Snippets

My head hurts. Whine, whimper, whine.

Alex is playing Midevil on his PSPuny. It is hilarious. I would want to play it, but my head hurts. Did I mention that I had a headache? Owie. Ow, ow, owie. I still sit here and snicker at the funniness. Snicker, snicker, owch.

In other news, I now have one single-spaced page of Secret of the Single Sock typed. I need to do a little skipping about, I think, in order to get some of the scenes hammered out. I also need to figure out if my main character's great-great-aunt might have been a young woman during WWI. I think that would work out, but I need to get all of my history straightened out and the timeline set out in my head before I can be sure. Flashbacks are fun! Yay!

I am tempted to post the first paragraph of the story here, but it is short. Quite short.

Has anyone else noticed the trend in books of placing "a novel" after the title of novels? I mean, it's as if we, the readers, would never figure out that we were reading a novel without the authors telling us that we are. I have half a mind to title my first book "Insert Title Here: A Book." That'll get it on the best-seller list for sure.

I have almost finished Half-Blood Prince. If my head stops hurting, I may be able to finish the book tonight. If not, I shall lull myself to sleep with Mary Queen of Scots and see about finishing Half-Blood Prince tomorrow. I have my suspicions about who the Half-Blood Prince might be, but no spoilers until I finish the book. *shakes finger warningly at the world at large*

My entries lately have been short and, it seems, without much purpose other than to splatter my babblings across the internet. But, honestly, isn't that what LJ is for?

brightshadowsky, can we talk soon about formatting my LJ? I have some nifty ideas, but I'm not sure how to implement them without getting a paid account. If anyone else would like to chime in with tips and tricks for LJ programming, that would be charming. I've been to everything_lj, and I shall continue to peruse that, but if anybody knows some quick-and-dirty tricks for customization, I welcome those, as well.

Loki is mewing sadly. I feel sorry for him, as he is no longer allowed in the bedroom (we can't have one cat in there and not the other, as both litter boxes reside outside of the bedroom). When Mia goes, then Loki will regain his rightful territory, but until then, he must share in Mia's exile. Poor thing. Life is so unfair sometimes. And now Mia has taken over his chair. No wonder he's mewing. His throne has been usurped.

And that's pretty much it for the moment. Except for the fact that Alex made smoothies. We had some strawberries that needed to be used up, and he combined the strawberries in a blender with ice, a little leftover white wine (Gavi), and a little honey. Delicious. I'm going to sleep very well tonight.

A review of Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy will have to wait until morning. Night-night, all.

So, I've set Swashbuckler Files aside for the moment in favor of a crazy, hopefully-short story titled The Secret of the Single Sock. I finally got a good beginning down this morning, and the story amuses me as I write it. That's all good. The story begins with a letter--an eviction notice. It can only get better from there, right?

Mia stayed up half the night and meowed. She has decided that all closed doors are an abomination, and therefore she must attempt to get into every space (including cupboards) that is hidden behind a door. Getting breakfast for myself this morning was an interesting exercise. Early this morning, I woke to find Mia sitting on my nightstand, staring at me. (To clarify: "early" for me is "around 6:30 am.") I was amazed to find her there, mainly because I couldn't figure out how she had found space to sit without knocking everything to the floor. I informed her that she was not allowed up there and moved her to the bed. She purred for a while, then went and hid behind the couch in our bedroom and meowed incessantly. After a few "Mia, shut up!"s, I got up and ejected her from the room, closing the door behind her. She didn't seem at all irritated by this; I assume she wandered off to bug Loki.

Loki, on the other hand, sat quietly in a sunbeam and, when I got up around 10:00 am, graciously allowed me to pet him. I think that he's trying to show us that he is a dignified, well-behaved cat, not a barbaric noise-maker like Mia. Loki and Mia continue to avoid each other, merely hissing at one another as they pass. Neither of them hiss like they mean it, really, but both get bopped gently on the nose when they do hiss. They need to learn that is not acceptable behavior in the house.

Mia is a complete and total love, meowing whenever she sees us and always wanting petting. She sat on both of our laps last night, moving between them at will and thoroughly enjoying herself. I think that Alex's mom will like her a lot.

I'm still not sure about getting Loki a kitten. We may just wait until Loki leaves us (not for a long time) and then get two kittens like we originally planned. We'll see where we are at that time.

I suppose that's it for now. I have another driving lesson today, but no car to practice on. Bah.

EDIT: Also, last night, when Alex, arianadream, and I went for Mongolian Grill, I dropped a piece of tofu in my water. Why? Because I'm just that coordinated! *clicks chopsticks together*

EDIT II: How does one find a good format for informing someone that they have inherited? My main character is inheriting her Mysterious Great-Aunt's estate, and I'm not sure how a family lawyer would inform an heir.

Greetings, all. I have returned, happily, from visiting my many relations in northern California. While I love them all dearly, they tend to encourage unhealthy habits in me. I spent the week sitting on my butt, eating bad-for-me food, and inhaling cigarette smoke. I really wish Grandma would quit. I would mind less if I didn't have to breathe it and if all of my clothes and other items didn't smell like smoke when I got home. -_-;; Other than these minor irritations, the week was pretty fun. It would have been more fun if I hadn't been PMSing and missing Alex. (I apologize if this is too much information, but PMSing means irritable Elfie who cries at the slightest provocation. Not a good thing this time around.) I did enjoy talking to my relatives, and I'm over halfway done with the first sock of the pair that I'm knitting for my sister-in-law for Christmas. Accomplishments! I also cooked dinner one night, making my now-famous chicken saltimboca. Alex and I always cook chicken saltimboca when we're at other people's houses--it tends to impress people, and it's easy to make. An added advantage is that I have yet to meet a person who doesn't like it.

Also, buneater, I have started reading Pride and Prejudice. The reason why I direct this especially to you is because it amused me to learn that the main character's name is Elizabeth (also called Lizzy), while her older sister is named Jane. That gave me a bit of a chuckle. The book is good, if you like that sort of thing, which I do. Alex has informed me that he detests Jane Austen in all her forms. That's all right; he doesn't have to read Jane Austen. I, on the other hand, will be reading all of her books one by one.

Alex has also informed me that he has finally finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I shall probably be finishing that within the next few days, interrupting my reading of Pride and Prejudice to do so. I usually like to finish one book before starting another, but if I wait to read Half-Blood Prince until after I finish Pride and Prejudice, my father will explode from unspoken spoilers. He has been very considerate about not talking about Half-Blood Prince around me, but I don't want to keep him silent too much longer. That would be cruel. Besides that, I'm really looking forward to reading it.

In other news, we will be boarding a cat for about the next three weeks. We're picking her up this week. My mom-in-law is moving into a new house, and she has been offered a cat. Unfortunately, the cat is available before the remodeling on the house will be finished, so she needs a place for the cat to be until the house is ready to be lived in. "Ah!" thought Alex and I. "We wanted to know how Loki would deal with another cat in the house, anyway! What a perfect opportunity!" We'll be meeting with the kitty's current owner before we bring her home so that we can talk about any special needs and habits that the kitty may have. I'm pretty excited. If Loki deals well with a housemate of his own species, Alex says that we might get him a little sister. I think we'll call her Freya. This would be highly appropriate as, if I recall correctly, the Norse goddess's chariot was drawn by a team of cats.

As well as finishing Half-Blood Prince, Alex also did lots of work and laundry while I was away. I am grateful. The house is still a bit messy, but that's normal. Heh.

I think it will take about a week for me to get the smoke out of my lungs, but I already feel better now that I'm home. School starts in two weeks. Begin countdown.

I'll be continuing to catch up on my e-mail and friends page, so watch your space.

Addendum to buneater: Just as a noodge in your direction: Jane. Jane, Jane, Jane. *emits psychic rays*

In conclusion, I rock:

You scored as D'Artagnan. You are D'Artagnan, the brash Gascon who embodies the high ideals of the Musketeer. You are sometime your own worst enemy, but your motives are pure and your character is unimpeachable. You are destined for great things and passionate (though often ill-fated) love. </td> D'Artagnan 70% Porthos 55% Richelieu 55% Aramis 55% Mercedes 40% Edmund Dantes 40% Athos 30% Rochefort 0% Which Dumas character are you? created with QuizFarm.com