karriezai: ([hg] betting on you)
Hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day :D Danny and I celebrated Saturday. Just stayed in with alcohol, video games, Magic: the Gathering, and movies.

I've made lame money the last few shifts at work. Here's hoping the weekend will be better, because we'll need the money. Haven't heard back from Baka, our real estate agent, in a few days. Last we heard, the bank's figuring out the amount left due on the loan for the place so they can come back with a counter offer. I hope they get to it very soon. We need to get the heck out of this place.

School is hectic. Well, life in general. Internship 8-4 Monday through Friday, with an hour-long commute--though I do tend to leave around 3 fairly often to get to work/uni class/mandatory seminars. Three days a week at Hard Times--generally Monday and Friday evening, plus either Saturday or Sunday. Tuesday evening class at the university. Tutoring Shane on Wednesday. And a seminar about every other week on Thursday in a random location.

Teaching is good. I vastly prefer math and reading to science or social studies. I look at science and I'm just kind of like... "What am I going to do, exactly?" There's so much to choose from, but so little time to teach it. I'm taking over science now (slowly), so it's... blah. But reading is really good. It's so freeform you can do almost anything. And the kids are really taking to their writing journals. They love getting feedback.

I had to leave early today for my IUD appointment. I am the proud owner of a Mirena IUD that cramped like a bitch for the first couple hours. It wasn't super painful, just like really heavy duty menstrual cramps. But really gross since they had me come in and get it done on my period; apparently it hurts less then. I guess it's nice of them to consider my pain over their probable preference to not have to stick their hands in a bleeding vagina. For the next week I have to use backup protection, but then I'm good for five years. What what.

Also, I'm getting published. Alt Hist picked up Death in Theatre for its second issue. It's a new magazine, but it's been reviewed by Locus, among others, so it's getting good press. So that's looking up. Not that I've been writing. I'm really busy lately and feel pretty drained, and I'd rather not write unless I really feel like it because forcing myself to in the midst of all my other crap would just not be pleasant.

And I thought I did terribly on my Praxis II tests for Middle School Math and English, but I passed with flying colors. So I'll be qualified to teach middle school, either math or English--in theory at least. I'll be applying everywhere in Montgomery County (and possibly Howard too... or maybe Anne Arundel... depends on where we're living and such...) and then weeding through my options to figure out what I want to do. Because I really don't have any desire to teach science or social studies, but I want to teach math AND reading, so... blah. Makes a choice between middle and elementary school complicated.

Guess that's it for now? I mean, I've been reading--the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld and now I'm working on the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare--but eh. That's it. Overall life's good, just hectic and somewhat stressful.

Oh wait! Mirage Games accepted my response to the first work order they sent me and sent me confirmation of the credits earned, but I haven't heard about anything else forthcoming. So that's kind of sad.
karriezai: ([hg] can't let go)
Finished rereading the Hunger Games series last night. God, but it's epic. For all that I think the author's something of a bitch, she's still a genius. Spent a while looking for good quote icons from the books and found some really cute ones.

But I really miss having friends to talk to who have read and adored the same books I have. I don't think it's really happened since Harry Potter. I mean, Danny read the first two Hunger Games books and I'm trying to pressure him into getting around to the third. But it's not even close to the same. He doesn't like to really, deeply think about stories the way I do, and he gets annoyed when I "overanalyze."

I'll put up a thread at SynTru basically begging for discussion of some of my favorite books, see how that goes.

I need to write. -sigh- I determined that, at the moment, I don't really care about Grey and Kayden the way I do about Peeta and Katniss and some other characters I've truly loved from my favorite stories, which may contribute to why I've been feeling so uninspired about them. I think I need to get to know them better.

And my Secret Santa present is due soon. Blah.
karriezai: ([avatar] azula people person)
Meh. I'm enjoying my internship. There are very frustrating parts, which I suppose is to be expected when working with kids, but overall it's a terrific experience. Fifth graders, ah. I had to switch one little girl to a new seat because the kids around her made fun of her when she tried to behave well (her mom works at the school, so if she doesn't behave she gets in big trouble), but when I moved the boy she traded seats with to her old seat, the kids who'd been making fun of her immediately said, "Ew, I don't like him! Can't he sit over there?" And he's a sweet, quiet little boy, which is why I thought it'd be a better seating arrangement, but apparently these kids are just jerks.

Anyway. I adore my mentor, and she has nothing but good things to say about me, so I think it's a good arrangement.

I recently finished reading Hero by Perry Moore and Eon by Alison Goodman, both of which I enjoyed quite a lot. Hero was a superhero story where the main character is gay, and I loved the whole premise and the eventual romance, even if the early crush in the story (on Ultraman) was a little awkward to me. Eon was a fantasy based heavily on Chinese culture, and I loved everything about it except one frustration: I hate it when the main character can't figure out the solution to a problem that is completely obvious because it just makes them seem stupid. For the most part it wasn't too bad, but there was one particular scene in the story when the main character's dense-headedness made me temporarily put down the book, sigh, roll my eyes, and squash my annoyance down before I could continue.

I should get back to The Way of Kings soon, but it's very heavy reading for all the stuff I have going on lately, so I'm hesitant to get too deep in just yet. I'll probably read Blood Ninja first. (Ninjas and vampires?! Hells yes!)

God, so much stuff coming up for my uni classes. I've got to find an efficient way to organize everything and get my crap together.

There's lots more, but meh, I don't feel like typing. I feel like reading. :)
karriezai: ([iron man] dual identity)
Oh where, oh where has she gone?

-pokes self-

I feel like... it would be an awful shame to stop writing altogether until November, even if I did get through Homesake during/after the month. But I don't feel motivated right now, even to sit down and put together plot events or character profiles... even though these are things I need to do now that I've changed the story around so much.

Maybe I should write something else. Or maybe the break would be good. It seems so horribly long, a month and a half, but...

At least I've done homework.

I went to a writers' meetup in Silver Spring yesterday morning. It was alright. I'll probably try it again, but I'm not sure if it's quite what I'm looking for. I have next Saturday off again, so it's not as if I have anything better to do.

I went to Brandon Sanderson's book signing at the Bailey's Crossroads Borders in Virginia Wednesday night. I picked up a copy of The Way of Kings. I also got Danny something called The Ninja Handbook but I think I'm going to return it since he hasn't touched it despite me reminding him, so obviously he doesn't care and it'd be better to get my $15 back. And yesterday after my writers' meetup I got this young adult fantasy, Eon, which I'm almost tempted to read before The Way of Kings but probably won't.

Did I post already that Mockingjay made me bawl? I think so. Suzanne Collins will be in the Arundel Mills Books-A-Million on Thursday, September 23rd, and I am so going. Shane is reading The Hunger Games. If he likes it and his parents let him come, I'll take him. If they won't let him come, I'll get him his own signed copy. I would think it'd be a good, educational-type field trip, but it's also his Back to School Night, so that might take precedence.

Erm. Yeah.
karriezai: ([house] oops)
Danny is home. We just watched Jerry Maguire, which was good, and now he's watching preseason Redskins, which is less good. I like watching the Redskins live, but I get bored easily watching it on TV--especially preseason games. I've never been a sporty person, so I guess it's not surprising.

I ran another lesson today with the kids. I brought in a whole bunch of books for a lesson on how to pick a book to read for fun. It didn't go perfectly; the power had been out for a while and remained out for the whole lesson, and making kids concentrate when it's dark and hot is pretty difficult. One group in particular was very disruptive, with the throwing my books around and yelling. Frustrating. But Alice thought I did very well, even if afterward I couldn't help thinking of little things I could have done better. I guess that, since it's only my third day, not doing brilliantly is not altogether unexpected. Especially under the circumstances. But many of the kids were really excited about my books, which made me happy. I just wish I had extra copies to lend out... but I'm not comfortable lending out a bunch of my hardcovers. I did lend out the Halo book that follows the first game, though--mainly because I don't mind if I lose it. I found it to be boring. I liked the prequel book better; Shane has that one, and I know he'll return it.

I still need to get Graceling back from Megan, and the Keisha'ra books from Yuka. I'm definitely more concerned about getting Graceling back. I don't think I'd miss the others terribly.

Anyway, so far I love the internship. I could do without the University classes, but ah. They'll be done in a couple months. And they'll probably be a huge help despite being annoyingly jam-packed with assignments.

Things I'm concerned about: The actual curriculum/making lesson plans by day-week-month-year; being a disciplinarian for the kids; and of course fitting all the University work into the internship and what limited "free time" I have. Oh, and writing. x_x;
karriezai: ([asoiaf] seems i must be a warrior)
Righto. I've started my internship. It's made for some long days, but it's totally worth it so far. I'll be keeping this relatively short so I can go shower and perhaps even sleep at a reasonable hour.

Thursday and Friday I went for the professional development days. Friday I woke up at 6:30, got to my internship by 8, left at 3 to get to work at 4, where work was BUSYASSHIT and I didn't get off until 1am. Now, I made $184, so it was worth it, but talk about a long day. Saturday was also very busy, but with no morning events, so not so long. Sunday I woke up at 6:30 to take Danny to the airport, dropped him off, came home and showered, then slept another hour before leaving for work at 10:40am. I was going to be late morning person, but Raechel was risking overtime if she closed lunch, so I stayed late so she could be cut before she hit overtime. I worked until about 6, made $95 or so.

Monday I went to Whetstone for the first day of school. Met all my fifth graders, and found that when I actually put effort into learning names I can pick them up very quickly. By the end of the day I knew all 23 kids even if they approached me out of context. It was a crazy first day--we had an iPod stolen before lunch and returned by the end of the day, and we have this really bright boy in class who is really disruptive and had to be removed twice for a talk... It's crazy because he's a great writer, clever, but just can't be respectful enough to keep from making all sorts of noise when other people are talking.

After school finished up at 3:45, I left for work and got there barely before 5 due to various traffic ... blahs. Worked until 9:30. Yesterday I had University classes. I thought I was done trekking across campus to the math building, but AGH my second Tuesday class is the building just PAST the math building, it's awful. All the others are in the Ed building, which is right on Lot 1, super close to where I park. After school I went up to Whetstone for the ice cream social, which was nice. Katie was there--one of the few classmates I already knew before introductions yesterday. She's super sweet.

Today I was at Whetstone again with the kids. I met the math and reading classes, which are partially homeroom kids and partially new faces, but I picked up on the new names very quickly. I helped Alice (my mentor teacher, who is beyond amazing) pick out books for reading class teams, and I get to do Ella Enchanted with one of the groups, which makes me unbelievably excited. I love that book. After that I rushed home to tutor Shane.

Tomorrow I'll be at Whetstone again, and I'll leave a little early to run pick up Danny at the airport, back from his conference in San Antonio. If he's up to it, I'll take him to Whetstone so he can see the school. If not, we can wait until later.

The only other news I have, I guess, is that I made a B in the class I was worried about! Yay, no Cs on my record.

AND OH. Did I mention that I read the third Hunger Games book, Mockingjay? It made me bawl. Danny was home for the end of it and he laughed at me crying and it pissed me off so badly. But it was an amazing conclusion. I don't think it'll be long before I'm rereading the series.
karriezai: ([lolcat] o_O)
Okay so.

I submitted Unjoined to Clarkesworld Magazine. The queue moves quickly; when I submitted a few days ago I my submission was listed somewhere above 100, and at the moment it's at 15. But the magazine has limited space. Only two stories a month, and of these only one is from new talent/the submissions system. Sooo, I'm hoping.

I'm rereading Orson Scott Card's How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy, and it's giving me a lot of food for thought. Right now I'm struggling with the MICE quotient--the idea that your story is either a Milieu, Idea, Character, or Event story. Obviously any one story can have components of more than one of these, but the beginning and end of the story is determined by which one of these ultimately fits your story. If it's a Milieu story, it starts with an outsider arriving in a novel land, and ends with him either leaving or choosing to stay. If it's an Idea story, it starts with a question or problems that needs to be solved, and ends with it being answered. If it's a Character story, it starts with a character beginning to change and grow from the place they are now, and ends when they've completed the change/found an acceptable place for themselves. If it's an Event story, it begins with the main character in a world that's been disturbed/wronged in some way, and ends with this character fixing the disturbance and setting the world to rights.

Soooo, I'm having trouble not just determining which one of these I need for my story, but also which one some other stories fit into. Like I suppose... Mistborn is an Event story. That's easy enough, I think; Vin and the other characters are the crew that will finally "fix" the world from the way the Lord Ruler and Ruin left it. But the one I just read, The Dead-Tossed Waves (which was really good by the way)? I'm not so sure. It starts with Gabry's world changing, being placed into upheaval, when she's finally convinced to leave the safety of her town and it goes all wrong when she and her friends are attacked by a Breaker--a super-fast zombie. But it doesn't end with her righting her world. There are still zombies, and she leaves the safety of home behind, probably permanently. She certainly grows up, though... so perhaps it's a Character story, except she doesn't precisely choose the change she goes through. It's kind of forced on her.

I'm being hopeless and rethinking Blood and Heat again. Kind of... seeing what would change if I focused on making it an Event or Idea or Character story. (It's definitely not Milieu.) Hm. It's in a state of flux right now. We'll see how it settles. Maybe nothing will change. No idea yet.

Blah.

D:

8/7/10 20:10
karriezai: ([avatar] sweetheart/bitterheart)
Still not writing.

I reread Graceling and it was perhaps even more wonderful the second time through, but the amazing characterization gave me a huge inferiority complex.

I tried to express to Danny how much it sucks that writing is such a big part of me but it's only a frustration to him. He didn't respond. He did tell me, when I tried to express the fact that I wrote way more stories to completion when I had real life friends reading them consistently and caring about my writing, that if I blame him for me not writing a book then we will end up breaking up. Nice stretch there.

I've been thinking about the fact that he doesn't care about my writing though, and how hard that is, and wondering... if I met someone who really did care... what would happen?

D:
karriezai: ([hp] [puff] equality except for idiots)
Posted at SynTru:

OKAYSO. Two major events on Kher's writing front today.

The YAY, as several of you already heard me gush about in the chatbox, is that I met Brandon Sanderson today. He signed my hardcovers of his Mistborn trilogy and also my Writers of the Future certificate. It's the same exact award he won the year immediately before his first novel was published.

I've developed a new goal to publish my own novel within a year and send him a copy with a huge THANK YOU.

On that note, in my rush to get to my appointment to have my computer looked at this morning, I was an idiot and accidentally erased 2,000 words of my book instead of backing it up D: I'm just that much of a moron. Fortunately, that's not a huge deal. I'm hoping to rewrite it and use it as a slingshot to get me through the slow part I was struggling with anyway.




Yes. Brandon Sanderson is basically amazing.

Danny is away for the weekend on a motorcycle trip with his dad. I kinda miss him but I could really use this time for writing. (I should do that now.)

Also, went to see Sex and the City 2 with Sue and Peggy. We had drinks beforehand, it was a fun outing. But there was one point in the movie when the audience reaction made me despair for the state of the modern relationship D: I won't say what in case anyone cares about spoilers, but yes.
karriezai: ([avatar] sweetheart/bitterheart)
I've been trying to think of a way to describe this semester. It's not like drowning. Quite. It's like... lazily floating along on my back, barely afloat... but then occasionally a wave comes in, splashes over me, and I have to doggy paddle like the wind to stay above water for a while, until it calms down again. That's right, doggy paddle. Meh.

Real life problems... )

Now... some brighter stuff. First the TMI. Don't read if you're squeamish about sexual type stuff. I got a new piercing: a VCH (vertical clitoral hood). I got it last Thursday. It's still healing and I've barely messed with it, but so far I'm pleased. My piercer said to wait a week or two to have sex afterward, but that she only waited five days... I only waited three, and had no problems, although we were very careful about it. /TMI

On to more casual topics. I read Fire, the other book by Kristin Cashore--a companion to Graceling. I still like Graceling a tad more, but Fire was excellent too. I really liked the world presented and how it tied into the seven kingdoms we already knew about in Graceling. It fit together very nicely. It looks like I'll be starting a roleplay in the next couple days set in the world of Fire, actually.

Annndd I haven't started my 100 stories challenge yet, even though it's practically been a week. Fail. But I have gone through a lot of my world building notes, and I've already found stuff I'd nearly forgotten about that will be really fun to play with. The problem for me will mostly be choosing what to write first, I think, haha. That and keeping it short. 100 stories of about 1,000 words each in six months might be manageable, but probably not 100 3,000+ word stories, which has so far been my tendency when it comes to world building in Eysuria.

Finally... I'm really considering making a new character worksheet type deal. I feel like I've mentioned this before... but yes. One that deals in fundamental aspects of character, not the little things like what color their eyes are. Hm.
karriezai: ([avatar] halp!)
Okie so.

I took back on the 100 stories challenge. Eysuria once again. I won't be using the stories I already wrote for prompts on there, obviously. That would be cheating. I'm going to start fresh and explore the world. I've been brainstorming, and looking over old brainstorming records, and I'm really liking it. Need to actually write and not just plan, though, because there's so much that I don't know. But I also know from experience that exploring it through writing is awesome fun when I just let myself do it.

Erm. I'm rereading the Legend of the Seeker books. Er, rather, the Sword of Truth books. TV series got me all fuddled. I tried rereading Holly Lisle's stuff but I just wasn't in the mood I guess, because I couldn't really get into it. And I'm finding that I don't like Terry Goodkind's writing as much anymore. It amazes me that an adult man can write another adult man who sounds like a teenager half the time... bwuh?

Eh, I dunno. I'm tired, so I'm not really making sense.

woot

30/3/10 23:55
karriezai: ([asoiaf] fear cuts)
Finished Graceling. Yes in one day. Which shows you how much I ADORED it.

Wish Danny still listened to audiobooks. Would force him to 'read' it.
Tags:
karriezai: ([asoiaf] wolfgirl)
There are lots of books I want to read. Not immediately, necessarily. But eventually. Mostly rereads.

First of all, I've had Graceling by Kristin Cashore since last October. Need to read that.

Secondly, I want to reread Holly Lisle's series... something like -- well I don't remember all of it, but one book was called Courage of Falcons, and the others were ________ of animalname also, so not too hard to find. Oh! Diplomacy of Wolves! I think that's it. Anyhoo. That, and I want to reread the Sword of Truth books. I just watched the first Legend of the Seeker episode that actually captivated me throughout, and it really made me want to reread the series.

So uh, I know that doesn't sound like a lot really, but Lisle's series is 3 or 4 books and Goodkind's series is like 7 or 8 books, maybe more. So yeah. Annyyyhooooo.

I'm working on Horizon and Elemental Force again. Maybe I should do that now, actually. Hm.
Tags:

oh gods

16/3/10 16:14
karriezai: ([house] [wilson] win!)
Okay so I didn't exactly stop doing the meme. I skipped a few days, but continued on ST. Oh well.

Moving along.

I just finished the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, and I have to say, I liked it way more than I even thought I would. I loved the way it escalated throughout, until the final book was practically one big battle with little breaks in the middle. And I learned a ton about Greek mythology. I mean, not all of it is 100% accurate, but most of it's on the level. Finishing this series has me interested in Labyrinth and that new move Clash of the Titans (well, new remake). Though why it's called Clash of the Titans when there are no Titans in it is beyond me.

In other news. Brandon Sanderson's LJ ([livejournal.com profile] mistborn) now has the artwork for The Way of Kings up. I'll admit I saw this the other day and it completely went over my head what that meant. I thought it was part of the Wheel of Time series he's finishing for the late Robert Jordan. But no--it's for his own new series, starting in August, and I am beyond excited. I mean, really.

I should really read the Wheel of Time books. I mean, if he loves them, strong chance I will too. But anyway.

I think my next stop will be reading Graceling by Kristin Cashore. I got it a while ago--just before NaNoWriMo--and Cashore was actually one of the NaNo peptalk authors, yet I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I mean, technically I should read The Book Thief since it's assigned for class, but er, not if I can avoid it. Blah. I've read half, and I like the writing style, but the topic just isn't my thing.

Guess that's it for now.
Tags:
karriezai: ([kh] sora and pooh)
Maybe I should make resolutions?
  • Write 200,000 words on various projects (for that one community)
  • Finish Blood and Heat
  • Write something every week. (I won't say every day.  It won't happen.)
  • Don't mutilate my liver. (Drink less, or rather get drunk less, since I don't drink that often but when I do I usually get drunk.)
  • Keep Stories growing.
  • Stay on track in school -- dean's list definitely, and try for 4.0
  • Submit real writing to something, especially if WotF is a bust this time around.
I think I'll leave it at that.

TO DO LIST for today:
  • Demitri's story
  • Find a story of the month nomination
  • laundry
  • reply to princess round robin
Erm, I guess that's all.  I started rereading Ella Enchanted. Finally bought myself a copy while I was Christmas shopping.  I love that book.  It's weird how it's in like... the early readers section.  I always thought it was a young adult book.  Whatever though.  And I really want an eBook reader now.  After research, I want the Nook.  I'll have to wait for my birthday though.
 
karriezai: ([asoiaf] rainbow guard)
Well two days off actually. Not that work has been terribly strenuous the last couple days with my four hour shifts, but it's nice to know I don't have to be somewhere by 5. I've got a lot to do on Stories. And I foolishly signed up to co-Admin a Hunger Games RP on proboards. If it was InvisionFree or IPBFree I'd probably already have a layout made, but for proboards I have to figure out the coding all over again. Blah. But I do love the Hunger Games, and an RP could be cool. (Was I drunk when I agreed to this, though? Really?)

Here's my To Do list for the day:

* er, laundry, at some point. No really.
* nano banner for Kat (forgot!)
* layout for Hunger Games RP (rawr) (sort of)
* reply to princess round robin (& start new one?)
* look into january of the month possibilities
* Demitri's story (Perspectives challenge)
* Genre tournament - Lincoln assassination / Booth death!
* choose a weekly portfolio - Blitzen :3

Not in that order, since I'll probably be choosing a weekly portfolio first.

I emailed my dad. He said he has an eBook reader so he didn't bring the books I got him, though he downloaded them to it to read when he's done with what he's reading currently. I've been thinking about getting an eBook reader too, so Danny and I just researched them, and I think I'll be going with the Nook. The only real advantage I've seen for the Kindle over the Nook is slightly faster page turning, but that's cool. The Nook has a ton of better features that outweigh that. I'm going to ask that people get me money toward it for my birthday instead of gifts. Although that's 5 months away. Wow. Maybe I'll buy it early and ask for after-the-fact money :/ Or Barnes and Noble gift cards for books. Or something. Probably not though. I can't afford a $260 gadget right now.
Tags:
karriezai: ([kh] [akuroku] sticks totally gay for)

Okay so. I decided I haven't lost steam on Blood and Heat now that I'm done rereading Twilight. But when I tried to write today it was actually a little busy at work. Meh. I want to continue and I plan to. I'll bring my notebook again tomorrow. It's an 8 hour shift. Even on a Saturday there might be a little slow time for it.

Twilight. I'd begun to let other opinions sway me on it. After rereading the whole series I have to say I love it. It's not my top ten of books ever but it's good. And I did get annoyed by both Edward and Bella at parts but still. I like the series. So there.

I'm back to working on Stories. I made a new layout and rearranged the forums. Some other things. I find it hard to do a lot at once these days but I got a lot of it out of the way today so hopefully the small bits that are left won't be hard. Down to 15 active members though. That's okay, we'll swing back into activity. I trust it.

Also thinking of trying hooters again. Argh.

karriezai: ([asoiaf] prophesy)
All my final grades posted but ARHU318 (Writers' House). The prof for that sent me an email asking for the introduction I forgot to put in my final portfolio, which makes me feel even more stupid and anxious about my potential grade in that class; it was in the instructions, I just missed it. Gah. I mean, since I wasn't there the day she assigned it (and with an excused absence, no less), maybe she'll give me some leeway. I wasn't the only one who forgot it either. But I still need to reprint my portfolio for Johnna because apparently she needs it in 12pt Times.

Anyway, I did scrape an A- in French, so she must have curved the grades a bit (omg thank you). So that's two As and two Bs on my more weighted classes. In fact, one of each for my two 4-credits and one of each for my two 3-credits. ARHU318 is only a one credit. I'm not going to hope for an A. I was not an A student in that class this semester, even forgiving her lack of a syllabus. But a B shouldn't be too much to ask for. I feel like you'd have to really fuck up to get a C in a Writers' House course.

They cancelled one of my summer courses due to lack of enrollment. I added Junior English to try to make up for it, but I'm waitlisted. I added myself to two of the waitlisted sections and I'm first on each, so it's reasonable to hope I'll get in; surely at least one student will decide they don't want to pay for the class and drop out, right? So the only thing I'm really worried about it the fact that MATH212, the cancelled class, is a prerequisite for MATH213, which I'm also enrolled for. I hope they still let me take it. It's not my fault the prereq was cancelled. And I doubt there's really anything learned in 212 that I can't pick up just from taking 213. They're the same concept, just 212 is for teaching more basic math and 213 is for geometry-type-stuff. I emailed my advisor to let her know what's going on and ask her advice.

Oh, and it seems like no one's hiring but restaurants. Justin talked to his manager for me at Safeway and introduced me, but Safeway has a hiring freeze on currently; the manager said they're trying to shuffle current employees around before hiring new ones since some stores are understaffed but others are overstaffed. But he also said that no one wants to move, so they're having trouble; no one wants to drive too far to work. Starbucks isn't actively hiring. Heather said her work is hiring because a lot of their girls went home for the summer, and she said that she thinks I could teach a summer camp with no problem; if she says so, I'll believe her. It's a little intimidating since she works at a place where they coach gymnastics, and she used to be world-class. But she said she'll talk to her boss and ask for me. She also said starting is $9/hr while training. And it sounds like I could get at least semi-decent hours. So here's hoping, but I won't find out until she gets back from wherever she went with Dennis this weekend. It's crazy how great my roommates are though. Justin and Heather both so willing to help. I know I'm a bit of a shut-in, kind of on the antisocial side, but they're still so helpful.

People can be so wonderful.

Also, I'm reading Warbreaker, Sanderson's free e-Book. It's interesting; his worlds always are. I think he did a better job in Mistborn of introducing names of places and concepts more gradually and naturally, but I'm curious about the world and the magic system, so I'm along for the ride. He's releasing it in book form for sale in early June; I'll almost certainly buy it, if only to support him. Maybe I'll buy Elantris too and give it another shot.
karriezai: ([hp] [drarry] draco dormiens)
Righto. Two of my final grades have posted: B in bio, B+ in phil. In French she posted what appears to be all the grades, and I'm off an A by 4 points out of 1000. Wtf. Plz curve the grades kthx? She gave me 14/25 for the last two participation grades. I mean, I missed quite a few classes, but I started talking more when I was there, did that mean nothing? Whatever. As long as I get a B in Writers' House that's fine. I'll have a 3.2. And even if by some freak insult of nature I get a C in that class, it would just be academic probation next semester for my scholarship, which I can deal with; I'd just rather not have to. A C in WH wouldn't even drop me below a 3.0. So whatever. I'd be upset though; I don't think she could justify grading that harshly when she didn't even give us a syllabus.

Um. Work last night wasn't too hateful. Made my eyes turn red again though, and the day before my followup too. She gave me some new ointment and stuff. I'm still in glasses but I'm fairly used to them by now, and she even said my vision was 20/20 in them, so maybe my eyes improved a little. Speaking of which I need to put ointment in my eyes now.

The kitty is growing. When he's hyper he can be annoying because he likes to attack anything that moves, even when you AREN'T in the mood, but he's a sweetheart. The dumbest, most relaxed cat you'll ever meet. He climbed in the dryer, so I turned it on on him. He got out awful quick, but he didn't run from the room; he just kind of looked at the dryer, curious.

Finished the third Mistborn book again. Oh my. It inspires me to write and gives me hope for my own writing at the same time as it is awfully daunting; he's just so good.

Meh.
karriezai: ([lolcat] light reading)
So, much to Danny's dismay, I'm currently rereading the Mistborn books -- and I'm once again struck by how much of a genius Brandon Sanderson is. I just finished the first two, and they're amazing enough without even taking into account the levels I know book three adds. The reread is so much better than even the initial read, so I can't wait until I finish this final book and see what little details I've missed. Ahhh!

And it really makes me want to write my own books. Bah. I could finish Blood and Heat -- it's a good story, lots of potential, though certainly not fleshed out all the way. I have to believe in myself and remember that even my favorite authors, who are completely brilliant, make mistakes. Martin making mention of Jaime doing something requiring two hands after having lost one, for instance. Or Sanderson writing that Vin had Clubs -- a Smoker Misting, meaning he can only burn copper -- burn bronze to try to sense Allomantic pulsings from the Well of Ascension only she could sense anyway. It took me about two paragraphs (on the second reread!) after reading that for the lightbulb to go off -- wait! He can't do that! Haha.

Anyway yeah. So rereading these books is quickly elevating Sanderson. He was certainly top five before, but distinctly below Martin and Orson Scott Card in "rank" so to speak. Now though... I feel they're all fairly evenly matched (not that I can really judge, eh?). Hell, the Hero of Ages (third book, which I just started) has praise from Orson Scott Card right on the cover, so I shouldn't be surprised!

Um so. In brief, beyond the writing. I'm taking Danny to dinner tonight when he gets home. I feel bad because I upset him last night (well, his version of upset, more mopey and irritated) by resizing a bunch of pictures on my computer and uploading them to Facebook, then reading a couple chapters of the Well of Ascension. There was a movie he wanted to watch, but I didn't realize he wanted to watch it right then and he wanted me to stop what I was doing to watch it. So I'm trying to make up for it, and I'll try to be less oblivious in the future. Plus, it'll be our first time at Fridays when I can drink too!

Speaking of, my 21st birthday was great. Perhaps I'll detail that one later. Pictures on Facebook!

My classes still aren't posting my grades. I know that as a group my comm group made a 94 on our paper, which is great, but I don't know if individual scores were weighted differently. I'll keep checking Blackboard.

I'm hungry.