eighthphase

Today when I went to pick up my research paper, so that I could actually, you know, revise it, I learned that it has apparently vanished off the face of the earth. The combined powers of SantiWall have absolutely no idea what happened to it; Santillan told me to email it to her and she would read over it tonight. Which... okay, I actually saw this coming, because on Monday when I asked about it (after Waller told me she didn't have my paper, so ask Santillan) Santillan wasn't actually sure where it was. I rather think that the God of Research Papers mistook it for an offering, much like the God of Art did to my ruler (and most of my erasers, and every pencil sharpener I've ever owned, among other things).

Santillan also said that she wasn't entirely certain that my paper would need that much revising, because I'm a strong writer. I already know that, but it's nice to be told every now and then, especially since I've never really talked over any of my writing with Santillan. Regardless, I'm looking forward to her suggestions. I was actually kind of looking forward to a paper copy with red pen marks everywhere, but I'll take what I can get, I guess. (I don't like seeing red marks on my maths tests; I love seeing them on my essay drafts. Mostly because red marks mean that I can improve, which I am all about when it comes to writing.)

I have fifty-three questions left to answer about The Great Gatsby, and I think I might end up typing out what I already have and then just typing the rest, because I really don't feel like writing it all out by hand. /: (I've also had the questions for a week, so of course I wait until the day before they're due to do them.) I don't think I'm going to finish reading it, but I liked what I did read. I also think I'm one of the few people who didn't get a book in which some previous asshole owner had written ending spoilers on the inside cover... not that it matters, because the first thing I did after reading the first section was spoil the ending for myself, lol.

Some lazy fun stuff, and then English homework, I think. When I get back from GS tonight, maybe Santillan will have finished with my essay.

And then everything seemed to turn out okay, though I won't really be able to relax until after the presentation. I know what I'm doing, at least, and I know that I can do it. It's the others that I'm a little worried about. I have like four lines, some narration, and part of a gag ("He's an amazing, caring individual!" "Like a boss." "He's determined, compassionate, intelligent!" "Like a boss." Guess which part I am.), as well as two slides that basically amount to explaining tropes. (No, really; I even used trope names off TV Tropes.)

Also, the List of Things I Will Never Draw Again now includes castles, because eleven chimneys and eighty-five windows. I still have twenty-four of them left to do. I'll do them in the morning. If I actually get up when I'm supposed to, it should be fine.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about either presentation; it's true that I'm not worried about the French one, but I am worried about the AP one. We never did get to run through the entire thing; when I left, the powerpoint wasn't even entirely finished. (Of course, my part was, so...) Our skit is about five or six minutes long, and the powerpoint is... kind of long, so it should be able to take up the time we need it to (plus there are videos, and Neeth has a posterboard of... some kind of statistics, I don't really know what). My concern is that we'll end up running over our allotted time... not that we can actually run over, since we get cut off at twenty-five  minutes no matter what, but getting cut off before we're finished would kind of suck.

Also, I ate the most amazing asiago cheese bagel earlier today. It was amazing and delicious. Amazingly delicious, even.

I really dislike people who bitch about you being indecisive, then force you to make a decision, then bitch about the decision you made under pressure (because it's not the one they wanted you to make). Like just now, when my brother's all "Are you coming to dad's with me are you coming to dad's with me" and I tell him, "I don't know, I have to take a shower before I do anything," and he replies, "Don't lag, I have to go," so I tell him, "Fine, then just go without me," and then he started complaining. If he'd just waited ten minutes for me to take a damn shower, I'd have gone with him, but noooo, we can't have that.

I also really dislike stupid people who act like they're such hot shit, when in reality they're complete and utter dumbasses and the world would very much like it if they'd just stfu. They tend to be the same people who manage to talk for ten minutes straight without actually saying anything, are always, "Why do you have to make everything an argument?" when you correct them and also always have to get in the last word. Mostly I dislike people like that because they're really annoying, but also because they bring out my inner deadpan snarker and I have to make an effort to not respond to anything they say. (Like the kid who sits next to me in French class. Seriously, someone needs to just duct tape his mouth shut or something.)

I'm going to San Francisco tomorrow! My group's going to interview people for an intro video for our presentation. (The one that we really need to work on, because presentations start on the eighth and we... have not started. Like, at all.) And then I'm going out there again on Wednesday, for an AP field trip. I'm looking forward to both, but of course the first one's causing drama, or more accurately, dad's causing drama because of it. I'm not even going to elaborate; thinking about it's pissing me off.

In cheerier news, I finally got La Tale working again! So I've been grinding a bit; right now it's mostly for cash so I can buy something from the fancy shop (the cheapest item in the two that I can access is 100k), but also for levels, I guess; it's just that when I grind for levels it's really slow going, because my attack and defence are pretty low (since I'm playing a wizard) so I can't grind in level-appropriate areas without dying or using up a bunch of healing items. I get decent XP from quests, though, so it's not all bad. It... would probably also help if I weren't soloing, lol. I'm too antisocial to form a party, anyway /:

I think I'm going to go back to grinding until I figure out just wtf is going on today. |:

Test today \o/ And another like 8 degree change in temperature. /: I don't like it when the weather does that, my allergies are always worse when it does. Then again... they weren't so bad yesterday, so I think I'll be okay. And if I wash out my thermos and brew some extra-strong mint tea to take with me, that should help, too. And we might have a sub in AVID again today, which means we can't do binder checks, so I might not have to stay at school all day! Which would be very nice, though... it's not actually that bad. I'm starting to get over it.

Mint tea (not herbal tea, black tea + mint; I'd be more specific but that's all it says on the box) and honey go very well together. The honey taste mixes with the mint taste to make a delicious taste. ♥

La Tale seems pretty cool, too! It really is just like Maple Story (at least, from what I remember of my five minutes of playing Maple Story) but I can actually stand to play it. Level six already~ I can punch wolves in the face now, it's pretty awesome. (Actually I'm whacking them with a staff, and they're 'wild dogs,' not wolves, but still.) It's a little iffy, though. I can't seem to get to the next town, though I know where it is. At least, I think I know where it is. The NPC who told me said it was beyond the forest, but she neglected to mention that there's an ancient forest after the forest. I could barely get through the first forest ¬_¬; So I'm thinking I want to get to around level fifteen before I try doing anything amazingly risky.

It's strange; the character menu said that wizard characters were trickier for new players because of their low... something. Probably strength in regards to defence, or something like that; I don't remember. But it doesn't seem that hard at all. Maybe it's just because I've played stupidly difficult RPGs with major grind required before (/cough Phantasy Star /cough) so I better understand resources like HP and healing items and how far those things go, so I can apply that to any game I'm playing. Or maybe the game just isn't that hard, lol.

On the news there was just a story about a new tactic hotel workers are using in their picketing. One union drew attention to their protest by dancing in the lobby to the accompaniment of a brass band. Those hotel workers are awesome and they should feel awesome.

I'm out of tea and I still have like half an hour before I need to really start getting ready, since I don't want to sit around at school for half an hour by myself. I'll have to make more tea.

edit: Also, though this is kind of old news, there is a rogue satellite out in space. It no longer takes orders from its controllers on Earth, but it's still fully functioning and can, in fact, steal signals from other satellites. This satellite used to carry the SyFy Channel. I'm lolling at the irony.

Ten chapters into The Grapes of Wrath - that's like a third of the way through, I think. I am so not reading any more of that right now; it's got me in this weird mood and I don't like it. At least there aren't any IDs due tomorrow; maybe I can do some of the others tonight or something. Or maybe I'll just read more. I don't really know yet. There's a Girl Scout meeting and I have no idea what to expect from that, but I probably won't be in the mood to work at all.

I've noticed that I read novels for school differently than I read novels for fun. If I'm reading something because I want to, then I get into it. I pay attention; I notice things. But if I'm reading something because I have to read it, then I just read it. I recognise the words and I know what's going on, but I'm thinking about other things the entire time. Mostly I was thinking about Mao and how her character is evolving; some of the traits she's ending up with would probably be better suited for Momoko, but Momo's not the right character for it; Mao is.

I don't even know what I'm thinking any more, not right now. I think I need some human interaction or something. No, that's not right either; what I really need is some trig class. /: Nothing like boring review problems that you don't even need to bring some normality back.

I really want to go see Star Trek: THE EXHIBITION at the Tech Museum. It closes on April 11 x: Maybe for my birthday. I think if I do get to go, I might just cry a little bit. Because I'll be walking through history. I'll be right in the middle of over 40 years of space and dreams. And it'll be amazing. (Okay, so I cried a little when I watched the bonus behind-the-scenes on Star Trek XI where the actors were all talking about how honoured they felt to be working on Star Trek and to be working with Nimoy, and where Nimoy talked about how honoured he felt that they asked him to reprise his role as Spock, and how amazing it was that Star Trek had lasted for so long and... yeah, I cried.)

Also, I forget if I've said this already, but I'll say it anyway. The other day (like two weeks ago, at this point) I was talking about FFXIII, and Margaret was all, "You know, I really don't like the new Final Fantasies." I asked why, and I got the worst excuse I've ever heard for disliking a video game: "There are guns in it now!" No lie, I actually "..."ed. I actually had no idea what to say. I mean - there have been guns in FF since at least VII, if not earlier (Tactics doesn't count, since it came out the same year as VII, and I'm pretty sure VI didn't but I can't be too sure, because that's the one I'm least familiar with. Well, that one and V.)

It's almost like there's this huge gap between VI and VII. In a way, there is - it's 2D v 3D. What works in 2D does not work in 3D, and what works in 3D does not work in 2D. But it feels like even the stories are completely different - even moreso than Final Fantasy stories usually are.

Or maybe it's just all in my head. I don't really know.

I'm not sure if I'm going out to dad's tonight or not. I don't actually want to, but if I don't then I'm stuck at home reading The Grapes of Wrath. Now, I know, I know - The Grapes of Wrath is apparently an amazing book. Everybody I've heard talk about it loves it to pieces. Even Sam likes it, and, as Sam has impeccable taste, I usually trust his judgement. I haven't even started reading it, and I am most certainly not looking forward to it. It's not because I've heard bad things about it. No, it's because it's Steinbeck.

I have not had pleasant experiences with Steinbeck, though my only real experience with Steinbeck is The Pearl. And I hated The Pearl. (Mind, it may not have been so bad if Mrs Haynes hadn't been my English teacher, but that's a different discussion altogether.) I didn't have to read Of Mice and Men in freshman year, and I'm not complaining. Other people are complaining, because "omg you're so luckyyyyy" so I don't think I missed anything important. Of course, I may have actually liked it, had I been required to read it; more importantly, I may be less reluctant to read this one now. But whatever; can't change the past, and I'm not too keen to, either.

Also, today there was an AP Naptime. There were five minutes in APUSH today where two-third of the class had their heads down on the desk. It was amazing, and those were probably the five most refreshing minutes of not-sleep I've had in quite a while.

Finished the fifteen chapters of Huck Finn I had to read; took like an hour and a half. I wasn't taking notes, though I think I should have been... oops. /: I'll either remember enough to pass the quiz or I won't, I'm not too concerned.

And then I remembered more homework I had to do! |: It's just vocab sentences, so that's not all that bad. I wonder if I should theme these like I did last year, and then what kind of theme I should use if I do. Maybe Metroid. I had a lot of Metroid examples in the APE IDs, after all.

I feel like I should be updating like Twitter or something instead of LJ. |: But then I post a lot when I have nothing to do all day but homework, so... And then I have to sync my Twitter account with my new phone number anyway, so... yeah. (I don't think that had a point.)

Off to not do history IDs! :D

edit: They're all video game related. There are like three Metroid ones, though. (:

Totes meant to make this post earlier, then I got sucked in by FF12 again. I beat Ghis! :D! I was stuck on him the last time I played through, then this time I used like 4 Quickenings and killed him in less than a minute. /overkill

I've got a Birth By Sleep theory. (Another one, anyway.) I think Terra is the Xehanort we're all familiar with, or will end up becoming him. Unlike my last theory, this one actually kind of makes sense! (Well, if you think 'his hair looks kinda like Xehanort's and his eyes turn orange at one point during the opening cutscene' makes it make sense, anyway...) But I'm not going to find out if I'm right or not until I actually play the game because I am VERY DECIDEDLY NOT SPOILING MYSELF. I did that with Folklore and I'm still pissed at myself for it orz So it's not happening this time. (While I'm on the subject... not spoiling FF13, either! Not happening!)

One more go at downloading the opening cutscene for my iPod and then I'm moving on to English homework. It's only ten ids, it should be easy! ...until I start working on the project, anyway. |:

/wants BBS icons orz