Mini-Ramble: The Return of the Business Chronicles

     Hello, all, G-star here, back with in-school reports.  Against my will, I am now taking the second half of the business lessons, Sports Financing.  I have no idea what it's about or what we're going to do, but T-Dog and Ginger aren't here and that's what matters.  I was originally in Digital Media Design, but Strength and Conditioning and Basketball switched periods and I had to screw around with my schedule to stay in Basketball.  *sigh*  Digital Media Design would have been so useful, learning how to use computer drawing programs more efficiently to get my drawings to you faster than I do ...which, at this point, is never.  Gonen'nasai.
     I have reencountered some people from the first Business Class, but no one I'm actually friends with is in this class.  In first-period Basketball, however, I have the minimally mentioned Perk (remember her?  Probably not) and another friend from youth group, Kay (that is a boy, despite appearances).  We are team Norkenzie, for the win!
     In second-period Physics (which would be a nap class for anyone other than me, including Stulte, who fell asleep several times during the syllabus lecture X] ) I have Yeoung, Onigiri, Stulte (but you already knew that), and....a nameless boy who seems to follow me throughout my classes but evidently has the brain of a Stegosaurus.  He's in IHS as well, although I can't imagine how.  (MC, you should be able to guess who this is.)
     Other than that, though, nothing special has happened on the first day of the term.  Just thought it'd be fun to do one of these now that I can again.  At least this class will be good for something other than teaching me how to run a bookstore.
     Until next time, this is G-star, signing off.

Impersonal Opinions (I Lack the Strength/Layers Aren't All That Difficult).

     Pfff.  Hello, all.  G-star here.  Yes, I know, once again this is a day late, but because last night I wasn't able to go on the computer since the rest of the family was gone.  So let up.  Who am I kidding?  I'd be grateful if you criticized me.  JUST PLEASE COMMENT.  I'm getting desperate here.
     I think that I'm going to start being more casual about my "schedule".  I already stopped the weekend posts (mainly because I ran out of story bits to post), and now the Wednesday bit is going to heck.  So sometime from Wednesday to Friday is when I'll post.  But don't get me wrong, I really appreciate those of you who check the site every Wednesday for updates!  I'm so sorry you're always disappointed.  I'll try my hardest to post on time.  Just don't depend on my timeliness.  I'm not well-known for being dependable.
     In IHS Literature, we've been reading a pretty good book called The Samurai's Garden, by Gail Tsukiyama.  According to Smore, there's another book with the same name by a different author, and that one was made into a movie.  This one should be a movie, too, although if that were the case, I can name a few students who would simply watch the film instead of doing the required reading.  Anyway, almost every class we're given a reading quiz, each one in a different format.  The first one was just written answers, and the second was multiple choice, but then she had us do answers as haikus.  After that we had another of simple written answers, and this last one (we finished the book today) was a paragraph on whether or not we thought the ending was "satisfying".  If that wasn't odd enough, in this three-point paragraph, we were forced to refrain from using the words "I", "me", "you", and "your".
     Now you all know how opinionated I am, being a blogger and all, and the basis for this quiz (can I even call it that?  It was also open-book...) was the student's opinion.  So all of our "opinions" had to be stated as facts.  This worried me, and I thought of so many ways I could've made it better, although I am pretty happy with what I wrote.  I had planned to post what I wrote and what I wish I could've written in this post, but we had to turn it in at the end of the period.  Anticipating this, I attempted something I'd read in, oddly enough, a newspaper comic (ever heard of Slylock Fox?  It's in the Sunday paper): I placed the assignment sheet beneath my notebook paper (or more like Patveli's notebook paper) and wrote fairly hard.  Afterward, I went over the assignment sheet with the side of a pencil and the indents of my writing appeared.  Unfortunately, while it did turn out relatively legible, there was ink writing on the other side of the paper and so I couldn't make out more than a couple of words.  So I'm just going to do that in a couple days.  We should have it back by tomorrow.  Look forward to it!
     I'm working on a sort of poster art for that comic I've been "working" on (have I mentioned this?).  It's interesting, because I drew it in my sketchbook during school and then scanned it into the computer to work with on a manga art program I have (which I'm going to use for the actual comic as well, as it has panels and dialogue balloons and everything).  The first time I tried this, about a year ago, it got nowhere because I spent an hour trying to figure out why it wouldn't let me draw on the original drawing layer, then gave up.  Now, however, that I grasp (even lightly) the concepts of layers and such, it's much easier.  I may retry that old picture someday... I'm pretty proud of it, but I have no idea where the original is.  Just the scan file.  Anyway, when I'm done with this I'll put it up here.
     All of my teachers have been giving me big projects to do over the weekend...ugh...just thinking about it makes me feel the stress jumping up and down in my stomach.  I'll stop talking now.
     Apparently I was moved from Basketball third term to Strength and Conditioning.  Two words that make me tremble in fear.  The two classes switched rooms and periods, which really ticks me off, because they gave no warning.  Either way, I need a P.E. credit for this year, and seeing as I haven't taken any other exercise or sport classes this year, I need to take something other than Basketball that period, and that might have to be S&C.  Dangit, Basketball was the only sport on the list I was even vaguely interested in.... T-T  We'll see how this turns out.
     Well, I have virtually no time to access the computer, so I'll go now.  There was actually more I wanted to say, but none of it is important and only about half of it is interesting, so I'll save it for another day.  Likely the same one as the paragraph writing Mini-Ramble.  Until then, this is G-star, signing off.

The Cats Are Conspiring Against Me (An Alternate Route To Publication)...

     Hello, all.  G-star here, a little worried about the future of this blog...but I'm getting ahead of myself.  See, the entire first trimester at my school I had (well, have) Business and Financing for third period, and it's in the computer lab (if you haven't figured that much out by now, you need to see a psychiatrist).  Every Wednesday I would spend maybe twenty minutes of my 70-minute class writing my blog, and a lot of the time that would be the only time I would get on the computer that day.  For a while I've been depending on third period for my internet and typing allowance for the day, but next term I have Mechanics Science third period, which is obviously not in a computer lab.  Thus, my posts will probably be up later (like after dinner) and most likely be shorter.  This will have no effect on my Saturday story updates, but since I'm bad at keeping up with those anyway, that's not really a good thing.
     Speaking of my story updates, they will be ending soon.  While I did finish the first chapter after re-typing it from a printout I wrote on a computer in middle school, I never started chapter 2.  Heck, I didn't even type the chapter heading!  I simply lost interest, and now am interested in another story involving Zane, the main character.  After going over my weaknesses in writing, I realized that I'm just not cut out to write a novel and so came up with the idea to do it in comic book form.  I'll have more creative freedom and can put in more humor.  I've already drawn three of the major characters (including Zane) and they turned out very well.  This one I just know will get done.
     I've never talked about my "writing weaknesses", I know, and I will put them in a list in this entry, but now I'm going to talk about some interesting things that have been happening recently (I mean, that is the whole point of this blog -_-).  My family has two cats, an old, cranky grandma cat and a teenager cat who's as cute and timid as a kitten (it's pathetic, really).  Whenever I see the cute teenager, Spike (his name is so inaccurate it's funny) I want to just pick him up and cuddle him; he doesn't resist much, either (I think he's part ragdoll -- yes, that's a real breed) but if I get too close he'll sprint up the stairs and I give up.  Once I persisted because I REALLY wanted to pet him, but he ran back and forth from the upstairs exercise room (that my family never uses) to the upstairs play room (with a Foosball, an air-hockey, and a basketball setup that my family also never uses) and no matter what I did if I got close he'd sprint past me and into the other room.  It was exhausting.
     Last night, though, he ran away from me up the stairs, but kept stopping to see if I was there and then running away again when I got close.  If I went back downstairs he'd sit on the bottom step and stare at me until I followed him again.  Once I got upstairs he stood there until I picked him up, purred and kneaded his claws while I rubbed his belly, and when I put him down and went downstairs he followed me, standing still so I could pet him and then following me again.  He would've followed me into my room if I hadn't changed courses, which caused him to stare at me with a look of abandonment and confusion.  Him going into my room isn't abnormal, because he loves sleeping on my blanket, but normally he only runs into there trying to get away from me.  When I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth, it took after I turned on the light and closed the door to notice that my other cat, Abigail, was curled up on the shower mat.  This itself was extremely odd, as for some reason none of my pets ever go in the bathroom (even though they hang out in the oddest places like the laundry room and Dad's office) but what was even stranger was the fact that she didn't look at me until I started petting her.  She normally looks toward even the slightest noise, but didn't respond to the door closing...
     I also tripped over her sitting in the middle of the laundry room in the dark four and running in front of me in the kitchen four times each yesterday.
     Spike came up to her while I was getting their food and randomly started licking her back.
     I swear, they're conspiring to drive me mad.
     Anyway, here's that list some of the ways I write, and I think you'll see why doing a chapter book just won't work for me.  I haven't written a list in a while, have I?  I hope I'll be able to post again next week, but until Saturday, this is G-star, signing off.

      Notes on My Writing

• I always start with either an explanation or by jumping right into the action in some way.
• I prefer to write from the view of my most developed character.
• I try to never use the same verb, adverb, or adjective twice in one paragraph.
• I have a habit of only writing interactions and details necessary to advancing the plot.
• My stories never really have an end goal.
• I don't like doing research.
• I find it difficult to write for more than three characters at once because I have to repetitively use "he", "she", and "they", without explanation of who's talking.

Mini (Not)-Ramble: Everything's New (Except My Old Story)!

     Hello, all.  G-star here, with a special mini-ramble!  The one club at school I've permanently dedicated myself to so far is the Battle of the Books club.  I just finished reading on of the BOB picks, Every Day by David Levithan, and I just had to write a review for it!  Of course, the part I REALLY want to rant about would be a gigantic spoiler, so I'll just have to fume silently...  Anyway, Every Day is about a.......heshe named A.  A doesn't have his/her own body, but "possesses" someone new every day, all around the same age in in the same area.  While possessing a boy named Justin A meets Justin's girlfriend, Rhiannon, and falls in love with her.  I can't really go further than that, but it's a great book and you should read it!!  Except, it has a really sucky ending....*sigh*  Wow, that was supposed to be most of the entry, but I guess it'll only be about half.  Yes, I have more; two more topics, to be specific.  Firstly, as this is the one I'm less likely to get off on a tangent on, I've been having trouble finding a decent roleplay website.  To quote what I said in my introduction on a recent attempt... "The first one I tried was overly addictive and took the characters/plot way too seriously. The second one (I'm not naming any names here, you'll notice) was extremely active and I had to visit it several times a day (which I can't) just to keep up with one thread. The third one, that I started just a few days ago, has some great stories, but the best ones are pretty much dead. In other words, I make a character but no one responds or okays it."  The new rp I tried recently is making things difficult as well, though this may have something to do with the fact that I never try to join a thread with more than fifteen posts so I can catch up easily.  The thing is, most of the roleplays I find that fit that criteria have so few replies because they died off early on, so no one accepts my character anyway.  It drives me nuts... 

     Next topic: I was looking for a picture I drew of the characters in a comic I had been working on, considering continuing it, when I found the first two pages of a story I wrote last year in school; not as a school project, just in my free time.  I re-read it and was surprised how much better it was than most of my other short stories.  It had even me hooked; and I wrote it!  So I decided to continue the story.  It's based off a roleplay I used to do and means a lot to me.  The thing is, though, that said roleplay was based off a tv show, but it got off-track.  I have to create new names and relationships, but fortunately, some of the characters never showed up and others didn't have the same personalities as the originals, so it probably won't be recognizable.  I'll be posting a paragraph of my book and one book review/suggestion (I read a lot, so I should be able to deal with that) every Saturday from here on out, so please enjoy, and remember, this website is copyrighted to Sara G., A.K.A. me, so don't repost it or claim it as your own...or I'll find you.  I know it's Friday, but I just really wanted to post today. 

     Wow, this was a lot longer than I intended...even longer than a regular post.  There was one more thing I wanted to talk about; something strange happened the other day and it brought an interesting thought to mind.  I'll tell you as soon as I can remember what it was.  For now, G-star out.  See you Wednesday.