Long Live Books!

Finished The Soldiers of Halla last night at 12:00 AM on the dot. I hate sharing a room with my sister! I wanted to scream! in a good way. I was pleased with the way it ended. I recommend the Pendragon series to anyone who likes books. The only thing is that now I've finished the series and it's over. no more story. =( I'm glad I own all the books. now I can go back and read it all over again!

Now I'm reading Max. It's funny, Max has been sitting on my shelf for nearly a month and I haven't read it yet. I went from not having anything to read, to being swamped! I guess that's a good thing. As I look at the books I still have to read, I can't help thinking that the list looks depleting. I'm going to have to hunt down some good stuff if I want to make it thorough the summer.

A thousand words

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I'm not sure if it's true with all pictures, but pics like this one speak volumes...to me at least. I'm not exactly sure why I like this one so much. I look at it and feel so much strain and emotion in it. It's like I can read into the picture and pull out a story. I just might be super sensitive to art, or I may just be crazy? what do you think?

The Soldiers of Halla

I'm reading the tenth Pendragon book now and am enjoying it fully. I still think Bobby needs a lesson in not provoking the bad guy until he starts hitting you with an electrocuting wand, but what can I do? I'm just a reader. What I'm finding horrifying is that there are similarities between The soldiers of Halla and my own book, Starshard. it's not fair to say that I copied, because I've been working on this book since before I even started reading the Merchant of Death! needless to say, I feel irked, but I'm not about to change my plot line because I read something similar.

Now Christopher Paolini is a different matter...haven't you eve noticed the dozens of similarities between Eragon, Eldest and Brisinger? I found a blog post that points out how close these two stories are http://thewordcrafter.wordpress.com/2007/10/20/eragon-vs-star-wars/ I found it horrendusly funny, because of how true it is.

Back to Pendragon, I wasn't entirely shocked by Sant Dane's true motives once they were unmasked. I wasn't shocked about the truth about the Travelers either. and I wasn't shocked by the reappearance of one of the main characters. I didn't know exactly what was going on, but I sort of half guessed. I've read so much that it takes a lot to shock me. I can say this though, I love it when I'm right, and I HATE it when I'm right. And if this book ends the way I think it's going to end, I...will...go...insane!

Being an account of friday the 15th...talent night

It took me forever to figure out what I was going to wear and I left the house unsatisfied. When we got there, I warmed up with the choir and took my seat.

Nathan and Rachel's puppet show is the first act, so I have to bounce back up again and help hold the puppet curtain. back to my seat. people sing, play violins and the piano. Lizzie is sitting next to me, shaking so hard the pew is vibrating. I grab her by the shoulders."Peace!" I whisper. it'll be ok! you'll do great!" she gets up, does her skit, (which is really good!) then returns to her seat.

I have to get up and help abby sing her song. back to my seat. more singing and piano. I have to get up to sing with the choir midway though. I'll tell you this, our practice runs with choir went a lot better than the main performance. I think that was because everyone was so nervous. back to my seat. my turn! I get up there and head for the mic...and find out that there is still one more person before me. SHOOT ME NOW! sheepishly slink of the stage and sit back down. now it's Lizzie's turn to put peace on me!

Finally it's my turn. I get up there, "Hi, My name is Kye and I am going to be singing...oh shoot, I forgot what I was going to sing." Laughs. mom shouts at me from the audience, "You're not Alone!" right! I knew that! God, can you do me a favor and hit me with a lightning bolt or something?! I want to sink into the floor. NOW! start singing. it goes very well, I hit a few sour notes, finish and take my seat. then I have to get back up to receive my eleventh grade certificate. a few more people. time to leave. thank goodness!

Knocking Knees

I am going to die!!!!

I nearly fainted yesterday when I got up on the stage and opened my mouth to sing at the talent show rehearsal. there was only a handful of people there too! I am so going to die tonight! First I was fine. I usually am. I get nervas right before I go up to talk or something and then when I actually start doing it, I feel paralyzed! Mrs. Monica called my name and I got up on the stage..."Hi, my name is Monica Justus and I'm going to sing Amazing Grace." That was a slight dig from earlier when Mrs. Monica was using that as an example. I wasn't the only one to mimic her delivery. I was so wigged out though. my voice got shrill, which I hate, my stomach was doing flip-flops, my entire body was trembling and I was gripping that microphone for all I was worth!

I think I sounded ok. I hit a few really bad notes and mom said I swayed a little. I've said it before, I can be nervous and no one would know it. apparently, I didn't look nervous. At least that's good. I am so going to die tonight. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

If there is a slight chance that I don't die, I'll tell you how the main performance went.

hot glue and missing skin

my hands are no longer green and red. no. something WORSE has happened to them.

to back up, the dye came out of the puppets. the fabric didn't take at all! so we have white puppets with a slight green or red tint. talk about frustrating! all that work yesterday and NOTHING to show for it.

Back to worse. the dye came out of my hands and then this afternoon while I was hot gluing hair on one puppet, the index finger on my right hand brushed though the hot glue. so now the top half, and I mean half of my finger is burnt, blistered, and missing a layer of skin. I'm probubly making it sound worse than it is, but it sure hurts like ****! I never realized how much I use my right hand. I eat and write, draw and paint with my left hand, but my right does mostly everything else! I just hope it heals quick. touching it with anything hurts.

on the bright side, all the puppets are done and i don't have to hot glue anything anymore!

my hands are green

So we need puppets for Friday right? they need to look at least remotely like bob and larry from veggietales. we can't find any green or red fake fur, so we buy white and dye it. it took mom and I all afternoon to make the dye and then color the puppets. my hands are fire truck red and Christmas tree green. mom told me there were gloves under the sink, but did I hear her? no. and actually, Rachel and Nathan should have been the ones getting there hands all full of dye cuz the puppets are for their puppet show. not mine! so guys, if my hands are still red and green Friday, this is why.