I have been crazy busy and Nano has had to take a back seat. I think I'm gonna do another "Nano" next month when classes are done. With all of the final projects and finals coming up, I haven't had time for anything. Not sure if anyone on here was effected by it, but we had a nor'easter blow through last week. The streets were flooded and several trees came down in my neighborhood. I had two days off from work! I could have worked on Nano then, but a friend gave me Avatar to watch and I kinda fell in love with it and watched all three seasons in like, 2 days. Lol. I even got my whole family watching it.

I've missed talking with you guys but I have been reading my flist, just haven't had much time for commenting. ^^; Anyway, I hope everyone has a great day!

 I've done it again.  ><  I somehow have injured my wrist.  It's been wrapped and such, but the pain won't go away.  ;_;  So nano is on hold for a few days.  Typing this hurts.  And it sucks because *all* I do at work is write.  Lame.  -.-  I don't even remember hitting it on anything!

I'm actually doing Nano! :D 2,000 words in, which isn't a lot but hey it's better than I was expecting. XD  wolfraven80  and sacae  are already like waaay ahead.  You guys are machines, I swear.  XD  I've talked 3 of my RL friends into doing nano, and 2 of them are about 1500~ words in, the other hasn't started yet.  Right now all that's happening is random scenes but it's okay!  I haven't written anything in like.... 3 months? so no complaints here.  ^^

How are ya'll faring?  If anyone is actually signed up on the nano site, my username is the same as my LJ name so say hi!  I've still got the squeeeeee nano high, but I'm guessing that'll burn out this weekend.  Hahaha.  Also, Castle is awesome for the inspiration.  XD  Good luck everyone!  :D

I heard back from the Provost... and I'm graduating! :D Evan Stress Level: -100000 And I found out I don't need all 5 classes I was taking this semester to graduate. Sadly I have to stay in the art history class, but I ditched the psych class. That made me feel a lot better, and I've got *time* now to you know, do something other than going to work and doing homework.

Speaking of work, I can read without getting in trouble! So that means when it's slow which is everyday but Saturday I can read! So last week I finished: The Electric Church, The Digital Plague, and the Eternal Prison by Jeff Somers. And The Golden City by John Twelve Hawks. Eternal Prison took me a little longer to get through, it's the third in his series and I was still grieving the dead of a really awesome character. He did a damn good job getting you to like her, and then just BAM! she's gone. The main character, Avery Cates, is a first class asshole but he's really hard not to like. He's funny and noble. He's still an ass, but I think I just have a soft spot for characters like him. Tough on the outside, all gooey inside. Avery is a kitten with potty mouth and a big ass gun. XD Also, he calls himself, "Avery Cates, the Gweat and Tewwible," and it just cracks me up. Golden City was the last book of the Fourth Realm Trilogy. It was good... but I didn't connect to it as much as the first two (The Traveler and The Dark River), and the ending didn't feel... complete. One of the main characters, Maya, goes through a lot of changes but I don't feel her story was complete. She's a lot like Jaffar from FE7, and Gabriel is her Nino. But she never reaches the communication level that Jaffar does; he tells Nino he loves her. Maya implies it, but she never tells him anything, and neither does Gabe. I didn't (and still don't) want a scene for her to declare her love, blah, blah, blah but they never get their moment. They barely get screen time together. Other than that, it was a good book.

I need to go hop in the shower. Then I'm gonna raise a little in FF8. Because I can't go kick Ultimecia's ass until I'm level 100. Aura spells + Lion Heart + Canister Shot + Island Closest to Heaven/Hell = VERY EASY RAISING. Eden helps too. And Rinoa is junctioned through the teeth. XD Not even a Malboro can slow her down. Bad Breath? TOO BAD BITCH, I'M STATUS EFFECT PROOF. Then I just let her to go town. I love Rinoa. XD

I'm so tired. ;_; My nightmare spree is starting up again so I'm not really gonna get any sleep for the next week and a half-ish. Blarg. I just want to sleep but I don't want to close my eyes. >< It's every month and half to two months like clockwork.

Nothing really interesting has been happening here. I've been dying to play FF8 or FE but I have no time. >< Oh, did I mention here that I missed the deadline for graduation? Yeah. So I had to write a letter to the provost asking or an override to graduate... and I haven't heard back yet. Yeah. I should here from her tomorrow. So, *crosses fingers* And I need to start getting everything ready for my UVA application. It's still 10 months away... but it'll be here before I know it. How does time pass so quickly? I swear every time I turn around, another month has gone by. It's crazy.

I went up to JMU this weekend to see my gubby. It was really fun. Sometimes I just really need the time away like that, and he's always been there for me. I've been stressed. I found out that I missed the deadline for the graduation application. Yeah. I thought it was October 1st, not September 1st. I went to guidance today and one of the counselors said that I could get an override because of my grades. I just have to write a letter to the provost. It worries me a little, but he said that I should get the override. And graduating this semester will secure my place at UVA. Not that it's really in jeopardy, but I like to have things set and ready ahead of time. I am a perfectionist.

My gubby, Josh, found some pictures of us at prom. He gave them to me and it brought back some good memories. Not really of prom, because that was a train wreck, but just how we became so close. And in one picture, I actually look really pretty. This is rare for me, I'm not photogenic at all. XD

Anyway. A girlfriend of mine, Emma, has decided that she's going to "find me a good man." XD And now she's enlisting her boyfriend to help. She wants me to meet with him so he can help with the matchmaking. XD I am... terrified. XD This is going to be... interesting to say the least. Hahahaha. Who knows it could be fun! and she knows a few soldiers. she knows my weakness. Ahem. Anyway.

I need to head to bed honestly. I'm tired and I have to work tomorrow. Work is okay, just... work. XD I just get bored throughout the day and start daydreaming. Which isn't really a bad thing, it's just... well it helps to pay attention when talking on the phone. But uh, yes, bed time. Yes.

Classes are so boring this semester. This was supposed to be my *fun* semester. Art history isn't supposed to be this boring. But my professor is just dull. The computer class is killing me. To type, press the letters on the keyboard. A keyboard is the panel with small, finger appropriate sized buttons. For example, to type the letter "t" you must press the "t" key. Whatever I did to deserve this, I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry.

Work has been okay. There's this new woman that works me named Carol and I honestly do not like her. I've tried to, but something about her just feels off. I can't put my finger on it, but there's just something. Her attitude isn't that great either. She'll be condescending to me, then smile and try to play it off. She's worked at another weight loss clinic so she knows how things work, but, we don't do everything the same way. She gets really mad when I tell her, no, we don't do it like that and if you do do it that way, Amanda (the manager) is going to get angry with you. Then it'll get back to me that I'm not being helpful. Lame. I hope she doesn't last long. She just makes me uncomfortable. This is more just my gut feeling than any real reason, but I trust my feelings.

Blargggggg. I need to get ready to head to my computer class. I feel kinda bleh today. I was in a really good mood, but this health test I was working on kinda killed it. We're on the abuse and healthy relationships chapter. It's depressing to read.

Stolen from sacae !  This was a lot of fun to fill out, would ya'll fill it out?  ^^  Comments are screened~

Here it is!

1. Name (and what should I call you?):
2. Birthday:
3. Where do you live:
4: What are you studying/What are you working as:
5. What makes you happy:
6. What are you listening to now/have listened to last:
7. What is particularly good/bad about my LJ:
8. An interesting fact about you:
9. Are you in love/have a crush at the moment:
10. Favorite place to be:
11. Favorite lyric:
12. Best time of the year:
13. Weirdest food you like:

RECOMMEND
1. A film:
2. A book:
3. A song:
4: A band:

FANDOM
1. Favorite Fandom:
2. OTP/OT3:
3. Icon/Fic Journal:

PLUS
1. One thing you like about me:
2. Two things you like about yourself:
3. Put this in your lj so I can tell you what I think of you? 

For as much as I whine about not having time, I'm really enjoying myself this semester. I like being insanely busy with little time to do anything. It... keeps me focused oddly enough. My classes haven't been overly difficult; they're rather easy actually. Art history is annoying though. The topic is interesting and I really like reading the books and everything, but the professor is driving me nuts. He's an older man with Parkinson's and diabetes... and while he's very interesting to talk to, he's a terrible professor. He doesn't explain what he wants in his assignments. He just kinda... rambles. I mean, I'm fine with "being creative to do homework" but, I got a zero on a paper because he didn't explain which object he wanted us to do! Only like, 5 people did the right one. I was pissed. I've done enough extra credit to make up for it... but still. I got a zero. That's... I think that's the first zero I've gotten since... middle school? Maybe? I'm a perfectionist... zeros don't work for me. The other classes aren't really worth mentioning; mythology is so much fun. It's fascinating. Computer, women's health, and psychology are boring.

Last week was kind of an emotional roller coaster for me. I'm better now, but bleh. I hate weeks like that. This guy from high school that really did a number to me randomly popped back in, but I shut him down before he could me that "I miss you, please, come back" bullshit. Then I saw his friend that night. Yeah, they both appeared on the same day. I have crappy luck. XD The 9th was 2 years since my grandmother died. It's getting easier, but it's going to take a while. She lived with us, and I have her bedroom now. I can still feel her there sometimes. I guess the biggest blessing is that after a while, the details in your mind blur together... and you forget. She had Alzheimer's so the irony there isn't lost on me. At least she went peacefully. We buried her on September 11th.

My dad was supposed to be in the capitol on 9/11. I remember he couldn't go because his meeting got rescheduled. He was supposed to be at the Pentagon. This is also part of the reason I want to work with the military; I want to keep families together... bring the soldiers home safely. I harp on this a lot, but it really means a lot to me. Have you guys ever seen a ship come to dock? The sailors fly off that ship so quickly it's crazy. And then there's their families, wives, children, and friends. A lot of them tear up just seeing their loved ones again. It's really beautiful.

Anyway. That's enough of that. ^^; I have some free time now, so I'm going to try to get caught on reading! And voting at emblem_ratings. Has anyone heard anything about fe_drabble? I kinda miss that one. It was fun. There's a couple of apps I want to do for emblem_ratings, so I might type those up this morning too. How has everyone been? I've missed ya'll! Anyway, I'm off guys! <3

I'm still getting the hang of everything at work. Still learning the ropes. Today this woman came in and I explained her charges to her 5 times and she would not stop screaming at me. Finally, she called me an "incompetent idiot" and one of the nurses, Morgan, came out and told her to take her fat ass out. o_o;; Yeah. It's been one of *those* days. Then, not 5 minutes later, she calls! I had to to go the back room to dig out her file and there was a line of people waiting to get checked in, so I just sat this crazy woman's file aside. After she called, she asked for "someone from the Va. Beach office," so I went to get one of my managers, Kelly. Kelly asked her for her name and I'm staring wide-eyed at her because it's the same woman! I tell Kelly to put her back on hold and I explained what had happened. And then she blasts Kelly, and Kelly tells her that it's fine, because she's now on the "No Service" list. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeah. But I get paid tomorrow... so yay? XD

At least I have a job. I can't even begin to explain how thankful I am for it. >< And even though everyone is batshit crazy there, customers and employees, the owner is really understanding about school schedules and such. What more can I ask for, ya know?

And this has been amusing me all week. I've been running into sooooo many Fire Emblem names there, it's not funny. Today, a man with fiery red hair came in named Roy. It took all of my energy not to ask how Eliwood was doing. XD There's a woman that won the "biggest loser" contest named Altina something. Yesterday there was a lady with Almedha as her last name. There's a little lady named Soren. She has black hair too. I'm waaay too amused. Her husband goes there too and I thought she said his name was Ike, but it was Mike. XD There's also a Louise and a Lute. Lute is a last name though. I cannot stop giggling about this. People look at me funny when I see the names and start giggling. XD SEE WHAT FE HAS DONE TO ME? XD

School started this Monday. Art history isn't going to be too bad. It's fairly easy. Women's health is going to make me twitch. Seriously, I open the book and BAM! Vagina! o_O;; And it's the only thing in color in the whole damn book. -.-;; I open the book again? BAM! Birth canal! In my defense, I need a health class to graduate and there weren't very many choices. >>; I went to my interior design class? Yeah, she started talking about drawing programs and such and... I dropped it. The professor was giving me a headache and we didn't even do anything. Lol. And your grade is baised solely on presentations that you give every class. >< Yeah, I don't think so. I still needed 5 classes, so I picked up a psych class online. It's not too bad. The computer class is boring but also necessary. And my mythology class is going to be completely awesome. Seriously. I start nerding out every time I think about it. It makes me want to change majors again. But what can you do with a degree in classics and such, ya know what I mean? I think I might try to get a second BA... assuming I ever make enough money to climb out of the huge amount of debt I'll be in that is. XD See? That's my problem. I want to learn too much. It's kinda lame that your reward for *wanting* to learn more is even more debt. Unless you do it on your own... but I like the classroom feel. Yes, I am that much of a nerd.

Aaand now I need to check my student email and not do homework. I got a little flustered with everything, so I uh, color coordinated my planner for all of my assignments and such... no... I'm not OCD... n-n-not much. >>;

Happy Birthday, measuringlife !  

I hope you have a wonderful day dear!  :D  *hugs*

Gah! I'm so happy. I got a job today. ^^ And I get to wear scrubs because it's in a doctor's office as a receptionist. Woo. Dear God though; they have like... 5 different ways that everything has to be recorded and cataloged. Not that it's that big of deal... I like to organize things but uh, damn. XD It's not too difficult, but there's more to it than just answering phones. Tomorrow I have to get up at like, 5:45 because my shift starts at 6:45. I'm actually kinda nervous to answer the phones. Today all I did was make charts and such. And now I'm off to to do dishes.

Squee~ I has job~ ^^

Oh my God. I got my textbooks today. See, my parents are paying for my associates, and I'm paying for my BA and MA, because yes, I really do want to get my MA. Anyway. We went to get my textbooks today, and I literally choked when I saw the price. They cost $392 and I didn't even get all of them. Seriously. It was textbooks for 3 of the 5 classes I'm taking. Luckily, I already had one of the books, since I originally dropped it in my first semester. But oh my God. $392?? How is this even legal? x__x;; And I still have one more to get; the health book. My art history books? Yes, books. They came in a packaged set of 6. o_o;; And the interior design had two books. They cost almost as much as the classes do. >

Happy Birthday,sarjenka1213  and myaru !

Hope you guys have wonderful birthdays!  And Kathy, I'll see you tonight sweetie!  *tackle hugs both of you*

I started Final Fantasy VIII again. I've played this game like... 7 times? And I love it more every time I do. A-and it has Squall... and I love him so much. XD And Rinoa. And Irvine! XD FF8 is one addiction I'll never kick. XD

Yeah.... any hopes of doing something productive with my day? Gone. I need a Squall icon. Or Rinoa. Or--

I get a weekly newsletter from Doutrope and I started looking at some of the writing contests and such that have recently opened. I thought I'd share with ya'll in case anyone was interested in them. There's a bunch of different ones to browse through on the site, but here's a few that stood out to me:

Hint Fiction Contest: A story told in 25 words or less

Girl Crush: Stories about female/female relationships

General Flash Fiction Contest: Entries must be 1,000 words or less

Another Flash Fiction Contest: Entries must between 100-750 words

Defenestration Humorous Fantasy: Uh, that pretty much sums up that one. XD

I've been playing around with the hint fiction one, and it's actually a lot of fun to try.  You guys should give it a try!  Some of these are more just publications/journals than actual "contests," but others actually are.  :)  

Anyway, hope ya'll are having a good day.  <3

I found the university for me. The University of Virginia. My family and I drove up there today to check out the school. It's gorgeous. I loved it from the second I saw it. It's a very old looking school; brick buildings, Grecian style columns, very old Europe style. I loved it. It's in the Blue Ridge Mountains, but not that hilly actually. And the people there were really nice, just like in Texas! I was so surprised.

Now I just need to pick my major(s). There's several I'm considering. Browsing the course catalog probably wasn't a good idea. I already know I'll be in the College of Arts and Sciences there, so that's one step out of the way. I qualify for the auto-admission thing I think, so I really just need to get everything together for the application. I have to do the essays too, which is weird since I know I'll get in. It's confusing. I'm still kind of excited about writing them though. I am such a nerd. XD

So, generally awesome things about UVA. People dress up for football games. Like, suits and sundresses with big hats and pearls. Yeah. It's a tradition. I have a reason to buy dresses! you know when I have money There's a stir fry bar and a salad bar open every day. All of the transfer students live in the same building, so you can actually get to know people. It's not cliquish. And there's these dorms/rooms on the Lawn [in the center of the campus] that have real shutters. I've had a thing for real shutters since I was a little girl. I've always wanted a house with real shutters. I don't know why, but I have. And UVA has real shutters. Shutters for the doors even! I am too easily amused.

Plus, UVA has a lot of other benefits. I'll only be about 3 hours from home. So when I'm going crazy, I can come home. Or if, God forbid, something happens I can get back quickly. I'll have my car. Cost. And I feel like I'd fit in there. Oh, and the abroad program. I'd really, really love to go to Spain and/or Australia. Now I'm just trying to digest everything and get started on what I need to do. Whew. I'm done traveling for a little while.

Now I'm heading for Houston. I'll be gone until Friday, but I won't get home until midnight-ish. The plane leaves tomorrow at 5:50 am. o_O;; I have to get up waaaaay early. I'm gonna list the thousands of questions I'm going to ask, if ya'll think of any others I should ask, let me know? I'll check this tomorrow morning before we leave and add anything else to the list. This is really my only shot to ask everything, since I can't just day trip myself to Texas. [[Well, I could but driving for like, 22 hours straight would really suck.]] The questions are just in short hand because I'm lazy. XD So yeah, if ya'll think of anything else, that'd be wonderful. <33

( Questions )

Hey guys, I just got home. Well, a little while ago but yeah. The week was completely awesome, and I'll make a post about it later. :D Right now, I want to get caught up on reading ya'll's stuff and sit on my ass. Oh man, that's so amazing. XD Also, internet connection = win. Yes. But you what's the best thing about coming home? Aside from seeing my poodle and family, I mean. Soft toilet paper. XD

Challenge: 22 - Mistake
Title: Learning Experience
Word Count: 500
Game: FE7
Warnings: None really :3

( Learning Experience )