By and large, this is a journal to update/brag to you all on my third (THIRD!) triumph over the forces of NaNoWriMo, the masochistic effort to write 50,000 words in the span of 30 days while not letting your life crumble around you simultaneously. This year was rather particularly tough considering that it was going on at the same time as fall show at school, which I was in, which also nommed on my time like it was so much peanut butter. But. I still won.

This year was also difficult because, silly me, I decided to write realistic fiction. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Oh my God, never again. Don't get me wrong, it was a really good experience for me, and I love the end result though it is of course in desperate need of editing. But I think in the future I may just stick to being able to say "AND THEN SOME COOL MAGIC STUFF HAPPENED" every time I need a plot device, rather than having to actually think about it. It's a lot easier to build a plot structure when you're writing in a pretty pretty ideal world, rather than the setting being Portland, OR. Still. I really like it. The idea (for those of you that didn't know) was to pick up four characters from old dead storylines and revamp/develop them while putting them all in the same place at the same time. I ended up adding a fifth new character before the end as well. It was also written in first person, and now I'm having trouble writing in third person again. xD

The other news (I suppose) is my visiting of colleges over Thanksgiving break and the few weeks preceding it, and that I'm going to start putting together applications very soon (possibly today). Two of the colleges I'm looking at are in Southern California, which is very far away, but on the other hand the average yearly temperature is 72 degrees. 72 DEGREES. O_O I want. Plus Scripps has all sorts of qualities that I know would suit me really well... then again, so do all of the colleges. COLLEGE IS HARD D:<

And of course...

I CANNOT EVEN REMOTELY WAIT AT ALL TO SEE ALL OF MY PANTHEON PEEPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No, not a wizard... a senior.

Yes, yes, I've been a senior (in high school) for about 1 1/2 months already, and it's not the end of the world and I have plenty of year left. But it's still kind of weird. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward dearly to college, and not feeling as much like a baby compared to all my friends already in college... but it's weird.

What brought this on, incidentally, is that I checked my senior box at school Thursday... and retrieved four pieces of paper, all of them meant specifically for seniors. Mostly the one that was odd was a letter from one of my fellow seniors reminding us all of a project she started to take pictures of us all our freshman year and then again our senior year, and asking when she could take the second set of pictures. I'd almost totally forgotten about that, but I do remember when I did it my freshman year, senior year seemed too far away to comprehend... and now it's senior year. And I'm... mostly comprehending it.

Let it be said, I'm not angsty about this. I really am super excited for college. But boy oh boy, it is weird.

In other news... November is in like 14 days. AHHHHH. It is indeed NaNo time. I have a setting and characters, and I'm excited, but I'm reckoning this year I really will be getting no sleep because of it... seeing as fall show is also culminating in November. Let me repeat: AHHHHH.

Yay. I went on Saturday to Build-a-Bear workshop with my friends and had mucho fun and got awesome presents, thanks so much guys! My big sister got me Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, which is fantastic fun. I also got a lovely locket from and a disc of the best episodes of Star Trek TOS from our dear friend Abby, who is not a deviant... and a hilarious comic/card, and from money from a comic book and another lovely card with our OCs on it. Then today I went with my family to a supra-fancy restaurant with a beautiful view, great food, and free desert since it was my birthday. Beats a non-virgin margarita, I say. xD And I got a nice new camera, and yummy chocolate... chocolate is always good. And bought myself a dress. Quite a good time.

I've been out of school for over a week, and am now in full swing... in terms of going to bed at 1 or 2, waking up at 10 or 11, and spending my days doing, honestly, next to nothing. I really need to get out a petsitting flyer or I will be bored very soon. Amusing myself endlessly with Youtube in the mean time. And Marvel.com, since Youtube apparently doesn't have all of a certain series I'm slightly obsessed with right now up. (Christine knows what I'm talking about... I think the rest of you do too.)

Hope y'all like my junior project pics. :3 Sorry for the massive picture spam, I just took a lot and put a lot of effort into it... not nearly as much as YokoPyro did into hers, of course, but I like them, so you get spammed. Hah.

And yes, I have done some drawing type Visual Art like I said I would, and yes, I did make the altered book I was talking about, and I really like the result... and would upload it, if I had a scanner. So yeah. That's what's up with that right now.

Other than that, I'm looking for recommendations of a new video game to play (borrow, rent, buy, whatever.) Been thinking about getting FF Crystal Chronicles from a friend, but if anyone has any other ideas of what I'd like, let me know!

xD By plant sex I mean the pollen creation which is making me SNEEZE. (Seriously, all of Tai Chi class my nose was exploding.) And by sunburn I mean... sunburn. Somehow, I go to Hawaii and come back with barely a hint of a burn just on my shoulderblades that goes away after two days... but then I spend lunch/advo/period 4 outside and my entire upper back and shoulders are red. This also made Tai Chi unfortunate and difficult and... kind of fail. (seriously, there's no way to do Tai Chi well when your shoulders hurt every time they move. It was major fail.)

In other news, there's a late start tomorrow (YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY) which means I need to choose between a) spending my time wisely and working on my junior project in the morning, or b) sleeping in. GUESS WHAT I'M GONNA DO :3 Whatevs, I'll probs bring in the sewing machine (which I am borrowing from a friend because mine was stolen by someone going to hell) to extended core Thursday and I have all weekend to do it anyway. (Procrastinators unite tomorrow!)

Other than that, I'm excited for prom (very!) and sad that all my TV shows are over for the season. Especially because Lost's season finale had some... minor problems with the writing being made of fail. But I do plan on spending this summer watching the latest season of House and, of course, Star Trek. Star Trek until my EYES fall out.

Nothing else much to say. I just felt like making a journal entry.