Because I Should Be Doing Other Things

It seems I only write here when I should be doing other things. You know when you have lots of stuff to do, and instead of taking it one step at a time you get really overwhelmed and do nothing insteaed? Yeah, I'm having one of those totally unproductive moments right now. I went to a debate meet yesterday and it was really fun because one of my friends that hasn't gone to meets in a while went and I listened to pretty music that he had on his ipod. I came in second and it was kind of annoying because I only got a ribbon instead of a trophy. I mean, Cape Elizabeth of all towns should be able to cough up some trophies..they're such a rich town. But I guess they spend all of their money on their sports. Oh well, it doesn't really matter. I have a math test on Tuesday and I'm nervous because I might do really bad on it and that would such. My friend is having a holiday party on Friday and I'm looking forward to it, and another friend is having a birthday party this coming Saturday. Good stuff, good stuff. By the way, if you actually read this it'd be awesome if you commented because that way I can actually tell if people read this.

What Can I Say, I'm Lazy

So, I got really busy and I know I haven't updated here at all. Mostly this was because of NaNoWriMo in all of November. It took up basically all of my free time, and when I had extra free time for writing, I wrote in my personal journal. Basically, that's my excuse for not writing in here forever. Oh, and I also had midterms to study for. Right now I'm working on (or, more accurately, avoiding) a research project on Brave New World. I'm trying to figure out if it just means that I'm extremely immature to find a textbook that describes the final scene in the book as an 'orgy of sex an violence'. I've concluded that I'm not immature, because one wouldn't expect to find the word orgy in a textbook titled Novels for Students. Let's see, there isn't a whole lots for me to write here. Actually, there's a lot, but I'm not in the mood to post my life for the entire random internet world to see. Oh, I got a part in the one act at my high school, which makes me happy. The director cast everyone, but I got an actual part, not one that she made up so that she could cast everyone. I play 'Goods' (like, material goods). What else is there for me to write? Well, I made a lot of new friends in high school, and I'm involved in an insane amount of clubs. I just read through all of my old blog posts, and I'm shaking my head about what a stupid eighth grader I was (and how stupid I was over the summer), but isn't that how it works- whenever you look back on what you've done in the past you think you were stupid. Probably, if I look back on this I'll think I was stupid right NOW.

A Surprise...

....I'm really good at debate! I not only won all three debate rounds, but I won the entire Novice meet!!! It seriously made me happy. I put a lot of work into my debate cases, and for once, it actually payed off. Plus, the people on debate are really awesome. Only, I was the only Freshman at the debate meet for Deering! I found a pair of shoes to match my Homecoming dress and they're really pretty, stappy blacks shoes, with heels. I'm still giving advice to my guy friend on the realm of dating and girls. It's quite fun. Let's see...what else am I up to? Lot's of stuff.

Hehe

I'm currently lecturing one of my guy friends on the subject that you shouldn't hit on a girl if she has a boyfriend. He isn't really listening to me. It's rather funny...

Stupid Cold

I am so sick right now. It totally sucks...
Anyways, school has been going pretty well. I made plans today to go shopping with one of my gal friends for our homecoming dresses either at this funky consignment shop downtown or at Hot Topic. I'm going to be a punk/dark faerie for Halloween. I found the most awesome costume for it in the whole wide world at Material Objects and I found a punk pair of boots to go with it (all for less than the price of one of the cheapo costumes at the Halloween store by the mall...). I mean, the boots were made in Italy and are really well made and comfy (with, like, five inch heels). Now I just need to go buy a pair of wings for my costume. Or I could just use what I've bought already for my costume and go as Death from the Neil Gaiman series Sandman.

High School is Awesome (Except for Some Things)

Well, I really like high school. I'm on the debate team, in drama, in civil rights, and in peer mediators. I love my classes and have tons of cool friends in them. It's all pretty much good....

Oh, and in case you're wondering why I'm not posting anything about James: my transferring led to us not being together anymore (that, ladies and gentleman, is a fancy way of saying that he dumped me). Anyways...it's okay because things had been weird between us anyways, so things had basically been leading up to it. Like I said before, things are really going REALLY WELL for me. Tons of new people (I'm friends with lots of upper classmen and guys in my classes shout 'hi' to me from across the hall...it's all good :D).

So, comment if you read this, just so that I know if anyone bothers to read this anymore (probably not, but whatever, I just like to vent anyways).

Transferred...

High schools on the first day of school. I like my new high school a lot. I do miss James, though. But lots of my girl friends are at my new high school, and that's totally awesome.

'Studying'

Well, I studied with James today and that was fun, because we studied at a waterfall and then we stopped studying and just hung out and talked. And, for once, I didn't worry about the fact that I wasn't studying. I do believe I'm starting to lighten up just a bit, now isn't that nice.

Me? Like Opera?

I saw the first half of the Phantom of the Opera for the first time today...I watched it with a friend because she said that it was really awesome. I'm really not a big opera fan. but I really like it. It's just all so passionate and heartbreaking and wonderful. And, since my friend is awesome like that, we swooned as we watched over the Phantom and obsessed over the pretty dresses.

I'm Lazy (And I'm Learning Trig)

Ah well, I've gotten lazy, what can I say. I know I should be updating this more often, but I've set it up so that it shows my Twitter updates, so that's sorta like I'm updating my blog...right? Okay, not really, but at least it's something. So much stuff has been going on lately. I've been hanging out with my friends a lot (having sleepovers and such), and get this...I'm teaching myself trigonometry! Don't worry, I haven't gotten so geeky that I'm teaching myself purely out of curiousity, I want to be able to skip not one, ladies and gentleman, but two years of math so that I test into Junior math. I'm (I won't lie) really really really nervous about the test, because I want to be able to test in REALLY badly. People *coughJamescough* have told me to not worry, and I see their point, freaking over it does no good...but still I'M NERVOUS!!!

What. The. Heck

Only two Democratic presidential candidates support gay marriage: former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio. What's up with that?? Oh, and by the way, check out what I'm doing in the pretty Twitter column on the right side of my blog. Pretty cool, eh?

Humidity and Salons

Ah, it's so yucky and humid out. Anyways, today I went to this salon place (it's really nice) and got my eyebrows all waxed and shaped (I was sick of my Wolverine/Hermione in the books eyebrows I have). Seriously, everyone plays up how much getting a wax job hurts...I barely felt it.

I haven't been doing too terribly much lately, besides swimming, writing (a short story at the moment), reading Eclipse and Black Boy, leading a Death Note RP (I'm L!!! *and Misa, which is rather fun*), and waiting for my parents to get home with Mexican take-out.

Coffee and Perfume

...It sure can wake you up, even if it's gross (organic, fair trade, freshy ground and brewed, but still gross, because I put waaayyy too many ice cubes in and made it all watery). See? That is why I like to buy coffee. But since I got a coffee maker for the holidays and didn't feel like spending three dollars on a coffee, I brewed some coffee, added soy milk, ice cubes, and whipped cream. I sipped, and realized that it was far too watery. Then, in a fit of idiocy, I added some cocoa to it for a mocha thing, but since it was cold because of the ice it didn't dissolve. Moral of the story? If I'm tired enough to need coffee I probably shouldn't make it .

I came across this perfume site because of the ad I saw in Shojo Beat, and wasn't dissappointed. www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com has gothic and interesting scents that I'm rather tempted to buy. There are ones that are based off of characters in Neil Gaiman and H.P. Lovecraft. How cool is that? And to have a purfume called grog...just awesome. I think I shall blow some of my babysitting money on a scent, but I can't decide which one.

'Busy' or Busy?

Sometimes with people I really start to wonder, you know?

The Fifth Movie

Haha I'm so excited about the fifth (Harry Potter, obviously)movie, which is weird, because compared to the books I didn't like the past movies at all. I think they cast Umbridge perfectly. Anyways...I'm going to probably see it on Wednesday with family at the earliest showing the theatre has (which is 3pm-ish). Meh, none of the fanfic I read has been updated in ages (my favorite hasn't been updated since May, but it's totally worth waiting for).

Live Earth

Okay, does anyone besides me notice what's slightly screwed up and ironic to have massive concerts on every continent (that people have to FLY to) to raise awareness about global warming? I mean, probably all of the artists performing took OVERNIGHT flights (way worse for the environment than flying by day) in PRIVATE jets (REALLY bad for the environment). For the time being, however, I'm going to just ignore the hypocrisy of it all and just enjoy the good music....
Okay, I just need to say one more thing first, though...do you know that Al Gore owns several houses, at least one of which is a mansion, and he doesn't use clean energy for any of them? Not to mention he drives around in big arse cars....seriously, he of all people shouldn't be preaching about the environment. His carbon footprint is as big as Bigfoot's.

Drawings!

I finally scanned some of my drawings and am posting them, so...comment and let me know what you think, please!

From left to right, top to bottom:

1. Yuki from Vampire Knight

2. Just some random girl

3. Nico from Runaways

4. Hunny from Ouran High School Host Club

5. Haruhi from Ouran High School Host Club

6. Another random girl

Blog Glitch

My other post was too long, so I'm going to finish it here...
The nice things about volumes two and three is that the characters go swimming a lot, thus are topless alot. Do I like this? I'll never tell ;)! This may be one of my favorite shojo manga. Yes, ladies and gentleman, it is shojo, so if you don't like shojo on principle well, than, too bad for you.

I Finished Script Frenzy [And Other Things]

Well, I finished Script Frenzy and reached twenty thousand words at about eleven this morning. My braces still hurt really bad, but I'm getting used to them (and I'm able to eat more than yogurt and pudding). Let's see...what else is new? I'm really into the manga/anime Ouran School Host Club. It's so good! In the picture I have here you can see all the host club's members, including the twins. (In case you are wondering, the twins= <3...haha.)>

OW! [Fuck I'm a Metal Mouth]

Well, today I got my braces and my mouth hurts really badly. Even worse than that the braces look so BAD on me. It's totally gross. I look like that girl from Finding Nemo who kills all of the fish (well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but whatever). I can barely eat food...it takes forever (how do people deal with things?).

PortCon 2007 {just finished up}

Right, so the past three days I've spent most of my waking hours at PortCon 2007. It was seriously awesome, as this was the first year I actually went to panels and such, as opposed to just working (though I did that, too). I got an Ouran School Host Club tie, a Death Note wallet, a Full Metal Alchemist poster, and a Death Note poster (along with lots of coffee xp). I cosplayed as Nana (from Nana, obviously). However, only one person figured out I was cosplaying as Nana and most people thought I was cosplaying as Misa from Death Note (from the movie, I'm not a blond). So, since I have no problem with Misa other than the fact that she's a dumb whore I just said yeah if people asked me if I was cosplaying as Misa. I mean, I was sorta dressed like her (with the fishnets and miniskirt and all....).

Blushing While I Read...

I just finished the book Anatomy of a Boyfriend. It was a great book, but seriously naughty (lot's of dirty stuff). I mean, it's nothing I haven't read about before, but it was sooo descriptive. I mean, and the library labels this young adult? I seem to have been (unintentionally, I swear) choosing the most mature young adult books at the library lately...last night I finished this other book The "It" Chicks, and that had it's deal of sex, drugs, and swearing, too. Now I'm just hoping my mom doesn't decide to read it (at the beginning of reading it I told her how much I was liking it). I mean, it's weird enough that we both read the same Neil Gaiman stuff (at least his stuff is labeled adult....).....

Schools Out.....*And I'm Sorta Missing It*

Isn't that lame? But yeah, I don't see my friends nearly as much in the summer, they're all travelling or at camp....

Damn {I have writer's block}

What the title says....
And I had a good birthday....
And it's the end of the year (almost)....
And I'm going to miss people in high school....
And I STILL have writer's block....

I <3 Script Frenzy

It's awesome. I love my characters (they're all wonderfully screwed up), I love script writing...I love script frenzy. I think the best mistake I've made so far is write an entire scene where my anorexic character bakes cupcakes. James is writing a script, but he won't let me read most of it because I get mad at him whenever I do (I don't like the character that's supposed to be me). However, I can never stay mad at him because...I just can't, I'm lame like that. So, yeah, the end of the school year is approaching. My birthday is on Saturday. I'm currently randomly laughing at something my character has said (my mom is looking at me strangely...). Back to writing...

High Heels and the End of the School Year

So...it's almost the end of the school year, which is pretty cool. I can't believe middle school is almost over; it seems like just a couple of days ago I was saying 'I can't believe elementary school is almost over'. Today I went shopping at some outlet malls in Kittery (sp?). I got this awesome pair of black clogs. They're pretty normal as far as shoes that I get go, except for one thing: they have a two inch heel! I've NEVER worn high heels before, so it's sort of different, but it's kinda cool. So...yeah...

Freaking Out (About High School)

Mkay, so here's the deal. I'm freaking out about high school again. They don't know where CBHS is going to be (either ground floor of PHS or at PATHS). Also, I've been thinking about what if CBHS doesn't work out (too easy, etc)? If I transfer out I'd probably go to PHS, as they have better AP and less people that I know (mean snooty people) there, but I also didn't really like PHS when I shadowed there. However, if I transfer out of CBHS I'd have to change high schools, which would suck (and I'd leave behind some friends, such as James at CBHS who I'd miss). Also, the entire idea that I may have CHOSEN THE WRONG SCHOOL is creeping me out. I knew my good mood wouldn't last ^.^.

Weekend

It was a weekend of movies (Spiderman 3, In Pursuit of Happyness, and The Princess Bride), gardening (new plants, new pots, and lots of weeding), and whatnot (my new favorite word). Well, yeah, pretty self-explanatory, besides the whatnot part, and mystery is the spice of life, right?

Brownies Are Yummy (And Dares Are Pretty Cool, Too)

Well, I just finished making brownies (it's, like, my favorite baked good to make). I also just watched last Monday's Heroes episode for a second time (my mom hadn't seen it yet). Let's see...today we were supposed to go to Funtown, but we didn't because it was rainy. That was pretty lousy, because we had regular BORING classes instead. Hmm...and in our class at school it seems like everyone is either 'ZAPing' people or 'ZAPing' people, dare version. I got ZAPed (dare version). I haven't carried through with my dare yet, but out of all the dares I've gotten over the years this one is pretty cool (and no, I'm not going to tell you what it is).

It's Been A Long School Year

Last night I was thinking about how things have changed so much since the beginning of the school year. I mean, I was reading through my journal from the beginning of September (before school started) where I was worrying that everything was going to change and suck in eighth grade. That's what got me thinking; things HAVE changed a lot. However, the really cool thing is that I actually like the way things have changed. I could list the things that have, but I don't want to bore you guys. But anyways, long story short, stuff has changed, and stuff is awesome. Right now I'm correcting a French test that I got an 88% on...so...yeah

Well.

I am tired. I usually am. Except when I have coffee. Though that rarely keeps me awake long enough. I don't get the math homework. I'm writing painfully short sentences. Well, I was just noticing that I don't really write anything new here, it's just basically the same thing five bazzillion times. So, since I want to make a list, here's a list of things you might not know about me (maybe you do, I don't know) *not in order at all*:
1. I don't like Oreos or wafer cookies
2. I suck at geometry
3. When I was in kindergarten I was convinced that I wanted to be a farmer
4. I often get plot ideas from nightmares
5. I've read Harry Potter books 1-4 at least 5 times each
6. I never stay mad at anyone for longer than a week
7. One of my top two favorite authors of all time writes literary fluff
8. I knit (seriously)
9. I read superhero comics
10. I'm addicted to coconut mango sorbetto
11. In general I root for the villians in books more than the heroes
12. Sometimes I can be a girly-girl
13. I know how to play D+D (I blame my brother)
14. I'm a good cook (and I like to cook)
15. I grow bonsai
16. I've dyed my hair three different colors
17. I'm a pack-rat
18. When I grow up I want to move to Ireland (Galway)
19. The idea of going to high school sort of terrifies me
20. I'm better with a bandsaw than I am with a paintbrush

Script Frenzy and Showing People My Writing

Well, as a sort of extra birthday present to James I let him read my writing (almost all of it, anyways), including lots of sucky poetry (one of which was about him *I'd forgotten to take it out*). Also, I'm doing Script Frenzy, which means I'm going to be writing a 20k word script in the month of June. I actually think my script will be pretty good; however, it's going to be really dark. No more literary fluff for me, I'm going to actually write something dark, serious, and (hopefully) interesting. I got a great idea in the middle of the night this weekend and I'm just working off of that. Another thing that will be different about this piece of writing is that none of the characters are 'me', and none of them are anyone I know either. Sure, I can sorta relate to some of my characters, but they are truely works of fiction this time (which is nice in case I decide to kill a character off).

STILL In A Good Mood

Well, I'm still in a great mood. Yesterday was fun because I went to the dance with James and hung out with a ton of my friends at a game night. The music at the danced pretty much sucked, with the exception of '1985', and a couple of other songs (I liked one by Avril, James didn't...). Anyways, I'm still in a good mood, which is like a record this year for me (like, an entire week of being crazy happy...what is with me?) Whatever, you won't see me complaining.

GREAT mood

I don't know why really, but I'm in an absolutely fabulous bouncing-off-the-walls-good-mood. I just feel so good, like I've just had tons of coffee and everything good in the world has happened (haven't had any coffee and nothing out of the ordinary has happened).

Field Trip

Yesterday was totally awesome. Seriously. It started of okay, and then it ended great. For starters it turned out that James (bf) could in fact go on the field trip we were going on to Bowdain, despite his knee energy. Then, we split up onto two buses and there was NO ONE good on my bus (who wasn't already sitting with someone else), so that was sort of sucky. But, then all the kids on the other bus got off and moved to our bus and so I ended getting to sit next to James, instead of someone else who was bugging me about why I was mad at one of our mutual friends (I didn't exactly want to tell him). So, we listened to my mp3 and just hung out :). Then, we toured Bowdain's facilities and had a GREAT lunch (I had a grilled veggie panini - so good). So, it wasn't educational at all, but it was fun and there was good food, so whatever. Plus, on the way back I got to sit next to James again (not kidding I think this is like the first time in history I've actually been able to sit next to someone I wanted to on a bus ride). And, to top it all off it was like, 75 degrees outside.

It's Sunny Outside, I'm Done With My Homework and *gasp* I'm In a Good Mood

Well, like the title has said I'm happy. I had an okay day and then I came home and I'm listening to the Bowling For Soup cd "The Great Burrito Extortion" online that I haven't bothered to buy yet (it got really bad reviews and such). Anyways, it's pretty good, my favorite song is "High School Never Ends"...it's got some great lyrics. It's weird, it hasn't been a great day or anything, but I'm all *squee* anyways. School's going pretty well (A+ in Science, Social Studies, LA, French, and (I think) in Algebra). I mean, when you think about it I should be in a BAD mood...last night's MCR concert was cancelled and I'm not speaking to one of my semi-friends, but I'm in a good mood. I suppose I shouldn't overanalyze it, but that's what I do ;). Oh, the new Avril cd is pretty good too. Like the BFS it's really total pop, nothing new or unique by any means, but it's good. My favorite song on the Avril cd (The Best Damn Thing) is "Hot". I swear, some days I just put that song on repeat and listen to it for, like, a half hour (I'm prone to do that when I like a song).

Actually Doing Something With My Poetry...

I'm doing like what was done with the book Witness, and I'm taking my poetry and putting it together so that it tells a story. It's actually turning out pretty good. I'm just running into problems telling what events the poems are refering to (so that the reader won't be totally lost) without telling them straight out. It's interesting to write, and I'll probably never show it to anyone that I know (it sort of would make them think I'm depressed and screwed up xp).

Life Can Suck...Life Can Be Good...You Get A 50/50 Chance

What the title says. I have stuff to do and I'm tired...so I'll work on this blog entry later....

Poetry

Lately, instead of working on my stories at night or writing in my journal I do one of two thing (1) I draw (I'm getting really good at drawing people *manga style* and then inking the drawings), and (2) writing poetry. Lately I've been doing A LOT of the latter. A couple of nights in a row I've stayed up writing and drawing until almost two in the morning (which I don't know about you, but for me that's rather late). The annoying thing about it is that I can't really show people when they ask me what I'm writing when I write poetry because, well, it's poetry. I generally write free form and occasionally haikus. But yeah, it's sort of weird because I haven't written this much poetry since, like, three years ago.

Beautiful Day...

It's 71% out!!! So awesome...I spent the morning volunteering at Cultivating Community weeding out in the nice, hot, gorgeous sun. I'm a bit tired (due to random inspiration last night that led to me writing and drawing until past one in the morning). I had a fun time last night (before the random writing/drawing) with a couple of my friends and my boyfriend (well, he's my friend too...I'm rambling...must be the lack of sleep) at a game night. It was surprisingly awesomely fun. So now I'm in a tired, good mood.

Movies, Fallen Trees, and Jumbo Cookies

Yesterday we shopped a lot and I got cool stuff (this awesome all natural makeup). It was the first full day with my Dad being back from his business trip, so it was nice just to have him back home (not to mention he brought back neat freebies and Sees Chocolate). Yesterday evening I watched the movie Stranger Than Fiction; it was great! I found it hilarious, being a writer, and I highly recommend it. It’s one of the better movies that I’ve seen lately (along with Jerry MaGuire, About a Boy, and *another movies that’s name is escaping me*). The funny thing that the movie (Stranger Than Fiction) got me craving big chocolate chip cookies (the crispy yet chewy kind you get in bakeries). So, today Mom and I baked biscuits, brownies, HUGE chocolate chip cookies, and HUGE raison chocolate chip cookies. Everything smells really good. Today it has been storming like crazy. My backyard is totally flooded and one of the trees in a neighbor’s yard fell down-into our yard and on top of our fence! So now the fence is just a big tangle of wire and the canoe we keep out back is in questionable shape.

HYPER!!!!!

Yeah, I'm really hyper today, because my mom, brother, and I hung out in the Old Port and were tourists in our own town. So, we shopped, ate lunch at Whole Foods, and had gelato at Maple's Ice Cream. Anyways, I had 'Drinking Chocolate' at Whole Foods and it was like an espresso. Also, I had cappuccino gelato at Maple's. So now I am on a total caffeine high and HYPER!!!

(The image to the left is the Maple's Ice Cream logo).

It's Snowing...In APRIL

Well, it's snowing again, in the middle of April, which really sucks. It wouldn't be so bad, but the play was postponed until tommorrow night because of it. I was really looking forward to the play (well, in all honesty I was more looking forward to the hanging out backstage and whatnot, but whatever). I've been in a pretty good mood in the past week, with the exception of a couple of annoying people being, well, annoying. The one thing that probably won't be so great about the play tommorrow is that most likely certain relatives of mine will show up and then give me a really hard time asking me who I like and whatnot (it's none of their beeswax, and I'd just as soon not tell them that I'm dating, for the same reason). Back to my good week; everything is really awesome...and I'm going to focus on that.

Backstage For the Play...

Well, I'm updating my blog as I wait to go onstage to make a fool of myself with my hair-with-2-tons-of-hairspray and a hideous dress (I get to say 'soap, no bubbles I think'...woohoo). So, I'm bored and James is reading over my shoulder. He was nice and let me stick some texturizing cream in his hair so now it is nice and straight (it's funny, some of the girls asked him if he got a haircut :) ). James is playing Daddy Warbucks and he does a good job of it (unlike me, he can actually *gasp* sing). So yeah, I'm in a pretty good mood just hanging out with my friends, missing classes, and messing with Jame's hair (oh, and I suppose the play is okay too).

Time For A List...

Okay, so as I've posted earlier (and some stuff that I haven't posted) is pretty sucky lately, so I think it's time for me to make a list. Ironically, I originally got idea's for lists like this from the book series where one of the books is Time Stops For No Mouse (pretty weird, isn't it?). It's where you write a list writing things that your grateful for (not just the obvious stuff). I find making lists like this makes me look on the bright side a bit more so...here is goes, in no particular order, the list of things I'm thankful for:
1. My family (I started to list everyone, but then I decided to just keep things simple; they're all totally awesome)
2. My school doesn't suck (as far as middle schools go it's halfway decent)
3. All of my friends...(totally insane, nice, cool, fun to be around, etc)
4. My boyfriend...is awesome
5. Snow days (have one today)
6. High school (the one I'm going to looks pretty cool, even though very few of my friends are going)
7. Teachers...are, for the most part, with a few exceptions, are tolerable and don't hate me :)
8. Blue hair dye that turns out green...gotta love it
9. Diet Mountain Dew...drinking it now *yummy*
10. Random nice people on online forums
11. Cool online forums...most notably the NaNoWriMo Forums and http://www.fullmetal-alchemist.com/forums/ (FMA forums)
12. Modern medicine...for making everything better
13. The internet, and search engines (although I waste lots of time online *see #12* I save equally large amounts of time thanks to all of the information on the internet)
14. Books (as escape, entertainment, thought provoking, informative coolness)
15. Plants (pretty flowering ones)
16. Nail Polish (pretty light pink polish)
17. Writing, as a great way to de-stress, and just because
18. Days when I can sleep in
19. Good Listeners
20. Music (I love to play the piano and listen to music)
21. Second chances
22. Random things
23. Bikes (in the summer I bike everywhere)
24. Good, thought provoking conversations
25. Democracy
26. Laughter
27. Homemade pancakes every morning
28. Being good at academics
29. Fish, and other pets
30. Singing (even though I don't sound good)

Well, that's just a brief list, and I know it's weird and random, but writing lists is something I do to cheer myself up (though I think this is the first time I've let other people read it).

Because My Boyfriend is Nice and Sweet and Funny and I Missed Him When He Was In Italy (is that better?)

Well, he's back from Italy and now he wants me to post on my blog again because I haven't posted since Friday. He got me this awesome pretty necklace (I'm wearing it now) and brought back a funky glass soda bottle. Well, anyways, I've read lots of good books as of late, including New Moon and Twilight. I haven't finished the latter yet, but New Moon is great (though Edward got on my nerves at the beginning). Hehe...I think I'm in a I-want-to-be-annoying mood. All in all, I think it's better than the bad mood I was in last week. I went to a math meet yesterday and I scored over half the points our team of five people earned, and that was pretty cool (speaking of which, I made the mistake of saying math is cool again in math class).

Thank the Gods, It's Friday

So, I suppose it's obvious that I've almost survived the week after all, despite everything. In just a little over two hours school will be out, then I'll have piano lessons, and then I will eat dinner and probably watch Raines at the same time with my family (we taped it last night). Yesterday was fun because I had the day off and I hung out and went shopping. So, in the end, my friend was right, even bad weeks do end. Now I just have to ace the social studies test I have this period...

This Week Is Just Getting Better And Better

This week sucks. Seriously. Okay, now that I've gotten that out of the way (grins sheepishly) I can get on with things. A friend pointed out to me that the thing about bad days is that they end. I agreed with her, but now I'm starting to wonder, because since Monday it's been one lousy thing after another. I just got back from the orthodontist and I'm going to have to get braces on my top and bottom teeth, and they're going to probably be on for at least a year and a half (all of my freshman year), and it's not going to be cheap by any means. Really, I used to consider myself optimistic (pessimists are too whiny), but now I'm starting to worry that I'm becoming a pessimist...*takes phone call*. Dammit, I don't think that I'm getting pessimistic, because this week is the f*cking week of doom. That phone call I took as I was writing this was my friend calling me to say that his sweet dog (nicest dog I've ever met) is going to be put down on Friday. I'm trying not to get all weepy, but I've known this dog for over six years and she's older than my friend. Why does everything bad have to happen at once (because I'd really like to go back to being optimistic sometime soon)?

Blue-Green Hair (And Yes, It Was Intentional)

So, due to my bad day yesterday, and the fact that I had bought hair dye on Sunday, I dyed my hair yesterday. Well, to be honest my dad did, since he is good at that sort of stuff. It was blue dye, but it came out this lovely emerald green/midnight blue color. It's drastic, but it's nice and I needed something to change about my look (I got bored, basically). I know this is lame, but even though today sucked, the hair made it tolerable.

Well, Today Was All Sunshine And Butterflies

Man, I just had a really, really bad day. (I've lost count of how many times I've sworn profusely over little things since I got home.) *and thus I begin to rant*
We have this substitute teacher for three weeks because our awesome social studies teacher is out getting a hip replacement so the class was totally out of control. In crew I was stuck helping all of these guys who are total jerks to me on their portfolio's and that was annoying. We has lunch in the classrooms and I had to eat in the wood shop room with none of my friends. Then in French class, where we also have a sub, we had to split into groups and I was with my ex (who I am on less than good terms with), two guys who have crushes on me, a semi-friend, and another guy, who feeds on chaos like a vulture. Then the chaos-feeding-guy has fun with my ex insulting me and making me look stupid. To top everything off, we had to run in gym and one of my friends told me this creepy guy (a friend of my aforementioned ex) had commented on how he 'could watch me run all day'. And all of this was with my boyfriend in Italy; I sort of miss him (math was boring with no one to pass notes with).
So now I feel really lousy...

Dreadfully Tired

I am extremely tired from (a) stupid MEA testing for four days this week (12 stinking hours of testing) and (b) babysitting until 11pm last night. Yesterday I was so tired from the testing I slept in the longest I've slept in years....until past noon. When I finally woke up and looked at the clock I was a bit startled, to say the least. Anyways, I finally went out and got hairdye. Due to lack of purple hairdye in the store and a change in mind I got a deep blue color.

Yes, But Does It Look Like I Care?

The older I get (yes, I know I'm not that old), the more I realize that it's really important that you do what you think is right and do what you like. There are so many things lately where I just have to sort of step back and go 'Yes, they may say that you'll hate it, or they don't like what you're doing, but is it making you happy and seem right?' First I had to choose which high school to go to, which most of my friends aren't going to. More recently, there's relationship stuff where everyone seems to think that I'd actually like to hear their opinion about, so they tell it to me. With the exception of my close friends, and a few really cool people what they have to say isn't positive. Now, the saying 'if you can't say something nice than don't say anything at all' doesn't always apply, but in this case it does. The ironic thing is, too, is the people who are saying mean things really don't have a clue about the person that they're negatively judging, or about the situation at all. However, the people who are my friends are at least all being awesome about it and know that I'm happy with what I'm doing, so they're nice friends and are happy for me. And, most important, as I sit here at the computer watching National Geographic in the background I realize something that makes me smile. When it comes down to it, doing what makes me happy and I like is totally worth all the hassle.

Playgrounds, A Case of Jello Brain, and Hair

Today we had an early release so my boyfriend and some of my play friends went to the playground in the park. It was my idea, though I mentioned it BEFORE I realized how terribly muddy it would be. Yeah, as you might have guessed, because of all the melting snow (due to gorgeous weather) there were lake sized puddles in the park. Playing on the playground was totally awesome though, as always. I have jello brain because of all the standardized testing we have had to endure this week (and have yet to endure). I'm talking about over three essays and sixty questions a day here: not fun. I am thinking about dying my hair purple. I think it will look awesome like that and I need a change to stop the monotony.

Update on "Meet Death"

Here's the latest version of the story thus far:
Death really isn’t all that bad, all things considered. He’s tall, handsome, charming, he’d be swooned over if he wasn’t, well, Death. People are usually much to caught up in their own petty little passage on to really get to know him. They are always “Eek, I’m dead. Woe is me!” He put up with it for thousands of years, but last year he finally got sick of it all and set up the Dead Support Group. It was really just to shut them up, but it became dreadfully popular in the realm of the dead and soon enough he was stuck running a meeting every single year that consisted of people gathering around in an infinitely long circle of chairs and going “Hello, my name is Bob (or Joe, or Suzie) and I’ve been dead for four years now. It was a heart attack that did it.”
Poor Death was then stuck being the sympathetic ear, which was a rather big pain. I mean, by the time he listened to the thousandth fellow who died of a heart attack was he really supposed to be sympathetic? Most of them weren’t exactly angels, so they would have been murdered at some point or another anyways. A heart attack was really quite merciful, but for some reason they didn’t feel that way. Remembering names was hard as well. All the egotistical overweight executives started to run together.
Death really isn’t the problem, it’s Mortality that always messes things up. Few mortals every learn in their lifetime that they are not indeed the same person and go on about with their foolish assumptions must be one and the same, not finding out the truth until their death, though most don’t even find out then. This probably is for the best, as Mortality is rather ditzy and really doesn’t give a damn how people die. She is much more concerned with making sure her jet black hair is perfect, though she has no one to impress. The one time that she attended a Dead Support Group meeting the dead rioted, but I don’t blame them.
It was the thirty-fifth year that Mortality attended the Dead Support Group meeting for her first time. It was Death’s idea, and she probably wouldn’t have gone if he hadn’t been so whiney about it. You see, Death was sick of having to take all of the blame for people dieing, when it wasn’t all his fault. It was mostly Mortality, really. If it wasn’t for her half of them wouldn’t be dead. In truth, he had no idea how things would be without her, but that’s what he imagined. It made things easier when he reminded himself that she had a use, because otherwise it was nearly impossible to tolerate her and her antics. When you are Death you have to get along with people, which isn’t really fair. Apparently death is just as unjust as life is. Death only knew of the matters of the afterlife, he had to rely on the dead to relate how life was unfair as well, having never experienced it himself.
Back to the story, the way I remember it. What was I saying? Oh, yes, it was the thirty fifth year of the Dead Support Group when Morality showed up for the first time. She made quite an entrance, too. Her hair was long and braided into hundreds of braids that whispered of tales as yet untold as she walked. Her skin was rich and dark, with her blue eyes providing a startling contrast. The gown she wore was from the Victorian era, though it had been shortened to only fall just above the knee. It was a sight to behold, she had planned it that way. She longed to see and be seen, and if she didn’t stun her audience she threw and tantrum of the worst kind. You can get caught up in the memory of her as well, though I shall not anymore.
She entirely interrupted the meeting, just appearing in the middle of the group and going, “Dear brother, what have you done now? Not another mess for me to clean up I hope!” Death was clearly irritated; no matter how long he existed he never quite was able to ignore how terribly irritating Morality could be.
“Sister...” His voice was calm, but also a bit testy, “Could you come back another time?” Mortality tittered, delighted by what he said.
“That’s fine, telling me, Mortality, to come back another time. You know it doesn’t work that way.” She turned and looked every dead person in the eye, like only she can do.

Snogging (And Other Great British Words)

Yesterday I watched the movie About A Boy at a friends house. It stars Hugh Grant and takes place in the U.K. If starring Hugh Grant isn't enough, since it takes place in Britain it has all sorts of awesome words in it, such as snogging (kissing), shagging (s*rewing), and brilliant (they just say it a lot more). So, in short, if you want me to like a movie just film it with cool British words and accents.

Passing Notes Can Be Good

Today I ended up passing notes all through two periods with my friend (well...now he's my boyfriend as well :-D). So, we had a very weird conversation where we both played dumb and it was funny. Anyways, it ended with him asking me out, so now I am very happy, because he's an awesome guy and, like, one of my best friends.

High School

It's finally starting to sink in that I'll being going to a high school with only around two close friends, and some friends that I don't know all that well. I know I made the decision to go to the expeditionary high school way back in December, but now I'm wondering; did I make the right choice? I mean, I chose the small, new high school that just opened two years ago and is moving to a different location this year. It won't be the typical high school at all (my friends that are going to the other high schools certainly aren't helping by telling me I'll hate it there). I really liked it when I shadowed, but I'm second guessing myself, like I always do. I just have to keep reminding myself that when I shadowed I liked it the best and I should trust my impression of the school, not someone else's.

Mistakes (d'oh)

Okay, when writing I am discovering that I have a terribly bad habit of not being able to stand the character that I based off of me five or so months ago. (Think editing and then randomly going "How could you be *insert expletive* stupid!!!!") I think that really isn't a good thing to hate the choices that your character makes. On the bright side, at least I smartened up (in real life) and stopped being so stupid in the relationships arena.

Math Is Cool (No, Really)

Yesterday I was in math class and the teacher showed us a different way to solve a problem. She then went, "Isn't that COOL?!" Since I did think, in fact, that it was cool I responded with an excited, "YEAH!" This, in an eighth grade math class apparently is not the appropriate response to a 'isn't math cool?' question. The entire room went quiet and turned to face me. I doubt I'll ever live it down. It was cool, though, (I doubt no one, adults excluded, will ever agree with me on this).

Snow Day

Well, I only slept until nine in the morning, due to a loud sibling, but that still was good. I read quite a few good manga today, including FullMetal Alchemist. I really wasn't expecting it to be good, but I needed something to read and it turned out to be great.

Terribly Tired

I am really sleepy. I think there shall be a snow day. If there is one I fully intend to sleep in until noon, at least. I should write, but alas I do not...

Test Prep

This past week we've been spending large amounts of time getting ready for a standardized test. It is SO boring...

Starved For Good Fiction

I am starting to realize how starved I am for good fiction, taking into account I was so excited to read good Harry Potter fanfiction last night I put off doing my homework for another couple of hours, and I reread some of the books on my "favorite books" bookcase for, oh, about the seventh *cough, possibly more times, cough* time. It seems as if I've read everything in the library, excluding the new stuff. I just want some good fiction to curl up with, possibly an entire unread series; is that too much to ask? Well, if anyone has anything to recommend let me know; if lucks on my side I haven't read it yet.

GOOD H.P Fanfiction

I just came across this seriously awesome Harry Potter fanfiction where Malfoy gets transformed into a rat and becomes Ron's pet. Although I don't really think Harry Potter is all that well written *dodges rotten tomatoes*, this is hilarious and I highly recommend it.
http://www.fictionalley.org/authors/maya/DMTABR01.html

Nothing Interesting

Well, I made a goal that I would blog daily for a year, but I don't really have anything to say that I'm willing to stick on the web. I'm considering going all "Gothic Lolita" for the yearly comic convention that takes place in my city in June. I know it's sad, but I've already started planning my outfit...

Hacking Apart My Novel

I read another thing in the book How to Grow a Novel; you should take the worst scene in your novel and take it out. There is an entire scenario in mine where my MC goes to a dance. It's about two thousand words long and I think I'm going to cut it, because nothing happens to advance the plot in it.

Laughing

Today was a yoga class day for me. This week lots of crappy stuff has happened, so naturally I was rather stressed. I take the yoga class with my mom, and while doing one of the poses we caught each other's eyes and burst out laughing. It was just a total release of all the stuff that I'd been dealing with. Just giggling was so nice; I really have to remember to laugh more often. It makes a world of difference.

Taking Out the Red Pencil

Yesterday I checked the book How to Grow a Novel out of the library and I finished it this morning. It's a great book that came out in the ninties on the mistakes that novelist make and how to go about editing your novel. After reading it I took out a red Crayola pencil and started viciously editting the first twenty pages of my novel (the only part I've printed so far). I now have something to work with, and am in the process of going through and making corrections.

When You're Stressed

I was thinking today about what I do when I'm stressed (note: not stressed because of stuff you have to get done, but stressed because of a situation that is out of your control). This led me to wonder what other people do when they're stressed, because I doubt it's the same stuff that I do.
My Stressed List:
1. Re-read a book that I've read several times (anything by Tamora Pierce, Meg Cabot, or the Pendragon series).
2. Paint my nails.
3. Bake something sweet and yummy (brownies or cookies).
4. Work on the tank that I'm knitting.
5. Write poetry or write in my journal.
6. Last but not least, I eat (or, shall we say, slightly overeat.) I know that it's unhealthy, but if stuff is going badly that's what I do.
What's your stressed list? Post it!

Sushi

Today I am hanging out with my grandparents at their house. I don't remember quite how it happened, but I mentioned sushi and watched both grandparents wrinkle their noses at the thought. This, of course, prompted me to attempt to change their mind and prove that sushi is good. As luck would have it, my brother wanted to go the supermarket to get food for lunch, the same supermarket that happened to have good sushi (do you see where this is going). I got all veggie sushi and *success* got both grandparents to try some. Unfortunately, my grampy reacted the same after tasting it as he did when he tried the hummus I made when I was trying to be vegetarian, he said that he could see 'how it grows on you', but he wouldn't like anymore. I finally took the hint.

When To Just Shut Up

Today I was hanging out at a friend's house with three or so friends. One of my friends accidentally let the fact that he had acquired a complete copy of my novel slip. The more he tried to talk himself out of the situation, the worse he looked. It finally got to the point where I was laughing so hard about his inability to just shut up that I couldn't really me mad at him. The ironic thing is that I did something similar the other day, only online instead of in person. I mentioned something offhand that I didn't really want the person to know, but instead of just shutting up I has to try to talk my way out of things (it was as bad an idea for me as it was for my friend today). So, in short, I suppose my advice for today is that if you find yourself in a situation were you've let someone know something that you shouldn't have just shut up and avoid messing up anymore.

Back From SHOPPING!

I just got back from shopping and I had SUCH GOOD LUCK (yes, the capitals are necessary). I went to a bunch of outlet stores and there were really good sales. I got all of these pretty hoodies and stuff, though I won't bore people with my descriptions of the clothes, but they are AWESOME!!! Mostly I got really colorful things from J Jill, a big change from my usual goth outfits.

Off Shopping

I'm off shopping today!!! Therefore, I won't be writing on the computer, but instead in my big red binder where I keep my diary and my writing (I guard them both equally). Well, I'll be writing until the bumpiness of the road makes it hard for me to write, anyways. By the way, if you are over the age of eighteen please take a couple of minutes to click on the MS Funding Petition link on the right and fill it out to let your legislators know that funding MS research is important. Federal funding for Multiple Sclerosis research has been on a serious decline in the past couple of years and it's important to stop this disturbing trend.

Quotable Movies

I watched one of my favorite romantic comedies, French Kiss, last night. It is really fun to quote. The following is a brief list of my favorite movies to quote.
1. French Kiss:
"Happy - smile. Sad - frown. Use the corresponding face for the corresponding emotion." -Kate
"That's all? You have no strategy, no armor, no bull$hit?" -Luc
2. Ever After:
"I shall be known in history as the man who opened the door." -Leonardo da Vinci's character.
3.Princess Bride:
"Tyrone, you know how much I love watching you work, but I've got my country's 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it; I'm swamped." -Prince Humperdinck
"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." -Inigo Montoya

For the First Time Since November...

Now I actually deserve that brownie sundae I ate earlier (with fresh out of the oven brownies). I actually opened up my NaNo (National Novel Writing Month) novel and started working on "Part Two: And Then..." (if you can think of a better title for part two PLEASE let me know). This is the first time since November that I did something other than edit my NaNo. Also, I took on the time consuming task of putting the dates in, since I just slacked off and put the day of the week without the actual day halfway through. This took forever, along with figuring out what the date 'seven weeks later' would be. These are the things that I do on Saturday's, the only day of the week that I'm in a good enough mood to tolerate it. Here is what I have written so far. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Part Two: And Then...
Seven Weeks Later
Tuesday, November 10
Look, I know I should have written in these past couple of months (I don’t really know why I’m explaining why I didn’t write, it’s not like someone is asking ‘Hey, how come you haven’t written in that diary of yours’. I guess I’m explaining myself to my conscience, or maybe the adult me that will come across my old diary twelve years from now and wonder why I didn’t write for over a month.) Things were too boring for me to bother me to write, with tests and the usual drama that I seem to have gotten used to this year, and then things were so busy that I didn’t write, mostly because I was out of the habit. So, since I didn’t have any homework today, since I finished it all in class I decided that I’d get this out after school and fill in, in brief, what has happened since I last wrote in here. I’ll probably forget some stuff, since it has been a while since I’ve written, but at least I’ll get basically what has happened down here. When I’m done with that than I will continue to write daily (or at least almost daily) so I won’t fall behind and do catch up like this again.

A Sleepy Saturday

I really look forward to Saturday mornings throughout the week, when I'm stressed. The reason for this is because I take a Saturday morning yoga class with my mom and it is SO NICE. It helps me unwind and get stretched out at the end of the long week. Before I started taking this yoga class Saturday's were the day of the week that I was the crankiest. Now I am all happy and bouncy *big difference*. So anyways, I just finished having lunch after my yoga class and am probably at the happiest I'll be all week. When I'm at the my happiest I tend to write the most, because I can trust the fact that I won't kill off my characters and can actually advance the plot. First, however, I must go to the grocery store to get eggs so that I can bake mint brownies. Then I will write, really, I will.

On Endings

If I choose to edit and stick with my novel there is yet another thing to consider, which I was asked yesterday. How will I end it? I know that the story will be split into two parts, the first section, which I've already written, and the second, which I've only just begun to write. I know that in the second section she will come to the decision to break up with her boyfriend. Once I write that I don't know where I should take the story. I'm going to just have her be single and happy that way, but should I end the story with the end of the school year? Or should I end it about halfway through the year when she's just cool with who she is and when the drama has died down? Yet another possiblitiy: I could end it with her first day of high school. I could take the easy way out and just end things in the middle of it all, leaving the possiblity of a sequel. At least that decision is at least twenty pages away...

To Edit, or Not to Edit

I know I said that I was going to post one of my favorite parts of my novel, but I'm realizing I have a lot of work to do on it before I show it to anyone just yet. For example, I'm finding periods where there should be question marks, and 'to' when there should be 'too'. I am also discovering the depressing fact that my favorite parts of my novel are long conversations that have pages of dialogue. This wouldn't condense easily into a short story, and really are part of the novel as a whole. There is lots of work to be done on my story, yet I am not sure if it is worth it. I don't know if people would relate to my characters. My main character is at the top of her class, can't keep a secret to save her life, is new at dating, and is naive, yet paranoid (yes, I know I mentioned this before). My other smaller characters include the girl's crazy friends (Goths, Emos, Preppies), a girl who hates her, a manipulative boy (who eventually becomes a semi-friend), and other random people. Yes, my main character is loosely based off of myself. I am currently beating myself up about the not-being-able-to-keep-a-secret thing. I never really thought of myself as a gossip girl, but I (here's a scary thought), might have to view myself as one if I keep up with my chatter. People don't need to know everything that goes on in my life; I need to start keeping secrets and random information that I come across to myself.

On Middle School Drama and Writer's Block

The drama of middle school is foolish. People either have low self esteem or they think they're all that (or, if it's possible, a bit of both, depending on their mood). Especially this year people seem determined to exploit each other and even sometimes (get this), actually blackmail each other. I'm sorry, but I'd like to be able to talk to people who call themselves my friends, on IM or in person, with the knowledge that I can tell them things without the entire world knowing what I'm saying. This is one aspect of the plot of the novel that I wrote during National Novel Writing Month last November (see the link on the right). In the story my protagonist wonders who she should trust when there are an influx of new kids to her middle school. She fluctuates between naive and paranoid and is forced to deal with numerous bloated egos. I am about 90 or so pages into the story so far and am stuck. My main character needs to realize that her first boyfriend isn't all that she originally thought he was and that she really should break up with him. Up until this point in the story (which is written in diary format) there have been about two entries daily, but the decision to break up with her boyfriend should take about a months time, at the least. I simply don't know how to go about this slow realization without making it redundant or boring. I stalled by saying to myself that I was just putting it aside for a couple of months so that I could figure things out. That was in the beginning of December, now it's the middle of February and I still have no clue how to go about things. On the bright side, even if I do give up I have some plotlines that could be reduced to a ten or so page short story, so it wouldn't be a total waste. A post with one of my favorite scenes that deals with the middle school drama stuff I was talking about up above to follow. I just have to painstakingly edit it first.

Beginning of "Meet Death"

Death really isn’t all that bad, all things considered. He’s tall, handsome, charming, he’d be swooned over if he wasn’t, well, Death.People are usually much to caught up in their own petty little passage on to really get to know him. They are always “Eek, I’m dead. Woe is me!” He put up with it for thousands of years, but last year he finally got sick of it all and set up the Dead Support Group. It was really just to shut them up, but it became dreadfully popular in the realm of the dead and soon enough he was stuck running a meeting every single year that consisted of people gathering around in an infinitely long circle of chairs and going “Hello, my name is Bob (or Joe, or Suzie) and I’ve been dead for four years now. It was a heart attack that did it.” Poor Death was then stuck being the sympathetic ear, which was a rather big pain. I mean, by the time he listened to the thousandth fellow who died of a heart attack was he really supposed to be sympathetic? Most of them weren’t exactly angels, so they would have been murdered at some point or another anyways. A heart attack was really quite merciful, but for some reason they didn’t feel that way.Remembering names was hard as well. All the egotistical overweight executives started to run together. Death really isn’t the problem; it’s Mortality that always messes things up. Few mortals ever learn in their lifetime that they are not indeed the same person and go on about with their foolish assumptions must be one and the same, not finding out the truth until their death,though most don’t even find out then. This probably is for the best, as Mortality is rather ditzy and really doesn’t give a damn how people die. She is much more concerned with making sure her jet black hair is perfect, though she has no one to impress. The one time that she attended a Dead Support Group meeting the dead rioted, but I don’t blame them. It was the thirty-fifth year that Mortality attended the Dead Support Group meeting for her first time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the beginning of my short story (unedited). I intend to make it 2,000 words, maybe shorter. Let me know what you think so far (I can take criticism).

Cliche Plots

How cliche can you let something get and have it still be good? I was wondering this as I wrote today. It's a problem I run into a lot. There are ideas and plots that I come up with where one or more aspects have been done before. The thing is, a lot of it is different and refreshing, too. I think there is a thin line between reusing a good idea and copying practically an entire novel. There's a short story that I'm working on and it has Death as the main character. Will readers be able to get past the fact that Neil Gaiman and others have done this before and enjoy the story, or has the idea of Death as a main character something that should be left alone?