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So, I'm in Kyoto right now and we finally caved and paid for a day's worth of internet...the day before we leave.

I love it here. It's so peaceful. I think I'd like to come and teach English abroad here.

Anyway, I wanted to post this picture, too, of these geishas we saw so were...really white O.o



:D See ya'll in a day or two. Tomorrow is going to be a VERY long Friday.

Life is odd sometimes.

I head to Kyoto tomorrow morning. So, tonight, I'm packing and I had to hem a pair of pants. Somehow, taking the three hours to hem that pair of jeans by hand myself...

...felt more rewarding than my entire semester at uni.

I just felt that pride of "Look, I did this myself." *shrugs* My fingers hurt like hell. Damned denim.

Today I finished writing my 20 pages, 500-level SGMA term paper. It's pretty damned good if I do say so myself. It's the minimum length but it's solid. 4182 words or something insane like that.

Today I read two review books, wrote 3 100-word reviews and sent them off to my editor.

Today I said ciao to some friends and promised to bring them back things.

But today I hemmed a pair of jeans by hand. And that feels so much more rewarding than my 400-level human resources class, writing 26 pages about how I never feel good enough; my 20 pages of international business, focusing on freeters (job floaters) in Japan; and my brochure I made for my 400-level women's studies class (the class itself was a waste of time and money).

I will admit, however, that on Sunday rewriting my essays for my English 240 class felt rewarding. I listened to every comment and I could see what they were talking about. I could recognize where the holes were and how their comments built on my arguments, not demeaned them. I noted every check-mark, every "Excellent", and every "Good point". I felt myself drawing on that advice in the final, changing my sentences out of passive even if that felt natural for an opinion piece.

I'm heading to Kyoto tomorrow so this will probably be the start of a long wireless withdrawal. It still hasn't registered, AT ALL, that I'm leaving tomorrow. I still feel like I should be in school mode, in review mode, in job searching mode.

I hope I can write on the plane. Write and read for block week and read urban fantasy that I've been putting off (ON THE PROWL and KITTY AND THE SILVER BULLET).

Anyway. Ciao until I get back!

Or, my mom graphites!



My mom got me this pencil when she went to Vancouver today (just for like...1/3 of the day. She dropped me off at my exam at 7:30 and came home at 7 pm with dinner. I love my mom). Yes, it's a pencil. It's compressed graphite that does not rub off on the hands but can draw from any corner.

I ♥ it.

Back to Business in Japan Term Paper.

Puppy turns 1 year old in nine days.

I can't say that I particularly like dogs. I like them from afar. Animals that go outside...I just don't like them touching me XD!!!

Thusly, to show ya'll what I appreciate from afar, here is the puppy Sadie after we walked for an hour on Nose Hill and wore her out.


Too damn freakin' cute

Xena whooped her ass, though. All the way down the stairs, hahahaha. Good kitty.

All over lj, everyone's joining the novel meme club. So, why not join in the fun? Besides, my progress is odd. :D

Wings of Chosen Flight - 88K (2001). Finished the whole goddamn thing and a rewrite. Sent it to DAW to get rejected *snickers*. I hated my main female character. Probably an issues.

Now here's the uncompleted mess between 2001-2004:
Assassin story - 25K before switching stories
Krytzie story - 30K before switching stories
Avery story - 15K before switching stories
Morgan story - 35K before losing the disk (shit!)
Wings Sequel - 10K here and there before I realized that I needed to fix Wings.
Other stories? Rayine story, Candice story, Void story...

Mending Hearts - 50K (2004). My very depressed lesbian story that I really should work on because it's awesome but I only work on when I'm extremely depressed. It's my taboo story. If I'm working on it, something's wrong upstairs. Since I've been on anti-depressants, I haven't touched this story. Though I'm reaching a point there I might be able to distance myself enough to work on it.

INSERT DRY SPELL 2004-2007

2007:
Fae Masquerade - Impulsive story of d00m. 67,500 words done in 3 months. Will go back to rewrite once I get into it. It needs major restructuring because I wrote it on a whim with less than 2 weeks of dreaming it up.

Infinity (15K) and Infinity Undone (10K) - Attempts to reform my Wings of Chosen Flight story centering around my favorite side character and making character I hate not-main. I really like the idea of Infinity Undone but...it's different. I mean, REALLY different. I don't know what genre it falls in, AT ALL. Yay for pioneering!

January 2008
Firefly - 35K. My rewriting of Assassin story. I was really on a role until I hit the problem of political intrigue. I need to figure out politic-y issues.

January 24 - February 19th 2008
interWIRED - 50K. An impulsive rewrite of Krytzie story that came out 60000000 times better than I expected. Am now doing rewrites to expand the first story arc a little and then going to go back in to develop relationships between minor characters to make the final part make sense. Hope to send out queries over the summer.

March 2008 - Present
Madison Slane story - uhhh, 5K so far? Attempt at adult UF. Another impulsive story. These seem to be the ones that I'm most apt to finish, lol. Will probably work on it more in May, after finals and Kyoto and block week and...uggh.

I am going insane. Really.

I have week left of classes and my PMDD is in overdrive and I am absolutely insane. I can't concentrate on anything. So I'm stuck, waiting so I can get to work on everything due next week.

I am going so insane that I thought I saw a wolf outside of my house.

Imagine, a wolf!

Crazy, indeed.

It was not a wolf. It was a gigantic, limping coyote.

O.o!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Has anyone on my f-list ever freelanced articles? What were your experiences with the proposal process and whatnot? Was it worth it?

It started snowing at 7 am. Photo taken at 9:15.

It's supposed to hit a high of +7ºC today.

That means all this is going to melt.

Calgary sucks.

What's your opinion on scathing reviews? I have issues with some books I've been reading lately but I'm not sure if people really want to hear my opinions.

In my professional reviews, I've scathed several books. They honestly...just had no effort put into them. I mean, when a book has the main character's name spelt wrong on the back of the book (and I've heard that they had the authors name spelt wrong on the hardcover version...), it's just plain bad.

But I'm talking about books that have received either mixed or high praise from other readers and I just find them...plain awful. Do you want to hear the down and dirty? Do you think it's right to mention these issues? Is it offensive or constructive? Is it useful or just humorous?

Well.

I finished my doll, scraping deadlines as close as I could (because that's what I do). I'll be borrowing Pam's camera (Pam=former editor and person running the project) sometime next week to take the picture for the project, but I still thought I'd share what I did with my trampy, trampy Shirley.





And, yes, her face involved a lot of whiteout and she's a little scary-looking...but it's all good!

Don't you love how Sophie could not afford to have the attention off of her for one minute? Of course the best picture involves her X.x!!!

I needed to make a post so I could use this icon.

Ridiculously cute.

Explicit content ahead:

What the FUCK is wrong with my University?!?!?!?!

University of Calgary, this September, will no longer accept tuition payments by credit card.

What. The FUCK!?

That means I have to waste an ENTIRE day waiting at the registrar's office to use the debit machine to pay my tuition with everyone else who can't use credits cards. Which is the entire university population. And, wait, of, my debit card has a max payment policy per day. I'd have to spend FIVE days there to pay for 4 classes and fees. FIVE WHOLE DAYS. Why whole days? Because everyone else is going to be there paying, too!

I'm tempted to go down there and pay my entire tuition in pennies to protest. This is fucking pathetic. They want to save in transaction fees...well, didn't you put in PeopleSoft (POS--don't get me started on how it doesn't know what my degree is and doesn't let me register properly) so people could pay easier?!?! OR did you do it for kicks, Harvey? You fucking asshole! Messing up our school by fucking around with our systems and showcasing your lack of common fucking sense. Dumbass!

I'm totally paying in pennies. Or at least quarters. Pisses me off.

No credit cards?! GRRRRRR!!!!! 30,000 plus students paying with debit and cash, possibly cheques. If they don't accept cheques...

I want to punch something.

Edit: So, apparently, if you have online banking set up you can pay with debit online. But that doesn't change the fact that if you don't have the coin presently, you can't pay for school without getting formal loan. It's so stupid.

Finally! A trip!!!


Image from http://cdefelippo.deviantart.com/art/steps-in-kyoto-32578899

To Kyoto, Japan! After finals! April 25th to May 2nd!!!

With Tanya! And Mom!



Ninja bento! I totally want to take an empty suit case with me! AHHHH!!!!

KYOTO!!!!

"In an attempt to give moral and ethical behavior more significance to current times, the Vatican has recently announced seven new deadly sins, published in an issue of the L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's official newspaper.

Kick ass! New sins to be guilty of!

What are the new sins?

1. Genetic modification
2. Human experimentations
3. Polluting the environment
4. Social injustice
5. Causing poverty
6. Financial gluttony
7. Taking drugs

Are you having fun yet? The original ones were:

1. Luxuria (extravagance, later Lust)
2. Gula (gluttony)
3. Avaritia (greed)
4. Acedia (sloth)
5. Ira (wrath)
6. Invidia (envy)
7. Superbia (pride)

Are you rocking the lists yet? There are fourteen deadly sins now. How many have I committed today?

1. Gluttony - I ate a big meal.
   
2. Sloth - I stubbed my toe horridly and couldn't work out.
   
3. Invidia - When is there a day I don't go through that?
   
4. Genetic modification - I ate some beef. I'm pretty sure something has happened to it somewhere along the line. And I drank milk!
   
5. Taking drugs - Yay anti-d's! Antihistamines! Antibiotics!
   
6. Human experimentation - I toyed with some sales people. And my mom.
   
7. Polluting the environment - I farted. But I also ate that genetically modified cow and I think it farts more than I! Also, I read the newspaper, used paper napkins, burped carbon dioxide, didn't compost an apple core...
   
8. Causing poverty - My own. I paid for lunch. *sighs*
   
9. Greed - I used a gift card to purchase a pair of jeans. They were on sale, too. They ended up costing $6.49! Talk about a deal!

What about you? Did you fall victim (oops, pun) to some of the new deadly sins? I was really hoping for "homosexual conduct" to come up in the new sins but I was gravely disappointed to see it wasn't there (was gravely too much of a pun?).

Anyone care to join me at a little home I made?


writeurbanmagic!!

I just noticed there isn't really a home for urban fantasy writers in comparison to published urban fantasy writers or just readers. So please come and join me over there :)

Poll #1148534 Contests
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

What kind of contest would you like to enter?

Any other comments? I'm trying to figure out a better way to do this. I can't afford $33 in shipping