Kat’s Pause 

That is how long I have to write something.

Update: My God. I actually did it. I finished that story (see below for edit) and decided to submit a poem I wrote a few months ago. As soon as my dinasaur printer finishes cranking them out, I’m off to the library. I like the poem except for a few lines, and I kind of like the story now that I decided to change the ending, so it’d be cool if something won.

I wrote a bit more on that story thing. I’m not sure what happens next, but I know how it will end. Any suggestions would be welcome…

Update: I finished it. Sorry for the hard-to-read spacing, it’s a pain in the ass to double-space all paragraphs in my little blog window.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~

Two Blue Lines [eh, it stuck]

She stared at the second blue line. It didn’t move. She blinked. It stayed blue.
No, it had to be a mistake. She was too young— she had been careful—
But as much as she tried, she couldn’t convince herself that hers was among the 1% of inaccurate results. She remembered missing a few pills, taking others late. She hadn’t been careful.
Why was this her fault? How was it fair that she be responsible for both of their protection? It seemed awfully one-sided.
Well… she did have options. She wondered how hard it would be to keep from her parents if she went to a clinic. Maybe if she did it soon enough, she wouldn’t even have to tell him.
~
The doorbell rang.
“Hang on just a minute!� Gillian yelled down the stairs. She dabbed on some lip gloss, threw the rest of the makeup in her purse, then hiked up her gown and ran downstairs.
“You look great,� David said when she opened the door.
“I’ll finish my makeup in the car. Sorry I’m late.�
“Don’t worry about it,� he said, taking her arm.
~
David’s parents’ old Neon jerked to a sudden stop, causing Gillian to a smear a dark streak of eyeliner down her cheekbone. She swore and rubbed at it furiously with a tissue.
“Sorry Gill… are you okay?�
“I’m fine.� She licked her finger and rubbed harder at the harsh black line.
“Hey, calm down, hon.�
Gillian sighed. “I’m just nervous.�
David laughed. “Nervous, about a school dance?�
“It is my first formal,� she reminded him. A year older than her, this was his second.
“It’s really no big deal.�
“Yeah,� Gillian said, looking out the window.
~
“It’s about time,� Mark gestured toward the door as David and Gillian entered.
Liz jumped up and waved until Gillian ran over to hug her. After the conventional compliments, they all sat down at the table Mark and Liz had saved.
“Have they served the food yet?� Mark asked.
“They were just setting it up in the lobby when we came in,� David answered.
“Anything good?�
“It looks alright, standard middle-class-school-formal fare. I think I saw cookies, marshmallow things, and brownies. Wanna go?�
“Nah, I’ll hold out for something better.� Mark stretched an arm around Liz, who smiled.
“Well, I need my chocolate fix for the day,� Gillian said. “Liz, you want to come?�
Liz’s smile flickered. “I think I’ll just stay here.�
“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of getting fat again,� Mark said, rolling his eyes.
Gillian groaned. “Lizzie, you weigh like a hundred pounds. For you, a healthy diet should include ice cream and fast food.�
“I’m really not hungry,� Liz assured them, eyes begging above her smile.
“Come on Liz, you have to eat something for later,� Mark coaxed, poking her ribs. “Remember, alcohol is one of the only substances absorbed directly through the stomach lining.�
“No biology, Mark, please,� David mock-begged him.
“We want to have fun tonight,� Gillian implored.
Mark grumbled, “Science is useful. You’ll have more fun if you aren’t throwing up from alcohol poisoning.�
Gillian tugged on David’s hand. “Those brownies are calling me.�
Out in the lobby, David sucked in the cool air and tried to keep up with Gillian, who was sprinting for the buffet table. He released her hand. “Are you okay, Gill?�
She piled the treats onto a small, flimsy plastic plate. “Yeah, why?�
“You always eat more when you’re upset.�
Her hand stopped in mid-grab. “I’m not eating more. I mean I’m not upset.�
David touched her shoulder and she turned to face him. “What’s up?�
Gillian’s eyes darted. She felt trapped. “Nothing. Just… family stuff.�
“Oh.� David released her shoulder. “Is it your aunt again?�
She flushed, looking away. “Yeah.� A jagged blade twisted inside her at the lie.
“You think she’d learn,� David sighed. “Thirty years old and she still thinks she can party like a teenager.�
“Can we talk about something else?� The words came out a little too abruptly. David eyed her, but said only, “Sure. Do you want to go back in?�
“Yeah.� She headed for the door, fragmented beneath her blue dress.
~
When they got back to the table, Liz stood up. “It’s so stuffy in here. Gill, you want to go outside?�
David looked at her, confused. “But we just got—�
“Okay.� Gillian set her plate down on the table and headed for the exit with Liz. “We’ll be back in a bit.�
Mark sighed. “Women. So fickle.�
“It’s their prerogative,� David lamented.
~
A pair of headlights lit up in the parking lot. “Looks like someone’s leaving early, or coming late,� Liz remarked.
“Either way, you know there’s drinking involved,� Gillian smirked.
“You seem a little off tonight, Gillian,� Liz said. “Is anything up?�
“I was going to ask you the same thing. What’s the deal with not eating?�
Liz looked at the ground, scuffing her shoe on a pebble. “I have to make weight for next week. Right now I’m four pounds over the flyweight limit.�
She always took her sports so seriously. Sometimes Gillian swore rowing was a cult. “Could you just row lightweight instead?�
Liz stared at her. “I can’t do that, they’d all have thirty pounds on me! And I’ve been training as flyweight since fall.�
“Oh… that’s too bad.� Gillian fingered the stitching on her dress. “But you know, it’s just rowing, and your health is always more important—�
“‘Just rowing’ is all I have to go on for a scholarship,� Liz reminded her with frustration. “We can’t all be as smart as Mark.�
“I guess so.� Gillian looked at her friend carefully. “You’re being safe, right?
Liz didn’t meet her eyes. “What do you mean?�
“You know, not doing anything stupid or dangerous… some people will try anything to lose weight.�
Without warning, Liz glared at her. “I think that’s my own business.�
The sting added to the twisted knot Gillian had been trying to ignore since lying to her boyfriend. “I’m sorry, Lizzie, I didn’t mean… I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.�
“Well, you’re the one who’s been acting weird,� Liz snapped.
Gillian shut her mind to the pain and the fear and tried to breathe. “I have something… I want to tell someone…�
“Spit it out, you don’t have to be so melodramatic all the time.�
The cold tone in Liz’s voice was making Gillian more angry than hurt. “This is a little bigger than a few pounds.�
“You always think you’re problems are worse than everyone else’s, Gillian. This is my education, my life, we’re talking about.�
A cold burning crept into Gillian’s eyes. She pushed it back, knowing that tears would smudge her makeup. If she wanted, she could cry later, but not here.
“Well, what is it?� Liz asked, crossing her arms.
“Suppose you thought about someone else’s life for a change,� Gillian began, accusation ringing in her voice. Inside, a few heads turned and the word “catfight� was tossed about.
“Look who’s talking! You always have to be the most important.�
“Would you wake up?� Gillian shouted. “There’s a world outside of you and me.�
“Oh yeah? What’s your latest apocalypse, Drama Queen?�
Pain surged aflame through Gillian’s body as she met the harsh words with a brisk smack.
Liz’s eyes widened and began to glisten. She turned violently away and ran down the steps.
Flash
Shriek
thud as machine hit body
Gillian screamed. “Oh my God. Oh my God!�
David and Mark burst out the doors. Mark stopped and stared at the body resting awkwardly on the black asphalt.
“Help!� David yelled. “Someone call 911!�
Mark’s mind was numb, but his hand dove instinctively into his pocket. He fumbled with the cell phone’s buttons. It’s just three numbers, moron. Can’t you handle that?
Gillian started crying. “This is my fault. I shouldn’t have hit her… oh God, what if she’s not okay?�
“Mark’s getting an ambulance. It’s gonna be okay,� David told her, his voice trembling only a little less than hers.
~
Gillian, David, and Mark all looked up as the nurse entered the waiting room. The last six hours had been the most tension-filled of their lives. Gillian had stopped crying into David’s shoulder, while Mark sat stone-still and silent.
The nurse spoke to Liz’s family first. Gillian watched their faces anxiously, and nearly cried again when she saw their expressions break with relief.
Liz, as the nurse explained to them next, had one broken and two fractured bones, but they had successfully stopped the internal bleeding, so she wasn’t in danger anymore. The baby would also be fine.
“Baby?� David said. “No, we didn’t come with a baby, just Liz.�
The nurse smiled her professional smile with courteous sincerity. “We found out from routine blood tests. Your friend is nearly seven weeks pregnant.�
Gillian and Dave turned to Mark, who looked even more shell-shocked than before. “I didn’t know,� he mumbled thickly.
The three of them took in the news as the nurse left to discuss something with Liz’s parents.
“She never told me,� Gillian said, almost defensively. “She should have told me.�
“She should have told me,� Mark said. “I thought we were being careful. She said she was taking care of it.�
“It’s not your fault; these things happen,� Gillian said weakly.
Mark laughed bitterly. “These things happen to somebody else. Not me.� After a moment, he asked her, “How long do you think she knew?�
“If she’s seven weeks… it could be just a week or two, but maybe more.�
Mark shook his head. “I just wish she would have told me.�
Watching his sad expression, Gillian knew then that she had to be honest with David. She touched his hand and said, “David, there’s something I need to tell you.�
Out in the hall, she tried to breathe, and finally said, “I saw some papers I wasn’t supposed to, at home. My parents are getting a divorce.�
“Oh, Gill, I’m sorry.� David wrapped her in a hug.
Gillian realized she was crying again. “I know half the people who get married get divorced these days, and it’s really not a big deal, but I had no idea. They don’t seem to fight a lot or anything. I mean, they don’t act like honeymooners, but—�
“It’s okay to be upset,� David told her. “They should have at least told you.�
Gillian smiled a little, relieved he understood, and glad she’d told him the truth.
“Gill?�
She looked up. “Yes?�
“Thanks for telling me.�

I have Thursday and Friday to write a goddamn story to put in the goddamn contest before my goddamn brain explodes or melts or just withers away and blows out my ears.

Goddamnit!

*deep breath*

I wrote some thing the other day. I have half an idea for maybe a story thing with it, but I dunno. It’s not even good, just a little entertaining.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~

[edit: see above]

~_~_~_~_~_~_~

I wrote some poemy thing the other day too. Dunno what to do with it.

To speak through a tarnish of melancholy
To proudly display your polished suit of cynicism
To chase away the dry, empty forever with busy nothingness
To write an airy, meaningless phrase
and hope someone finds it intelligent
To express only words without ideas

This is the life of a word-artist.

The last line will change, otherwise I will hang myself with its tangible ugliness. Yeah so that was a teeny hyperbole. I’m feeling overdramatic.

omgwtf am I going to do for this contest

I feel way less bad about GW now, after being both independent and cooperative — independent from Ning, and cooperative with strangers to join parties. Sure that’s the most basic thing for any healthy MMO gamer, but for me, doing my first mission with an actual human being who was not my boyfriend was a big step. After that, I shocked myself by leading a mission and actually helping another human being. The only times I led before would be if I accidentally charged (as an elementalist), aggro’d a bunch of monsters and got everybody killed. The next step was a mission with ALL human beings, no AI henchmen, and finally, creating a party all by myself. Now I’m comfortable assembling relatively balanced groups of people together — couple warriors, couple monks, a ranger or necro, and my sweet ele self.

To top everything off, I reached lvl 20 today, and ascended, without any help from a really good player. A bunch of them were as new as me.

I know it must sound like I’m being terribly contradictory: first I say I like playing GW because I can be with Ning, and now I like it better without him. It’s not quite like that; it’s just that he’s so good at it, I felt extremely noobish in comparison whenever we did anything together. He’s taking me to the underworld soon (sounds like a bizzarre vacation) and I’ll be back to being the noob, but since I know I’ll never be as good as him anyway (I’m not exaggerating, he’s pro) I guess I’ll have to accept my place. But after being on my own, I know I’m learning, and that makes me happy.

Our guild was ranked 15 last time I checked. I wish I played with them so I could share in the pride. Right now I settle for listening to their silliness on vent.

And I really fucking hate arguing on it.

Update: I don’t know if we settled whatever crap we were talking about, which seemed to be a bunch of vague what-ifs, but we stopped talking angrily and that’s good enough for me. I think I have Clone High to thank… so um, thank you for your weird humour in temporarily lightening my boyfriend’s mood.

I’m sorry I can’t share in your pissiness. I’ve tried, but I’m not capable of being angry for extended periods of time. I hope you feel better, though given the circumstances I don’t think you will for another few days. So I’m backing off.

Guild Wars makes me feel like a failure. Ning helps me a lot, mostly by giving me money (which I burn with all the frivolity it is a woman’s prerogative to have), and also running me places. (Or paying a guy 20K gold to.) I can’t tell how I would be doing without his help, so I assume I would be wallowing somewhere… gah. It’s a fun game if you know how to play it. I just don’t. But I still play it in the hopes getting better.

Ning (and by extension I) quit his guild because no one played enough, and joined a new one. I like this new guild better; the only other girl in it has the same name as me, same age, and we have a lot of other things in common. Guildmates are online more often, and they all seem pretty nice. Yay for meeting new people.

Sodamntired. I’ve slept something like ten hours in the past two days, and here I am staying up til 4am again. I think I am not so bright. And this post is barely coherent. Bleh.

I choose to blame Ning for my being AWOL since July 16. Er… not actually, but I feel guilty. God that’s more than a week with no good excuse, other than I like Guild Wars. I drew a little GW-inspired art… but I don’t like it nearly enough to write fanfiction, even if there was any material to work with. Prince Rurik’s not exactly inspirational. So why do I play it so much? Well… Ning’s on 24/7 and we run missions and quests together, and as silly as it sounds, it’s been really great being close to him in this new medium every day. Despite the character he plays to level up with me being female, which is kinda weird sometimes. Plus this is my first online RPG so I’m excited for that, even if it isn’t the best MMORPG in existence.

I am actually posting because of ICO and Closer, which I just watched. I should have slept, and be sleeping, shame on me — I didn’t sleep last night and the two hours I got this evening just made me feel more tired — but the movie’s due back before 10am tomorrow, on Ning’s account.

Closer first. It left me sad, but I like sad things so that didn’t detract from its goodness. It’s a rather complex movie; I don’t mean necessarily in terms of plot, as it wasn’t hard to follow, but a lot happens between the four characters and — to me — a lot is left unanswered. For example, why does Natalie Portman change her hair so much? But seriously, in the end I wasn’t sure who had lied about what, and whether it really mattered. I think it’s worth watching.

Now ICO. In short, it’s very, very nice. I think I mentioned this to Mav: ICO is like the sequel to The Sands of Time I wanted. Or rather, prequel is a better choice, since it contains many of the same elements that made SoT amazing, but to a slightly lesser extent. Apropos, it was made first.

Brief story, no spoilers: The story is very straightforward, without the grandeur of SoT’s, but it’s far more appropriate for the game. Ico is a young boy banished from his village because he had the misfortune, as others had before him, to be born with horns. (Poor mother too, eh?) When he is of age, the villagers seal him in an ancient castle as a sacrifice to keep evil away from their town. During his escape attempt, he meets the fragile princess Yorda, and decides to help her escape the castle too, her from her evil mother, the Queen. (Who I feel the need to mention, is portrayed in such a way as to prevent her from seeming an irrationally bad person… in a word, not just a random evil presence. I’m not saying any more, other than that because of the story and the ending, one could find it nigh impossible to judge who’s right and who’s wrong. I’m the kind of person who likes that sort of thing; it adds depth and realism.)

Graphics are one thing the two games have in common in completely different ways: both beautiful and high-quality, but whereas SoT was vibrant, richly ornamented and detailed, ICO is amazingly immersive in a lesser-seen way: at once incredibly detailed and believable, elegant, and simple in a way that never ever feels lacking. I for one adore the desaturated palette. As a rule, I’m not fond of bright colours, but more importantly, this helps gives the game its wonderful soft, ethereal quality. It’s also a contrast to the harsh crackling black of the demons and the Queen.

I was unexpectedly very impressed with the animation, which we all know is saying something when it’s in the same breath as Prince of Persia. In particular, whenever something falls — pillars, bridges, characters– the physics and aftereffects are literally breathtaking, especially for its time. I found that that aspect surpassed equivalent events in SoT (bridges crumbling, pillars falling). Movement of characters and objects is remarkably fluid; in contrast, the slight initial awkwardness of tugging the princess around was actually enjoyable because of the realistic effect on the player. My favourite example of the game’s superb animation is when Ico catches Yorda whenever she jumps across a gap. I wish I could show it here.

Gameplay is fun. Similar puzzle/platforming fare to SoT, but on the plus side, it feels less linear. Rooms are expansive and it can be not immediately clear what to do, but the puzzles are logical and rarely frustrating. You will have to do a bit of exploring, but the small amounts of backtracking are not tedious. Controls are simple and sensible, and gameplay is overall quite satisfying.

It’s technically hard to die — the only ways to fail are if Yorda gets captured, or Ico falls extremely far, which generally only happens if you jump off the edge of a cliff. There is no health meter, and in fact absolutely nothing on the screen to distract from the game. This may sound outrageously easy, but the lack of HP is made up for in part by, Ico’s weakness in comparison to the demons he fights — thus he must fight longer and harder, and when they knock him down it takes a (realistically) long time to get up again.

If there was one thing I didn’t like, it would be the same as SoT. Length. It took me only a few days to finish the game. Granted, it is understandable, because as sprawling as the castle is, it’s only one castle and there’s only so much escaping you can do from it, even with all the meandering necessary to find a route for Yorda. But the better a game is, the more of it I want to play.

A few last words on the story and its impact: Possibly due to her weakness (for which there are reasons — calm down, feminists!), I found myself really caring about what happened to Yorda especially. The story is surprisingly emotionally involving given its simplicity. There are twists that I would have cried at if I’d been alone — I know that the next time I play it, I will. (It was the same thing with Farah’s death: the first time, I was too shocked to be sad.) Lastly, I know I shouldn’t say this but I’ll burst if I don’t: YOU MUST WATCH THE CREDITS THROUGH. I can’t explain any more without spoiling… I hope my meaning is understood just well enough.

So you should all play ICO! All of you! Just like SoT, it’s a fantasy world that’s so immersive you can forget its impossibility.

Wow that took me two hours to write…

Back to real life. Going to my nephew’s 13th birthday party tomorrow. He’s a teenager now, which is a very scary thought.
It depresses me to think that I’m only halfway through my teenage years… it feels as if I’m growing increasingly slowly.

Must sleep now so that I can yell at Ning to do the same without being hypocritical. His sleeping habits, if you can call never sleeping a habit, are worse than mine.

I love my boyfriend because he makes me play games that are good. ^.^ He convinced me to try Guild Wars today, and having played all night, I am now nursing what could be a burgeoning addiction. Teeheehee. He was bugging me to play it for the longest time, but I resisted because I know nothing about RPGs. It’s so fun though, and pretty noob-friendly. Looks pretty too. ^^

aaaaand today I bought ICO! (Er, yesterday.) I haven’t tried it yet because I’ve been busy with GW, but I am sooo excited to finally play it after reading about it more than a year ago — the same time as I got The Sands of Time. TSoT was spoken of as being as great as ICO. Although I had no idea what ICO was, that and more praise led me to buy TSoT, which of course kept me busy for some time (what with fanfics and forums and such). I figured at the time that I would look into ICO, but it slipped to the back of my mind. It was only recently that I, starved of new videogames, decided I really wanted it. (It actually beat out Splinter Cell: PT, which I’ve been planning to get since I started the original.) A few months ago, I went shopping with Ning and saw it in EBGames, but didn’t have the money at the time. We went to the same place today and I decided I couldn’t wait any longer or risk it disappearing, so it is now MINE.

[I think it’s a vampire! Stab it with a stake!]

If I ever made a webcomic, it would be like Scary Go Round. Or at least I hope so. I love its quirkiness to bits. Oh and I remembered why I didn’t start reading it when I saw it last summer; the first comic I saw was this one. I thought it was some freaky freak-comic.

I’m going to stay up tonight watching movies with my sister (the one who isn’t in Switzerland). Isn’t that cute? It’s because she’s having laser eye surgery tomorrow and they told her she should sleep for eight hours afterward, so she wants to be tired. We never stay up late together; she always goes to bed before me. I stay up with my other sister. This is a nice change.

We just watched Something’s Gotta Give. It was really sweet, and funny too. At midnight we’re going to watch Intolerable Cruelty. I heard it’s great, plus I saw a bit of it and so far I agree. And I bought movie-butter popcorn! And I get to see Ning this weekend and we’re going to see the Fantastic Four! I heard it’s crappy but it still looks cool from what I’ve seen, plus Ning really wanted to see it and I owe him for Star Wars and the Hitchhiker’s Guide.

If I can get a job and squeeze out something decent for the Power of the Pen, I will have fulfilled my goals for the summer. Only thing left to figure out is what to do for my birthday; it’ll be hell sorting out the politics for who to invite. You just don’t really split up the group. Plus I’ll feel bad if I exclude Ran and Veronica. The easiest thing to do would be to invite them all, IF it weren’t for the fact that it would put Ran and Ning in the same room together. Possibly for the first time in a very long while. That is not something I’m prepared to do.

My hair is in a bun. I never do that, usually because it or some layers are too short, but this is the longest I’ve ever grown it. I feel like a ballerina… the fat one who can’t dance and looks funny in her tutu. Hehehe. I’ve accepted the fact that I’m kinetically challenged — seriously, I’m bad at anything that requires movement. Dancing, sports… not dropping things… But it’s okay because this year I’ve also accepted that I can write with some intelligence and am kind of pretty.

Cheers! ^.^

If you guessed peanut butter, you’re wrong! If you guessed webcomics, go make someone give you a cookie. Mmm cookies.

I don’t know whereof this recent webcomic frenzy was born, but I like finding new ones. Well, old ones that everybody else has already been reading for years but I didn’t catch on to till now.

Beaver and Steve is funny sometimes, but a little too random for me.

A Lesson is Learned but the Damage is Irreversible looks fantastic, and is pretty cool to read despite being hard to make sense of.

Scary Go Round is by far today’s favourite. The art is lovely, the stories are entertaining, and it doesn’t try too hard. I seem to recall sometime last summer reading Tycho’s mention of it in the PA archives, but if I checked it out I must not have looked very far. Tis a shame.

I now have more than a dozen webcomics to check regularly. Oh the joy!

My sister left yesterday. Despite the roar of nearby planes, the intimidatingly omniscient security, and the overall hugeness of Toronto Airport, it didn’t feel like she had really gone anywhere. Maybe just to a friend’s house for a few days. Then last night, much too late to blog, I was down in her room looking through clothes she said my other sister and I could borrow while she was gone. Her closet is in the basement cellar, so we also store family things there, and I spied a familiar box of Christmas decorations. I smiled, because I’m a big sap who loves Christmas. Then it hit me that she wouldn’t be here in December. I was surprised to realize it. No one in our immediate family has ever gone anywhere, really, for any amount of time. My half-sister who lives in another city has once gone to England and to Florida for a few weeks at the most. My mother went to Bogota for a week.

It doesn’t really help that her room is exactly the way she left it, dishes on the table, clothes folded over a chair, hairbrush askew on the dresser. We share the same disorganized soul. There was so much she couldn’t take with her, so her room by no means looks empty. I feel like going down and cleaning it up, just to make it feel more real.

Today I left my house for the first time in several weeks. I had to return textbooks to school. Afterwards I went shopping. Now I am happy.

XD

More webcomics: Joe and Monkey!

Strawberry applesauce and root beer do not go together.

Random update #1: Why am I reading Megatokyo?

Random update #2: I found another webcomic the other day, Rob and Elliot. The art’s good and it’s pretty funny. Go lookie!

Random update #3: Kat needs to stop eating so many peanut butter squares. *urk* I are teh self-indulgent glutton.

I meant to fix and re-upload my fanfic. In fact I did add in a few lines about Farah’s new scarf. But I felt like adding some more about it, then left it for a while… and the end result is that it’s not uploaded or even finished to my satisfaction. And I have nothing but vague ideas for the contest, and few of those. I rather like the song I’m working on, though. I wrote a bit more but can’t get Yahoo to upload it properly. One of those days I will learn something about the internet. (You’re not still supposed to capitolize internet, are you?)

I couldn’t sleep last night and Gone With the Wind was on, so I watched that. Well, the last half anyway, since that’s when I turned on the TV. The end made me cry. I love that movie, even if Scarlett is cold and heartless. Still have to read the book.

My sister’s joining her boyfriend/fiance in Switzerland on Friday. She’ll leave behind an apartment-like room in the basement complete with TV, mini-fridge, and computer. And bed and couch and table and stuff. I don’t particularly want it because there’s spiders and centipedes down there and I’m slightly entomophobic (well not that bad, but I hate bugs), so I’m wondering what will happen to it. Probably one of my parents will take it. I’ve always wanted a computer in my room though.

I’m still tired all the time, and moving makes me lightheaded. Damned mono. I miss Ning like hell. I think I’m allowed to see him next week. But of course no kissing for like two months. Damned kissing disease.

So… I was going to go to bed after my last post, but then I stumbled upon a French website with cool SoT screenshots. The kind of shots you wouldn’t find in the game. I made a post at Swordsmen about it:

I was idly searching for defcon pictures when I came across a French website that looks like it belongs to someone who helped make TSoT. There’s a whole pile of really interesting SoT screenshots, some only partially rendered, some from impossible angles you’d normally never see, some obviously concept art, and some — this was the coolest part — that looked like areas they decided not to use in the game. Like these two:
cages
cages and plants
One looks like the inside, and the other the outside.

It’s hard to tell which shots are actually from the game (as we know it) and which aren’t, because there seem to be many from unusual angles. Take this: zoo bridge It looks like it could be a bridge from the game, but I’ve never seen the lower part. And how many of those bridges were actually intact? On the other hand, I’m pretty sure this is one of the courtyards you see down below at the VERY beginning of the game. But shots like this and this aren’t found anywhere in the game.

Take a look at the page with all the pictures, it’s really cool!

A solution to the problem of the Prince recognizing Farah! Partly my sister’s suggestion: She’ll wear some sort of head covering that obscures her face. Reasons: 1) to keep off the sun (so that she doesn’t get sunstroke again), and possibly 2) she makes up a religious or cultural excuse that it’s inappropriate for her to have her face uncovered in public, figuring the Persians won’t know any better. The Prince might be suspicious, but he wouldn’t press it.

I’ll definitely use the first reason. The second has some holes. Tomorrow I’ll edit the story, and I think I’ll use Saraf as the Prince’s city despite the ambiguous spelling. Tonight I’m tired. Plus I want to draw stuff. Last night I drew a TSoT sand skank. ^_^ Now I feel like drawing Farah with a scarf over her face as per my story.