Mini-vacay squared!

But first, BRUISED. EVERYWHERE. Gaah, black belt testing. I am in such horrible pain right now. My right arm is basically a mass of bruises. But I passed, so yay!

Speaking of horrible, I badly want this T-shirt:



Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), I just spent all my monies on a Doctor Who t-shirt and a sonic screwdriver, but when I have monies again, I'll be sniping this one straightaway.

In any case, the bro and I finally went to see the new Batman, and it was freaking epic. Mostly because Joseph Gordon-Levitt was in it as young, clever police officer John Blake. Actually, like half the cast of Inception was in it, which was brilliant. And during the ending, when I realized who the John Blake character was supposed to be, I was like "WOT. This is perfect!" I squee'd a lot. Yes, Reedfrost, I am most pleased. You said I would be, and I am. Oh, and Catwoman was awesome too. I liked her flippy cat-ear-gogglethings.

And now, the lake!

Brenticus and his two sibs.

There they are again, doing Avatar poses. Except for Hazmat, who is derping out.

And there I am. Remember that drastic thing I did? Yeah, it was chopping off my hair.

In our very nice condo, there was a pull-out couch/bed in the living room, which Mary decided to hide under and be an alligator. Okay then. I love Mary.

There's me in a kayak. I very cleverly wasn't wearing a swimsuit, so my shorts got rather damp.

There was a lovely playground by the lake, which we descended upon after getting attacked by fish in the actual water.

We got to ride go-karts, which was a blast. There's the five of us under the go-kart sign.

That was the serious one; here's the silly one.

So yeah, I had a marvelous time, and we watched a lot of Doctor who, and it was fantastic. And I cried a lot, but that always happens when I watch Doctor Who. Nothing to worry about. XD

Anyway, then I got home, unpacked, repacked, and went to Lady Arin's for our LAST GRAND ADVENTURE. And it was EPIC.

First off, they have a trampoline now. I'm doing the Weeping Angel hands. Don't blink, Milady!

 And then the sidekick threw things at my head. Why? No idea.

 We also gallivanted about downtown and I purchased some skirts. Cuz I totally needed more skirts. We also went to the library and capitalized on their free Internet so I could thieve some pictures from Arin's facebook. Muaa. *steeples fingers*

 Then we were silly. Oh wait, we're always silly. But this time we were silly on camera.

And then we were cute!

And then Arin was gorgeous. Wait, she's always gorgeous. *glomptackles Arin*

We also watched no less than eight episodes of Doctor Who. That's most of Series 5, ladies 'n' gents, because Arin, given the choice between Tennant and Smith, leaned towards Smith. I guess I forgot to tell her that Tennant was also in Harry Potter, though briefly. Ha! While we were waiting for my mom to pick me up, we made a Doctor Who crossword. Out of Scrabble tiles. Because we're cool.

Speaking of Doctor Who, I finally got ahold of Voyage of the Damned, so I scooted right along yesterday and just finished Planet of the Ood. Whoa, angry Ood are creepy. Actually, I take that back. Ood in general are creepy. Must be the mouth tentacles. Yeah. But you know what bugs me about the Ood? The Doctor always says the Ood are good... which they are, right up until they get possessed by an evil consciousness (like Satan and House.) Which always happens. That's the trouble with being a telepathic subservient race. You get possessed all the time. Sucks. But angry Ood aside, I love Donna so much. She's so sassy and I just love her. And I love how she's not romantically interested in the Doctor, cuz for heaven's sakes, that's been done. She's just sassy and awesome. Go Donna!

So this is my last day at home, and I miss it already, but I'm so excited for St. Olaf at the same time. Lots to do today! There's no way all my crap is going to fit in the van. Bother. Well, back to the last-minute preparations! Flyin' the coop, that's me!

Commander Kip
"So what happens if the gravity fails?" "I've thought about that." "And?" "And we'd all plunge to our deaths. See? I thought about it."
Normal is overrated!

Things of the Day: Paper TARDIS and YouTube/Mp3 converter

S'up, dudes. 

So, I just returned from the lake with the family of Brenticus, and my hair is all stiff with chlorine still, but I had a freaking awesome time. More about that in a sec - first, the Things of the Day!

Thing 1: Fold your own miniature paper TARDIS! (Source: http://commanderkip.deviantart.com/favourites/50909446?offset=48#/d3dvtvd) I saw this on DeviantART and immediately had to make myself one. Props to CyberDrone, who figured out how to  do this! By the way, Brenticus's sister, this was totally gonna be your birthday present, but when I printed it, my parents' demented printer turned it pink. So now you can print your own. XD

Thing 2: a site that converts YouTube videos into mp3's - huzzah!

http://www.youtube-mp3.org/

Once you turn it into an mp3, go into the Properties menu of the mp3 and make sure you fill in the name, artist, genre, etc. Yeah, it's not a perfect system, but it's fairly straightforward all the same.

So yes, the lake. It was a last minute type of thingy, and I have to thank Lady Arin for being flexible and letting me move my days with her to later in the week (I leave for her house tomorrow.) That way I could do both. Both is good. We had some sketchy weather down there, and the water was sorta cold, but we did watch a lot of Doctor Who (I cried - more than once) and sing songs in the car and play Ninja and Groundies and My Cows, which I was terrible at. Also, right before we left, I did a thing... but I'm not telling you what it was yet. It was a rather drastic thing, but I like it. I think.

Also, they lent me Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian, which is the last-ever book in the Artemis Fowl series. (No spoilers. I haven't read it yet.) I know I'm gonna cry at the end, even if it's a happy ending. Funny how I got into the series as a kid and now it's wrapping up just as I leave for college. Impeccable timing, Mr. Colfer, quite impeccable. ArtyxHolly forever! *geekface*

Oh, by the way; my graduation ceremony/reception combo deal went smashingly. I didn't fluff anything too bad, the Takacs Project was a big hit, and the reception was a blast. It was almost surreal for me, seeing all the people I love, who didn't know each other, in the same room. Got to catch up with some peeps who I haven't seen in ages, like Reedfrost, Dan, and my old pal John (I made my two Johns shake hands - WEIRD.) I also got to see Arin, Ereka, Gecko, Pippin, Amzi (briefly), my cousins, and Brentalope/his siblings. I even got to bring a few of them home for questioning a midnight snack later. Poor Arin - I think we scared her a bit with all our shooting and screaming, but that's what you get when you put me, Brenticus, Reedfrost, Hazmat and my brother in a room with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and only four Xbox controllers. Screaming and shooting WILL ENSUE. And boy, did it ever. My brother's voice gets very shrill when he's angry/gaming, let's just leave it at that.

Now it's like two in the morning, and I have to finish my thank-you notes in the morning and pack for Lady Arin's. Egad.

Commander Kip
"You're doing it, you sexy thing!"
Normal is overrated!

see? not dead.

Proof: PICTURES! I drawled them. Here, have some Jedi. It's little!Obi-Wan and bossy!Siri Tachi. I love the Jedi Apprentice series so much. Jude Watson, you are my childhood hero.

 Look what I found. It's a Mockingjay comic! It's obviously quite old, from my last sketchbook, but I thought it was interesting enough to post even though I never actually finished it. (Check out my super-realistic spray of blood. Not.)

 And here's another one I never got around to finishing. It's David and Zanna from the Last Dragon Chronicals, in their Arctic gear from the third book. I also tried to draw a polar bear, but it kind of didn't work.

 Yet another one I gave up on. Madison from the second Charlie's Angels movie. Remember I told you I was planning on drawing her? Well. There you go. Guns very not accurate. Not that people care.

 And here we have some thumbnails I did when designing my Talk like a Pirate Day poster for my Drawing II class.

 I ended up with this. The finished poster will be on display in glorious color at my graduation reception! Which my mom is not particularly happy about - she says this image is inappropriate. I'm like, dude, you see more skin than this at the swimming pool. And as for the beer, everybody knows drinking is bad. Get off.

 I saw Moonrise Kingdom with my parents a few weeks ago, and I thought it was oddly cute. Here we have the two main characters, Sam with his shotgun and coonskin and Suzie with her lethal lefty scissors. There were some great quotes in that movie. "Why do you hate me?" "I dunno, maybe because your girlfriend stabbed me in the back with lefty scissors!"

 Remember a while back I read a book called Pure by Julianna Baggot? I found this sketch when I was emptying out my room, and it appears to be characters from that book. Pressia Belze with the babydoll-head-hand and... what's his name... the guy with birds embedded in his back. Why can I not remember his name? Anyway.

 Mortal Instruments! I felt the need to draw happy City of Bones stuff after reading City of Lost Souls and being all "Really, Jace? REALLY?" So here's Jace and Clary on the flying vampire motorcycle, because that scene was flippin' awesome.

 And here they are again, except Jace is in pain this time. Because he's hot when he's in pain. This is right after they fight the Forsaken in Clary's apartment and Jace gets his arm broken. Clary's hair looks really dark in this picture. Whoops.

 And now a Firefly/Doctor Who crossover, because it makes perfect sense. Say the eleventh Doctor popped up early in River Tam's timestream, maybe right after she was taken by the Alliance academy, to do some tests on her extraordinary brain. The conversation would look something like this:

"Hokay, Rivvah, let's have a look at that brain of yours."

"Stop pointing that thing at my head. My brother is a way better doctor than you."

Here's Liz Ten from The Beast Below. I adored that episode, partially because Liz was so beasty ("I'm the bloody Queen, mate. Basically... I rule.") and partially because it's Future UK... on a giant spaceship... controlled by creepy automatons and mind-wipe technology. It's just awesome, okay? It just is.

 And this episode too! Thank you, Neil Gaiman, for making this canon. The Doctor's Wife has the best lines, and the Doctor is so cute with his bitey mad lady. Forget River Song - Sexy and Eleven forever!

"It means the smell of dust after rain."

"What does?"

"Petrichor."

 I had to sketch this scene from Flesh and Stone, because horny!Amy makes me laugh and flaily!Doctor can never figure out what to do with his hands while kissing. He just waves them around like "HALP I'M BEING MOLESTED GET OFF ME WOMAN" because he's basically a nine-year-old. I love Eleven so much.

I am sorry, you guys, but apparently I cannot draw David Tennant. I've tried three or four times, and his face refuses to cooperate. This is as close as I've gotten, and it still doesn't look like him. GAAAAAH. *rumbling growl of frustration* I would also like to say that I cried pretty hard during Doomsday, but probably not as hard as Rose. When they cut back to the Doctor in the TARDIS with that single tear running down his face is when I really lose it. Even thinking about it is just... gah... *shuffles off, bawling*

NOW NOBODY BOTHER ME UNTIL AFTER SATURDAY BECAUSE I'M LETHALLY BUSY UNTIL THEN. Thank you for your cooperation.

Commander Kip
"It's all very Harry Potter." "Wait until you read the seventh book. Oh, I cried."
Normal is overrated!

moar vidyoes

Because vidyoes are kewl.

The first one's StoryGirl's, the second one's Regano's. THEY'RE BOTH SUPER AWESOME. See if you can spot me in them!



Hard to miss me in this one. I'm doing my LotR dance, which is basically flailing around pretending you're in the thick of battle.



Last week was nuts, because my parents and I had the baroque music festival at William Jewell. It was a blast, but still nuts. Sang some good musics. Now this week, I'm freaking out and scrambling to get my stuff done for graduation because I procrastinated all summer and now it's HERE and I'm not ready and AAARGH etc. I feel like my whole summer has just been one big emergency after another. The minute I finish one project, there's a slew of other ones I've been neglecting. After graduation, I have black belt testing to prepare for and packing for college. Woof. And meanwhile, everything I own is still piled on the living room floor while we switch my brother's and my rooms. Getting dressed in the morning is an adventure, lemme tell you.

I am also currently sad, because I'm in the middle of Series 3 of Doctor Who and the next disc won't play. Grr, stupid library dvds. So I've put it on hold again, but now I have to wait. *kicks things and grouses to self* On that note, however, I still don't know how I feel about Martha. I like her okay, I guess, but she seems slightly hysterical to me, like, "Oh, look, we're in danger again - better start hyperventilating and screaming for the Doctor!" And I dislike the way she throws herself at him. Or maybe I just miss Rose still. That's probably it. Martha's all right. (Although I'm really excited for Donna, because from what I've seen of her so far, she seems like a boss.)

Commander Kip
"Verily, forsooth, egads!" "No... don't do that."
Normal is overrated!

THE OYAN MOVIE

Hai thare.

Pippin kindly called my attention to the fact that the movie we filmed at OYAN was finally up! So here 'tis. Enjoy.



I'm the one in the black cloak, in case that wasn't abundantly clear. I love the scary music they put in. Awesome.

'Kay, that's it. Bye now.

Commander Kip
"Hi! Sorry I'm so naked..."
Normal is overrated!

high adventure

Actually, no. My life is so boring right now. I have this huge backlog of sketches and pictures to post, and it's so frigging hot outside - like, surface-of-the-sun hot, no joke - that it's taking every bit of my energy just to get through my minimum requirements every day. And usually not even that. I  just sort of suck at life. Anyway, by popular demand, the treasure hunters!

"You'll know it when you see it. 'Bout this big and really, really shiny."

 And I nearly didn't post this one on account of Adrian looking nothing like himself, but I did like how Kizungu came out, so you get it anyway.

Now, back to drawring pichers. Bye.

Oh, and DAVID TENNANT. That is all.

Commander Kip

"It's me. I'm the TARDIS." "No, you're not, you're a bitey mad lady."

Normal is overrated!

More Birthrighty sketches

to prove that I am indeed capable of posting about something other than Doctor Who. (Although it was a struggle this time.)

New designs for Andra and Memoria. If they were in actual scale, Memoria would be taller. Like, a full head taller.

 More Memoria, and trying to figure out how all those wings are supposed to work.

 Now, this is old. It's actually the first page of my current sketchbook (which I just filled a few weeks ago; now sketchbookless) and I kinda gave up on it. It's Nath and Andra right after Memory's death. See, there's her half-drawn ghosty face on the ground. I was going to have her lying there bleeding excessively, but perspective is a boob, so no. Please ignore the awkwardly folded limbs and the fact that Andra looks about five years old. Please do notice, however, that I did draw Andra's brace in this picture, There was a period in which she had the brace but nothing else had changed. This picture and the next are products of that period.

 See, there's the brace again, along with the hood! I am so totally keeping the hood. But not the bicorns. Now we have regular horses. This was trying to be a picture of Amren (now Cittadiali) but failed. Although, since I worked on it in Italy, the Sanctum did evolve into the Sanctorium in this picture. Before it was always just a strangely high-tech-looking mirrored dome thing. Yeah.

Now, back to getting ready for graduation. My program is trying to eat my life. 

Okay, so I physically can't go an entire post without freaking out about Doctor Who after all. I did try, but no. Because the second series finally came in at the library and I'm so excited! Yay Tennant! Although Smith really did grow on me - I haven't seen Part 2 of Series 6 yet, so no spoilers please, but A Good Man Goes to War was just like "Aaaah, I knew it! Not the thing about Amy, but the thing about River, I totally knew it!" And I absolutely loved the double Doctors in The Almost People - hysterical. And also, Neil Gaiman, I heart you.

Commander Kip

"Won't it be damaged?" "Naw, she's a tough old thing. Tough old Sexy." "Tough, dependable Sexy."

Normal is overrated!

and the obsession continues

Doctor Who is one of those shows that sounds vaguely ridiculous when other people tell you about it, but then you watch an episode and you're like, "durrrr, that was freaking awesome."

I doodled this from a random picture on the Internet yesterday when I should have been doing other (productive) things. I'm starting to think they choose the next Doctor based on how odd/unusual their facial features are. And their hair. Matt Smith has flopsy hair, a high forehead, and basically no eyebrows. Bingo!

Yes, yes, Kippy, enough about Doctor Who, let's have that OYAN post! Well, too bad. It's my blog and I'll post what I like. (Plus, still haven't got pictures from Snuffles. *lazybum*)

Commander Kip

"If we're gonna die, let's die looking like a Peruvian folk band!"

Normal is overrated!

drawring

Haha, I bet you thought I didn't do that drawing thing anymore. But actually, I do.

I wanted a sketch of Memoria with her new scars. I like it. Unfortunately, she's about to do something horrible in this chapter. Stupid, stupid, Memoria. Don't do it, you bum! Ah, she's not listening to me. What else is new.

(As a point of interest, the phrase "Don't do it, you bum" is kind of a joke in my family because when my mom was watching Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and saw the part where Anakin and Padme get married at the end, she yelled at the screen, "Don't do it, you bums!" Basically, my mom is awesome.)

This was more or less my costume for the last day of the OYAN workshop. I dressed up as Andra in disguise as a masked reveler, and no, that's not confusing at all. Actually, she was disguised for the Festival delle Mascherare, which is a hardcore party I invented where everybody dances in the streets and wears masks and gets extremely drunk. Not these two, though. They're busy hunting wabbits. Or villains. Whichever. That spiky thing in the background is the dome and six spires of the Sanctorium. At least, it's supposed to be.

Oh, have an excerpt. That would probably be easiest.

     He cocked his head, still walking backwards through the throng. “But the Barone doesn’t hate you.”

     “Messina? He’s biased,” I said, and distangled my cloak from Nath’s brown hands. It was too hot for a cloak, but how else was I supposed to hide my brace? “He and my mother were lovers once. Before he wed the Baronessa, obviously.”

     “She doesn’t seem the type to tolerate an affair on her husband’s part.” Nath fell into step beside me. “Blesteme, he was almost your father.”

     “Which would have been preferable. At least Messina hasn’t killed anyone famous.”

     “Well,” said Nath, “you’d have come out different, I suspect. And I like you this way. Even with that hideous leg of yours. And you, ser, will be taking your hand out of my pocket.”

The cutpurse, wearing a comically grotesque pig mask, withdrew his hand. “You are very perceptive, mio signore. My apologies.”

     Nath snorted with derision. “I’m Rumeni, man. Check your mark’s skin before you strike. Off with you.”

     “Nath,” I hissed, watching the cutpurse slink back into the swirling crowd, “we do not endorse thieving.”

     He shrugged, and I caught the flash of his white teeth beneath his mask. “Just honest advice.”

     We resumed our slow progression towards the edge of the square. Dancers spun past us, mouths gaping in gleeful howls, masked faces thrown back with delight. I kept my gaze on my boots, avoiding eye contact whenever possible. “Is there even anything in your pockets?”

     “No. The poor fool would have discovered as much, had I let him root around in there a few moments more.”

     I squashed my laughter. “You’re a terribly nice person. I would have just broken his hand, I think.”
     “You wouldn’t have noticed,” he said with a smug grin. “Do you still have your charm?”

     I felt for the pouch under my loose man’s shirt. “Yes.”

     “Keep checking. The chain would fetch a pretty price.” Taking my hands, he twirled me past a clump of tittering maidens wearing gape-necked gowns and delicate masks of black lace that hid little more than their eye sockets. As I stepped out of the twirl, my cloak tangled around my leg brace, throwing me into a stumble. Nath caught my arm and maneuvered me upright. I felt like a clomping idiot.

That's Chapter Four, peeps. I am now in the thick of Chapter Five, and serious crap is about to go down. Fun fact: Andra and Nath are two of the very few characters that got to keep their names from the first draft. Mirano kept his as well. I think that's it. Everyone and everything else got renamed. Andra also lost her future-vision powers, along with her gypsy charm. Instead, she now has a little cloth pouch around her neck that contains a curl of her mother's hair. And instead of Fable calcifying the Leondreans, he experiments on them in a hidden lab-thing. I decided to go in the direction of less magicky, more sciency, plus the whole Italian influence and all that. Took out the dragons, which hurt me just a little, because Auburnium was an old buddy of mine. Ah well, he exists in my brain!

Which reminds me, I just watched Cold Blood, the ninth episode in the fifth series of Doctor Who, and the ending very nearly killed me. Yep, I've pretty much given up on going in order. Guess I'll do Eleven first, then Ten. In any case (SPOILER SIREN HONK HONK HONK):

I want Rory back.

(END SPOILER.)

There was wretched weeping, I assure you. But there has also been much hysterical laughter. See, this is why I love Doctor Who:

Amy: If they're fish people, it explains why they hate the sun-
Doctor: *covers Amy's mouth* Stop talking, brain thinking, hush.
Rory: It's the school thing I don't understand-
Doctor: *covers Rory's mouth* Stop talking, brain thinking, hush.
Guido: I say we take the fight to them-
Doctor: A-a-ah!
Guido: What?
Doctor: Ah! *nods at Rory*
Rory: ... *covers Guido's mouth*

Commander Kip
"Look at this. Got my spaceship, got my boys... my work here is done." *flounces into TARDIS* "Um, we are NOT 'her boys.'" "Yeah... we are." "Yeah, we are."
Normal is overrated!

I am a dork

so I'm answering my own questions. Because that's how much of a dork I am. Also, too lazy to make real blog posts.

(1. Ten or Eleven? (Or Nine, I suppose?)

TEN, because as I might have mentioned, I love his gawky face. Also, he can get really intense, whereas Eleven makes puppy eyes even when he's furious. (Just watched Victory of the Daleks. Yes, I did promise myself I wouldn't go out of order, but series 5 and 6 came in first at the library, and I just can't keep my grabby hands away...)

(2. What accent do you most frequently lapse into without realizing it?

Indubitably British. It's so hard not to. Although I attempt Scottish once in a while just 'cuz.

(3. Favorite steampunk accessory?

Why did I make this question so HARD? I dunno, prolly my shotgun. Although, not gonna lie, I'm equally fond of all my other guns as well. And, y'know, the monogoggle. Funny story about that later.

(4. Have you ever eaten lotus root?

Oh yes. I was curious if I'm the only one who's heard of it. Asian root vegetable, relatively tasteless and very crunchy, takes on the flavor of whatever sauce you douse it in. The perfect vegetable!

(5. Your character becomes best friends with another person's character. Who's the other person and who are the two characters? Why are they friends?

My young turnspit Luca (formerly Kaden) and Lady Arin's feisty faerie boy Terrin. I feel like Terrin would be a terrifically bad influence on Luca, who would love every minute of it.

(6. Avengers! Girls: Thor or Loki? Guys: Black Widow or that other chick, Fury's second-in-command?

Loki, because he's so very pretty all the time. Even when his face is all cut up. (Although his hair was way better in Thor than it was in Avengers. Just throwing that out there.)

(7. Which kind of villain do you prefer: the chaotic insane kind (like the Joker), the scheming/conniving kind (like Darth Sidious) or some combination of the two?

COMBO! Saint Dane from the Pendragon series is a prime example: he's carefully orchestrated the destruction of ten worlds, and yet he still has his terrifying fits of insanity. Basically, he scares the crap out of me.

(8. Best kind of wound?

Sucking chest wounds! Actually, anything in the midsection area that you could clutch while staggering about theatrically and groaning and gasping a lot. Because I'm mean. Although I truly love/hate hand wounds, being a pianist and all.

(9. If you were a character, who would be your author? (God doesn't count - pick a human being.)

Can't choose between Laini Taylor, Rick Riordan, Eoin Colfer, or Brandon Sanderson. I would love to live in any of Taylor's stories - so lush and gorgeous while still containing a healthy amount of peril. Riordan would be fun, because I'd get snappy dialogue and a low chance of getting randomly killed off (ignoring Bianca for the moment; she was sort of a fluke.) Colfer: just yes. I think this would be my actual answer, because Irish humor = like a sir. Living in a Sanderson novel would give me equally high chances of wielding some sort of awesome magic power or having a sucky life, so probably not worth the risk.

(10. Most spectacular death?

Swan-diving off a cliff all epic-like and hitting the water at juuuuust the wrong angle...

(11. If you could slap one person in the face with a herring, who would it be?

Nathan Fillion. You know it would be hilarious.

Crack on, then!

Commander Kip
"Is it a cry for help?" "What?" "The bow tie!"
Normal is overrated!

Liebster Blog Award

 I just got tagged by Sandy with something called the Liebster Blog Award, which I'm still not really sure what that is, but apparently it involves posting 11 facts about oneself, answering the tagger's 11 questions, and posting 11 of my own questions for other people. (If there are other instructions, I am conveniently ignoring them.) Here we go.

Facts:
(1. My ribcage hurts. Oh, did I mention that one already?
(2. We're cleaning out my room this month so that my brother can live in it when I go to college, and I am continually astounded by the SHEER COLOSSAL VOLUME of THINGS I have accumulated up here over the years. Half of this stuff, I'm like, why do I even have this?
(3. I strongly dislike asparagus. At least, the stemmy part. The top is okay, because it tends to hold more sauce and taste less like asparagus.
(4. I've been listening to this on endless repeat, because it sounds like something unbearably awesome is about to happen:


(5. I did not bring a sword to the OYAN workshop this year. Such a shame. Although I did bring my new dagger!
(6. I can get any amount of work done, provided it's not what I'm supposed to be doing at the moment.
(7. I just inherited my grandpa's old scanner because he couldn't get it to work. Huh. Works fine for me. Like a sir! (That's another version of "Like a boss!" I'm also partial to "Like a gent!"
(8. I HATE WASPS. I don't hate very many things in the world, but I do hate wasps. There was another wasp in my room the other day, but I killed it.
(9. PLATONIC. RELATIONSHIP. I haz it.
(10. My new favorite expression is "Crack on, then!"
(11. My pajamas are like one big nerdy joke; Batman shirt, moose pants. The moose are funny because of the moose shenanigans in the beginning credits of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Sandy's questions:

1. What was the last book you read?
Verge, by Brentalope-icus-worth. As previously stated, SO GOOD.

2. How many orange clothings do you have and what are they?
 I have like one piece of orange clothing - no, two now. The first is a shirt with Japanese maple leaves on it. The second is a heinous paisley thing I got at Goodwill when we were shopping for vests. Oh, how I adore my heinous paisley.

3. What's a hairstyle and color you'd like to have?
This one:

4. Do you like waffles?
Absolutely. Evil beware.

5. Do you believe in unicorns?
My dear girl, I am the unicorn master. Supreme Commander of the Gory of Unicorns, that's me. And this is our sigil (thank you for the lovely art, Kaylen):

6. Do you like America and why?
No. There are no dragons in it.

7. Teeth?
Wishes?

8. What's your journal look like and if you don't have one, what was the last notebook you used like?
I keep a notebook of heavily textured paper that has these gold threads embedded in it. On each page, I write one word or phrase representing something I think is cool and that I should totally remember to use in a story. Example: skeleton keys, wings, brightly painted wagons, waterfalls, claws, trapdoors...

9. Are you a creeper?
You betcha. 

10. Geometry or algebra?
Seppuku.

11. Myers-Briggs personality type? [MUAHAHAHAHAAAA >:D]
WOT. Am I supposed to know what this is?

My questions:

(1. Ten or Eleven? (Or Nine, I suppose?)
(2. What accent do you most frequently lapse into without realizing it?
(3. Favorite steampunk accessory?
(4. Have you ever eaten lotus root?
(5. Your character becomes best friends with another person's character. Who's the other person and who are the two characters? Why are they friends?
(6. Avengers! Girls: Thor or Loki? Guys: Black Widow or that other chick, Fury's second-in-command?
(7. Which kind of villain do you prefer: the chaotic insane kind (like the Joker), the scheming/conniving kind (like Darth Sidious) or some combination of the two?
(8. Best kind of wound?
(9. If you were a character, who would be your author? (God doesn't count - pick a human being.)
(10. Most spectacular death?
(11. If you could slap one person in the face with a herring, who would it be?

Huh, I like those questions. I kinda want to answer them myself. Oh well. If you choose to respond to these, leave a comment so I can come read your answers. Thanks.

Commander Kip
"Are you the Doctor?" "Doctor who?" "Innit though?"
Normal is overrated!

So, my ribcage hurts.

I just read two excellent books. They were excellent because they did what good books are supposed to do: create emotion in the reader. The first book is called The Girl Who Could Fly, by Victoria Forester.

It's sort of geared towards younger kids, like maybe grade school, but I read it anyway (in one day) and aaah, it was awesome. Like it says in the blurb, it's a mix of Little House on the Prairie and X-Men, but with kids. And boy, did it create a lot of emotion. It was about how being "normal" isn't necessarily better than being abnormal, and how kids shouldn't let anyone squash what's unique about them. It used children with superpowers to illustrate the point. Also, the Black Moment of this book had me sobbing aloud, which doesn't happen often for me. It was wrenchingly sad. But it ended happy, so it's all good. And there were so many cute parts in the betweentime! I love the main character, Piper McCloud. She reminds me of a child version of Kaylee from Firefly - adorable, optimistic, and not afraid to use the word "ain't." I love her so much.

The second book is called Verge, and sorry, no cover. It's not published yet, although it certainly should be. And Brenticus, I'll have you know that I cried fat, bitter tears all over the keyboard as I was reading it. My ribcage hurts. That's how hard I cried. Good work, sir.

Seriously, it was so sad. BUT SO GOOD. I basically can't tell you anything about it (for fear of spoiling the plot) except that it was awesome and you should all buy it when it comes out. I heard a bit that made me cry at the OYAN workshop, and when I came around to that bit the second time, I cried again, even though I knew it was coming. SOOOO GOOOOOOD. And when I wasn't crying, I was laughing because the main character is so cynically sarcastic and I love him so dearly and by the end I just wanted to give him a big tackle-hug. Actually, I loved all the characters, even the grumpy old man. And the villain. Dude, the villain is so cool. I wish I'd thought of him.

Still gathering up pictures from various other OYANers, so it might be awhile on the OYAN post. In the meantime, random tidbits! The most important being, I have all the David Tennant series of Doctor Who on hold at the library, and in the meantime, I've been watching every Youtube video with him in it that I can get ahold of, because he is brilliant in every way. You guys, I love his gawky face. It makes me so very happeh. I mean, watch this.



SINKHOLE! It's funnier if you know a few things about Doctor Who, but even if not, the accents are precious in their own right. I couldn't breathe the first time I watched this because I was too buys howling with laughter. Oh, and I really want a sonic screwdriver now, because a bunch of people had them at the workshop and I love the swishy whirling noise they make. Also, how handy would it be if I could turn my brother into an action figure of Billie Piper every time he annoyed me?

Commander Kip
"That's breaking and entering!" "What did I break? Sonicking and entering."
Normal is overrated!

Thing of the Day: hinged jar

  Since the photos from the workshop are not yet in order (Snuffles took pictures of the Firefly costumes, but somehow I didn't) I have here the most random Thing of the Day you are likely to ever see on this blog. Here we go. I was at Barnes & Noble on the way home from my NEW AND SHOINY JOB that I will tell you all about later, and I found this... thing... on the clearance trolley. What is is? I have no idea. The tag says "hinged jar" and it is the most adorably useless thing I have purchased in my entire life. You all know how deeply I abhor pink, but this hinged jar thing just makes me squee for some unknown reason. I mean, look at it - it's a hinged jar in the shape of an ice cream cone. How is that not awesome?

The other awesome thing I saw at the bookstore was actually in the parking lot: a real live Bumblebee. Lookit.

Bumblebee. For serious. It was like meeting a celebrity or something. Again, I don't even like Transformers but this was frickin' impressive. I sneakily took these pictures since the owner of the car appeared to be elsewhere. I tell you, when I grow up and purchase my own vehicle, it will either be a sleek black car and I will call it the Batmobile, or a boxy van with flower stickers and I will call it the Mystery Machine. (There was very little grammar in that sentence; good thing my mother doesn't read my blog.) One or the other, I'm not particular. But if I were super rich and didn't mind the color yellow, I would love to own this sucker. Isn't it glorious? You know it is.

Now, back to sorting pictures.

Oh, and about the job, I'm working in the office of a place that sells bathroom fixtures to dealers. Better than kitchen knives, I think. Though it is rather warm in the office, but maybe that's because my mommie made me wear long pants since it was my first day. Oh, mommie.

Commander Kip
*brushing ashes off self* "Christmas Eve on a rooftop. I saw the chimney and my whole brain just went, 'What the hell?'"
Normal is overrated!

The 10 Things I Forgot to Bring to the OYAN Workshop of 2012

Lists are cool. As are fezzes.

Literally: on the first night, I discovered I'd forgotten to pack a water bottle, and I was like, "hokay, I bet there's at least ten things I meant to bring and didn't remember. Wouldn't it be funny if there were EXACTLY TEN?"

And guess what? I'm back now, and I've counted 'em up, and there WERE.

(1. Water bottle, as previously mentioned. For quenching thirst when there's no drinking fountain handy.

(2. A hoodie. Because the Bell Center is a friggen ice box. And contrary to popular belief, a black cloak actually does not go with every outfit.

(3. A washcloth. For drying my hands and face on, because there are strangely no paper towels in the dorm bathrooms. Awkward. (And no mirrors in the dorm rooms. Awkwarder.)

(4. A working Sharpie. Seriously, I found myself in need of one like every five seconds.

(5. Safety pins. For costuming purposes.

(6. A binder/folder for my chapters. Loose papers in a cloth bag = utter chaos.

(7. My workshop t-shirt from last year. I wanted people to sign it, because it only has one signature on it, and that one belongs to Brenticus. But I forgot, so no.

(8. SOAP. For my BODY. I remembered shampoo and conditioner, but not soap. Stupid stupid.

(9. A stand-alone reading light. We definitely could have used more light in our room - the overhead light burned almost completely out on the first night, leaving us in a sort of dim, flickering, horror-movie murk.

(10. A kitchen timer.  Last year they were provided; this year, they were not. I was planning on bringing the one they gave me last year - the infamous "hobbit timer" - but forgot. So we used someone's phone. To quote Obi-Wan Kenobi: so uncivilized.

Those are the ten things I really wish I'd had. Some more than others. But whatever, it was still basically the fastest week of my life. I'm still trying to convince myself it actually happened. Maybe I dreamed it, and I haven't really gone yet. That would be cool.

Also, Doctor Who. DOCTOR WHO.

More later, when I have pictures for you.

Commander Kip
"You want a fez?"
Normal is overrated!

INFOBOMB

So I needed a break from Chapter 4, which means you all get random pointless information about my life! Yay!

Firstly, we got Brenticus a very respectable vest at Goodwill on Wednesday, although it was an extra-large and quite enormous on him. So today, I pinned it. I was going to sew it, but my mom said I took bad measurements and that if I sewed it and it didn't fit him, we'd be screwed. So she had me pin the seams instead. It will have to do. At least this way it's adjustable.

Also, I drew these people recently when I was bored with math. It's one of those mindless doodles that started spewing ridiculous amounts of backstory.

This is where my brain when with these two (yoinked straight out of the artist's description from when I posted this on DeviantART):

"The blond chick with the tribal markings was the infant daughter of a pair of missionaries. The parents were killed accidentally in the crossfire of a tribal dispute, leaving the victors to raise the orphaned child among their own. They called her Kizungu, which literally means "white girl" in Swahili, and brought her up according to their traditions and customs, although they taught her both English and their own language. When she was grown, she attended college, got her master's degree, and became a local translator, where her skills were in much demand. In the course of her work, she is hired for an expedition by a treasure hunter from Australia, a scruffy long-haired fellow with a charming and adventurous personality. Jack Adrian is hunting for a particular kind of treasure: ruins. He likes discovering things no one's ever seen before, and if he happens to find any valuable artifacts along the way, fabulous, it'll pay his expenses. Self-educated and savvy as he is, he's the first to admit that he knows very little about the jungle terrain and is more than happy to rely on the expertise of the natives. Hence the translator. As the journey progresses, he becomes more and more intrigued by Kizungu's unique history, and after she saves him from being strangled to death by a boa constrictor, his admiration for her turns into romantic interest. Unfortunately, the native guide (Kizungu's punk ex-boyfriend) turns on Adrian and leaves with most of the expedition crew, stranding Adrian and Kizungu in the thick jungle with almost no equipment or supplies. Of course, that's when the rival team of treasure hunters, who have been sneakily following them all this time, choose to attack...

Oh dear - you see how quickly this whole thing spiraled out of control?"

  Yeah. That. Basically, I just liked the doodle and decided to post it to Scraps on DA, and I made up all that stuff on the spot. This was when I should have been working on my novel, mind.

Which is what I should be doing right now as we speak.

Just saying, though, I found a way to work carnival masks into this chapter, and it makes me so happeeeeeeeee... Also, Nath is hot. Just saying.

Commander Kip
*riding a horse* "There's no steering wheel on mine!" *riding a horse backwards* "Lucky - mine doesn't even have a head!"
Normal is overrated!

a smattering

of unrelated things. First, my Venetian mask. Isn't it fantastic? Check out that nose!

I don't care if you like it or not. I adore it.

I will be appearing in it for the OYAN workshop, most decidedly. This is happening.

On that note, I'm beginning to seriously freak out about how far behind I am. I have to write two entire chapters this week AND edit AND format all before Saturday so my mom can print copies for me. Um, EGAD. *kicks things* And this is all on top of my other obligations, including science and math and piano and addressing my graduation invitations and reading lots of Shakespeare. You guys, this summer is going to kill me. There's no way I'll survive. Although my life is slightly happier now because I watched Batman Begins and Dark Knight with my brother this weekend, and you may or may not have noticed how much I love Batman.

None of that made sense On Purpose. I'm saving all my sense-making capacities for my novel at present. So nothing else I say is at all coherent. Sorry. Also, writing is prioritized far above showers this week. I only get to shower if I write a certain number of pages a day. I feel that being greasy is less important than getting the four chapters done.

In addition to AC1 & 2, the bro also got me an Angry Birds flash drive that totally makes my day. It's the little fat red one with the unibrow, and he is super gorgeous. OH, that reminds me, I should totally bring Magellan to the workshop! Yesss!! Brilliance!!!! *pressurized squee*

By ze vay, this is the new Kartik picture I gave Lady Arin. Milady, I am truly sorry he's wearing so many clothes. But in any case, I think it's safe to say that my drawing skills have evolved considerably since the last attempt.

There, I'll stop talking at you now.

Except to say that even though I have not yet played Portal, I discovered this song and am now mightily enamoured with it, because it's freaking hilarious.



And now, some How it Should Have Ended.






Now that you're laughing hysterically, let it be said that I need to buckle down and finish those four chapters AT ONCE. I really should quit distracting myself.

Commander Kip
TANK MISSILE!
Normal is overrated!

Thing of the Day: Assassin's Creed I

So I was doing great on my goal of writing several pages when I got up in the mornings... and then my stupid brother bought me Assassin's Creed I and II at MicroCenter for ten dollars. Terrible idea. I installed AC1 on my shiny!new!laptop and have subsequently not been writing. At all. For like an entire week. This is bad. So this morning, I closed down the game and opened Chapter 2 back up and wrote some actual pages and felt better about myself. But now it's lunchtime and the game is calling...

Whatever. Point being, it's a pretty cool game, although I made the mistake of watching my brother play AC2 while playing AC1 myself, and got a little disenchanted with poor disabled Altair who can't swim or assassinate from hiding spots. It's sort of depressing. That being said, HAYSTACKS. They are my newfound love. I adore how you can jump off a really high tower and land safely in a haystack with a little "flump" sound. It's hilarious when the guards are chasing you and you break their line of sight and then "flump" into a haystack and they're scratching their heads and trying to figure out where you went. I love haystacks SO MUCH. However, playing any sort of action game on a laptop is basically a heinous idea. Mousepads are not built for it. I need a real mouse for this, people. So bad. And a bigger screen wouldn't hurt either. But I would feel pretty beasty if I could say that I played through all of Assassin's Creed I on my laptop.

Have a crappy sketch of Altair. His name, by the way, should have an umlaut over the 'i' and is pronounced "All-tie-EER." Those hoods, man, they're freaking irresistible.

Hokay, back to work. Sorry I'm so very distractable.

Oh, and I forgot to mention - I applied for this job the other day, because the company sent me an extremely ambiguous letter in the mail, and I had to go to this tiny office in a sketchy part of town and do an interview with an overly-cheerful lady. I did get the job, which was selling kitchen knives, but both my mother and I had objections to me, a not unattractive nineteen-year-old girl, going into strange people's houses and selling them knives. It's just not a good equation, you know? So I turned that one down, even though I'm poor. And then, when my mom called the cheery lady to tell her our objections and decline the offer, the lady was all "well, in all my years of working here, we've never had an incident" and my mom was like "yeah, but it only takes one, and I'd rather my daughter not be your one and only incident, thanks." I'd prefer to live, personally. So I'm applying to Michael's now, where I'd be selling art supplies instead of kitchen knives. Thank you very much.

And by the way, I sold almost all my girl toys at that sale. All that's left is most of the Ello, because almost nobody bought it, having never seen it before. That's fine with me; I'll box it up for my kids. Or maybe just so I can play with it some more.

Commander Kip
*covers one eye* "How does Fury see these things?" "He turns."
Normal is overrated!

Firefly

Marathon was friggen awesome, no surprise there, and now I have the urge to do nothing but work on my River Tam costume for the workshop. The plan is to make boot covers. I suspect the plan is flawed, on account of a devastating lack of materials... but that is the plan nonetheless. Brenticus had never been to Olive Garden before, so we went there for dinner on Thursday and brought the little sibs. That day, we watched nine episodes. NINE. It was brilliant.

So that was fun. But now, I have got to dig into this second draft. I temporarily abandoned the last chapter of the first draft, just because it was being difficult and moving slower than I wanted, and I figure the second draft is more pressing at this point. I have Chapter One roughed out and about four and a half pages of Chapter Two. It is SO DIFFERENT this time around. I'm confusing myself. It's probably a terrible idea to start the actual writing without doing a crap-ton of outlining and research first, but whatever, I'm kind of doing that as I go, which is why it takes two hours to write four pages. Bad bad bad. Oh well, it's going slowly, but it's going.

Also, just saw Avengers again with a gal from school. Just as awesome the second time. Loki is prettier than Thor, the end. And then the other day, I finally sat down and watched Thor, discovering that while it is basically a crappy movie (much like Green Lantern), it has pretty people in it, and several of the characters from Thor played key parts in Avengers. In addition to Thor and Loki, Selvig, Coulson, Fury and Hawkeye all had pretty big roles in Avengers and I didn't know who they were - frustrating. I should have just made myself watch Thor a long time ago. My bad.

Also, Worlds of Fun. Basically, best day of my life. Got up and wrote four pages, trucked on down to WoF, there all day, had a blast (although Liese's boyfriend spilled my very expensive root beer and I got a fantastic sunburn on the backs of my legs, because seriously, who thinks of putting sunscreen back there?), got attacked on the way home by this huge hornet that flew in the window of Brenticus's mother's van, picked up more root beer, went to Liese's house and ate lettuce and Oreos, walked to the park and climbed a tree (among other things), went home and watched four episodes of Firefly and imbibed much root beer, and crashed hard. We may or may not have sung the theme song at the top of our lungs every time it came on. May or may not have, meaning, we definitely did. Definitely. Next day: nine episodes and Olive Garden, as well as a side trip to HyVee for more Oreos, heck yeah. Next day, the remaining two episodes and the movie, as well as the bloopers and deleted scenes. AND THERE WAS MUCH REJOICING.

Then I got to go see Lady Arin because she had her homeschool graduation and I gave her a very disjointed and messy present and randomly stayed the night and got eaten alive by mosquitoes, but all of that was worth it because I finally got those pictures we took back in December! And they are super awesome. 'Specially the ones of Milady wearing my period clothing, and filling it up far better than I ever could, lol. Downside: I still can't fit my swollen feet into shoes. Literally, there are so many bites that my feet and ankles are actually swollen. Getting better now, though. Except I just tore a muscle in my back yesterday when I jumped off a low wall at the park, trying to keep up with my brother, who was sort of doing parkour. Oops. I keep forgetting that I am no longer young, spry, and springy. Whatever, it's healing, and I know not to do it again.

Tomorrow there's this kid's toy sale nearby, and I'm going to try and get rid of most of my girly toys. I'm keeping a few Barbies and a few Groovy Girls for my own potential daughters, but almost everything else is bagged up and ready to go - all of the Ello (that was a chore), the rest of the Barbies (the ones that weren't missing heads, hands, or feet), all the Barbie furniture and accessories, the majority of the Groovy Girls, and all of the Clikits. There's already so much more room on my shelves! And I just dissembled and packed up the Playmobile castle that's been on my floor my entire life so my mom could store in it my grandma's basement. That kind of made me sad, but I couldn't get to the shelves behind it, so it had to go. However, I can play with it again when I have children, so that's okay.

Ooh, I just had a fabulous idea for a costume for the OYAN workshop involving a black cloak, a wide-brimmed hat, skeleton keys, a flintlock pistol, and my beaky carnival mask! *shifty glittering of eyes* Clearly, it's gonna be awesome.

Lessee, what else? Oh yeah - finished my physics book yesterday! Huzzah! Oh, and I also have a job interview set up for Sunday evening, which I'm passing nervous about. It's for a sales position, and although I've talked to the company like three times, I still have no idea what I"m supposed to be selling. You guys, I am poor. I need a job so bad. If anyone knows of a place I could apply, drop a comment and I will give you delicious cybercookies. Thanks!

I should go write some Chapter Two now. This post is getting squirrelly. Sorry for all the useless information.

Commander Kip
"That man is playing Galaga. He thought we wouldn't notice. But we did."
Normal is overrated!