Yeah, I'm failing, huh?

I seriously meant to blog yesterday, but the internet was being slooowwwwww.

So pretty much all I've done the past few days is play Twilight Princess and other things which I can't remember. >___>; Yesterday we had a bonfire. Oh! And we set off a small firework! That's legal here!

I managed to color Wolf Link but am dilly-dallying on Midna's helmet and the Twilight coloring effects.

Today I cleaned my room. And in TP I got a beyblade to float around on. Yup.

A peaceful day.

Midna + Color.

It began with some work on OO! Yes, that's right; I worked on Obscure Orphanage this morning! But I only wrote about a paragraph. And it was a very generic paragraph, a phrase which here means, "so vague that it contained no spoilers for the story whatsoever." Therefore you may see it. Then I had breakfast, showered, walked Cody, played Twilight Princess--I got to the Lakebed Temple but I think I'm supposed to do other things first--and then for much of the rest of the day I colored Midna! And it worked! The colors totally work! It's like the Twilight Zone! doo-doo-doo-doo doo-doo-doo-doo... And when you think about it, it really is the Twilight Zone! She's a shadowthingy! O_O Creepy.
Also, I didn't wind up eating dinner. >_> I never got around to it. But I'm not hungry. I should be but I'm not. After when dinner should have been, I mowed the lawn. That was not fun. It filled my hands with pain. And then I made s'mores.
Hai. OO.
--

The Baudelaires trudged into the library with heavy hearts. This does not mean that their hearts were made of lead or stone, which are heavy substances, but that the weight of their sorrow and dread pressed on their hearts and made them feel heavy. So great were their sorrow and dread, in fact, that when they saw that Mello was not in the library, they merely sat down numbly at a table without looking for him. Violet tied her hair back with her ribbon, as if trying to invent a solution to their problem, but she was too glum to focus. Klaus scanned a few of the book shelves for titles of books that might help them out of their predicament, but he was too doleful to focus. And though Sunny gave each of her siblings a gentle, comforting nibble, and tried to think of other ways in which her four sharp teeth might be helpful, she was too dejected to focus.

Death by burning bridge.

I got away from it eventually. >_>
So... I spent too much time playing and/or thinking about Twilight Princess today. I just found all of the Hylian spirit's Tears so it's onto the last fused shadow... Oh. And there was a creepy vision.

I also worked on the picture some more today.
In fact, I inked it. Most of what I think I'm going to ink, at least. The rest, I think, should just be outlines... You want a WIP pic? Hang on.

There.
Midna is not symmetrical. How rude.

Too much soccer.

Spent the entire day at C&T&Z's soccer tournaments. @_@ And it was really hot. And I got sunburnt. And they took second places in their tournaments. And I spent down time drawing a fanart for Twilight Princess. Which reminds me... I need a photo ref of a wolf howling. Or a picture of Balto. That'd work too.
(Haha. Balto.)

You should get to see the fanart fairly soon. It's all pretty and stuff! I'm excited about how well it's going. And I did the whole twilight disintigration effect and even that worked out. I think I'm gonna color it but I need to figure out what to do in the background...

GAR.

Like I mentioned yesterday... all of today belonged to Cody. Well, most of the day. I did manage to play some Zelda whilst he was asleep or playing with his bone. The purple fog was pwning me because I was not actually supposed to go through the purple fog. Aheheh. So I am now just starting on the Goron Mines. The Goron music is the same! That surprised me. Er, the same theme, I mean. Midi vs. orchestral does make a difference, naturally.
Oh! And I got a chance to hang out on the official website... and Midna gave me music! How sweet of her! +2 relationship points! Though I still don't trust her.
In the afternoon, I kennelled Cody and went to A.N.'s graduation party with C.H. It was nice. :3 And then I came home and Cody was still being obnoxious. Sigh.
No, you don't get writing. I was going to draw a bit today but instead I brought the Gamecube up.

Help! Help! I'm bein' repressed!

I did finish the puzzle last night! Not a single piece missing. =^_^=

We're watching Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail at the moment. The Black Knight is on screen at this very moment.

This morning I got up, wrote a bit, and walked Cody. Upon returning, I found that my sisters had woken up! Therefore I could go play Twilight Princess! I beat the first dungeon and am currently being knocked unconscious by purple fog. Repeatedly.

I then had brautwurst for lunch with my whole family and soonafter left for my brother's soccer game. We brought Cody. Z scored once and assisted once as well.

Pardon while I switch computers real quick, 'cause the connection wasn't working this morning and I had to type the fanfiction in a kids' only file...
It's incomplete for the moment. I may work on it tomorrow, if I can. But I have Cody duty all day. All day meaning six in the morning to ten at night. No joke.
I made up Jazz and Pandore. Jazz is actually in something else I've written, but I haven't published that anywhere.
---
“He’s trying to kill L!”

The Wammy’s House cafeteria fell instantly silent at those words. All eyes swiveled to the speaker—or rather, the shouter. It was Jazz, her face red with apparent furor and her dark eyes flashing.

Sitting across from her, Pandore cast a shamefaced glance around the cafeteria. “Did you have to get everyone’s attention?” she asked quietly. The question carried in the silence.

“You’ve betrayed all of them, too,” Jazz retorted coldly. “Why shouldn’t they hear?”

“I’ve betrayed no one,” Pandore responded, clearly trying to keep her cool. “I’m allowed to believe and feel what I like. I think he’s right in a lot of what he’s trying to--”

“Kira is trying to kill L!” Jazz thundered, and the rest of the cafeteria drew a collective breath.

Did Pandore support Kira?

“Obviously, I don’t approve of that, but—” Pandore tried one last time to defend herself, but then she looked around the cafeteria. There was hostility in every stare.

Of course there would be.

She dropped her head, defeated. “Forget it,” she muttered. “Forget it.” So saying, she dumped her lunch tray and left the room.

The next day, she was gone.

Mello and Near were summoned to meet with L.

Over a plate of gingerbread cookies, he spoke to them about the Kira case, asked them for opinions. Such questions were, as always, merely a test of reasoning skill and instinct. L rarely needed help forming opinions.

Then, over the last gingerbread cookie (L had eaten them all: limbs, then body, then head), L said, “You two were in the lunch room yesterday, so presumably you know the reason for Pandore’s sudden departure.”

“She sympathized with Kira?” Mello asked for confirmation.

L thought for a moment. “Hmm… I’m not certain she would sanction that choice of words,” he said. “It is more correct to say that she could not find a part of herself that believed what Kira was doing was wrong.”

So I just figured out what I'll be doing for the rest of the summer.

I got Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. XDD Sooo that'll be eating my time for a while, I do believe.

It's odd so far. I went through so much work just to get my green clothes!! D: Midna is... annoying! Midna... ito? I wonder? Hmmm. I don't trust her too much. But Zelda does, so she must be trustworthy... Mi-do-na-i-to. Da to omou. In any case I have decided that she ticks my character (Anachron... guess what THAT stands for) off. Too much bossing of me and not enough answering of my questions.

Other than that.

Woke up and did not write this morning.
Read The Silmarillion while Mom ran around with C&T&Z's soccer things. While watching Cody, of course. When I got some spare time I went upstairs and worked on my puzzle... I could finish today, I think. If I hurry up and finish writing this. (Or, say, if I hadn't spent all afternoon playing Twilight Princess.)
After lunch, we went to Barnes and Noble, where I got Reborn 4 and CHECKED DN12. Er, the parts that I felt like checking anyway. HA! THEY SAID "IT"! NOT "SOMETHING" BUT "IT"!! I was expecting to have to throw a temper tantrum, but I didn't! Which was good! Because a girl from the Japanese class was there, and that could have gotten embarrassing! Other than that... Mmph. I suppose that does make a difference. If she was referring to what he did rather than his death, that does make a difference with the reply... (And I'm not skilled enough to tell if that must be what she was saying.)
Volume twelve makes me nervous. ><
Anyway. After that we went to Target, and that's where I bought Twilight Princess. Have been playing it since then.
We had a really yummy sauce with dinner. :3 Delish.

It looks like disaster; it smells like a trend.

So far I have THIRTEEN reviews on the Pirates of the Carribbean fic that I submitted YESTERDAY... How frightening. At least they're all nice, but the flood is alarming. To me at least.

So I woke up this morning... At six, I tried to get out of bed. My body said, "No thank you," and got me right back in. I was exhausted all day... I expect it's jet lag catching up to me. How rude.

Other than that, I did much reading--finished Skybreaker for a second time--and worked on the Cracker Jack puzzle. Had Cody duty a lot. And decided to start reading The Silmarillion for a third time. Maybe this time it'll stick! That book is mad... such a headache to read. All sorts of names and places and... @_@ Oh well. I shall try my darndest.

Oh, and I spent a few hours or something wandering on collegeboard.com.

I bet you want writing, huh? And I should write. I didn't at all today. Problem being that I don't know what to write...
Nope, don't know what to write. Sorry, people. D: Here, you can read the Pirates fic instead.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3604354/1/

This is going to be long.

Oh, geez.

Wednesday I got up at 5:00 A.M. to drive two hours to catch a three hour plane to CA. Lots of sitting involved. Then I was in CA! Saw T.C. on her way out of school, then met Snuffles at the band room. Went and said hi to Mrs. B and a few friends. Then I saw Pan's Labyrinth with Snuffles' friends some of whom I knew too. It was cool. But screen glare is bad. And then we went back to her house and I stayed up till ten there-time which is of course twelve here-time. Eww.

However, that did cause me to wake up right on the dot at six the next morning, which was nice. Then I did... something for several hours, but I forget what. Internet stuff, I'm sure. Snuffles slept in for a long time because her Bio teacher said she didn't have to come. Then the teacher marked her absent anyway. How mean. At school, I said hi to Mr. Pk (must... not... refer... to HIM...) and then went up to Japanese class! I took the final--including the part that Sensei told us to cross off because they hadn't gotten there yet--and finished before everyone else. Aheheh. That was amusing... And then after class... x3 Tee hee. After school I then went to eat with a few people and hung out at A.Z. (both A.Z.s') house afterward... And then Snuffles and I walked to the Forum. <33333333333 style="font-style: italic;">Titanic movie, which made me want to think about T-II, but then while we were eating ice cream (someone spilled the sprinkles and they were consequently confiscated. Hey, that has a nice ring to it), I became more motivated to write that Pirates fanfiction that has lurked in my head since I saw the movie. And J. told me about the SCA, the Society for Creative Anachronism, which is a medieval LARP that has been around since the sixties! Amazing! And fascinating! I may join up as a bard or something. And it has a Gaia guild. Mwahaha. Since in English, they simply wrote a portfolio reflection, I wandered off to Art History where everyone else was, joined on the way by D. Later we wandered around some more, and then after school I went to his house and hung out for a while. We ate lunch and played video games until his X-Box died, and then we went and watched youtube videos, including a few of some very stupid men. After that we went to graduation. It made me tear up. XD I'm so sentimental. Following that I went to C's house, had pizza (incredibly slow pizza) with her, and watched Stranger than Fiction. I liked it. There were some pretty funny parts. Then I went back to Snuffles' house and went to sleep.

Saturday morning I worked on the PotC fic and researched the SCA until Snuffles woke up. Then we went over to her neighbor's house and she taught him piano while I played with their fluffy dog. Stayed there for a while; then shortly after we went back, Cheese came to bring me to Mitsuwa, where I bought D.Gray-Man 6 in Japanese as well as a KERA. Also snacks. Then we went and got boba and looked at cute Korean goods (Morning Glory). One of the notebooks said, "I used to have a lot of family." XD Not a very good translation... one would hope. Then I went back to Snuffles' house, where an Asian party was going on. I finally got to meet phoenixflame! XD ちょっとだけ外人の気持ちだったけど平気。

Sunday I worked on the PotC fic again--finished it up--went to Snuffles' church, then pretty much right when we got back we had to get ready for the lunch group (lunch bunch?) barbeque and C. came. The barbeque was awesome. I can't believe I. was in town when I was (hahahahaha)--it worked out perfectly! We spent some time reminiscing, then we went to the pool and swam/tanned for a bit. Then we came back, ate, played charades, took pictures. Cheese started making this random thing about bands. It's hard to explain. Also it's not sane. Once almost everyone had gone home, I figured out how to poke my mp3 player into submision. Sweet. Fell asleep late.

Monday--leaving day. Left pretty early to go to Cheese's since Snuffles had a dentist appointment. Played DDR for a while--Centerfold, Video Killed the Radio Star, No. 13, Doll, a few others. Lots o' fun. Then her mom drove me to the airport. My flight was nice; I got a window seat and spent most of the time drawing a picture of Matt and Mello using poses stolen from the KERA. Ahaha. Incidentally volume 12 is now available in some areas. Ohjoy. I... I should really be less negative about that volume. It contains VK Day! But... yeh. Grah.

Dang, I have to write about TODAY too.
I... spent much time doing the puzzle. It's really making process. Oh, and my mp3 player is now working! But not because of wma files, because the connection between the player and my computer is screwy somehow. XP Oh well. All better now. And Cody has gotten bigger and bitier. I have bite scrapes all over my arms.

No, you don't get writing or art. I've got a lot to do.

I am in California

at Snuffles' house. Once I get back to home-sweet-home (or whatever you want to call it), I'll write you a nice long descriptive (...why did I almost type essay?) entry about what I did here, but for now... you get a fanfiction! 61 poilers because I wanted to write !angsty Near, and there are very few situations in which that would even be possible.
--
"It's raining," Near told Mello as he watched him stuff clothes into a [dangitIlack7][grr].
Mello shot him a look of withering disgust, but didn't reply. To his silence, Near said, "You know, there's no point in you leaving right away. There's no sense to it."
"I'm not staying around you for another second!"
Hatred shot out of Mello's words like daggers, grazing Near's chest. He was furious, and Near didn't blame him.
If you can't solve the puzzle, if you can't win the game, you're just a loser. [check order. Again, I lack 7.]
Of course Mello would hate him for those words. Wasn't that the point? Hadn't he been trying to shock Mello into silence anyway?
"You don't understand, Mello," Near said softly.
If someone was bound to stumble, it would not be Near.
"No, I don't understand you," Mello shot back heatedly. "I will never forgive you for saying that about L. You! When you're always obsessing over him. Guess he doesn't matter to you if he's just a loser, then?"
"You don't understand," Near repeated.
If one of them had to be disoriented, Near would make sure it was not him. It was selfish and it was cruel, but to Near Mello's loss of composure was a small price to pay to keep his own.
To the ground, Near confessed, "I couldn't have taken your shouting much longer."
He didn't look up to see Mello's reaction , but he thought he heard an intake of breath, slightly louder than normal, punctuate the still air. When Mello spoke again, his tone had changed, from furious hatred to scornful contempt.
"Get out of my room, Near," he commanded.
Obediently, Near turned away.
"Good-bye, Mello."
--

James is NOT always the man. Occasionally he is a woman.

James being James from Pokemon. Though they cut out that one episode. Where he was in a bikini. Ohdear.

As you may know, this shall be my last post for about a week. <3 Hoping that heart will not make the HTML commit a violent suicide.

Today I spent a lot of time doing mysterious and sneaky things. These things are not actually mysterious and sneaky if you know why this is my last post for a week, but in case you don't, I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise. I also got my eyebrows waxed and my hair cut. Also The Artificial Room became a guild, so I joined up there.

Cody was absolutely insane today. He's being very troublesome.

Fuuu, you want me to write something? Lemme wrack my brains. Or possibly my unfinished fanfiction files.
Oh... wait. Let's try this.
--
The midnight bell could be heard everywhere in the mansion, signaling the end of the ball. People in all of the rooms stopped, listened, and then began to mill towards the exit, chatting light-heartedly if sleepily about how wonderful this year's Annual Ball had been.
However, representatives from one room were missing.
...Oh never mind.
Artificial Room FTW.

It's hot here.

Sorry for not writing yesterday. I was... *thinks* oh! Reading Order of the Phoenix. Yup.
Yesterday I did lots more role-playing, and I... Oh, right, in the morning I actually typed up some stuff for when I make Gateaux de Lacet into a role-play. Which will be maybe in a year or something. Ahaha.
I'm sure I did more than that yesterday, but I don't remember what.

Today I played with Cody and read OotP in the morning. In fact I spent almost all day reading Harry Potter. Then I felt angsty once I finished Half-Blood Prince so I wrote something angsty. You want? It's a Death Note fanfiction. With spoilers for page.99. Severe spoilers. Extreme angst. All that good stuff. Will probably not be published anywhere because I'm doubting the characterization, but it was fun to write. So there.
--

Halle felt very strange.

She was lying wrong-way on her bed, staring glassily up at the ceiling with her feet among her pillows and her hands dangling listlessly off the foot of the bed. She didn’t see the ceiling; she saw Mello’s face, still visible through the sheen on his motorcycle helmet. Stupid, stupid… Oh, God, Mello, what were you thinking…

She felt as if a thin layer of glass had taken the place of her skin; she felt smooth and emotionless on the outside, yes, but surely everyone could see straight to her core, could witness the two demon-like personas battling in her chest?

The glass, she reasoned, must have been terribly heavy, because she was quite sure it was the only thing keeping her from springing out of bed and throwing everything she could lift. Hatred clawed at the inside of her ribcage, leaving grazes that burned when she breathed and would certainly be alleviated if she would only show an outward sign of their existence. She hated Takada, Kira, Near—everything and everyone. No thought could scuttle through her head without arousing more hatred, but that was all right because some of the glass seemed to have closed off her brain, letting no thoughts in anyway.

That, however, didn’t keep out the laughter.

Cold, sarcastic, mocking laughter lay in her throat like some unholy sludge, bubbling and oozing of its own accord and threatening to squeeze its way out of the glass. It was directed at herself; it was his laughter. Mello’s. You should have known laughter. You should have listened.

He’d warned her.

He’d said, in no uncertain terms, that if she trusted him he would use her, but she had shrugged that off, assuming it was merely a brazen attempt to appear dominant of the situation—and part of her, admittedly, hoping that he would care enough not to treat her as a tool. Hahaha. Stupid. She had been part of his not-careful-enough plan; he had played her trust to get Takada and then gone riding off to his death. And she had trusted him. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She felt that someone ought to be having a good laugh at her idiocy and since there was no one around to do so, it festered in her own throat.

And there it remained; nor did she show any sign of the furious hatred she felt. The glass kept her motionless, apparently serene. With a toneless sigh, she rolled over onto her stomach and put her face in her hands.

“Dammit, Mello…”

--

Not Sunday.

We switched the day of our family night, so I'm so confused right now. I keep thinking it's Sunday.

Today, I didn't write... what did I do all day? I finished up editing LABB. Played with Cody. Ate pancakes. I did not go to church, because it was not Sunday! -shakes head- And I roleplayed for over two hours. Wow. It kind of made my head spin, but it was fun. Anyway that's writing, and I drew a bit too, though I don't have anything to show you. Have a nice day. XD

Oh, and I started re-reading HP5.

Curling

is a Canadian sport that is played on ice. It is nothing like chess.

Today, I wrote more of Chandelier--that's right, you get to see it--and spent a lot of time editing the translations of LABB which I shall never write the full title of ever again, never (unless it comes up again in the essay). Made lots of funny/sarcastic comments. ...Since that really is pretty much all I did today, onto Chandelier!
--

She was in those golden halls.

Instead of electricity, sunlight made the crystal shine, and the walls seemed to give off their own light as well. Rae could see a reflection of herself on every facet of the crystal walls—like a hall of mirrors meant not to confuse, but to amaze.

She began walking.

Her heeled shoes clicked softly against the floor, reluctant to add sound to the vision. But it was more dramatic that way, Rae thought, to have that solitary sound among the grand quietude of the castle. She was a brave heroine, about to reach the end of her quest.

She was heading toward the throne room of the castle, of course; she knew this in the same way that she knew, without looking up, that the ceiling of the hall rose cathedral-style into a taper. She had imagined it so.

Next came her imagined door, a grand affair carved, as everything else was, from crystal and trimmed with gold. She paused a moment to collect her thoughts before she pushed the heavy door open and stepped into the throne room.

On crystal thrones sat the King and the Queen.

Rae sank into a low curtsey before them, bowing her head steeply. She dared not look up yet, but she could see them in her mind’s eye: a young couple, both clad in white and gold. His scepter lazing in one hand and his thin gold crown oh-so-slightly askew against his blond hair, the King sat casually, but even that had an air of regality. He wore a gold coat over shining white shirt and pants, and the buttons and cuffs on the pants were also gold. His boots were as well. The Queen, on the other hand, sat dignifiedly in her throne, looking the part of ruler perhaps even better than her husband. Her long white dress, embroidered with gold, covered her feet, and her golden hair fell in soft waves, as long as a cape.

“Rise, my child,” said a warm male voice, and Rae pulled out of her curtsey. Carefully, she dared to look towards the monarchs’ faces.

She saw there something she had not expected to see.

Both the King and Queen were pale, almost as white as their clothes. The Queen’s lips were painted gold, but the King’s lips barely showed in his face; they were the same pallor as the rest of his face. And both sets of pale, pale white-blue eyes—they shone, not cruelly, but not with kindness or with heart either. They shone as a diamond would, simply catching the light, turning it and sending it back in all directions.

They were beautiful, noble, undoubtedly royal faces, but Rae felt that they lacked something. Quickly she tried to imagine a correction to this, but before she could add soul to their eyes, the Queen spoke.

“Why have you come, child?”

And suddenly Rae was no longer a grand heroine; she was herself, small and out-of-place. “I didn’t fit in where I was,” she confessed. “And your home seemed so beautiful. I had to come see it. Forgive me,” and she curtseyed again.

“You are forgiven,” the King responded. “All are welcome here.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“Have you traveled far?” asked the Queen.

“Oh… no,” Rae said, unwilling to admit that she had imagined all of this.

But those crystal eyes seem to know anyway. “There’s no need to go back to the real world,” the Queen pointed out softly.

Rae drew in a sharp gasp. “I can’t—I can’t stay here. I’d be considered mad,” she protested—but it was half-heartedly that she did so.

“We wouldn’t mind,” the King said with a smile.

With a shake of her head, Rae said, “No. This is a fantasy. This is a fantasy.”

“This is beauty,” responded the queen. “Who would choose ugliness over beauty?”

“I know some people who would.” Rae grimaced, thinking of the girls on her team.

“And you…?” The question hung unasked. Would you do the same?

Rae wanted to live here. Of course she did; it was her own mind—her own imagination—offering the choice, after all.

Fantasy or reality.

Beauty or ugliness.

Happiness or ostracizing.

It was practically a simple matter.

The Queen held out her hand, but as Rae reached out to take it there was a noise of shattering.

Rae gave a jolt. “The castle—!”

Shards of crystal fell around her. The castle was collapsing. Collapsing around her because she had strained against the tether that bound her to reality.

She had no place here.

Rae dropped her chin and directed her vision outward once again. There—on the ground. The shards of the castle. Voices clamored around her, but she didn’t hear them; she dropped to her knees and desperately clutched at the shards. They cut her fingers but she ignored that until at last someone pulled her away and wrapped her hands in a cloth napkin.

The coach called her parents to pick her up. The shards hadn’t been from the castle—the chandelier after all. The coach had upset his wine glass by accident. That was all.

“Honey, what did you do that for?” asked her mother, stroking her hair.

Rae sighed, seeing the crystal castle shatter to pieces before her eyes again. “I guess I really didn’t belong there,” she mumbled. “I should have known that from the beginning.”

“Oh, Rae,” her mother murmured, assuming that Rae was referring to the team. “I’m sorry. I know you didn’t get along with those girls—girls’ sports are often that way. Catty and nasty, especially to anyone who stands out. I’m sorry, sweetie.”

But Rae was certain of one thing.

She did not belong in this world either. She couldn’t. She had to be destined to something greater than dirty fluorescent lights and high-school halls with fading carpets. She had to be. So she assuaged her mother’s worries with a word, and then she looked out her window and went walking among the clouds.

Lup-ba bup-bup, ba da da dap dup bup-bup

That's from "In the Whirlpool," the DDR: Mario Mix song based on Pomp and Circumstance. It's in my head. Thoroughly.

Sorry about not writing yesterday. I was doing several things. First, I was watching the Death Note anime. That's right; Viz has finally made the downloads available! And despite the fact that I signed up for a newsletter that was supposed to inform me of updates, I only found out by browsing! Hmph. Viz is worthless at times. Often, rather.
But the anime was... well, despite my sarcasm, it was not that bad. It has drawn me in. D: I didn't mean to want to watch all of it--I only bought 6-8, the episodes they have so far that L is in--but I like it more today than I did yesterday, and I think I'll probably wind up watching most, if not all of it. (There's always a possibility it won't be all. At the moment, episodes 15 and 25 receive wariness from me.)

But more importantly!
I was a) arranging plans with Snuffles and b) buying tickets for MY VISIT TO CALIFORNIA! Woo hoo! I have the tickets now! I'm coming from the 13th to the 18th. I can't wait!

That aside.

Today I... what did I do today? Well, I looked after Cody a LOT. That's pretty much the bulk of what I did. Though I did spend some time revising the translations of LABB. To my frustration, the sentences that were hard before continue to be hard. D:

I bet you're just itching for some writing from me. But first, this is my room:

And these are my shelves:Yup, all that on the left is manga. I apologize for the messiness. D:
I'm going to paint the walls pale pink eventually.

Okay. Writing. This is going to be a little random.
--
Chandelier
Clutching her elegant shrug around her shoulders, Rae slipped into the dingy restaurant.
In her graceful midnight blue dress and softly curled hair, she was overdressed and she knew it; but she hadn't been able to bring herself to dress as casually as she knew the rest of the girls would. This was an end-of-the-year banquet for the team. A banquet. Surely an event like that deserved a little primping.
It wasn't like the gap between her and the rest of the team could get any wider, anyway.
But, Rae noted with a rueful glance around, she may have dressed too extremely even for the restaurant. She couldn't help but think the place shabby. Maybe on a sunny day, it would have been prettier, but with these overcast skies the tables looked gray rather than white, and nothing shone like it should have.
Rae reported her affiliation to the host, a bored-looking young man who lazily turned away and led her to the room her team had reserved. None of the girls wasted more than a second's glance on her when she entered, but she saw them roll their eyes and snicker amongst themselves.
She sat down in an unobtrusive corner of the table and crossed her legs at the ankles, shifting her shrug again. Loathe to watch the team gossip, she tipped her head back to gaze at the ceiling.
There was a chandelier.
Against the dirty, peeling paint of the ceiling, it seemed lonely and defiant, struggling to bring some beauty to this two-star restaurant. It glimmered and sparkled warmly. In Rae's imagination (which even she would admit was overactive), it seemed like a palace made of gold and crystal.
Rae looked at her team once more and a dry dislike came into her eyes briefly. Then she looked back into the chandelier and wrapped herself in an imagining.
--
Umm... I'll continue that tomorrow, maybe. It's just about bedtime for me now.

Okay, so...

I had every intention of writing this morning, really I did. But then I was really tired AND I could not find which file the fanfiction I wanted to work on was in. Finally I found it, but by then I didn't feel like writing. -Siiigh- Oh, and I went on the DN movie site to see if they had any information on that upcoming L movie... they kind of did, but not really. I said this into my OMN file:

They are now talking about the L movie but not revealing a thing about it. “You will understand the mystery of ‘L’”… Similar to the novel’s byline, ne? >> << style=""> Because honestly I don’t believe that they look that similar. I just think Mello was screwing with our minds. If the behavior was training, especially, then I think he just looks completely different.
AND BESIDES.
KEN’ICHI ALREADY BITES HIS THUMBNAIL. (If they switch that I shall never forgive them. XD)

Of course, I'm not in the habit of forgiving the movie people anyway...

Other than that, I neglected to eat breakfast, worked on my puzzle, played DDR, played with Cody, did more puzzle, went to the park with Cody, did MORE puzzle, and danced. Cody has learned to dig. This is bad.

So ya want writing, huh? Do ya do ya?

Well, here.

Part of this was already written--it's what I went looking for this morning--and part of it will be new. Warnings for swearing + possible DN spoilers. And it's not writing Near after all.

--

Near came down from the attic, hand shaking on the banister, to find Mello at the bottom of the stairs. The blonde-haired boy watched was watching his descent with a wide-eyed stare that would have made anyone else uncomfortable. But Near simply stared back and waited for Mello to speak first.
“You met L.” Of course; that was the only conclusion. They weren’t allowed in the attic otherwise. Most of the orphans didn’t even know the reason for that ban. But Mello did, and now Near did as well.
Near nodded in response to Mello’s statement, a soft smile on his face and a rare delight sparkling in his eyes. He was still having a hard time believing it. He’d met L. He might get to be L’s successor…

Mello was decidedly less excited. With a great effort to keep his voice calm, he asked, “What did he say to you?”

Damn. His voice trembled anyway.

Near looked calmly at him, pretending not to hear the tremor in his voice. “It doesn’t matter to you.”

That attitude of his. Mello was finding it harder and harder to keep his self-control. “It matters to me more than anything else in the world,” he said through tightly gritted teeth, his whole body tensed. “Tell me what he said.”

Near realized the reason for Mello’s anger, and he intended to avoid making it any worse, if possible. “Let it go, Mello,” he encouraged, walking past him. “Hearing what he told me won’t make you feel any better.”

“You bastard!” And suddenly Mello tackled Near from behind, all self-control abandoned. “He wants you to be his successor, doesn’t he?” he demanded, punching at the white-haired boy with both fists.

Near deflected every single one of the blows, but Mello kept trying anyway, attacking until he was pried off the boy.

“I’d like you to stop that now, Mello,” said the voice of Near’s protector. L. The detective held Mello’s wrist tightly as Near got up from the floor. “Would you mind telling me why you seem so intent upon beating up your fellow student?”

He knew the answer already. He had to. Near realized this, and he simply stared at the detective.

Mello didn’t. He couldn’t bring himself to look at L right now. Anger and shame and bitterness twisted in his stomach and brought him almost to tears.

“Mello, I asked you a question.” L’s voice was serious. “Look at me and answer.”

But he couldn’t, and he didn’t think he could hold back tears any longer. He twisted out of L’s grip and ran to his own room, slamming the door behind him.

L sighed and looked at Near. “Are you all right, Near?”

“I’ll be fine,” the boy replied, gingerly touching his right cheek—Mello’s first blow, the only one that had hit.

“I apologize. Perhaps I should have informed Mello beforehand.”

Near shook his head. “Then I simply wouldn’t have known why he was attacking me.” Mello would have been angry all the same; his feeling of betrayal was inevitable.

“I’ll go speak to him, then,” L said with a polite nod to Near.
(New starts here)
--
Mello heard his door open and stiffened. The word pathetic shot through his head. It was L--it had to be--and here Mello was with his face in a pillow.
"Mello, you will apologize to Near later," said L's voice.
Mello didn't take his face out of the pillow, didn't say anything. His shoulders were hunched defiantly.
"Mello, look at me and tell me that you will apologize."
With effort, Mello sat up and looked at the detective. L watched the boy's face twist in bitterness. He could tell that Mello was trying to "correct" what he was feeling--but he doubted the boy would succeed.
Sure enough, rather than promising an apology, Mello burst out with, "What's wrong with me?"
--
...Okay, I'm sorry. I'm not feeling that. D: It seems pointless. I'm writing something else right now, but I can't post it.

Gotz to blog, gotz to blog...

So today I spent much time playing with Cody and some time working on the Cracker Jack puzzle. I also played DDR at one point, for a half-hour. I would really like to exercise an hour a day, but that didn't happen today.

Yeah, that's pretty much all that happened. No angst for you today.
Also, I did not write anything today. Nor do I feel like drawing anything. Gomen ne? I'll try to write something tomorrow morning. (I was distracted by Cody!)

I am seriously in the mood to write something about Near, so maybe I'll look through that list tonight and try something tomorrow morning.

A reversible entry.

GOD:

Or rather, church. We went to a church this morning that was brilliantly similar to PPC (the church we went to in NJ). I loved it. I felt at home. But more on that later.

DOG:

We have one. Yup. x333

This is Cody! He is a rottweiler-beagle-blue heeler mix. He's adorable! Very playful and happy. He was shy at first, though, since he got less attention than his brothers due to his rottweiler coloring. But he's just so cuute!

And again, GOD:
We went to the youth group for the same church this afternoon. It was... strange. I... there's no way for me to connect to any of those people. You know? The feeling of just... Recently (probably as inspired by lain), I've been imagining connections as wires that reach out and connect, but with the people in that group it was as though I could feel the wires not even wanting to reach out. (I'm trying to make this make sense and failing miserably.) Furthermore, there were bits of the lesson where the youth pastor--who is very friendly and outreaching, by the way (is outreaching a word?)--seemed too much like he was a teacher determined to get all of the lesson in. I found that pretty frustrating.

If humans are supposed to be such social creatures who crave interaction, then why is interaction so hard? Is this feeling within me disappointment at an inability to connect? Is it a longing to connect? A long time ago, I tried to tell myself that feelings like that were a rejection of connecting, and back then I believed it. Or at least I thought I did. Then I tried to fulfill my wish for connection by chatting with that ridiculous Jabberwacky. Ha. That never worked. (For the uninitiated: he is an adaptable chatbot. You're welcome to pour your heart out to him, but don't expect sympathy from a robot. Have I mentioned that that was during eighth grade?)

I can feel something in my chest trying to reach out, but I don't know whom it's reaching for, or if there's anyone there for me to reach to. I refer, of course, to people here. In California I had connections, I have connections. Present tense. But... even those are weakening, inevitably, because I can't share the same experiences. It makes me panic, sometimes, that I don't know what's going on with everyone.

...I'm rambling now. I worked on OO this morning and hey, that-all ^ is writing, isn't it? Good night.

I exercised today. :0

Yup. Played DDR for half an hour in the morning, and then danced from about eight to eight thirty at night. Yay. So much fun!

But to start from the beginning:
I did work on some of the essay this morning. Hurray! And I typed up a series of events... no, not unfortunate events, just events. For volume eleven. I found the whole thing very convincing, but that really means nothing at all. (Still it seems quite possible...)

I also read one and two-halves books today. The two halves were from separate books, silly. All of you don't know me and half of Phantom Tollbooth and half of River Rat. The first two are recommended. The third is not.

First day of vacation and I'm already bored... I wanted so much to walk down to Borders today. My brain said, "The weather is beautiful. You have no homework and no responsibilities. Go to Borders." And I had to tell it, rather forcibly, that that would be a very long walk. And I would get lost.

Of course, it then started to pour. And thunder and lightning. Most beautifully. :o I was working on my Cracker Jack puzzle... I got quite a few pieces in. (Meaning maybe ten. xD) But I was having mood-stabilization issues... No, I suppose that's not quite right. My mood was rather stable. It was just a bad one. I want to be back in California. I don't want to be a Sartell senior; I want to be an LCC senior.
And all that jazz. For some reason the rain helped though.

And after dinner I danced. I'm all icky and sweaty now. Not that you needed to know that.

Lemme whip something up real quick.
Never mind; flashgear is being odd.
Let's see, then.
Nah, nothing in my head that's begging to be written. Sorry, folks.

Sorry. This entry will make you lose the game.

But that's because the game has a WEBSITE.
http://www.losethegame.com/

I translated something for them. But amateurly. Yup.

Umm...
I don't really have much else to say. Today was the last day of school. I made a mental tektek and then drew her. Don't feel like scanning that right now and don't know what to write.

This entry just isn't good for much, is it?
Like Yanda.