Shadows of Fire

Until Friday evening, Fi will be operating in ninja!mode. Meaning that she will be invisible on AIM and unlikely to be responsive to those who actually do catch her online or be on permanant "away" status. Why?

Because Fi has a Grammar test on Wednesday, a New Testament exam on Thursday, and a Spanish chapter text on Friday.

She will be studying her little heart out.

Until the weekend--


-Fi

Guess what we have~

Guessing? Guessing? Guessing?

'Tis a brand spanking-new dishwasher!

Our old one has been on its last legs forever; we've had the repair guy over 7 times to fix the flooding and the not-cleaning, and finally I arrived home from school today to discover the repair guy's 8-month-old daughter sitting in the living room while he hooked up our new dishwasher. I talked with him and played with her and had a very pleasant 10 minutes while rejoicing inwardly over the dishwasher! Clean dishes! YAY!

And then the manager came by with a plate of pink-frosted cinnamon rolls, and Mi and Gi brought home a bag of Reeses Peanut Butter cups (for us lonely un-engaged peeps) and I finished all the papers I was supposed to grade and gave them back to the students and conducted a good discussion and got an A- on my world religions test (which, considering that I missed the questions I totally guessed on and got right all the ones I knew, makes sense) and wrote half a page of Kinsha and didn't fall asleep at all!

And I'm not terribly fond of roses, but I love lilies, so here's a Valentine's Day bouquet for you all:



Happy Cheap Candy Day, as 5essence so eloquently put it!

(In honor of which I am off to write an angsty Ryuu!post...)

-Ki ♥

How do you get an 83% on a New Testament exam?

The answer is quite simple: You don't read the questions closely enough. You mistake Capernaum for Cana and reading "healing water" as "living water," because that's what you're expecting to see.

*kicks self*

Well, I've learned my lesson. From now on I read each question aloud, and I don't trust any question to actually say what I think it says.

And now I go make caramel popcorn and grade.

-Ki

Woke up an hour and a half later than I meant to, but this is why I try to give myself three hours on Monday mornings. It wasn't even record time for getting ready.

However, I still have a lot of papers to grade before tomorrow, and two exams to take, so I'm gonna be doing that tonight. Don't expect to see me online. *hugs to all*

Despite all this, I'm in an amazingly good mood.

*skips off singing "Last Man on the Moon"*

-Ki

I have four exams and an oral defense to study for, as well as reading to do and papers to grade.

So why do I end up reading obscure sci-fi novels and baking bread?

It was a good book, at any rate.

-Ki

I have the same Modern American Usage teacher as Ki did last semester.

( Which means I get to do this assignment )


School can be entertaining on occasion.

-Fi

I really have no point in updating, other than to say that I really, really need to do laundry today, that I have no class from 11:00 to 2:30 because of Gospel and World Religions being cancelled, that I should use said time to study for my Editing exam and prep for my Greek Grammar of the Bible project, and that I'm sorry I was such a brat last night. Huge thanks to everyone who put up with me...

Also, we are starting Parzival in The Pen and the Sword today. And will have another lot of papers due this week or next. Grrr.

Finallly--and here for some good news!--Howl's Moving Castle is showing at the International Cinema this week. Except we can't work out a time when all of us can go. (I want to see the Iraqi movie too, but that's neither here nor there.) beloved_baka, cieloan, tiarna_bronach, when can you go?

Gotta run and finish getting ready for school~

-Ki

Busy day today.

I'm gonna spend an hour grading before I go to school, and then I have class from 10:00 to 11:00, and then another hour of grading. And then class from 12:00 to 1:00, and another hour of grading. And then class from 2:00 to 3:00, and then blood donation. (Must remember my donor card...) I'll turn in the papers after that, if I haven't done so already (I honestly don't think they'll take more than two hours, which means I might get lunch...) and then come home and work on homework and make dinner. Gonna try meatloaf tonight, I think, and salad. Bread would be nice too but I'm not sure if I'll manage to get that done. What do you eat with meatloaf? Mashed potatoes? I could try do those... Especially if I get to make garlic mashed potatoes!

Anyway, we have FHE at 7:30 I believe, but after that I should be able to swing online. I only have two classes tomorrow, 'cause Gospel and World Religions is cancelled. Professor Choi's wife is undergoing surgery for very severe cancer, and he wants to be with her... From what he says, it sounds like she has only a few months left, if that. You could tell it was hard for him to tell the class about it, but he was very quiet and calm. We just sort of sat there stunned...what do you say to your professor when he tells you his wife is dying? "Thanks for the day off, sir? Hope she gets better?" Man...maybe I can get a card Thursday and pass it around class before he comes, or something.

I got another page on Hayate!fic yesterday...still not quite sure where I'm going with it. Or how to reconcile Kishimoto's timeline with the premise of the story, which is that he's 14 and already very sickly (sicklier than we see him at 23). Honestly I think he just had a bad cold the month of the Chuunin exams, but... giving him TB would work for this fic, if I didn't have to figure out how he'd pass the chuunin exams with it!

I need to write Hana fic, too. And Kankurou. And all the Christmas drabbles I didn't finish. And write concussed-and-hallucinating!Raidou... Last night I was congratulated on my use of gory details. Um...thanks? (Is that something to be proud of?)

Off to grade now; wish me luck!

-Ki

Continuing with the theme of writing my Creative Writing assignments on lj:

The assignment for today was to write a character-introduction scene, introducing both character and conflict. I decided to play with Enoch again. I'm fairly sure I haven't succeeded at introducing either character or conflict--the body-finding scene did better at that, I think--but, eh well. I've got to turn something in.

( Snow was still falling when Enoch left the house... )

(Enoch's character is evolving as I write; somehow he's become a ducker-outer. Or a slitherer-outer, as Sophie would probably say. Which makes it interesting when he's faced with the problem of trying to deal with this murder on his hands... Though I'm still trying to decide if he actually committed the crime for which he was sent to prison. I think not. But that he probably stayed there for more than a few months...perhaps he's on parole now?)

Comments/criticism, please?

-Ki

I would like to take this opportunity to boast.

I purchased a beautiful blue BYU mug/thermos thing today, one of the cool ones with the insulated sides and the sippy lid. (Anywhere else it would be for coffee, but here it's a hot chocolate thingy!) It was 60% off at the progressive sale in the Bookstore, and there was only one left; I snatched it up and brought it home in victory. And immediately made myself hot chocolate in the Cocomotion machine Ti has left at our apartment. Today I put marshmallows in with the heating/stirring hot chocolate mix and water, and then added a dash of hazelnut creamer when I put it in my mug.

It is bliss.

This evening, unfortunately, shall probably not be. I need to make dinner (jambalaya and corn bread) and I also need to:

Finish New Testament readings
Answer New Testament reading questions
Read ELang 273 assignment
Read World Religions chapter on Jainism
Grade papers (at least 15)
Prep for Biblical Greek project for History of English language
RP Part Two of Kiba's date with Orihime
Kurenai-post
Takumi-post
Tanou-post
Talk with sunsitenthai about Enoch-story?
Plan/write more of Enoch-story for Creative Writing (or get a new story, and get one fast)

*stares at list*

*drinks more hot chocolate and trundles off to wrestle with St. Mark*

-Ki

And see, I do do my homework! Here's Enoch and Hazard discovering the body (decided to cut out the bit about Enoch thinking he shot him, 'cause whoa melodrama!) from the POV of each. In turn.

( There was something about the crunch of crusted snow that reminded Enoch of the crunch of shattered glass beneath his boots )

( The dog lifted his head into the wind, ears perked alertly forward, black nostrils flaring wide. )

Feedback please please please?

Candy for those who comment!

-Ki

PH34R the times at which Ki gets out of class and has no class for another hour, but is too lazy to return home only to trek back up the hill again after a 15-minute break. Also ph34r the times during which Ki should be curled up in an isolated corner somewhere taking a nap, but is determined to be productive despite just barely having avoided falling asleep in all of her classes through the good graces of Lindor Dark Chocolate Truffles, to be taken only when the eyes cannot stay open any longer. They're like soldier pills, only they taste better.

So...as I have about forty minutes, and nothing to do with it, I have resolved to get started on my Creative Writing project for tomorrow. And subject you all to it--my first foray into realistic fiction! (That I've ever shown you, hah. Interestingly enough, everything that I can remember writing set in a realistic setting has involved a boy and his dog. Except for the Civil War one I wrote in 4th grade, which doesn't count as the historical accuracy = nil.)

( The assignment is to create two interesting and quirky characters and then write a description of the same scene from their different points of view...Therefore, Here There Be Rambling and an attempt to decipher what exactly goes on inside Ki's head. )

And now I must dash to meet with Dr. Keele before class. Hmm, this was fun!

-Ki

Well, I'm up past my bedtime but it's worth it 'cause I got all my homework done! ('xcept for the reading I'm saving so I don't fall asleep or get on the computer in between classes tomorrow. Self, I know thee. Though I'd like to read my Terry Pratchett book, Soul Music, instead...)

Anyway, classes were good today and editing is a scary business, and commas and I now entertain a cordial dislike of each other and of the Chicago Manual of Style, which we unite in hating. And my brain is refusing to supply me with any new characters or plots that do not have slight overtones of ninja-ing.

Though the hunter who stumbles across a murder may have some potential...(whoa, it's even literary! Death and depression, what more could you want?) Gotta work on that tomorrow. Also wanna try writing more of those short-short-short stories 'cause the last one was really fun. My mom enjoyed it, at least!

Today is my dad's 48th birthday, and he spent it on a business trip. Poor Dad. I called home to wish him a Happy Birthday, and the kids told me he was gone, so I called his cell phone and managed to catch him at the airport and wish him many happy returns of the day. I feel really guilty sometimes about how much my parents have given me--Dad working his heart out to support our family in such comfort, Mom giving up a career and goals and dreams of her own to raise us and educate us and help us become good people--and I want to give them back as much as they've given me. But I know I can't, never will be able to. All I can do is work hard here, be the best I can be, and make them proud of me. Be worth all they've given me, and make them happy.

...Guess I get kinda philosophical at night. Who'da thunk?

In other news, just 'cause it amuses me:

( Experiment for English Language 273: Empirical Methods in English Linguistics (Or Something of the Sort) )

*grins* Any volunteers?

I won't be on much tomorrow--probably not much at all, 'cause I've gotta get some stuff done. If you really need to speak to me, email me (the full version of my name @gmail.com) or nudge Fi, and I'll get the message.

Love to all!

-Ki

I've stayed up entirely too late the past few nights. I think relaxing my eleven o'clock curfew on weekends is still a good thing, but three o'clock is...way too late. I did manage to get up at nine this morning anyway and make it in time to a 10:00 Relief Society board meeting, then to an 11:30 Enrichment committee meeting. And then there's church at 1:00 and I'm not sure if there's a devotional today... I've also got to call home and work out my travel plans for the end of April, and call Beth and wish her a very very happy birthday, and get to bed on time in order to wake up very early tomorrow morning and finish the homework I didn't get done yesterday.

The school week has been crazy; I'm taking seventeen credits of tough classes, working 10 hours as a TA (and preparing outside of that, which is even tougher!), and still trying to stay caught up on my friends, my writing (which has suffered severely) and my RPs. I'm having a blast...but I still feel like a loser sometimes when I can't get tags done on time (sorry iamzuul!) or have to postpone a sketch (sorry nezumiko!).

However. This week I have managed to reorganize Tanou's team, introduce the Ichibi to Sunagakure, put Raidou in very dangerous and precarious circumstances, reactivate Kurenai, and forever maul everyone's perception of Kiba. In this next week, I hope to: do more work with Tanou's team and with Takumi; continue the looming threat of the Ichibi; rescue Raidou; play with Kurenai; and torture Kiba with the arrival of his sister, his date with Orihime, and his upcoming rent payments. I also need to finish Hayate fic and try to write some of those Christmas drabbles.

These all take a second seat to schoolwork, of course, so I can't promise that any of them will actually happen. But here's hoping!

-Ki

So I'm sitting in the library, happily whiling away the hour and a half between Gospel and World Religions and Pen and the Sword by working on my Editing project and figuring out how to make a dogsled, when the fire alarm goes off. It shuts off after about 2 seconds, and everyone sort of shares glances, shrugs, and goes back to work.

About a minute later, the PA system booms out telling us to leave our work and evacuate the building through the closest emergency exit.

We trade glances again, this time a little more nervously. I shut down the computer I'm working at, quickly pack my bag, and struggle into my jacket while heading down the stairs. I'm on the fifth floor, the only exits are on the third (second and first floors are underground.) The atrium, where the only normal exits are, is shut off by this big steel curtains with huge red letters reading "EMERGENCY". I'm about 50 feet from the exit when the PA system booms again, telling us that the alarm has been resolved and we are free to return to our work. The mass exodus of students shares uneasy glances again, shrugs, and heads back to whatever it was doing.

I go down to the second floor this time, instead of the fifth, grab a computer in the Science and Maps section (from whence I can easily find out where exactly Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary is hidden), and tell you all about it.

Happy Thursday!

-Ki

So I broke last night. The months without Inuzuka lovin' have been too much, and I finally applied to play Kiba at an AU Naruto/Bleach RPG last night. Fi's playing Hitsugaya (*squeee* for the little feller!) and Squeak's on as Hinata, and it looks like a lot of fun. Not as much effort put into crafting long and beautiful posts as for Spiral and Shades, though, so I'll be fine time-wise. From the way I've got my schedule organized, too, I shouldn't have any problem at all keeping up with homework. I've got about an hour between almost every class which means I can generally finish my homework then (if I brought my books) or at least do it as soon as I get home.

Which means that since I did forget to bring my ELang 273 book with me to campus today, I probably won't be on for a while tonight 'cause I've got reading to do and a survey to administer to my neighbors. Also gotta finish reading Henry V and finish my readings and questions for New Testament. And make dinner. Hmmm.

We had a guest teacher in Creative Writing today--he's interviewing for a position as a Creative Writing teacher and so they had him teach a class as part of his interview. We trooped into one of the seminar rooms with faculty lining the walls, and he gave a lesson on plot and story and the differences between them and elements of each. (Story being a series of two or more events related temporally, plot being two or more events related causally. Like a story might be The King died and then the Queen died but a plot would be The King died and then the Queen died of grief. Or so says E. M. Forester) It was actually quite good. One of the last things we did was a writing exercise--he read us two examples of really really short stories (like 50 words each) and gave us five minutes to write one of our own. With plot, no less.

Here's mine:

When the pianist was very young, his brother played the piano. The day after the brother coughed out his life in a hospital room, the little boy climbed up onto the high piano bench and set his fingers on the keys and wept in music.

Some of the others in the class were quite clever. Some...weren't.

It'll be an interesting semester, at any rate!

To Do:

Read Chs. 14-15 for ELang 273
Answer questions for ELang 273
New Testament readings
Answer questions for New Testament
Editing readings
Creative Writing 'what's at stake' assignment
Make dinner
Write letter to Beth
Work on Raidou mission thread
Conduct ANBU trial session
Work on Hayate!fic
Work on Kinsha!drabble
Get to bed at a decent hour

And I'm already tired. This is unfair!

In other news, FMA is love. The military (well, Roy's group--Roy, Hughes, Hawkeye, Havoc, Fury, and Black Hayate) are even more love. Ed and Al need massive hugs. Winry needs more clothes. Scar needs a hug. All other bad guys need to die.

And Ki needs to stop reading spoilers.

And Bleach 211 needs to come out for real.

EDIT: ( Pyros forever! )

-Ki

So, I (with the help of Ci) finally stopped being a bum and managed to declare my major.

Huzzah for Fi being an English Language major!

World: *weeps*


My life goal this weekend is to clear out all my old binders. And to actually mark down all my homework assignments in the cheap little planner I bought today.



That's really all I have to say.


-Fi

Oracle Chapter 4 wordcount: 22
Weekend goal: 200

Got our quizzes back in Gospel and World Religions today. They don't count for credit, just to see how much we know coming in--apparently it's a part of the final exam. It's about 40 matching questions on all eleven of the religions we're going to study over the semester, things like "jiva" and "kshatriya" and "ahimsa" that we're supposed to match with very confusing definitions like "spiritual part" and "warrior class" and "non-violence." (And I just matched them for you, wasn't that nice of me?) Dr. Choi said the average is 15%. A lot of students in the class got 0%.

I got 77.5%.

Guess who's having the time of her life in Gospel and World Religions?

Headache like whoa now, though; I'm for bed.

-Ki

Nabbed from desmonthesis

( Another meme with more questions! )

Also, I've found that if networking is a desirable social skill, then BYU is the place to acquire it.

Monday Ci and I were shocked and excited to meet up in our 10:00 am History of the English Language class. In Family Home Evening that night, one of the guys was the former roommate of a guy from my home ward in Michigan. Yesterday Fi and I met our Book of Mormon TA from fall semester, freshman year, in our 8:00 am Empirical Studies in English Linguistics class. In my 10:00 New Testament class, I met three guys from my ward. But the real kicker came at the end of class, as I was exchanging email address with the girl next to me (in case of needing to obtain notes or something). The guy sitting on her other side noticed my name, and the conversation proceeded as follows:

HIM: Did you have a grandmother who served a mission in Texas, by any chance?
ME: Yeah, she served in Houston a year or so ago--
HIM: No way! I served with her!
ME: *stunned*
HIM: Well, I mean, not with with her, but...
ME: *grins*

[At this point I should probably explain that in the Church, missionaries serve in companionships of two that change every few months. My grandmother, a widow, served with several different elderly ladies in her year and a half as a missionary. Likewise, this young man would have served in a partnership with several other young men during his two-year mission. So he meant not that Grandmother and he had served as companions together, but that they'd worked in the same area--for six months, as it turns out. We talked for a while, then rose to leave:]

HIM: Well, anyway, say hello to your grandmother from a Michigander!
ME: ...Where're you from in Michigan?
HIM: Battle Creek.
ME: No way! I'm from Kalamazoo!

Kalamazoo and Battle Creek are about 40 miles apart; my dad works in Battle Creek, and I know a lot of people there. So I shouldn't have been too surprised (but was anyway) when it turned out that he's the son of a woman I worked with at Girls' Camp; that we know all the same people; and that we probably even attended the same Church functions. We might have even danced together at stake youth dances a few years ago.

It really is a small world after all...

-Ki

P.S. I leave you with this quotation from the devotional Cecil O. Samuelson, President of BYU, gave yesterday: "Common sense often seems extremely uncommon."