not a child anymore.' she thought to herself. 'Even if I still look like one, must I let her treat me like one?' She rolled her eyes, now acting like the angsty teenager she once was.
"Good." Sandra gave a crinkled smile. "Now, go have fun."
Claire nodded, picked up her dress, and stepped back into the crowd. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the masked mystery man from earlier, staring at her intently. She turned and looked at him straight on. 'I know you're trying to read my mind, Peter.' she thought, smirking to herself as she watched him stumble backwards in surprise. Then, she turned and disappeared further into the crowd once more.

Rawr, haven't written fanfic in a loong time. >.<
I think I still have a Peter/Sparrow Redhouse fic somewhere to dig up.

Politics and other stuff

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:01:02 GMT

Just realized I never mentioned Halloween. Dressed up as the color pink (scary, right? :P ) for school, but didn't trick-or-treat. I'm stealing my brother's candy instead. :) I did however pass out candy and listen to my mom's friend rant about women at work. It's like a feminist blog come to life!

So I dunno if you've heard, but Obama won the election. It's weird, I expected that, will all the tension and etcetera, the result would be more ... explosive. But for me it felt relatively mild. Like, I was happy, but not all emotional or anything. Like, I guess by the time the results came out, it was no surprise that Obama won. Granted, I am pretty biased. Especially against Palin. You may or may not have noticed. :P

Proposition 8 passed. Apparently, Californians like trains more than they like gay people. Huh. Although there are a lot of people ranting about how ashamed they are to be Californian, and people ranting at those people. In all honesty, ranting bugs you, don't read it. Ranting at those who rant will most likely just make them rant back. Plus, I know many people (myself included) didn't quite know about everything involved. Does 8 make current marriages invalid, for example? If it hadn't passed, what would happen to the churches that don't want to marry gays (are they given a choice or will they just not be funded)?

I'm starting to feel like I'm not educated enough to have a valid opinion. >.<

On another note, I am screwed in the fact that I have 1 week to read Invisible Man. A 20 page introduction plus 15 page prologue to a nearly 600 page book? Rawr. Plus, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is overdue, and I still have Mr Riley's copy of Lolita. Wish me luck, I guess.

Sky Hype is coming back up again, meaning I will be keeping in touch more with my New Zealander friends. :D [btw, is that spelled right?] Also I've been joining lots of other RPGs lately that die out pretty quickly.

Lolita is SUCH a well-written book. I know a few people who have seen me reading it and had 'wtf' reactions, but seriously. Don't judge. "You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style." Fancy prose style indeed. Wonder if Vladimir Nabokov wrote anything else interesting...

Also, I've been listening to a lot of Amanda Palmer. She's amazing. She wrote a Beach Boys-ish song about abortion and dedicated it to Sarah Palin.
Songs to check out: Oasis, Guitar Hero, Runs in the Family, Ampersand
Oasis is the abortion song. Guitar Hero is just a cool song, as is Runs in the Family. Ampersand is AWESOME. "I'm not gonna live my life on one side of an ampersand." :D

1 - Starting to edit out 'movie' about fetching a crane from the Japanese room, aka "crane's nest". I'm not sure if the class will get some of the humor (Crane's nest, reft) but meh.
2 - Test tomorrow. I should be fine. At least I did the extra credit.
3 - That TI parody (Obama on the left, McCain on the right) is starting to grow on me. Also, we're learning about national versus state government powers.
4 - Just finished developing pictures. Why do I always post when we finish something in this class?
5 - THE BRAIN HOMG. It sucks that they don't teach about the brain in high school biology (only physiology, which I'm in) so I don't think I've learned about the actual brain since 7th grade, or before. 5+ years. O.o
6 - Don't really like Hemingway (The Sun Also Rises) but I get his boring writing style now; he used to write for a news paper.

Heroes and Writing Dot Com

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:49:21 GMT

Firstly, hello new friends. :D

I officially really love Matt now. It's so cute how he loves her so much. And why? Because the future says they marry and have children. Gaww, it's nice to see the guy being the hopeless romantic for a change. :D But what're they gonna do now that she called Arthur? Silly girl. I hope she does fall for Matt too, cuz if anyone deserves a happy ending, it's him.
Sylar the mama's boy. Sigh. So he really does really want to be wanted. Like, really-really. It's kinda sad now, kinda annoying, but I guess kinda sweet? It's kinda weird that Sylar is being so gullibly (is that a word?) open to Arthur, and I really hope he's up to something. Oh and yeah, Sylar definitely broke Peter's fall. That ticking sound means he was being sneaky. :P
Elle and Claire, yay! Guh, eye-tension for spastic shippers like myself. :P And ooh, Elle to Pinehearst. What will happen now? Will she be fixed or become normal? Will she get knocked up by Sylar so they can have a baby Noah? *gasp!*
Yay more Spirit Walk! Wonder what Hiro's spirit animal is. A playful puppy is my guess, but where do they find one of those in the desert?
Family reuinion much? First Nathan and Tracy collide with HRG and Meredith (Tracy-Meredith tension, ooh. But for once not sexual tension) and then, they bounce on over to Claire and Peter. Save Peter with yout blood, Claire! Oh, and taser love!
Only thing is, I've always seen powers as a scientific thing, so now seeing them so easily stripped away kinda bugs me. Because what, can Arthur alter DNA? Cuz unless he can, he wouldn't be able to strip Maya of all traces of her power, and thus, Peter would just be a clean slate.

So, I got an email and returned to writing dot com after like 6 months, and guess what? They chose Girl With Asymmetrical Wings as an example of realism in fantasy. :D And since then, I've gotten a good number of good reviews for it. Way to boost by writing confidence, guys! :D
I really needed something like that. Like, really. Because AP English has got me doubting my writing skills (as far as formal writing goes anyway) and now it's like ... at least I'm good at creative writing. Ish. Ya know? I've needed an up-side for a while, and well, I guess here it is.
Also, ~~either someone got me a paid account again (:D) or~~ the site decided it was stupid to make people pay to post chaptered stuff, cuz I got all my chaptered stuff back! I'm really happy. Oh, btw (don't think I mentioned it here, but), I ran on writing dot com on a free upgraded trial for three months, then someone got me a paid account for 1 month, but when that was over, I lost all my multi-chaptered works cuz I dropped back to a free account. :(
Losing my chaptered works was the reason why I left writing dot com, but I guess I can return now! :D
<url=http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1407471>Shameless pimping of Girl With Asymmetrical Wings</url> which is also on here somewhere if you check under my ficlet tags.

1- We're making an action movie. The guidelines were that in the movie, there can be two characters (hero and person who gives him his task) and two bits of dialogue (assigning the task and finishing; we may have it just be silent). It must start in the TV/Film room, go somewhere, get something, and return the item. There are supposed to be 5 people but we have 4; Sushi, his friend, Martin, and I. Martin just wants to use all the camera angles and techniques and equipment without thinking about if it'd fit and where. It's annoying. Our movie is going to the Japanese room to get the paper crane.

2- Calc, bleh. Nothing much to say about this class. I didn't do too well at the test (a C, meh) but at least I got the dawn question right. :D There was this question where you have to calculate how fast a point on the Earth is moving in relation to the sun at dawn. Most people saw the negative numbers and said for the last answer that the point moves away from the sun. Uh, it's dawn. Common sense fail?

3- Gov is now just book work and reading. We missed whatever lecture and stuff we were supposed to have cuz of a fire drill. Oh well.

4- Finished our perspective pictures for Black & White Photography. 1 close-up, 1 from directly above, 1 with framing, 1 from a high viewpoint, 1 bugs-eye view, 1 something else that I can't remember.

5- Neurology, yay! So far we're just learning about neurons, which I failed at in Bio AP last year. Hopefully Physiology won't care about the little things as much. I really just wanna learn about brains now, mmkay? Tired of neurons.

6- Debates ... excuse me, discussions is AP Eng are amusing and fun. Especially when everyone agrees for a long time, then someone dares to challenge them. I love doing that; it's fun. In the play we're reading (Doll's House), a wife feels her husband is too controlling (this is the late 1800s or something) and wants freedom to find out who she is. Most of the class says it would be mean to leave the kids mommy-less. Then a girl in my class went on a rant about how no mommy is better than a miserable mommy, and how the kids won't be traumatized cuz they're too young. But yeah, love moments like that.

Anti-Palin stuff

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 02:20:27 GMT

I do not take credit for what is under the cut.
Credit goes to the site the banner links to.

1) As mayor of Wasilla, Palin made rape victims pay for their own forensic evidence kits

2) Palin is opposed to abortion in cases of rape and incest (even if victims are children)

3) Palin believes creationism should be taught in public schools

4) While mayor of Wasilla Palin tried to fire the librarian because she refused to censor books (VIDEO)

5) Palin has no international experience and only obtained her first passport just last year (2007)

6) Palin supports the Alaskan Independence Party which seeks independence from the USA (VIDEO)

7) Palin is presently under investigation in Alaska for abuse of power
. * News Update: Alaskan bipartisan legislative council rules Sarah Palin abused her power and violated The Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Read more about Palin's abuse of power here.

8) Palin offered a bounty of $150 for each left front leg of freshly killed wolves

9) Palin promotes aerial hunting of wolves even though Alaskans voted twice to ban it (VIDEO)

10) Palin used $400,000 of state money to fund a propaganda campaign in support of aerial hunting

11) Palin believes man-made global warming is a farce

12) Palin strongly supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

13) Palin is a champion for big oil and her campaign slogan has become "Drill, baby, drill!"

14) Palin is suing the federal government to prevent listing the polar bear as an endangered species

15) Palin is opposed to listing the unique Cook Inlet beluga whale as an endangered species

Ugh. Really now.

If you go the the site that the banner linked to, there are pictures her 'in action'. Well not really in action, but the effects of her action.
Aka, animal pelts and shot animals. *shudder* I don't want that in or near the White House.

Need new userpics

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 01:35:40 GMT

Alright, so kinda late, but my thoughts on Heroes.
I missed the first 1/2 hour cuz of my parents, but then I watched it online.

HIRO KILLS ANDO JUST TO PROVE HIS BADASSNESS OMG SO OOC. O.o But really, Hiro went psycho in Season 1 when Ando died (in the alternate future) and now he actually kills him. Ugh.

I like Daphne even more than I did before. She's more three-dimensional now. It's pretty cool. And the Maury thing with Linderman was cool. Like, ooh, that makes sense now.

Papa Petrelli is alive! Ooh! Does Angela know? Is she trying to get Adam so they can use him blood to cure Papa? Maybe Adam's blood will cure Papa anyway? Hmm ...

Hooray for typical Adam and "I didn't know she was your wife" :D

Nathan finally stood up to Angela. I am happy. I was wondering when he'd come to his senses and stop playing the golden boy all the time.

Matt and Daphne are looking for each other. Aww, how sweet. Kinda ironic that Daphne (a thief for $$) ends up with Matt (a cop).

Pupper master looks like a rapist. I mean, Angela had said there were rapists and murderers on level 5, so I'm guessing he might be the rapist. He looks and acts like one. Part of me wants him to be one, so it's not like "oh, everyone down there kills people and that's it" but part of me is scared for Meredith.

Woow, Peter is having a hard time with Sylar's power. He almost kills Angela. And Sylar saves the day!

I wonder what Mohinder is doing with all those people. Test his stuff on them, maybe? Hmm...

Funny how heroes and villains trade places. Mo, Peter, and Claire all become more villain-y and Sylar becomes good. Which really just makes everyone morally gray. That's what they should call the show; morally gray. Heroes: morally gray. ... naw, doesn't sound as good as Heroes: Villains.

1 - We're watching a video in Tv/film with a guy who sounds like he should be voicing an infomercial. He's just so ... annoying. So Sushi, Nick and I just make fun of him the whole time.
2 - I have a test tomorrow. And I'm doing this instead of studying. Ugh. But really, I know my stuff. I think.
3 - Didn't win the election. Didn't expect to. Don't care. Democrats were first (duh) American Independents were second (huh?) and Green Party was third (..okay). Obviously a popularity contest, but meh. I expected Democrats to win; after all, they had Ashley and a really awesome commercial. Even if, in my opinion, they portrayed themselves as more conservative (not a people-person).
4 - Just finished the "Tricky Pics" yesterday. Basically, that was making people stand far away so it looks like someone close up is squishing them, or something. Meh.
5 - I need to practice my cell stuff.
6 - HATE DOLL'S HOUSE HATE TORVALD THE MISOGYNIST ... *cough

I was gonna put a Sarah Palin rant here, but I decided to make a separate post.