8. What's your favorite genre to write? To read?

COMEDY. Oh baby. I loves me some comedy. It's my favourite thing to write!

Unfortunately, it also seems to be the only thing I can write. As I mentioned in yesterday's wall o' text, I lack confidence whenever I dabble in other genres. Snappy dialogue, elaborate setups, clever punchlines - those, I can do! But action, drama, mystery, they all seem beyond my talents at the moment. Okay, okay, I'll stop beating myself up.

( You don't have to tell me I'm not funny, I can tell by the murderous look in your eyes. )

Speaking of The Brothers Karamazov reminded me: last week, I caught the the last third or so of an old film adaptation on the classic movie channel. Sure, I've long come to expect that how I picture characters in books will never match a director's vision. That's not my beef. My beef is that they changed the ending! You can't do that! It messed with Mitka's character, says I.

It wasn't all silly, though. At least there was that one scene that felt as though it supported one of my crackpot theories. "Then who killed father?" cries Ivan. Alyosha bows his head and turns to leave, simply stating "You know who." Ivan is not satisfied, and reaches out to his brother. "Who?!" he insists. Alyosha continues to walk, pulling up his cowl, staring resolutely ahead. "You know who."

Ahhh, that mysterious tone of voice was just the way I thought it should sound when I read the book. Huh. From what I watched, no one ever called him "Alyosha", though. It was always "Alexei". But everyone loves him, so you've just gotta have the nickname! What gives?

I feel ill. About half my coworkers were feeling under the weather today. This is troubling. Better go grab some medicine and bundle up.

--

In the book I'm rereading, A Madness of Angels, there's a brief moment where the protagonist wanders into the cinema. He watches a movie, and describes it thusly: "The plot was something about a genius arms dealer who discovered redemption, cardiac conditions and an interesting and potentially lethal use for spare missile components in a cave."

What film do you think it is? I don't recall giving it much thought when I first read the book, but now that it's crossed my mind, it's gotta be Iron Man, right? Right?! I don't watch a lot of movies, so sue me!

3. How do you come up with names, for characters (and for places if you're writing about fictional places)?

I don't write much about fictional places. It's something I should get around to! One of my original works in particular, after all, is stuffed to the brim with strange worlds to explore!

I'm phenominally picky about names. I will spend about twenty minutes staring blankly at the screen if prompted to name a Pokemon or an RPG protagonist. I'd like to think I'm good at selecting names, but it's a process, lemme tell ya. The name has to fit, and sometimes it takes a while to find one that's juuuust right.

As for where I get the names, that depends. Sometimes they just come to me. Like, "...Oh, [name]! That's perfect for [character]!" Sometimes, they are inspired by things I see around me. Pekoe was created several years ago, when I was in the grocery store browsing the teas. I found myself thinking "'Pekoe' is a cute-sounding word. I should use it for a name!" and bam, my adorkable, orange-haired, freckle-faced, irrationally exuberant chef was born. Did you know, in the early concept stages, he was very shy and reticent? Baaahahahahaha!

( That by any other name would sound just as... Er, wait, how did that go? )

I just got around to watching this week's new episode of CSI: Miami and oh, boy, that Evil Lawyer was hysterical. He was like some campy comic book villain. He had this overblown, smarmy English accent, waved his hands around a lot, abused onomatopoeia - my description simply couldn't do him justice. He would make a fine member of the Batman Rogues Gallery circa 1967, is what I'm saying. Needless to say, I giggled a lot.

And there were two stupid puns in the pre-opening sequence. We got both a "Roll credits," and "That's a wrap," as a means of telling the bad guy that the jig is up. The one-liners are the best part.

I've started rereading Kate Griffin's A Madness of Angels today, both because I needed a new book to take with me to work, and that the sequel is out next week. This book makes me crave curry. Nine times out of ten, if food is mentioned, it is curry! Delicious, delicious curry!

Like I'm going to pass this one up! For the best: Ahh, but where to start? I've read so many books that have affected me in so many ways, I can't truly single out just three. This is assuredly not an end-all list, so there!

BEST(EST)
1. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. There is something both magical and calming (magically calming?) about this book. It reaffirms my way of thinking, is sweet and sombre, imaginative and otherworldly, and reminds me unshakably of Katamari Damacy (and vice versa). I believe I was originally given a copy by a teacher, for guidance, so give it a shot sometime and perhaps it can do the same for you.

2. Watership Down by Richard Adams. You know, that cute book with bunnies! I love bunnies! Now, I tend not to enjoy "talking animal" books. That is, animals behaving in ways and relating to one another as humans would. They are in the guises of animals, perhaps, but their characterization is utterly human. Make sense? However, Watership Down does not feel like this at all. Rather, it's as if the reader is simply observing the bunnies in their natural habitat and has the added bonus of being able to understand what they're saying. Not to say that it's boring, oh no, no, no. If you aren't in the mood to pick up the book to see what I mean, why not give the animated movie a try? One that likely traumatized my class in third and fourth grade when we watched it for Easter. The snare is never going to leave my mind...

3. ... ... ...No, no! I simply can't limit myself to three! So many great books, so little time! Aiiighhh!

Instead, some notable contenders would have been Good Omens, Ninteen Eighty-Four, To Kill a Mockingbird, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Ender's Game, Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, Catch-22... Oh, heck. Next time, can we pick best literary characters? That would be easier! I'm neglecting some great series, too, like Sherlock Holmes, Horatio Lyle, Agent Pendergast...

Look, if it bothers you that much, just pretend I wrote something magical and adventurous and full of eccentric characters demonstrating questionable levels of sanity in the third spot, deal?

Now, the worst...!

Eh. I got nothing. I am absurdly picky when it comes to selecting something from a book store. A book has to 'call' to me before I'll snap it up. Some irresistible force draws me in. Perhaps this is limiting what I eventually read, yes, but it does act as a lovely fail-safe against acquiring a bookshelf full of clunkers.

If I had to pick, it'd probably be a selection of asinine titles I had to read during school. Ones about issues, and current events, and coming of age, and tragedy, and family drama, and hardships and turmoil and Look At This Shiny Newbery Medal, You Guys! Piling on the drama does not a good book make! The trick is to pile on the brevity, the humour, the absurdity, then pull the rug out from under our feet (like a few books I've read in recent memory, sob sob).

Or, barring that, I'll simply nominate that one chapter in Atlas Shrugged that should honestly be renamed "Shut up, John Galt." Come on, you thought it, too.

What about you guys? Have any "These are the greatest, read them now!" books to throw at me? Or how about "Avoid these at all costs, they're a waste of time and trees!"?

I simply knew November couldn't remain unseasonably warm for much longer. I was looking forward to my leisurely walk home from work, too, but conditions being somewhere just shy of a blizzard made me renege my plan. Plus, I didn't have my new, kicky winter boots with me! Where's the fun in that, huh? See, every year I keep telling myself "nah, I don't need boots, I'll be fine", which just goes to show what a hackjob of a Canadian I really am. The fact that I hate shoe shopping might factor in, too. But nevertheless, I finally caved and bought some a while ago - they have pom poms, how could I resist? It complements the pom poms on the ear flaps of my bunny hat (the moral of the story is, more pom poms).

One more shift in drive-thru and I'm going to be good on my promise to smash in cars with a tire iron, I mean it! What is with being chronically understaffed? It ain't a one-Morgan job, let me tell you. And of course, the tiniest fleck of snow coming from a sky that barely qualifies as periwinkle, let alone grey, means that nobody wants to leave their cars and come into the store. At least I got off the clock in the nick of time. As the next girl took my place, I kept my headset on long enough to hear the next order: hooooo boy, we got us a bottleneck. I think we had about four cars waiting for the one stopped at the speaker, as they changed their mind and phoned other people asking what they wanted who then changed their minds and... Well. I'm sure you can imagine. Or better yet, don't. Think of your blood pressure.

Oh, and to the one lady that insisted "a tall Americano should be $2.26, it's always been $2.26, I know you changed the price on me, I'm not paying the extra ten cents, I only brought $2.26 because that's what it's supposed to cost, you're going to give it to me for what I want to pay," slapped down her change and left: I hate you.

...No, no. No more work talk, no more work talk! Happy place, happy place!

My brother and I love New Super Mario Bros Wii, though it's understandably touchy playing it with two people. I can't even fathom attempting any sort of precision platforming with four, unless everyone has a lot of lives to burn. Though in actuality, either to skill or paranoia or dumb luck, most of our deaths have been our own fault as opposed to any sort of collective effort. I tip my hat to my bro, who managed to fall into the lava in Larry's castle numerous times all on his own, and again hilariously perished after we had already defeated the boss by jumping into the pit at the side of the arena. Eerily like watching him fight Reznors in Super Mario World, come to think of it. He'd knock out the last one before inevitably diving in magma. Classic.

What else has been good? I've made more progress in my replay of Phoenix Wright 3, read a delightfully charming short story that would assuredly have made me choke on my tea in laughter had I not set it aside before beginning, and watched Star Trek with my dad for, hm, the third or fourth time. Makes me want to want the original series so I can better appreciate the alternate timeline, and so I don't have to keep asking my dad what's different. Or at least, so I can extend my knowledge of said original series past merely watching parodies and homages (ahh, Futurama).

Not so good, though, is band class. Bronze band is indeed hogging all the first trumpet parts for Sleigh Ride, so I've been delegated to second, much to my chagrin. I-It is no longer the true melody I play, but a harmonization! What madness is this?! I've already learned the first part, too, so back to the drawing board. At least I get to keep first for the other pieces. Playing second or, my god, third trumpet for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer would be soul crushing. Only first plays the melody, and second and third are unrecognizable exercises in deadening musical torture when played on their own. What good is that song if you can't play the catchy chorus, huh? You can't get it stuck in people's heads that way, and that's the best part! Wahahahahahaha! (Hey, I'm extremely susceptible to the same thing. It's only fair I should want petty revenge on everyone who has ever started singing the Katamari Damacy theme within 500 yards of me)

A meme, before I go; why don't you try it out? I shamelessly stole this one from sexyblack, whoops.

Book meme:
[Take four books off your bookshelf!]
1. Write the first sentence
2. Write the last sentence on page fifty
3. Write the second sentence on page one hundred
4. Write the next to the last sentence on page one hundred fifty
5. Write the final sentence of the book
[Let your friends guess what book it is!]

Note: Some names have been truncated to make them slightly less glaringly obvious.

Book One:
1. Mr. S-------, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions where he stayed up all night, was seated at the breakfast table.
2. "When did he say this?"
3. A spectral hound which leaves material footmarks and fills the air with its howling is surely not to be thought of.
4. "If you will wait, one or other of us will go back with you to the Hall."
5. "Might I trouble you then to be ready in half an hour, and we can stop at Marcini's for a little dinner on the way?"

Book Two:
1. A----- was the third son of a landowner from our district, F-----, well known in his own day (and still remembered among us) because of his dark and tragic death, which happened exactly thirteen years ago and which I shall speak of in its proper place.
2. He wrote twice from there, but it had already been a year now since he stopped writing.
3. L-------, who knew how to climb wattle fences in order to spend the night in people's kitchen gardens, somehow also climbed up onto F-----'s fence and from there jumped down into the garden, despite her condition, though not without harming herself.
4. "You will make him listen to reason, you will reveal to him that you love another man, that you have loved him a long time, that he is now offering you his hand..."
5. K---- cried once more ecstatically, and once more all the boys joined in his exclamation.

Book Three:
1. Some years ago there was in the city of York a society of magicians.
2. "But perhaps you have friends in London who will perform the same services for you without troubling the editors of the newspapers?"
3. My dear Sir W-----! cried I, how can you say so?
4. He rose from his chair and tugged violently at the bell pull, but no servant appeared.
5. Then he turned upon his heel and disappeared into the Darkness.

Book Four:
1. It was love at first sight.
2. And S------ lay dying in back.
3. I've got some live Maine lobsters hidden away that I can serve you tonight with an excellent Roquefort salad and two frozen eclairs that were smuggled out of Paris only yesterday together with an important member of the French underground.
4. "Where's O--?" someone asked suddenly over his intercom.
5. The knife came down, missing him by inches, and he took off.

Hmm, perhaps my selections were too singular, too obvious. Well, if you've read the books in question, I mean. But then I suppose the text of most previously read books might have an air of familiarity to it.

Speaking of books, I still need to grab another novel to read. Oh, why oh why did my dad misplace my copy of Good Omens? I still want to read that again, blast it all!

I suppose I could mention something about my computer here, but that might also trigger an unsightly screaming fit, so I won't.

Ahem!

Half read last night, the other half this evening - I thoroughly and immeasurably enjoyed Johannes Cabal the Necromancer and heartily recommend it. Go read it! It's by Jonathan L. Howard, if I'm reading the spine properly. Go go go! Not many books have the power to both make me laugh out loud on numerous occassions as well as shock me into stunned silence. I think Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell was the last to achieve such a thing, come to think of it. It was even mentioned on this current book's flap; as both share "sophisticated charm", I believe it read.

I wish I could easily locate more books like those! Funny, magical, with something otherworldly about them, sharply written, great characters, witty and charming and just a little dark and sad and twisted but ultimately... Well, let's not spoil any endings, now. Use your imagination.

...Hey, if you do know of any books along those lines, feel free to throw some names at me, yeah? I would be immensely grateful. Even if I am the pickiest reader in the known universe.

Rrrgh, if I'm not too high-strung to sleep, then I have a wallopingly-good headache. If it's not one thing, it's another, you know how it goes. I hate feeling like an invalid so often, but my all-encompassing, paralyzing, absolutely positively intense fear of doctors is keeping me from recieving any help. There you are.

I suspect my parents might possibly be addicted to that confounded Starbucks Via Ready Brew not-instant instant coffee. My mother most certainly is. Uh ohhh.

Curse you, rice with steak sauce. So says my waistline. Delicious, delicious rice with steak sauce. Curse you.

We went to a teppan-style Japanese place last night, if you're wondering. I didn't quite drink an entire pot of green tea. My dad and bro each had a cup.

My brother adored the card I gave him, especially because I doodled all over it. They weren't very good doodles, I think, and I was largely coasting on my talent for comedy as opposed to any sort of artistry, but it's nice to know they were appreciated. How did he manage to beat my gift of Halo ODST already? Though he was up all night trying to finish it. After all, one evening I marathoned through the entirety of Rayman 3 in single sitting, for reasons unbeknownst to myself. By the by, the Desert of the K'narren level (how was that spelled?) at two in the morning: brr. It's the sudden and screen-filling "BY THE WAY, don't go near these guys!" warning that does it.

One more solitary day off before it's back to work tomorrow. Boo, I say. But at least I have some voice acting later in the week to look forward to. P.S. Watch episode 13 of Pretty Cure (dubbed!) sometime. It's like it's mocking my dream of playing the lead in a magical girl series. "Let's go, Cure Black! >:("

Book ramble time! A trip to the bookstore has netted me a copy of "Johannes Cabal the Necromancer", something of which I read a summary for a while ago and found the concept intruiging, but had not managed to procure 'till now. Blasted expensive hardcover books. But my stars, I love it! It's so... charming. Charmingly English, in fact. Magic, but not of the high-fantasy variety, a time period that is not Now, a dry sense of humour - sign me up! I'm only perhaps 100 pages in, but I am thoroughly amused thus far.

( Extended bookish talk behind here, with more novels slipped in and me making as much sense as you've come to expect, dear friends. )

While sitting in the tea shop earlier today (my dad and I always partake during Saturday mornings), I passed the time by doodling in my sketchbook. Then, I stopped, becoming ever so self concious, as I then remembered my habit of constantly mimicking the expression of whatever character I'm doodling. My sketchbook especially is filled with dopey, exagerrated doodles of no real artistic merit but lots of over-the-top faces. Does anyone else do this? The making faces bit, I mean. 8D, D8<, =w=, ' 3 ', it's all so infectious!

One more - Mario & Luigi, even closer to the end, maybe. The bros are at level 35, Bowser is at... I forget. 30<, but <35. I've hardly ever touched the special attacks, but now I feel like I'm abusing theme. I did the same thing in the original Mario & Luigi, if I recall. Barely used in the first play through, used and abused from then on (but not as much as those wonderful Mush Badges! Ho ho ho~).

Laptop is still having problems. Hmm. Big big thanks to mewd and captainlina! My shy li'l self appreciates the input like you wouldn't believe. Gonna try out the stuff you guys mentioned.

I think the biggest problem, though, is that a scan run in safe mode seems to indicate that my computer's explorer.exe file is infected. Uh oh. I have a feeling this is bad. No, wait. I will assume a sagely look and/or don a fedora, and say "I have a bad feeling about this." That's better.

Maybe this is a sign it's time to buy a new computer. My laptop's been around for a few years, now, and a newer model couldn't hurt, especially since my laptop's been having various issues for some time. Expensive, but worth considering.

BOOKS. Been putting them off for so long. Lack of viable computer time has encouraged me to read more during my spare time instead of simply breaks at work, so there's a silver lining somewhere. What have I read recently?

Meg Rusoff's Just In Case, The Manual of Detection by Je... oh, blast, I've forgotten his name, reread Catherine Webb's Waywalkers/Timekeepers books (s'up protaganist whose name I ripped off for my Persona 3 character) and earlier today I started to reread Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. Where is my copy of Good Omens? I've been wanting to rereread that for ages, now, but no dice. Never lending books to my dad again, this is certain.

The Manual of Detection is one I meant to ramble about sooner. Newer book, thus expensive hardcover, but there you go. It's got this stylish sort of film noir atmosphere to it, a 1920s/30s vibe, and reminded me somewhat of the film Dark City, if you've ever seen it, only with dreams as the focus instead of memories. It also has the bizarre distinction of getting a fictional song wedged in my head. There's a reoccuring piece of music sung throughout the book, which my imagination dutifully provided a tune for, and it quickly became earworm-tacular.

Anyway. The book's concept of oneiric detection was super cool, and I dug the old timey feel. I read through the whole book without noticing a character's name was a palindrome, haha. But I have a talent for that sort of thing. I mean, if you'll excuse me bringing it up again, I read through all of Good Omens before later making the distinction that Crawly = Crowley. Whoosh.

Re: Tales of Symphonia 2: About freaking time. Except locked EXP is about the most ridiculous thing since Kratos' alternate outfit from the first game. Active party time is garnered merely out of pity.

I don't talk about TV here much, since I don't watch a whole lot regularly aside from cartoons* and cooking shows I mentally apologize to Alton Brown for not using freshly grated nutmeg *SHAME*, but new season of CSI: Miami next week, awight! Sorry, mum, I know you initially got me watching NY with you, but I have been irresistably drawn by sunshine and bright colours and over-the-top scenarios and dopey one liners. It feels more cartoony, which is easier for me to digest. Plus, Zac Efron was totally in one episode, which only boosts the hilarity SPOILER: Only he wasn't Kira. He was almost Kira, but was beaten to the punch. What a waste of a perfectly good joke.

Time to cook dinner, I suppose, and then to ponder some more on what to do with my poor infected laptop. I wish the obligatory computer classes at school actually focused on the more technical side of things so I wouldn't have to ask silly questions, as opposed to the endless writing things in Microsoft Word.

* I will bake delicious cookies for whomever stops the collective musical numbers from Phineas and Ferb endlessly cycling through my head. Stupid ridiculously catchy insert songs. A s'winter s'wonderland, unusual and grand! You can freeze while you get tanned, because it's s'wiiinteeer~ AHHH MAKE IT STOP I BEG YOU.

There's a virus I can't seem to shake off my computer! No matter how many times I dispel the darn thing, it always comes back shortly thereafter. I am strongly inclined to blame Yahoo! Mail, because it's been acting up whenever I've tried to use it. No, nevermind, it just pops up whenever it feels like when I'm connected to the internet. What gives? Arrgh!

Somehow, we ended up with Wii Sports Resort today! I was thinking of it just a short while ago, in fact, debating whether or not to buy it in order to appease my easily amused self. But then, as my dad and I were in Best Buy earlier, he said "Let's get Wii Sports Resort!". Weird! But I'm certainly not complaining.

I am endlessly amused by Miis, not gonna lie. There's something to be said about clobbering original/fictional characters and/or horrible monstrosities that look like they should be sealed away in dark cave somewhere instead of enjoying a jolly game of baseball. I only wish (and I know I've griped about this multiple times) that Nintendo would add more hair colours and styles! I can't recreate the bulk of my favourite original characters, which is terribly upsetting. How hard is it to ask for a ponytail tied near the top of the head? Or honest-to-goodness red hair, not that droopy auburn you've got goin' on! And what about blue, or green? I recreated Hatsune Miku in Soul Calibur, so why can't she be on my baseball team, too?

What a tangent, huh? Anyway! I haven't tried all the games yet, but my bro and I are most assuredly entertained by what we've tried. We're already convinced that the island where this all takes place ("Wuhu Island", ahaha) is a death trap, a la Battle Royale. Who puts an archery target on a cliff overlooking a bustling resort town, huh? And of course, the archers themselves are balancing on a wobbly rope bridge that is endlessly buffeted by the wind. And they're working to starve all the island dwellers with the sword slicing challenge - having us chop up large pieces of novelty food! Where do you get human-sized hard boiled eggs from? (don't think about it) And when I tried the sky diving game (a nice intro - load up Wii Sports Resort and you'll see) all the creepy Miis seemed drawn to me :c

Okay, and my Mii wears a dumb flowery shirt whenever she plays table tennis or bowling. Honestly! I don't wear prints, geez! This island obviously has the power to brainwash people. Or at least strip them of all fashion sense.

Oh! I re-read The Lost Colony, and finally got around to reading The Time Paradox! Now I'm a proper Artemis Fowl fan again, too. I'm on a roll, eh? As of now I'm re-reading Eleanor Updale's Montmorency series - book two as of right now! But I've only started this morning, and I'm on book two because I reread the first one a comparatively short while ago, so I figured I didn't need to go through again. My memory isn't that bad! Is it? I'd rather not think about it.

Reading, reading, reading! Nothing like curling up with a good book, with a purring cat stretched out on one's lap... unless one is also living in the midst of a terrible heatwave, and can't quite reach their water without sending the cat to the floor. I guess I could shove him off my lap, but... No, you couldn't do it either, could you? Sleeping cats are simply too charming!

Let me see. First, I finished off Catch-22 the other day. It's funny, but even though I hadn't read it in so long, I was astonished to realize I could remember so much. Hardly the "how" or "why" in many cases, I s'pose, since so much is alluded to out of order, but I could still recall how a lot of scenes played out. Doesn't lessen the impact any, though. "I'm cold," indeed. Brr!

Being on a roll, shortly after that I started The Last Olympian and finished it in one sitting. Now I'm a proper Percy Jackson fan again! Interesting, the way it... Oh, hang on!

( Spoilery book talk behind a cut! I'm not that mean, after all )

I mentioned to my bro he might enjoy this series, since we've been trying to get him to read more. However, I said it as I was reading The Last Olympian, and I guess he just looked at the book in my hands and figured that was it. He then went to the bookstore, and bought a copy of, guess what? Even though I distinctly said it was a series and was currently in the process of reading the final book, and even if the store didn't have the other four books on display right next to it (and they did, seeing as I was at the same story only days before), it clearly says "Book 5" right on the cover and spine. Yeesh! At least he tried.

As for me, after finished that, I then read through... Artemis Fowl, you say? Actually, I'm going to start that tomorrow. Today, I read through Pride and Prejudice and Zombies! After being intruiged by the strange premise for so long, I finally caved and bought it. And you know what? Though I am a hardly a fan of either romance or the shuffling legions of the undead, it was rather hilarious! There were times I found myself thinking "Oh God that's horrible why am I laughing so hard" wait what whoa did you see that she totally like ripped that guy's heart out awesoooome. And it wasn't mushy at all, anyway, so s'cool.

One of those books that's exceptionally fun to read since my imagination just gets carried away with it all. I think it needs more legions of the undead, however, and more elegantly-written regency-era combat scenes, and not just because those are the most fun to visualize. The setting and the style complimented the grislier elements ever so nicely! And you know, in most cases I'm not a fan of that sort of double entendre, but the grace and poise expected of everyone at the time made them really funny even if it took me a second to catch on what they meant. I'm so cute an' innocent, haa. At first I thought perhaps they had Elizabeth react humorously to lines existing in the original text (mind that I have not read it) with the intent of showing what sort of double meaning they could have. I mean, a lot of old books can have lines that might sound... interesting out of context. But after a while I dumped that theory, figuring "Okay, there is no way that is unintentional". Read it, you'd see what I mean!

Makes me want to read the original novel, it does. I know, I know! I should have done so in the first place, because I'd probably appreciate this version even more. That and many other "classics" have been on my ever expanding To Read list for eons, now. At some point, I shall! After all, I spent a lot of time wondering what was competely unaltered from the original, and trying to deduce what used to be in the original by looking at the obviously anted-up portions. I suspect, when I do read it, I'll find myself missing the katanas. At least Mr. Darcy being very obviously ツンツンデレデレ shall remain, no? Hahaha, and it's the classic definition of one, too! You know, a gradually softening character as opposed to one that switches abruptly from cranky to caring (as pointed out by Lucky Star).

...Ahem! I'm getting too nonsensical, yes? Time for me to be quiet! Perhaps I'll go watch one of the episodes of Spongebob I've recorded once again, far more intelligent than I seem, truly, and aaah don't judge meee. YTV has been showing a whole whack of viewer voted best episodes, woo! We're not at #1 yet, but I've already seen a lot of my favourites, like Idiot Box (IMAGINAAAATION) or the Krusty Krab Training Video. That scene with Patrick just kills me, because my God it's true 8| "Welcome to Starbucks, what can I get for you today?" "I'll have a... uhhhh... uhhhhhh...."

If you're just joining us from that small fandom friending meme (or anywhere, really), welcome! Nice to meet you all, and I hope we can be good friends! Even if I'm very shy and embarassingly reclusive sometimes, haha. I also promise that I'm far more intelligent than my childish disposition and banal prattling belie, really and truly, uh-huh! So don't run away in horror and disgust too hastily, okay?

I suppose I never did deliver on a "proper" entry from before. But this entry here is now guaranteed almost 99% meme-free!

To go back on the old subject of my book troubles, I've now managed to aquire both a replacement copy of The Lost Colony and a new one of The Last Olympian, so I can finally finish my re-reads of both Artemis Fowl and Percy Jackson, hoohah! ...Except I've been re-reading Catch-22 for the past few days, and it would be rather indecent of me to leave that unfinished before picking up another book, no? I figure I should mix up the books from the store's ages 9-12 section (horray!) with whatever counts as general fiction (slightly less horray!) these days, anyway. Plus, the dissonance is funny! You know, like reading a tale about an eccentric FBI agent solving a series a gruesome crimes, followed by a 12-year-old detective cracking a bunch of school yard cases. Like that!

Devil Survivor for the DS is still great fun, and I heartily recommend it to anyone who likes themselves some turned-based strategy shenanigans! Even if I am angry at that one NPC who, even at full health (thanks to my constant doctoring), took a single lucky shot from a lone demon and died, forcing me to restart. Yoooou jerk! How dare your comparitively weak flesh succumb to the brutal assault of a strange, powerful, otherworldly monstrosity...! Yeah I got nothin' :( But that aside, I'm having lots of fun! Even if it takes me forever to start a battle 'cause I gotta meticulously plan everything out. Just like Advance Wars!

That 99% meme-free guarantee? There's always that 1%, you know... I've been meaning to do this one for a while, and I figured now would be an opportune time to try!

The problem with LJ: we all think we are so close, but really, we know nothing about each other.

So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about.

Ask away.

Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you!

Silly and irreverent questions of no real merit are totally okay! They're pratically all I can think to ask when other people do this meme, anyway.

I'm only updating because I need to get up super-early for work tomorrow and, naturally, I can't sleep. What gives? I was feeling tired earlier in the day, fought the urge to nap in fear that... well, that what is happening right now would occur. Quick, somebody give me something boring to do so I'll doze off! (Something that is not reading boring articles on Wikipedia. I've tried that and wound up wasting hours filling my brain with fascinating but ultimately pointless info)

Hohoho, you were right, duetmaoim! Torrenting is the way to go! ...Not that I would know anything about that. Ahem. But I managed to locate all thirteen episodes of Half-Moon Investigations, huttah! It's almost like the sequel I had been wishing for (though a whole new book would still be cracking). Not quite - it's more like a slightly alternate version of things, but... oh, why am I bothering you all with this? Okay, I want a new book and season two! ...Er, please?

Anyway, I spent my free afternoon and watched the first seven episodes. Still adorable, which just proves everything is better with detectives! Even if they're pint-sized detectives, with nary a corpse in sight (hey, it is children's programming). Maybe I'm just easily won over by fun, lighthearted misadventures in comparison to seeing so much of CSI's corpse-of-the-week action (even if it's the ridiculous CSI Miami, woo yeah). Oh, and the pint-sized detective protaganist mentions truth and justice several times, which is like A+ in my book.

Kind of weird, actually, watching an episode of CSI followed by a cutesy kiddy detective show. Like, "Get a DNA sample!" "Swab for epithelials!" "Send that to trace!" 'till it finally clicks that "school-aged detectives are not going to have ludicrously fancy forensic equipment, right." So we're kicking it old school, okay! And sure, CSI may have fancy equipment, dopey one-liners, crazy M.E.s, absurdly fancy mansions and somewhat far-fetched situations (some guy in an ugly green shirt getting shot only because the intended target was some other guy who just happened to be wearing an equally ugly green shirt), but does it have charming Irish accents? Impromptu musical numbers? Tall, gangly 13-year olds attempting to ride tiny pink tricycles as a getaway vehicle (at this point, it miiiight be faster to walk)? Thought not!

...Now, there's a thought. CSI: Miami needs, nay, requires a musical episode. I don't even know how it might work. It just would. Or, barring that, tricycles. Not even for the comedy factor; they all drive Hummers, man! It's appalling! except for the one that blew up. that was kind of cool.

...Aww, cheese and crackers, I'm never going to get to sleep if I let my brain run wild like this! Maybe I'll try warm milk or something silly like that.

Still no clue where my missing Artemis Fowl book is. Blast and curses! A coworker of mine said she'd see if she can't lend me a copy, though, so fingers crossed! I've been dying to read the new one, and I simply can't do so 'till I read The Lost Colony again! I have a system in place, you know.

In the interim, I did indeed read through another one of Eoin Colfer's books, Half-Moon Investigations. Only the second time around I've read it, surprisingly. And I still remember the feeling I had when I initially finished the book - this needs a sequel, stat! I wanted to see Fletcher and Red continue to solve mysteries, fight crime, and the forces of evil!

I did a little poking around Wikipedia, thinking "Maybe there is one, or there's one in the works, and I just haven't heard about it?", since I hardly keep abreast of any book-related news. And my research has revealed to me that oh my goodness there's a TV show what the heck. W-Why didn't I know this sooner? Well, I guess the BBC only started airing it at the beginning of this year, but

So, naturally, I did s'more digging and just watched the first episode on YouTube. Hahaha, it was adorable, I kind of love it 8D Methinks it's the charming Irish accents! And the pint-sized detective protaganist is just as likable in live-action form as he was in book form (though naturally, when it comes to picturing what characters look like, my imagination is wrong on all counts yet again). Oh, and I quite liked the line "A good detective doesn't do it for thanks, he does it for truth and justice!" That sounds silly enough to have come out of my own mouth, doesn't it? What with the truth and justice and all. Well said, Fletcher!

...Wrench in the gears, though. I can locate the entirety of only the first episode, arrgh noooo whyyyy! *sob* Why am I so utterly terrible at finding things online? I really want to see the rest - the first episode left off like the book did, kinda sorta, but with a different (and considerably shorter and less mysterious) train of events leading up to it. Hey, while I'm thinking of adaptations, where's that Artemis Fowl movie I was promised, huh? Though I suppose I would ultimately wind up disappointed, if only because my imagination pictured the books looking suspiciously like an episode Card Captor Sakura, and live action just wouldn't be the same. ...don't judge meeeeee

Er, and in a slightly less Morgan-talking-about-stuff-that-only-makes-sense-to-her vein, I got an email about some voice acting auditions on thursday/friday next week, ooh! ...Except I'm already scheduled to work 7:30-4:00 both those days, aigh! I think I'm going to have to walk to work tomorrow and see if I can't trade shifts with someone. I haaate having to ask that, 'cause I feel terribly guilty, and often have to turn people down when they ask me (most of the time they're opens/closes, and I can't do those). Fingers crossed for success! Oh dear, oh dear...

I got comments and stuff to get back to. Where have I been?

Aah! The last few days, I've been re-reading the Artemis Fowl series. A book a day! Artemis Fowl, The Arctic Incident, The Eternity Code (woo), The Opal Deception, The -- hang on! W-Where's my copy of The Lost Colony? I've been tearing this place apart, not on my bookshelf, not in my closet, not anywhere in my room, nowhere downstairs. All the other books were snugly stored together, the paper back first two on one shelf, the hard covers, including a copy of the last book, on another. All except for...!

(ﾟдﾟ；)し、しまった！

Did I lend it to someone and never get it back? I appear to be afflicted with a curse surrounding that sort of thing - I lend out a book, I never see it again! Oh no, oh no! Who has it? Who has it?

No time to investigate, gotta leave for work! Maybe I'll take another one of Mr. Colfer's books with me, to tide me over. Aha! I'll read Half-Moon Investigations again! But it still isn't The Lost Colony! Nooooo! *sob* My groove has been thrown off!

I cleaned a load of dishes, and meant to begin cooking dinner as soon as they were done, but alas, I got caught up in reading for about two hours with no regard for the passage of time. The eventual dinner was tasty, though!

I finished Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, most importantly! Thoughts? Well, well, how do I put this...?

( If I may sound dopey and insufferable for a moment -- (spoilery, natch) )

Now what do I read? I can't seem to find my copy of Good Omens, which was my initial plan! Most bothersome. How about Artemis Fowl? A series reread may be in order, and then I'll read the latest book, The Time Paradox! (though I sorely doubt it will top The Eternity Code, my personal favourite)

I had some customer today that declared I was "cheap" and they would "never be coming back again". Huh? It was incredibly aggravating at the time (moreso because I have no one to vent to - back to crushing cups we go), but a little bit funny now that I look back on it.

Some guy comes, wants a tall (12oz) coffee, brings his own cup. His cup happens to be 18oz (a grande is 16oz). A lot of people ask for a smaller serving in a large cup, to better make room for milk, so this isn't unusual. I fill it up to the tall equivalent, and pass it to him. However, he suddenly stops in the act of handing me money.

"You can fill that up all the way."

Ah? But mister, I do believe you asked for a tall --

"Yeah. You can fill it up all the way."

I can, certainly, but I'll have to charge you for a grande, being that your cup is far more than a tall, is that alright?

"Then I guess I'm not coming back here ever again, since you're too cheap to treat your customers right."

Wait, wait, wait. I beg your parden, mister; you say I'm cheap? After you just tried to -- ? Argh!

The majority of customers seem to find me pleasant, but there are those that reaaaaally do not like it when I stand my ground. Perhaps my small stature, playful speech and charming pigtails make me look like a pushover, and they are shocked to find out that I won't circumvent policy just to amuse them? Or maybe it's frustrating because a lot of baristas will appease them just to get the customer out of their hair, and then when one barista finally says "no", they get indignant.

Annoying to deal with? Yes! But hey, it's not at all fair to customers that actually pay for what they want. I have to fight for truth and justice, even in the midst of a coffee shop! So take that, Mister "I don't want to pay the extra twenty cents for my coffee!". Oh, and you too, Miss "I want an espresso macchiato, but with foam filled all the way to the top!". Ah, but an espresso macchiato has merely a dollop of foam, I believe what you're asking for is a short, dry cappuccino and I'm going to have to charge you accordingly, no hard feelings, it's just business, "But the other Starbucks said I don't have to pay for one!", well perhaps then you should go to this other Starbucks, no?

But then I merely wind up looking like a heartless jerk by comparison, because everyone else just bends over backwards and agrees to whatever. Mmph. Oh, well. Standing one's ground is a sad, lonely job sometimes, but someone has to do it.

Ughh, I want that Hatsune Miku Project DIVA game for the PSP like burniiiiing. My adoration for the rhythm-action genre knows no bounds! I'm half-tempted to import it, but, well, having a console to play it on might help. But what else would I play on a PSP? I know I've seen several games that look intriguing, but would they be enough? Mayhaps I should compile a list. It's an expensive investment for only one game! Ahhh but it's so cute and musical and how can I resist, I ask you? How?

Not quite done my book, maybe a couple hundred pages to go (hey, now, it's got just over a thousand, I'm workin' on it!). Oh... Oh dear. In retrospect, I should have anticipated this, or rather, I did, but not quite in this fashion, you see, and... and... Oh dear. Look, when I'm all done, I'll do a proper post and then I'll make a little more sense! ...Who am I kidding, here?

To segue for a moment; a question, to all my artist friends! Would any of you happen to know of a good (online) resource for faces, hands, feet, the sorts of things that give most folks a headache when they try and draw people? Especially for a variety of expressions, poses, hands holding things, feet bent different ways, etc etc. Any help would be much appreicated!

I've been making an effort to doodle during my breaks at work for the past few days, which seems to be going okay. Silly, pointless, poorly-constructed doodles, but they're something, dangit! After all, how am I ever going to be a comic artist/character designer/commander of the universe if I don't improve? Hm, and maybe I'll post some digital-scribbles in the future! Just gotta stop fussing about quality. I mean, they're sketches! Of course they're gonna be messy and indecipherable!

Oh, soon as I get the idea to make an entry, I realize it's my bedtime. Blast and curses. Let's hope I can sleep today! Last night I was bizzarely high-strung and couldn't settle down for nearly four hours after I initially attempted to drift off. What gives?

I'm not gonna bandwagon hop (except I sort of am by saying anything at all, huh?) 'cause I'm absolutely no good with things like this, but oh, my mind first went to Space Channel 5, silly as that may sound. F-For music and peace across the universe! Or however that went.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell continues to be wonderful and charming and all that jazz, although the portion I just finished was a little bit sad. Y-You'd better not break my heart, book! You got that? I think I'm about... halfway through, now? I think I might even leave it at home when I go to work tomorrow, because there's always so much noise in the backroom when I'm reading on my break, and I don't want it to spoil the atmosphere!

Love this book as I do, a small part of me is also amused by it for the same reasons I was amused by some OVA I watched a while back, Switch (aside from the magnificent evil chipmunk voice at the end, haha). See, Mr. Norrell is a bookish, cranky, arrogant, stuffy old gentleman magician with a red-headed friend (a la Strange), and wouldn't you know it, that very same description fits one of my original characters rather well. 'Course, there are several differences, too, but that doesn't make it any less entertaining. Note to self: draw originals more! nobody ever knows what you're talking about! also, draw more in general!

You know what's a great time killer and de-stressifier? Picture Logic! I can't stop playing it! It consumes me! I've already developed Tetris Syndrome from it; you know, you close your eyes, and numbers and grids and blocks are staring back at you...! I suppose it's better than the Guitar Hero equivalent, where I can't even listen to music without imagining coloured circles flying towards me.

Oh! I baked banana bread today! We had some squishy bananas just sitting there that I guess my dad and/or brother forgot about, and so I took it upon myself to invoke the most logical course of action. The most delicious course of action. It turned out marvelously! I'd share some with all of you, if I could! I'd serve it with a pot of some delightful tea I bought on the weekend: Buckingham Palace Garden Party Tea! Sounds awfully hoity-toity, doesn't it? Coz I'm a lady, eh wot?

...Oh, shoot, I have to work tomorrow morning, don't I? And I start at seven thirty: the drive-thru shift! Oh, say it isn't so! *sob* I don't want to deal with jerkfaces for eight hours!

I can't seem to stop munching at peanut butter on toast. I bought some while grocery shopping the other day, thinking "I haven't had peanut butter in a while," and now I can't stop aaaaaah! But it's better than nothing, since today I haven't had much of an appetite otherwise. What gives?

I started reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell on Sunday, by the way. My stars, I love it! It's immensely charming, the world is very well-constructed and, y'know, magic! It's a tricky business, I feel, to find books with magic/magical realism/a touch of the absurd without delving into outright high fantasy (which I don't much care for). Makes it hard to find new books when you couple it with the fact I'm monstrously picky in the first place. Anyway, I'm about 300-something pages in, methinks. Strange sure took his sweet time showing up, huh?

Hmm, I have the unfortuante premonition that Plot Happenings of a sort I am not fond of will happen. Well, no, it didn't happen in Tales of Vesperia, so that kind of thing isn't a guarantee! But then, there was also Code Geass... Hmm.

I'm nowhere near done, but the footnotes in this book are making me want to read Good Omens again after I finish this one. No no, bad Morgan, read newly purchased books instead of re-reading! Oh, who am I kidding? Note to self: See about using characters from this series in my campaign to name all of my Pokemon in Platinum after literary characters! Ho ho ho~

I'll be away all weekend 'cause my family's going out of town for father's day. Not that it really matters, though, since I'm sporadically AWOL as is! But I thought I'd say something. Ohh, I have to leave Devil Summoner behind! But at least I played a bit this morning. What is with random demons deciding to join me right as I'm about to kill them? That sort of behavior rarely precedes a healthy relationship, you know.

Okay, hey, before the rest of the entry, it's MEME TIME! That way I might have reponses to read upon my return.

List 10 of your favorite characters from different fandoms and ask people to spot patterns in your choices, and if they're so inclined, to draw conclusions about you based on the patterns they've spotted.

Yotsuba (Yotsuba&!)
Ender Wiggin (Ender's Game, the sequels don't count!)
Estelle (Tales of Vesperia)
Razumikhin (Crime & Punishment, gotta throw in something old and stuffy!)
Rakka (Haibane Renmei)
Luigi (Do I really need to write this? 8| c'mon)
Osaka (Azumanga Daioh)
Fry (Futurama)
Cream the Rabbit (Sonic the Hedgehog)
Sherlock Holmes (8| again)

Definetly not an end-all list of top ten favourites or nothin', just a selection from whatever first popped into my head. Mea culpa, sizeable-multitude-of-awesome-characters-not-included!

We finally saw Up the other day, horray! I heart Pixar, I do, I do. Cute, bittersweet, colorful, lively, well animated, heartwarming, the usual sort of excellence you'd expect from them. Go see it! Hm, but I wonder how long untill it's ultimately rendered unfunny by people reciting all the jokes ad nausem? I'm looking squarely at you, Finding Nemo, which is a pity 'cause it's not really your fault in the first place. Point!

On the book front, I just read through Edward Bloor's novel London Calling for the second time. Good stuff, time travel and magical realism or whatever you want to call it, give it a shot if you stumble upon it! Much more enjoyable the second time around, I think. I first read it a bit over a year ago, the entirety of it in one sitting. But somehow, the emotional impact was dampened because I had been playing Elite Beat Agents shortly prior to my reading, and, well... It's hard to feel sad and contemplative when you have "Liiiiving in a mateeeerial world" constantly looping through your head 8| HEY GUYZ.

Off I go! Better go feed the kitties before I leave.

My dad says we're going for ice cream in a bit, horray! I hope it's soon, 'cause I need to play some Devil Summoner today! Fiend encounters freak me out, they really do, even if I've only run into three so far. I make a point of hightailing it out of demon-infested areas as the new moon approaches, haha. Then again, the last one I fought was hardly any trouble at all compared to the other two, and only took me ten minutes to take it down. But on the flipside, the description of a weapon said it "voids instant death attacks", which means instant death attacks exist, and Fiends use death-type spells, and it's like Persona where if your character dies, game over! :'( Paranoid fighting tactics, ho!

I finished my re-read of Ender's Game! Makes me wish I was doing more with my own brain power right now, instead of just stagnating. I mean, my teachers would always say stuff like "You're brilliant, Morgan, but you need to apply yourself more". Could I save the world, too? Although being pushed around by grown-ups would kind of stink. Anyway, guess I should go about reading the recently published sequel Ender in Exile, huh? At least it should probably beat the previously established sequel, Speaker for the Dead. The heck, man! He hardly seemed like the same character. He was too... normal. Brr.

Still watching CSI a lot. Oh, oh, this bit from Miami was good. See, they were in the interrogation room, and...

Caine: This shoelace recovered from the crime scene proves you're the killer.
Perp: Oh yeah? Not if I tell the judge you beat me up and stole the shoelace from me to use as false evidence.
Caine: ?
Perp: 8D *purposefully bangs head against glass table top*
Caine: 8|

What the heck. What the heck. You can afford all this ridiculously fancy high-tech forensic equipment, but not one single camera for the interrogation room? Or even the budget for two CSIs to be in there at once?

I also feel cheated. The last two episodes I watched didn't start with a dopey one-liner :'( I look forward to those!

Guy: Oh no I'm about to fall off this building! D:
Calleigh: Don't worry I'll save you! >:|
Guy: I can't hold on any longer! :( *fall*
Calleigh: Oh no!
Guy: *dead*
Calleigh: D8 *sob*
YEAAAAAAHHHH
Me: ...?!

And CSI: NY doesn't really seem to go for the dopey one-liner route, so Miami is pretty much all I got in that department. Though Stella seems awfully fun of bad puns, just not ones recited before the obligatory The Who theme song. I haven't seen CSI classic, but if NY has Baba O'Reily and Miami has YEAAAH Won't Get Fooled Again, what song does the original have?

Oh, I think ice cream time is now. A reward for me cooking such a yummy supper! And the weather just begs for it, that too. I shall wax poetic about nothing s'more when I return! Or something! Gee, it's been a while, huh?