Thing I've Learned #67: I Am a Six Year Old Boy

Today was my birthday. I asked for a Nerf gun. I got a Nerf gun. My dad loves it more than I do. I foresee wars in the future. My mother regrets buying it already.

Thing I've Learned #66: Horse Shopping is Not Like Shoe Shopping

So, the news on the horse hunt is as follows: Kate loves Prestley, and while I liked him a lot, it wasn't quite true love. Yesterday, we went to see a chestnut Irish sport horse mare named Kali. And I like her a lot. More than Prestley. She was a little nervous, but it was raining when I was riding her, and I don't know if that had anything to do with it. I must have a weakness for imperfect horses. Anyway, I sense this is going to be a difficult search. Wednesday we might go see Lyrical, we're going to see Kali again, and I don't know who else.

There's one mom and I both like, a bay gelding. He has a silly name, like Ollie or something. Today my father and I decided that if I like him and end up with him, we will rename him Brego.

I swear, if I had a dollar for every time I made a Lord of the Rings reference and no one got it, I would be a rich woman.

But in all honesty, my horse will have to have an awesome name. If it's name is retarded, it shall be renamed. Probably something literary or historical. How about Bucephalus? Haha, I would.

I finally wrote last night! Some random thing about Kit and DeLacey and Kit's 21st birthday. It isn't finished and I have no idea where it's going, but knowing them, probably to the bedroom.

My birthday is tomorrow! Here's hoping for that Nerf gun...

Thing I've Learned #65: Every Time I Ask For a Kitten I Get a Horse

Long weekend numero dos! Exams are over, halle-frickin'-lujah! And my parents are buying me a new horse. They finally agree that while James is the cutest pony on planet earth, he is also better suited to be a dog than a jumper pony. And so, I'll be getting a horse who actually DOES WHAT IT'S TOLD. And isn't afraid of trot poles. And the wind. And flowers. And it's own shadow. Tomorrow mom and I are driving with Kate and her friend Shannon to watch a horse show. And while we're there we're going to look at a horse. He's a gray gelding, and his name is Prestley. He's quite adorable. :) I'm excited.

There were a few others we looked at online, namely a bay mare named Lyrical that Kate kind of likes. And there's another bay mare my mom likes named Isabella. It's funny, I've never had to go horse shopping like this before. We bought Lillie because I had been riding her for lessons for a while, and we bought James because I had been working with him a bit before Lillie died. But this whole looking for a horse elsewhere thing is new to me. So I'm glad Kate will be there to help.

In other news not related to horses, my birthday is Tuesday! It's funny...I swear I feel younger the older I get. You know what I asked for for my birthday? A Nerf gun, a Playtex pirate ship, and 300. The first two being incongruous to my age, and all three out of character for my gender. Most teenagers ask for a car...

You know what I should be doing right now? Annotating. The Great Gatsby is due on Thursday. I'm on chapter two. You know what else I should be doing? Writing. Aside from the teeny short story I wrote for Christmas, I've written nothing since November 30th. I should be working on my historical "projects." Because yes, my nerd love for Greek history translates into my writing. There's the Twin Project, which I believe I've talked about, which I've written...a lot for. There's the Patroclus Project, which I've written two little things for, and then there's the Alexander Project, which is fairly new and has nothing as of yet.

Which brings me to my new nerdy/fangirl obsession: Alexander the Great. Well, it's been an intrest for a while. I think it becomes an obsession when you decide to write about it, but I digress. You see, when it comes to history, I think like a writer. I think about history as stories, the people as characters. I think about Alexander as a person, as a man. Not as his accomplishments. I think about what he acted like, what went through his head, how he met his friends, what he thought of them, you know? People stuff. And I digress again. Where the Twin Project is Castor and Polydeuces, and the Patroclus Project is Achilles and Patroclus, the Alexander Project is Alexander and Hephaistion. (I'm sensing a theme here...) What can I say, I like relationships. Especially when the two parties in question are famous, historical, and handsome. Oh dear, I'm such a nerd!

And on that note, Sarah has just challenged me to a write off, so away I go, hopefully to (finally) get some words down! Ta!

Thing I've Learned #64: Long Weekends are Tiny Pieces of Heaven

Okay, admittedly this long weekend will end with midterm exams...but still. And you know what I should be doing right now? Studying. But Sarah's coming over instead. And we're going to watch movies and hang out instead.

I love watching movies with my friends. Most girls are like, "Oh, let's watch Titanic and The Notebook!" And I'm like, "Let's watch a gory movie! How about Gladiator?" And Sarah agrees enthusiastically. We're awesome.

Yesterday was our girly day, though. We went to the mall, and I think we spent about two hours in Forever 21. And I bought thigh high boots. Pair 57. My father was not pleased.

I'm sure other things happened to me that week, but I don't remember them, so they must not be important.

Thing I've Learned #63: Authors Are Weird People

Alane Ferguson, author of the Christopher Killer, came to our school today. She told us about fighting with her sisters and all the dead people she's seen and the creepy things that have happened to her. And she said she met Stephen King, and he was weird. Authors are weird in general, I'm starting to see. I liked her a lot. She was funny, and nice, and she had a lot to say. Which is important in a writer. And not just that, but knowing what you're talking about. And having a passion for it. She definitely had those.

And then she did a writer's workshop. EB, Sarah, and I all went. And you know, she liked us! We did a writing exercise and she read mine, and Sarah's too. She said they were very good. Mature, I think was the word she used. Of course, there was much nit-picky criticism attached, but it felt good. Embarrassing...but good. She said we could e-mail her our stuff, which was really neat. You don't really use that word much anymore, neat. But it was. It was neat.

Thing I've Learned #62: My Fate is Unavoidable

I have a perfectly good excuse for being gone from the blogging world for a whole week, I promise. Two of them, actually. One being that god damned project, which is, halle-frickin'-lujah, done. Two being the copious quantity of books I received in the mail Wednesday evening. Allow me to explain. Though perhaps first I should outline the rest of this past week.

Saturday: Spent ENTIRE FREAKING DAY in transit. Most of which was spent in the airport. Didn't get home until 1:30 AM. Sucked. Does not bode well for the future of 2010.
Sunday: Slept. Don't really recall much else, though I'm sure I worked on my project. Ah yes, went to Sarah's briefly for a few hours of work.
Monday: Strange how school is a relief when you have a monstrous project at home waiting for you. Worked on said project until four in the morning.
Tuesday: Skipped first and second period to sleep. Turned in damned project. Felt remarkably lighter.
Wednesday: EB and Sarah came over to watch 27 Dresses. Sarah, upon leaving, gave me the books I'd ordered and had sent to her house. (Five of them.) Spent the rest of the night in bliss.
Thursday: My barn buddy, Nadine, shadowed me in school. Think my pre-calc class frightened her. Rode James, who was a shithead, and then indulged in a long hot bath. Spent said bath reading, and most of the night thereafter.
Friday: Sarah came home with me after school. Got two books from the library. We spent hours sitting in silence reading. After she left, I spent many, many more hours reading.
Saturday: Read. Had breakfast. Read, finished the last of my books, felt extremely sad. Built a trebuchet.

So now I shall explain about those books. I believe I mentioned my wonderful aunt got me a giftcard for Amazon? Well. I got books with it, naturally. M/m books, naturally. Read all five about three days. They were good, all of them. I'd rant on them, but considering how much space that took up last time...maybe that's not such a good idea. But False Colors remains my favorite, despite it's minimal quantities of fornication. And wow, that sounded really...supercilious. As did that. Hurrah for big words!

But to finally get to my point, and my lesson learned. I have found, through the reading of many author's notes and 'about the author' pages, all authors are fundamentally the same. This never ceases to amaze and delight me. For instance, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett tell how they wrote Good Omens together was mostly by shouting excitedly at each other over the phone. This is precisely what Sarah and I do when we collaborate on a story: shout excitedly about our ideas, paying little to no attention to what the other is saying. Ally Blue declares that she used to be a good girl. Well, so did I. Kimberly Gardner confesses to sneaking romance novels into her house. Guess what I've been doing? And all authors seem to have cats! I have often seen mentions to authors being servants to very spoiled cats. Diana Wynn Jones even wrote a short story about such a spoiled cat.

My point is this: I am doomed to such a fate. That will be me in ten years. Teaching, writing smutty romance novels, with five cats and no husband or boyfriend to speak of.

Ah, me.

Thing I've Learned #61: This Was Officially the Worst Year Ever

Dear 2009,
I'd like to say I'm sorry to see you go, but that would be an outright lie. You sucked. Good riddance! You made me sick more times than I've ever been in one year. I just LOVE killer-two-week-long colds! You've given me a shitload of stupid projects, not to mention homework and other schoolwork from hell. You killed a helluva a lot of celebrities, and while I don't care so much on a personal level, I don't appreciate your sense of 'humor.' And oh, you killed my pets. Thanks a bunch, you son of a bitch. I hate you.
I think it's safe to say there were only two good things about you:
1) My two weeks in Japan this summer (which you had to ruin the rest of by making me sick.)
2) Avatar. Best. Movie. Ever. Seen it twice, going to see it again as soon as the current shitty project is done.
So thanks, '09, for ruining my life. I hope the door hits you in the ass on your way out.
Here's to the end of the worst year--no, the worst decade!-- ever,
Alyssa A.K.A. Spices