Onward, forward, away! . . . *trips* . . .

A brief word:

Heeeey! It's that time again. I returned to school this past Sunday and boy it already feels like a month. Yeesh. But I'm glad the moving-in bit went without much of a hitch, although me mum is sending some stuff from home. Nothing out of the ordinary: knives, bullets, grenades, Anthrax . . . what?

By the way, have you ever had the experience where a bunch of people told you that a certain class is so painfully easy it almost hurts, so you decide to take it because you need the gen eds? And then it turns out it's not so easy after all? I HATE that. And I fear that's the situation I've fallen into with my Solar System course. Now, it doesn't sound TERRIBLE, thank God - in fact, I might enjoy it. But it will be work. Which is 'ugh' for me, considering that I already have three - count them, THREE - writing courses under my belt, an acting course and a vocal ensemble (hopefully - still awaiting results) in addition, AND applications for grad school. Nnnnyeh!

In other words, I will really need to hone my time-management skills this year. Not just this semester, either, because I'll need to do my Senior Project in the spring, which is essentially another independent study. Only I won't have 3000 miles of ocean separating me and my instructor.

Ah well. Pain builds character, I guess. I just hope I don't build more character than I can handle. DX

This all will probably mean that time on the Internet for fun will be majorly reduced - no surprise there. I almost cannot believe I had the gumption to post a brand new story: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6266357/1/Hellsing_The_Glory. Yes, you're reading that right. It's a Hellsing fic. I sent this chapter to a friend of mine way a-ways back. She liked it, and I reread it and liked it, so voila. I'll probably make very slow progress on it. Which doesn't mean I don't want reviews. Duh. :D So if you read it, do drop a review.

Now, some disturbing news has reached my ears, and I haven't been able to confirm it yet, but nearly made me crawl into a corner and sob with grief: Barnes & Noble is, apparently, folding. I'll look further into it, but I really, REALLY hope this isn't true. For crying out loud, aside from Amazon, it's the only place I know I can get Trinity Blood books from! And, and . . . I would really miss being able to walk into it and just imbibe the view of thousands of books lining the shelves and knowing they were mine to select from.

I guess I'll just have to be satisfied with going to a library. I know they're free, but it isn't the same.




"You're pretentious, this club sucks, I have beef. Let's fight." - Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Good Morning, Sunshine! Or Snow . . .

A brief word:

Today when I went to my dad's bank to get travelers checks for my upcoming trip, I saw a TV screen flashing some random bits of news on various subjects. One newsflash said that excited scientists believe that they will be able to locate Earth-like planets in the next few years.

Yeah, just like when my parents keep promising that we'll go to Paris 'next' summer. I'm not holding my breath.

It's coming down to crunch time and I feel rather unprepared. Which is bad, but I'm not ready to freak out yet. Right now we're figuring out if I need to buy my books for my independent study now and carry 20+ pounds of books on the plane, or wait to rent them from the library or have them sent from home to London once I'm there. Some of the books I know I can get at any library or bookstore - novels, mostly. The others my mom hopes she can order from Amazon and have sent to me overseas - the main question is the extra cost for shipping.

I've also been reviewing my independent study proposal, which now appears more daunting than a few months ago. Guh. I'm to conduct a study of Scottish history and research family history and somehow fit the two together. It'll mostly be what my advisor calls a "culture shock" experience. But as intimidating as it still seems, I really am excited about exploring the countries (Britain as well as Scotland) of my ancestors. I feel I've had more contact with British culture than Scottish culture, so the latter will be more new and maybe more of a challenge to take in.

But, for now, I'll focus on the immediate present. Right now we're all watching a movie about Florence Nightingale starring Jacelyn Smith, Timothy Dalton, and the ever lovely, ever wonderful Jeremy Brett. I don't really know anything about the historical figure, but the movie portrays her as a young woman who wishes to be more than a lady of high society and eventually pursues her passion to help the poor by practicing medicine. It's kinda of an age-old story by contemporary standards, but I'm becoming more and more aware of how challenging it can be to pursue one's dreams. It's more than just dreaming about them, but about going out there and finding opportunities to fulfill them. That takes an amazing amount of courage. Go, Flo, go! And give Dalton a good mack from me. ;D

Anyway, I'm figuring out if I can do anything on here regarding my stories. I have still more fiddling to do with the blog.


"D. It is written" - Slumdog Millionaire