Beautiful, ain't it?

A bit of remodeling helps calm the nervous mind. Or something random like that. Anyhoot, I'd like to thank two of my good friends that helped me with this blasted html: Kyle Pate and Joseph Reed. Thanks, guys. I'm in your debt and eternally thankful for your tolerance of my computer retarded...ness. Hmmm...maybe the retarded-ness works all 'round? Whatever.

Anyway. I woke up this afternoon. Ate. Watched Dumb and DumberER. Sat around. Decided to lurk around on the internet. Um. Did stuff. Checked email. Got EC's newsletter. Went to Candlekeep. Did stuff. Had a splendid time.

That about sums up my day. Boy, I'm a role-model, ain't I? Eat your heart out. Punk rocks. I've been listening to D.O.A. and the Ramones waaaaaaaaay too much lately. Then again, who can't get enough D.O.A. and Ramones? Spited!

Ooooooh! Got some new fancy boxers. Eight dollars each--a bargain! *mutters* But they are awesome. One is pink and red and has pink and red and white hearts on it. Woo! The other one is gray and has a picture of the forest on it and says in log-letters: Morning Wood. Attractive.

Well, the blog looks cool. I added Ed's forum to my Messageboards list. Hopefully that'll compel outsiders to stop by, but my efforts will most likely be for naught. Ah well. I tried, Ed. I tried. Forgive me.

Let's see...what else did I do? Oh yes. Today is December 31st. Fancy that. Sometime in the next few days I'll be receiving my rejection letter from The Undead. Man, I'm soooooo egotystical. Oh yes, and I'll also be receiving my rejection letter from Beyond the Mundane: Vampires and Werewolves and Monsters, Oh My! I concur. Oh my!

Popular belief right now would most likely be something along these lines: "What the hell is this kid on?" But, alas, I'm not on anything. Unless you count my rickety chair set in front of the computer. Gawd, aren't I dry? Yes, I really am. I think it's time for a shower.

Tata, people leading normal lives.

Ian out. *collapses*

Journey's End

Since I've got nothing better to do, I'm going to list all the books I've read in the last month and tell you how good they are (if they were good):

1. Starless Night by R.A. Salvatore-- This is about my ninth Drizzt book and I have to say that as much as I love RAS, his writing's starting to get really bland. The first hundred or so pages flew by and were pretty uneventful, and after that everything was stuffed with a whole bunch of needless detail. The only really great parts of the book were probably when Drizzt was reunited with his old sverfnebli friend, Belwar, and the scene when Drizzt and co. were being chased across the stalactite bridges by Baenre guards. Other than that, I found this book pretty boring and hope to God that Siege of Darkness promises more. 6 out of 10.
2. The Destruction of the Books by Mel Odom-- This is the sequal to one of my favorite fantasy epics, The Rover. Although the story focuses on a different character--the assistant to The Rover's main character--I found this book quite good. A few parts were opaque and hard to keep interest in, but it got really good, especially in the scenes with the main character's precesessor from the first book in the series. The dwarves were cool (they always are to me) and everyone else was great, especially the bad-ass wizard named Craugh. The only thing I have to complain about regarding characters is Juhg, the main character, who I found to be quite the ninny. Overall, 8 out of 10.
3. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells-- Ah, finally a smaller book that is actually intelligent! Although I'm not much for scifi books, The Time Machine was an exception, though I found it to be more on the adventure side. The prose is great, the detail vivid and rich, and everything else about it is just awesome. It's a wonder how great the writing is--and how easy it is to understand--as it was written more than a hundred years ago. 9 out of 10.
4. Salem's Lot by Stephen King-- Hands down, one of the best books I've ever read. Everything about this book was completely flawless. The characters were fresh and full of depth, the small-town life captured absolutely perfectly, and the horror elements utterly creepy. I would recommend this novel to anyone. I give it a perfect score, a 10 out of 10.
5. The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket-- Yes, I read A Series of Unfortunate Events. Even though they're cut out for smaller readers, there's a lot of dry humor that adults--or anyone, at that--could enjoy them. This one I found to be just a bit more boring, but laughable nonetheless. 7 out of 10.
6. The Rage by Richard Lee Byers-- This book proved itself to be a lot more readable than fantasy books have been for me lately. Even though there were "boring-spells," the book threw it in my face when I thought that it would be another goody-goody dragons + warriors + princesses tale. Lots of action, lots of nasty characters, a bucket of gore, and plenty of surprises. The dragons are portrayed perfectly and Mr. Byers finally introduces us to a fantasy troupe that isn't so cliche as others. Interesting and new characters that are a lot of fun, unlike the happy-dappy ones that I encountered in the first Dragonlance book. 8 out of 10.
7. Dawn of Night by Paul S. Kemp-- Mr. Kemp has once again blown me away. His characters are some of the best I've ever encountered, and I wouldn't hesitate to put his character-developing skills up there with Stephen King. Mr. Kemp's style is gritty and full of cruel surprises, and utterly dark--the way I like it! Skullport is portrayed with a master's hand. Characters are thrown into more havoc. Villains scheming up more schemes. I had an extremely difficult time pulling myself away from particular novel. Yet another perfect score. A 10 out of 10, ladies and gentleman.

Right now I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to read next since I've been bombarded with yummy new books for Christmas. I'm sort of reading Realms of the Dragons, but haven't made hardly any progress. I'm also reading little snippets out of a Bill O'Reilly book and a documentary on punk rock--*headbangs*--called Please Kill Me. For Christmas the books I received were The Alabaster Staff by Edward Bolme, The Yellow Silk by Don Bassingthwaite, Mistress of the Night by Don Bassingthwaite & Dave Gross, Realms of Mystery anthology, Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of PUNK, The Fifth Sorceress by Robert Newcomb, the last three volumes in Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and Dreamcatcher by Stephen King. Yeah, I know. It's a lot.

Other than my extremely large reading list, I finished "Just Waiting it Out" and retitled it "Journey's End." I've had my aunt and my esteemed friend Kyle edit it and both told me that the ending is hokie beyond belief. I edited myself--before them, if you must know--and fixed up the ending a bit so Kyle didn't have to give me so much shit about it. He still did, though. Typical Kyle. Anyway, just submitted it an hour ago or so. It'll be around three days before I get my rejection letter.

Anyhow, I've been working on Forlorn Tower. I don't think I'll be submitting it to Razor-edged Arcanum; I'm already six thousand words in, only two thousand words under the limit, and I've still got a fair amount of writing to do. So I think I'll probably submit it to some magazine. Black Gate seems the most likely. Once I get their rejection letter I'll continue circulating it throughout the whole publishing industry.

Unbook- and -writingwise, I haven't much to inform you about. I went through--yet another--depressive spell, but luckily this time my two great friends Lauren and Kyle were there for me. They're so awesome. After talking with them for a while I felt better, if a bit cleansed. I'm a very lucky guy to have two caring friends like these. If I didn't, this blog probably wouldn't exist, and neither would I--anymore, that is.

Well, it's been great talking to you all again. I hope you had a great holiday--I know I did.

Ian out.

A Recap

That has got to be among the most bland titles I've ever thought of.

Anyway, yes, a recap.

So it turns out, Andrew, *glares* that it was not an emo concert; it was more of a concert containing a couple of really bad bands. So...My Chemical Romance sucked, The Donnas were stupid, Taking Back Sunday was okay, The Used were really good, and Papa Roach was really good.

Overall, not that bad of a concert, but I still enjoyed the KMFDM concert back in July much more.

But, there was Christina, and that made things a whole lot better.

During the time that the horribly horrible bands were playing, Christina and I (actually, just her) made the decision to go walk around the arena to pass the time. Not a bad idea, and it was obviously a good sign that SHE insisted on doing it rather than me, which proved that she was interested in hanging out with me and whatnot. So, we walked around. Woot.

Anyway, I mainly just cracked random jokes that always resulted with her breaking down into a giggle-fit. Which is awesome. I'm good at that. At one point we ran into this OTHER girl that I was obsessed with for over two years, but that's neither here nor there, because it was a pretty small episode. We said hi, talked, hugged, and said goodbye. Christina didn't even ask who the girl was, which was a good thing.

I couldn't help but notice that everything Christina did, she wanted me to do with her. I was more the show than the concert. But, hey, I'm not complaining. We snuggled a bit (a bit) as we watched the good bands play (my stupid over-protective parent told me before I left for the concert that I was not to be involved in anything moshpit-related). Yeah, that was cool.

As we drove home, I gave her a back-massage. Nothing "sensual," just a relaxing massage. She flinched a bit when I first started, but she slowly eased into it. Thank God.

Then they dropped me off.

I can't really say that I came out better than I went in, but I can say that I did have an awesome time, because I did. Good bands, good seats, good Christina. (Now that I think about it, I don't really think she'd appreciate me releasing her name to the public, but we can keep it between us, I suppose).

Other than that, I had a pretty uneventful weekend. I read a children's book, the latest installment in the A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. I've been reading these books for a while and I know that they're for tots, but they're still entertaining with their dry humor and odd twists. I worked on Daughter of the Drow, but I must say that it has REALLY boring parts in it. More often than not, I found myself thinking about something totally unrelated to the story as I read. So I picked up some poetry, read a bit of that, then picked up a Bill O'Reilly book and read a few sections of that, then reorganized (is that a word?) my bookshelf a bit. When I was perusing the odd trinkets found underneath my bed, I found an old copy of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells and decided to pick that one up. Some light reading. I started it, but by that time it was 10:30 and time to hit the sack. So I'll probably finish it tonight, seeing as how it's only 130 pages.

Other than that #2: "Just Waiting it Out" is coming along very well. The beginning, I originally thought, would be the hardest section to write, but as I went I found that it wasn't that difficult at all. As it turns out, the first page of my outline turned into three pages of the full story! That's awesome.

Not much else. Seeya, guys. Ian out.

Dirty little headbangers!

*shakes fist* Great news, everybody, but in order to get to the great news, the story has to start at the beginning, as do most.

So, my friend Kyle and I were talking. We usually have really philosophical conversations, but this time I chose to talk more about this girl I'm practically in love with. Well, he told me that I should stop chasing her around because she'd never go for me. At the time I pretty much believed it. The girl and I, we got along great. We talked, I gave her piggyback rides, (that SHE requested, mind) we went to basketball games, we went to summer camp together, and we did a whole bunch of other stuff. I always make her laugh, which I'm quite good at. For a time I was convinced that she had a crush on me, but I denied that thought because I honestly didn't think she'd be interested in having anything between us other than a Friend Relationship.

Well, after Kyle told me to stop chasing her around, I was pretty depressed. I felt really empty, as if my life was bland and didn't contain anything more than another's. That's when my aunt said to me offhandedly, "Oh, I forgot, Ian: Christina"--my heart jumped--"was wondering if you wanted to go to Twisted X-Mas with her on Thursday." Twisted X-Mas is a concert with a whole bunch of crappy emo bands and a couple of good ones. "Anyway, I'll take forty bucks out of your birthday money and add one more day to your grounding if you wanna go."

I eagerly agreed. Though hardly any of the bands at Twisted X-Mas are any good, besides Papa Roach, who's Okay, and Taking Back Sunday, who's Alright, I had to go. Christina was Inviting Me To A Concert With Her. I was totally thrown off when I first heard it and had a hard time keeping the stupid smile from spreading across my face. Thankfully my aunt didn't notice my change in demeanor.

So. I'm going to Twisted X-Mas with Christina. I'll get in the Mosh Pit, make an idiot of myself, and possibly come out of there better than when I came in. None of you can believe just how great I feel right now. I feel...lifted. That's the best word I can think of. It's as if all my stress and anger and [insert bad feeling here] was just lifted off my chest. I felt so good when I first heard the news. I mean...it's great. My thoughts are so jumbled right now that I can hardly organize them into coherent thoughts for you all to understand. I feel so good.

As much as I'd love to keep ranting about my "love life," I think you guys deserve a bit of decent news. Yesterday I finished "Balthazar the Bloodletter," my vampire story, and I thought that it was pretty damn good. I edited it in 3rd Period and gave it to my friend Tyler after school to edit. He friggin' hated it, though his editing was helpful and I appreciate that much. I'm just about to put all the corrections in right now and email it off to the publisher. We'll see how it comes out.

Anyway, seeya, guys.

Takin' a page outta your book

Alright. This weekend I read Starless Night by R.A. Salvatore (ever heard of him?) and FINALLY finished The Destruction of the Books by Mel Odom. After that I decided to take another try at Realms of Shadow that's WAY overdue for the school library. After that I plan on reading either Siege of Darkness by RAS or Daugher of the Drow by Elaine Cunningham (another library book).

Besides that, I took a page out of Kameron and Ed's book. I wrote notes. In a notebook. Longhand. *sighs* I HATE writing longhand. But I did it. I wrote the whole outline to "Just Waiting it Out" last night. When I read over the outline, the story sounded like pure crap, but I'm sure it'll be better once I start actually writing it. Hopefully. I didn't write six pages of an outline so it'll be horrible.

Anyhoot, that's about all, unfortunately. Nothing much going on in my life right now. I'm working hard to bring my damn Photography grade up. I friggin' hate that class. For some reason, I have a D in Algebra and I'm doing fine in it. Eh. Maybe Mr. Navarro's just being a moron again. *mutters*

Also, my mom couldn't come down to visit me this weekend because I was grounded (I live with my aunt and uncle). She was pretty pissed. She started to try to get my uncle to let her come down and visit me, but the only thing she got in return was a bucket of "Go to hell"s and much more obscene insults.

You're probably all wondering why I live with my aunt and uncle and not my mom. Well, in short, family issues. I'll post later about the whole fiasco, but lunch is almost over now, so my time is limited and it would take a considerable amount of time to explain my family's mentally unbalanced tendencies.

Bye for now, folks.

A healthy dose of ploy

Three easy steps to getting grounded for a month:

1. Argue with your parents about possession of your own laptop.
2. Punch your cousin in the face for being a dick and screwing the laptop up.
3. Add water.

*adds water* Yeah, that's right. Grounded for a month. Woot. No computer. No writing. Nada. So now I'm here writing this blog at school, wallowing in my act of supreme idiocy that lost my privilege of writing 1k words a day that I shouldn't even have to ask for since the laptop is my own.

...But! Yes, there's a "but." I'm now working on my writing at school during Newspaper class in which all staff writers are allowed to go to the computer lab to work on their stories. And I take time off lunch, which is directly after Newspaper, so I don't lose my pace. I'm just finishing up my vampire story that I'll be submitting to a vampire/werewolf/monster anthology. It'll be pretty short, probably won't even make it to 3k.

Anyway, I decided to quit "Subway of the Damned." Yeah, I know I said that it was coming along well before, but after rereading it I noticed that the story was genuine crap. Besides, I had no ending and there were a lot of holes I found in the plot. So last night I came up with a much more dramatic and "horrific" zombie story that is tentatively titled "Just Waiting it Out." I've got it pretty well planned-out. I'll start writing it once I'm done with my vampire story. Unfortunately, my laptop contains the "Forlorn Tower" document, so I can't work on it here, unless I sneak onto my computer when the family's gone and email to myself so I can download it into the computer at school (I couldn't bring it on a floppy, because the computers at school are Apples and only have disc drives). So I'll just have to wait until I'm over my grounding to work on FT. Thankfully the deadline for REA is Jan. 31, so I'll still have time remaining to finish it. I plan on finishing it very fast so I don't have to worry about it getting there late (he guidelines say that no e-subs are allowed, so unfortunately I have to do it postal).

Well, that's about all. Bye for now, viewers.