Editing Chapter 3

So working during the night and sick as well does have its benefits. I am able to work uninterrupted for extended periods of time. I have already emailed my professors letting them know I will not be making it in tomorrow. Being the teachers pet does have its perks as my math instructor gave me all my assignments ahead of time without an argument. She even let me sign in so that when I left early yesterday to come home and rest, i wouldn't be counted as absent.

Regardless, I am glad to have this time to work on the book. I had let it take a backseat the first couple of weeks of school, but now that I have a good flow going for my classes, I am able to work on it and also keep up with my assignments. Chapter 3 needed very few edits, but a handful of sentences did need some revisions. I was able to get through it in an hour, and although I was looking to move onto chapter 4, I may call it a night as my cold / flu / Hemorrhoid or whatever this is seems to be getting worse even with medication.

Chapter 2 Editing Complete

All done. Easy as pie. Not nearly the train wreck chapter 1 was and I completed it in about an hour. Chapter 3 will be easy as well. Most of the story from here on out will just entail a few seeds and plot twist fixes so I can make sure they all mesh and fit together. As has become my MO, I did my best work in the middle of the night so I should try and get some rest seeing as how today (its now about 7am) is Super bowl Sunday. Was figuring I could at least try to catch the game. Either that or worl on chapter 3 and get my reading for English class done.

Disappointed

"Winter Storm Warning!"

That's all i heard for days here in Corpus Christi. I was pretty jazzed not at the possibility at missing school cause I am so the nerd and wanted to go regardless, but at the thought of having real snow and ice accumulations so I could go out and photograph it all. What I got was the biggest let down and I am a tad annoyed. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes because this is just CC and not Austin. I know, people will say "Go back to Austin then!" I am planning to so do worry about that. Either that or some place up north. I can hear the ice melting from the tree branches and tapping the roof from time to time, but it was nothing like I experienced up in Austin. There is nothing quite like seeing a 2 foot thick slab of ice covering the sidewalk or a good foot of snow on the ground. I know up north its much thicker and to be honest, I wanted that. I knew it wouldn't get like that here, but a guy can hope.

I was looking forward to the meteorological equivalent to the apocalypse. All I got was a half melted Slurpee. They talked it up so much, saying accumulation was going to be massive for our part of the country. I guess 1/10th of an inch is massive for us then. So much for a great day of photos. Sigh.

Finals

Done...

 

Were you expecting more? Sorry.

Lettuce Garden

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Olivia Lufkin"][/caption]

Had the English final today. I think I may have freaked out a few of my classmates and maybe my teacher as well. When I write, I tend to get in a zone, either by listening to music or almost talking to myself as a song plays in my head. I knew that although the class had been relatively easy for me up until this point, I really wanted to bring the goods and prove to myself that I could successfully write and edit a paper in less than 30 minutes. After the exam time started, I sat there staring at the ceiling for about 5 minutes, drumming my fingers rhythmically on my legs. I was playing Olivia Lufkins "Lettuce Garden" in my head the entire time and sure enough, about 10 minutes in, it hit me and i started writing non stop for 20 minutes. I got 4 pages down and took 10 minutes to edit and make corrections in spelling grammar, and word organization. I felt like 100 ton train barreling though the exam like it was nothing, popping out sentences left and right and from time to time, i tossed my head back to break my view of the screen so that I may continue my train of thought...so to speak. I rocked my head back and forth and started mouthing the lyrics to the song as I wrote, which inadvertently drew the attention of at least 3 of my classmates and I am sure a strange look from my instructor.

Needless to say, I felt it was one of my best works and I hit my 30 minute marker I had set forth without so much as breaking a sweat. Most of my class mates were struggling to make the 2 page minimum requirement while I managed to blast that wall to pieces rather easily. Thanks goes to my beacon of inspiration, Olivia Lufkin, once again. With a single song I was able to burn that building to the ground and show not only myself , but my peers that I could do it.

Chapter 13

I pushed the craziness to the next chapter, opting to build a little more suspense before the dropping of the proverbial bomb. Still, the chapter was quite good, allowing the characters to get even closer before things get all weird...n stuff. I am glad to get it done and now I think I am going to take a long nap...and I say long nap cause I know even if I fall asleep now at just before 8pm, I will wake up at 11pm like clockwork. I don't have class till noon tomorrow and it's a review day before our finals next week so should be nice and light. It took a total of 4 pills to get me to sleep last night and of course today I am feeling the after effects. Tired all day long, it was tough to write the programs I needed for my programming class, but I am still happy, getting to finish this chapter the way I wanted to without much difficulty. There was one part where I struggled a little, having never written anything quite like it, but I managed. I am sure I can rework it and see if I can make it better.

Hoshizora no Waltz

It's been difficult, but I am going to force myself to write Chapter 12. I have come this far and I shouldn't just cash in my chips just yet. My goal was to write a heartfelt and touching story about two people who find each other through the strangest of circumstances, regardless of how unlikely it may seem. I don't care if people read it and call it crap or find the story unbelievable. Fact is regardless of how crazy my story is, I know true life is indeed stranger than fiction so if they don't see the beauty in my story, I really don't care. Instead of just becoming a slave to my emotions, I am rededicating myself and not only writing the story for a certain some one else, but also for myself. It's going to happen and it's going to be completed one way or another. At times I am knocking out a chapter and a half a night so there is no lock of inspiration. It's simply trying to cope with all the emotions that come along with writing a story that comes straight from the heart. I don't care if Finals are around the corner, I am not letting up. I am not sure how I am going to distribute the work once it's finished, but I want as many people as possible to read it and again, if you think it's crap, so be it.

SpidERƧpins

I am seriously not liking this paper. I have absolutely no drive to write it anymore. As previously stated in another post, I have found that part of writing that I really dislike. I am gonna keep working on it cause its a grade, but I am definitely not happy about it. I am sure I will make everyone else in the class pissed at me cause I am so much better than they are at this. Look at me, I am such a pompous ass today. I usually never speak so highly of myself, but forgive me for trying to psyche myself up for this. I am know I am the best writer in the class, perhaps even the best writer of anyone taking 1301. I am sure I can write circles around some of the people who think they are good.

Ok, ok. Enough of me being self centered. I need to focus. This paper has changed course and now I have to figure out how to steer it. I know where I want to go, but covering all the different angles could turn my max 6 page paper into 10 and I really don't want to make it that big as I am sure my English teacher will hate me for that. We have until after Thanksgiving to complete it, but I want this done already. I have to turn in a 2nd draft tomorrow and I don't want to hand over a piece of crap and yes, right now it's garbage. I almost want to just scrap the whole thing and start over, but it does have a few nuggets of good ministerial. Time for me to work a little magic and turn a paper a 5th grader would be proud of into a college level assignment.

 

Book Banning

Although I should be jazzed about this assignment, I am not. We were able to select a subject for an augmentative paper, 4-6 pages in length, complete with a works sited page. Although I do enjoy writing, I always feel that i am bastardizing my subjects after a write about them. The last paper I did was an analytical paper where we, again, got to choose our own subject within the bound of it being something that could be thoroughly analyzed. Some people chose a news article, a story from a paper, a poem, etc. I chose a song. i chose it specifically because it was from a song writer who, in his day, was looked at as a John Lennon for Generation X. I did what was required from the assignment, however I don't feel I did it any justice.

I am feeling the same about this paper and all I have done so far is free write and do my works sited page.

I have found that although I enjoying writing, i definitely prefer personal narratives and story telling. I know I can make myself look at this topic as telling a story, just taking the angle of arguing with some one over it. Still, I feel like I am not going to do well on this paper, and it's making me second guess my ability to write cohesively and it's making me think I might be mistaken in my ability. I told my English teach straight out, "I think I am good, but not great" and I get the feeling I am finding a definite weak spot in my talent.

 

Chapter 2

Is finished. I am pretty happy with the amount of detail i was able to put in it given its my first draft. I am sure I will be able to add more color when i go back and revise. Most importantly I want to get the story out and keep it fresh in my mind. School has been calling more and more so I cannot make it my top priority. exam 3 then finals shortly after are my primary objectives. Chapter 3...i am not sure if I should introduce the 2nd main character or provide my protagonists back story. I have touched on it in chapters 1 and 2, but I think now may be the time to write  it so that I can avoid having to constantly reference it and fill in the blanks as I go. Best to just let the audience know what happened to him and how he got to where is is now. I will allow me to concentrate on the 2nd character more fully and allow the story to flow uninterrupted.

 

Ridiculous Thoughts

Gotta love reading some ever interesting information on Loops in C++. My classmate wrote me cause she needed help. I really should read the chapter. I managed to get by writing the programs with just help from the book so I guess it's a good idea to do that. Gotta finish Intro to Comps homework though. You know school is on your mind when you dream about writing  in the C++ language. It was pretty uneventful so I will spare you the details.

#include <string>

int total

string dream

cout << "This is pretty dumb to dream about! \n" << endl;

cin >> total;

cout << "Input random dream here. " << endl << endl;

cin>> dream;

yes, this dream was super special awesome. So anyway, back to homework.