ECA 71-74

Hello! :D I return to the world of the cyber-life with another installment of ECA!

Life and School: Fall Quarter is done, for better or for worse! That means I'm on winter break! :D I'll be posting ECA stuff most of the break, unless I finish something else worth posting.

Towards the end of the quarter I wrote a personal statement for a research application. I did not know how to properly convey myself and at one point just wrote this:

I cut out the italics for the final draft. XD

Next quarter my school load promises to be hectic whether or not I get into the research position, but I will do my best to keep a buffer available!

Blog Redesign: Sometime this winter break I plan on redesigning the look of the blog. So if it looks drastically different one day, that's why XD Comment on it! Comment on ECA! Comment on anything! (Is the comment system too finicky? Tell me if I can make commenting easier!)

Also, I found out the search bar doesn't work. Instead, try appending a /search?q=searchword to the URL, replacing "searchword" with the search word. For multiple words, adding %20 between the search words should work, although a space might work just as well. It's not as pretty as the google one used to be, but at least it works! XD

NaNoWriMo:

Ta-dah! Despite school, I was able to make it to 50K on only relevant story material! Even better, as the chart shows, I was able to write at least a few hundred words every day! I hope to keep this up and write a little bit every day. It's a really fun feeling to just sit down and take 20 minutes or something and just write something that has nothing to do with academics or (as I was doing this past quarter) educational strategies and learning development. (Not that academic papers aren't cool. It's just, as someone who knows who she is put it, "[my] style is narrative style"--I like story writing more.

As for the NaNo story, I will be revising it, editing it, and doing a whole lot of work with it to polish it up into something worth posting or submitting or anything. I wasn't able to write an ending I liked this November, though I do have the beginning in gory detail and a good chunk of middle. So December through February will be working on tying that off and editing it for....something. lol

ECA recap: When I last updated ECA, Elysia, Celestine, Arlin, Anuna, and Aldis were gathered in ECA's dorm room. They were just hanging out, but then Vesper barged in to inform them that the cause of the elemental monster attacks on the campus were caused by an energy rift that linked Somnia, the Land of Dreams, to the mortal world. Celestine alone doesn't believe him and goes to the Room of Clocks, intending to confirm his theory. When she arrives though, all the clocks are shattered. Celestine glimpses an illusion of Epsilona before she vanishes. The Room of Clocks leaves Celestine with a small diamond pocketwatch and the last three lines of a poem written by the spirit of the sun.

Characters (alphabetical by first name):

Aldis Maur: (tech, magic (earth) class) Thief boy that has only recently started hanging out with ECA. Arlin's acquaintance and Vesper's roommate.
Anuna Erkygon: (magic (non-elemental) class) Red haired sorceress that taught Celestine a lot of dark-magic spells. Celestine's friend and Rhys's former roommate.
Arlinia Murantagh Yves: (summoning, magic (air) class) The bubbly and optimistic A-part of ECA. Her summon is a silver eastern-style dragon called Murantagh/ Tagh. She can also summon Ivarine Callias, the Spirit of the Sun and the Queen of Shadows, to her aid.
Celestine Syeniar Sesium: (weapon (bow), magic (energy) class) The timid and pensive C-part of ECA. In her dreams, she communicates with the pixie Epsilona.
Elysia Intana Kieran: (tech, weapon (sword), tech class) The serious and terse E-part of ECA. She possesses a legendary sword called Sye'niar.
Lyciar Erkygon: Anuna's father and a King of the Land of Dreams.
Rhys Vesper: (summoning, magic (elemental) class) Student council vice president and Arlin's self-proclaimed rival.
Dr. Vesper Aurigae Nox: Senior magic professor. He is famous for designing a powerful knockout jinx. This power has not yet been replicated by anyone else.*
Vesper Jinan Wisteria: (healing, magic (energy) class) Smart but arrogant. Celestine's friend, Elysia's rival, and Aldis's roommate.

*Funny story.
Was Dr. Nox always a guy? There’s a funny story to this. I was finished with the story for a few months, but in writing another story related to ECA, I had some reason to add Vesper Aurigae Nox into one of the background crew. I realized (again) that I have entirely too many characters to that are girls relative to guys. Upon mentioning this to my editor, she suggested I genderbend some of them. Randomly, the first person that came to mind was to genderbend Vesper Nox. It seemed to make sense; after all, Vesper Jinan Wisteria is a guy :P To Dr. Nox's credit, he got a massive boost in magic power along with his gender change. I don't think the actual source of the power boost is mentioned in the ECA story though. :P Whatever the reason, it took 11 minutes from the decision to go back and edit all mentioned of Vesper Aurigae Nox into a guy. T_T (Although if you see any still, please notify me and I'll fix it XD) So….transgender or always a male, whatever you like to think, I now have a male teacher character XD. 

This post is only 4 posts and in the middle of a transition stage, but I hope you enjoy it! There will be another post next week!

PREVIOUS SET (67-70)

71. The True You 

By the time Celestine finished explaining the Room of Clocks’s fate and the mysterious poem, she had also explained a little of herself: Epsilona, her dream visions, Anuna teaching her the clock-spells, quelling the fire attack, her childhood diagnosis. 

“All along…” Arlin mused, “you were…scared. You thought you were really…insane. But you want to do something about it.” 

“The clock spells,” Elysia changed the subject. “Dark magic, did you know?”

No response.

“I have…a confession as well.” Anuna took a breath. “I’m an ancilla from the Land of Dreams. I’m the daughter of the dying Queen.” 

72. Pretense

“I admit, I was…using Celestine for her potential to wield the magic I need.” Anuna was more defiant than apologetic. 

“W-why me though?” Celestine trembled pitifully.

“A hunch. Now I know why: pixie magic is powerful and malleable.”

“Aren’t Ancilla the most renowned sorcerers in legend?” Elysia questioned Anuna expressionlessly.

“When I left…the core of my abilities as an ancilla were locked. I was searching to break this lock and fix the Curtain of Lights..”

“Fine. And the scrolls?”

“My bridge back to Somnia.” Anuna was bitter. “Now gone; stolen.”

“Whom?”

“Student Council Vice President, Rhys Vesper.”

73. Patience

“Epsilona?”

Celestine paused, lowering the silver bow. The Land of Dreams was a place of consciousness in sleep, right? This was hers. She had started training with her imaginary friend in the dreamscape.

“Yes, Syeniar?” The purple pixie was seemed glad for a break. Even though in Celestine’s dreams she was very much fine, the shattering of the clocks had taken a toll on all the pixies. 

“You said we were…connected?”

“All pixies are.”

“When will I…be able to join you and the other pixies? To find who I am? If I am?”

“…Patience, Syeniar. Time will tell.”

74. Midnight

Elysia knelt at the pinnacle of the training bluff, imagining how Arlin felt from her visions. How Celestine felt her whole life, afraid of herself?

A shiver scuttled down her spine. But Arlin had two lives worth of memory and ability, and Celestine communed with pixies. Elysia was a plain orphaned swordswoman. Why was she was going on a heroic expedition?

Then a faint ray of light fell out of the darkness, wrapping around her legendary sword and changing her armor. Taurus. Whatever the reason, the Signs had chosen her. 

She knew her next step: Find the rift to Somnia. 

Comment Blurbs

71. The True You

Celestine relays what happened to the Room of Clocks to Arlin, Elysia, Aldis, Vesper and Anuna. Along the way she also ends up explaining a lot of what she hid about herself. Anuna also reveals her identity as an ancilla and thus the ancilla from the picture: a pink haired ancilla. 

This post should be more epic as well :(

72. Pretense

Anuna explains that she came from Somnia to find a way to fix the Curtain of Lights. She also explains that she was teaching Celestine because Celestine had a great amount of untapped power that Anuna could use to help Somnia. Although she is one of the legendary ancilla-sorceresses, Anuna’s powers were locked before she came and she doesn’t have access to them. She has figured out how to fix the Curtain and can go back to Somnia via the scrolls she’d lost/ hidden in the Room of Clocks, but sometime in the last 13 posts Rhys stole the scrolls. 

Back in part 27 (Lost and Found) Anuna mentioned that she had  the scrolls in the Room of Clocks. However, nothing in that post was explicitly “found”. Now it is revealed that at the time, Anuna had lost the scrolls but found someone that could help her get them back and also someone that could help her fix the Curtain. 

73. Patience

This post is technically an anachronism that can take place at almost any time. Celestine talks to Epsilona, who is thankfully safe in her dreams. From her conversation with Anuna about Somnia being a a place where people are conscious even as their bodies are asleep, Celestine decided that she may as well make use of her own dreamscape to train. Seeking acceptance, Celestine asks when she would be able to join Epsilona and the other pixies, if indeed Celestine is a pixie of sorts. Epsilona's only answer is the ambiguous promise that “Time will Tell”.

74. Midnight

Elysia wonders why she, Celestine and Arlin end up as the people that are helping Anuna solve this problem. Elysia’s argument is that there isn’t anything special about her: Arlin has her past life’s memory and ability and Celestine is a pixie, but Elysia is just an abandoned girl who happens to know how to use a sword. But in the midst of her pondering, a ray of light falls on her sword and immediately Elysia recognizes the work of her patron god and that, for whatever reason, she is to walk this path. She puts her doubts aside and focuses on her mission.

NEXT SET (75-78)

ECA 67-70

Hello! ECA returns!

I was a little ahead of the expected word count for NaNo for a few days....and then it just crashed and burned this Wednesday. But with luck the three-day weekend will give me enough time to study, catch up with sleep, and catch up with word counts. Yay word-sprint marathons!

I'm not sure if there'll be another post next week....Hopefully I remember, but if not, you'll know where I am in NaNo (via the little calendar) and know how desperate I am to catch up. If anything, there'll be a post over the Thanksgiving weekend!

As always, comments and critiques are loved!

PREVIOUS SET (61-66)

67. Boundaries
In the astronomy tower, Celestine and Vesper peered out at the sky, relaxing after a practice session. Cheerful humming floated through the room. Celestine peered through the telescope. “It’s like there’s an anomaly,” she noted. “Not out there, but from…us.”
Vesper laughed. “That’s ridiculous. You’re looking at other world in the sky.”
“What if it’s…another layer of existence, that’s overlapping here?”
“Like another dimension?” He laughed. “Relax, enjoy the silence and the sk.y.”
But it wasn’t quiet. Celestine screamed, cowering and denying madness. Before she completely broke that boundary of insanity and frustration, she bolted out, seeking silence. 

68. Unsettling Revelations 
Incessant knocking at the door. “But Celeste, I really think you should see this!”
“Go away! Continue, Anuna?”
“Celest—“
Celestine opened the door. “Are you deaf? Or just dumb?”
“Never could figure that one out,” Aldis murmured. Arlin doused him with a weak  water spell.
“Finally. I got readings last night after you left. It is another dimension.” Vesper intoned, holding out a data printout. “What’s more, the attacks on campus? They’re coming from a rift somewhere on the grounds. An energy leak from the dying Somnia to here. If it continues to widen…it won’t just be us fighting.” 

69. Shattered
Arlin thought the data legitimate. Even Elysia looked convinced. Celestine didn’t believe him.
She was going to talk to hersel—to Epsilona. She was going to consult the clocks. She knew enough clockwork spells now, and knew where to look to confirm Vesper’s data.
“Epsilona?” she thought as she entered the Room of Clocks.
No answer. Not even an echo.
“Epsilona!” she called aloud.
“Mhr…here…” a whimper came. Epsilona’s form flickered from her usual clock. She was a pitiful heap, wings down in broken pieces and the clock shattered. All of them. Another flicker and the pixie was gone. 

70. Bitter Silence
Celestine stared, horrified. She held out her hand and summoned anything magical around her. Nothing. Silence.
Then whisp-like fragments of the shattered clocks flew together above her hand to show her a glowing archway, a crimson-haired ancilla, and her dreamscape’s land of fog. Words emerged over the images:
Travel the trails to find the gate.
Redeem the princess of false schemes
Restore to life the land of dreams.
The moment she finished reading, the mirage turned into a whirlpool that drained onto her hand and formed a small round shape: A diamond pocketwatch, the last of the clocks.

Comment Blurbs:

67. Boundaries

Celestine and Vesper are hanging out in the Astronomy Tower that evening. Celestine casually notes that there seems to be something weird going on, but Vesper decides its ridiculous. Celestine agrees that it’s probably just silliness, but it’s Vesper’s next line that sets her off: he remarks to “enjoy the silence and the sky,” but from Celestine’s perspective, there was a clear cheerful tune playing in the room. Suddenly jolted into the insane mindset, she bolts out of room, trying to find that silence that she couldn’t hear. 

The last time we saw Vesper and Celestine together was 9 episodes ago in Heartfelt Apology. Sometime since then, it looks like they’ve gotten back on talking terms. Or maybe they just ran into each other here. Either way, whatever truce they had is now shaken again. 

68. Unsettling Revelations

After Celestine ran out in panic, Vesper misunderstood her and decides to do some readings monitoring magic-content and other complicated stuff from the Tower. He races immediately to ECA’s room, where Arlin, Elysia, Anuna and Aldis are hanging out. Vesper has determined (through remarkable genius and coincidence) that there is indeed another dimension: the land of dreams. There’s a rift that’s creating a leak of energy from Somnia to the mortal realm, like there was when the Angelic Gate was open (way back in the beginning of the tale, this was what Elysia and Celestine’s history project was about). Vesper is concerned that if they leave the rift alone for longer, it will spread, and it won’t just be the university students dealing with the monster attacks. 

69. Shattered

Although everyone else seems to think the data indicate Somnia leaking energy, Celestine doesn’t believe him and decides to consult the clocks and Epsilona, who is Celestine’s friend from her dreams. However, when she arrives, all the clocks in the Room of Clocks are broken and Epsilona’s form flickers before vanishing. 

I wanted to do something more epic for shattered, but this was the only thing that came to mind that fit. 

70. Bitter Silence

Celestine finds the silence she was looking for in Boundaries, but it’s a painful realization: all of the clocks in the Room of Clocks are broken, and there’s no trace of magic lingering in the once-magical room. Instead, by calling together any last remnants of magic, Celestine creates a small diamond pocketwatch. Along with the pocketwatch, the last message the clocks have to offer her is the prophecy first mentioned in Eternity (post 7) and three pictures: a portal, a pink-haired sorceress, and Celestine’s own foggy dreamscape. (See this!)

NEXT SET (71-74)

ECA 61-66

Herro! This ECA, checking back in!

Sorry for the lack of update last week. I completely forgot about posting XD It's been a very hectic few weeks leading up to NaNoWriMo, which began yesterday!

This is a gauge for Ashmac and me! We're both reaching 50K this year! >:D


There is also a word count widget (courtesy of the NaNo site) on the status bar that gives the total number of words written as well as a counter for how I've been doing every day.
Dark red= D:
Light red= :( (<1667)
Light green= :) (>1667)
Dark green= :D

Knowing this though, November is going to be a bit of an erratic month. If I forget an update, forgive me! I might post snippets of what I'm working on, but that's assuming I remember in the mess of school and life (I like to pretend I have one) and NaNoing!

But for now, ECA continues! This week's is the much-anticipated 6-entry post that reveals the culprit behind Arlin's flashbacks, so read on! :)


PREVIOUS SET (55-60)

61. Accuracy 

Dart in, dart out. Keep up the barrage. It didn’t matter if he hit or not, as long as his opponent couldn’t counter. Speed was Aldis’s game. It made sense. He was a thief. He had to be quick and nimble. Hit, gone.  

Holding him back with desperate non-elemental blocks, Celestine kept up her defense, widening the distance between them in the gaps. She wasn’t fast. She wasn’t strong. She wasn’t clever. But once she was too far for Aldis to reach her with his knives, she drew the bow from her back and fired. Accuracy was Celestine’s aim.  

-- 

62. Irregular Orbit 

Arlin leaned lightly against the rail, thinking and waiting for sunset. But today the clouds hung low and dense fog engulfed the river below the cliff. There was no way of her seeing the figure standing by the trees, arms crossed over his chest and expression unreadable; yet she felt it when he stirred. She stiffened awkwardly in response.  

“What happened? Why are you here?”  

“Relax. I’m just here to enjoy the view.” 

“Not much of a view toda—“ Eyes widening, she cut short and lurched forward as though an invisible force pulled her. Water rushed up—too high. “…Ivarine!” 

-- 

63. Cold Embrace 

“Arlin!”  

She heard her name faintly but barely understood. Her head swam, and the scenery danced before her eyes. Cold flooded through her. Something—someone— caught her as she crumpled. 

Earth swirled and rose around the person before her and an electric knife spun into view. Too late, her vision cleared sufficiently for her to see torrents of water arching up the cliff and ice crashing down at her.  

Arlin backstepped, summoning Murantagh to protect her, but a boulder shielded them both first. She looked up and saw Aldis, attacking the raging water monster before understanding:. This was another attack..   

-- 

64. Frost 

Slowly the ice thinned as their attacks hammered it. Finally, Tagh dived at it, magic streaming off his whiskers, and sent the water monster fleeing for its source. 

With it, the mist cleared, though the frosty darkness lingered. 

Aldis’s earth-energy whip shrunk into a knife again, but Arlin had only just de-summoned Tagh when now-familiar visions possessed her mind. 

She looked into a mirror, and saw the culprit of the memories…herself? A soft smile replaced her usual energetic grin and a sapphire, winged dragon perched where Tagh would, but the reflected girl was still, unmistakably, Arlin. 

-- 

65. A Moment in Time 

“It’s not always the same thing. They’re like memories; just scenes and fragments,” Arlin explained. “Moments in time. Snippets.” 

She pulled her characteristic white boots off. “And ice skating. The me in the visions ice skated everywhere. She had some kind of power specifically over ice so it worked. Ice skates. Ice bow. Water element.” 

Celestine patted Arlin’s shoulder comfortingly. “It’s ok. Maybe it’s just…a wrinkle in memory. Like a past life.” 

“I feel like I don’t make sense. But.. you guys understand me, right?” 

Celestine’s eyes were pools of pained empathy. 

Elysia frowned, thoughtful and troubled. “We understand.”  

-- 

66. Dangerous Territory 

“Ok. Come on then, Arlin. Hold out your hands for balance…don’t worry about falling. I’ll be right here.” Celestine skated out first, keeping close to where Arlin struggled, clutching the wall. On the stands, partially watching amusedly, Elysia was scrunched over a lore textbook, trying to think of an explanation for the attacks on campus and Arlin’s coinciding flashbacks. 

“It’s just like walking. Let yourself glide,” Celestine encouraged.  

 Arlin stepped out nervously and slipped almost immediately, but the better ice-skater was there in a flash, guiding her. 

“Ok. One step at a time…Right foot, left foot, right…”

Comment Blurbs: 

61. Accuracy

It’s their semester break, but ECA and their friends aren’t slacking off because they know the school tournament/ “excursion”/ adventure is coming up. More on that in about 11 posts. 

In this part, Aldis spars Celestine and we get a speed vs accuracy face off. I actually can’t decide which of these two would win in an actual fight. 

62. Irregular Orbit

 Arlin is relaxing/ meditating at her cliffscape spot when she notices that Aldis is there too. She is a little awkward, and thinks immediately that something has happened and he’s here to get her help or watch over her.  He assures her he’s just there to enjoy the view, but Arlin doesn’t believe it because it’s foggy and not much of a view. However, she doesn’t have time to grill him because for some reason the water in the valley lurches up to meet them at the top of the cliff. Not only that, but Arlin feels through her connection to Ivarine that the sun-orbit is a bit off. 

The orbit part actually has nothing really to do with anything except a bit of random drama. 

I think it’s worth pointing out that originally the cliffscape was Aldis’s spot to be alone, but then Arlin found it while running away from his following her to the gate. So Aldis just occasionally comes back to visit it and take photos (‘cause he’s a photographer). 

63. Cold Embrace

Like the time when he rescued her in Umbrella, Aldis leaps immediately to Arlin’s aid when she feels the sudden pull and panic from Ivarine’s orbit. For a moment Arlin is completely stricken: the warmth leaves her body and she is a pale weakling at the mercy of the water attack. Aldis though, defends her against the initial blow, and together they look to take out the water monster. 

This took a lot of cutting and revision to get it to 100 words; hopefully it still makes some inkling of sense!

64. Frost

Following the battle with the water/ ice monster, the mist surrounding the valley lifts and Arlin collapses from the sudden return of the visions and their sidekick migraines. This time though, Arlin finally sees the person who she’s been looking through in the visions: herself. She realizes that the visions aren’t from someone else, but somehow involve another version of herself. 

The Arlin in the memories will be referred in the comment blurbs from now on as Arliquen, which was Arlin’s (Arlinia’s) original name. Arliquen really is Arlin 1.0, the original character I created for a roleplay back around 2010. Both of them are white haired and optimistic with a draconic summon called Murantagh, but they are slightly different: 

Arlinia (2.0) - Hyper -Talkative -Stubborn  -Enjoys helping people, volunteering, exploring different disciplines  -Tagh is a silver, eastern-style dragon with blue and green accents -Uses a wand; no other weapon -Air-element focus -Mage class (would be a mage character) -Walks, but still has her white boots -Doesn’t know how to ice-skate -More or less mortal.

Arliquen (1.0) -Calm -Quiet -Easily swayed -Law-abiding but mischievous  -Enjoys helping people -Tagh is a blue, western-style dragon -Weapon is a short bow that splits into two short blades (ice-themed) -Water/ ice element focus -Healer class -Teemo’s passive* -Ice-skated everywhere. Had white shoe boots that would become skates on ice. -Elf

*Teemo’s passive in League of Legends is that he becomes invisible if he stays still without attacking for a few seconds. This was basically one of Arliquen’s abilities. It wasn’t copied though; I didn’t know about LoL then XD

65. A Moment in Time

Arlin reveals and explains her understanding of the visions she’s been getting to her roommates. The theme reminds me of A Wrinkle in Time, even though I never read it.

66. Dangerous Territory

After hearing about how Arliquen ice-skated everywhere but Arlinia doesn’t know how to skate, Celestine decides to teach Arlin how to skate. Celestine (the only one that speaks in this) and Arlin are on the rink; Elysia is sitting in the stands, half watching and half trying to understand why Arlin’s vision-attacks started when the attacks started on the campus. 

It was pretty interesting writing Celestine and Arlin in basically swapped positions: Celestine is usually the timid one and Arlin the confident one, but when it comes to ice-skating or archery, Celestine definitely holds her own better. 

Elysia is scrunched over a textbook because she is a weapons/ tech major that has never had to deal much with magic beyond how to make it work with technology. She knows her fundamentals, but compared to Arlin who majors in magic, she’s got nothing. However, Elysia is the one that gets all obsessed when doing research and decides to make her head hurt anyways.

NEXT SET (67-70)

Spring Quarter Status Update

Greetings!
Nothing was written over spring break, but that will hopefully change this quarter! With any luck there will be a lot more updates on this blog, writing or art or whatever. This is going to be a really long random update, so without further ado, let's get to it!

Faescribble [link]
Over spring break last last week I did an iscribble collaboration with Forte-Rock and this is what came of it! More info on the deviantART page. (See link).

Camp NaNoWriMo and Dream's Edge
This is kind of like the National Novel Writing Month event in November where writers across the world gather to write 50K words in a month. In the relatively new Camp NaNoWriMo though, writers can decide on their own word count and work towards that goal "smack-dab in the middle of [our] crazy [lives]" (http://campnanowrimo.org/).

This April I'm aiming for 10K words, to contribute to my official NaNo from 2012. Originally called "Campus Curse" I've renamed it to use another old title: Edge. This part is called "Dreams". Yey!
Basically, a few college freshman are stuck on campus over the summer. One of these is Sonora Li, whose lifelong dream has been to fly and use magic. In her sleep she starts going to "Somnia" the "Land of Dreams" where she is able to use magic.

This month I hope to complete the first part of Sonora's journey in the Land of Dreams. In the original version this wasn't that much of a big deal, but one of my friends which read through the draft copy said that she was most intrigued by the events happening in the dream world and thought it was a good idea to really expand on it. Thus, I've decided to revamp the story before the June printing deadline with more of an emphasis on the Somnia-storyline and the tarot journey there.

For your entertainment, please enjoy these first 120 (of only 372) words!

--

She woke up in the middle of a tiled courtyard, surrounded by four grand stone arches marked with symbols overhead. The air was crisp and a little foggy, and only thickened beyond the courtyard’s arches. At her back was a plain wooden door that led into a stone building. She sat up blinking. What was this? Where was she? 

She looked down and blinked at the girl reflected in the mirror-like tile. For a moment she thought she was seeing another person, trapped inside the courtyard floor. The girl in the floor touched her face when she did. “Who—are you?” Even the echo in the courtyard seemed to make the girl in the floor speak when she did. 

--
As always, comments and critiques are welcomed and appreciated!

Spring Quarter
I feel obligated to post my classes for these next 10 weeks:

• Molecular Biology: Same professor as Biochemistry, so I'm really excited for this. If only my book would come...Y.Y
• Organic Chemistry: I'm taking a tough professor, but she's a great lecturer, and a lot of my friends are taking her as well, so I figure I'll do my best. I really enjoy organic chemistry over general chemistry. Here, have a tosylate [link]. Great leaving groups, they are. 
• Organic Chemistry Lab: I usually detest lab, but last quarter I received my first A for a lab class so I'm excited to do it again. *Cough, not excited enough to do the lab report anytime before last minute obviously though* T_T
• Neurobiology: Ever since I took Consciousness in my freshman year I've been really interested in neuroscience. This class has been a little over my head even in week 1 (this is an alertalert abandon ship sign) but I'm determined to do well and delve into the subject more. 
• On a side note, I saw one of my TAs from last quarter in front of the lecture hall on Wednesday and he told me "You know you can buy a neuron from the bookstore, right?" 
• Being the oblivious fellow I am, I excitedly asked, "Really? Like...a single one? How would we..." *thinking how anyone would preserve and package a neuron.*
• And he must have thought I was a dolt for this because he clarified: "Yea, like a squishy pillow neuron. "
• You may now facepalm. 

So if I miss a weekly update, I am probably 

1. Cramming to finish writing a prelab or lab report
2. Reading feverishly for bio 
3. Reading feverishly for nuero
4. Doing ochem practice like there's no tomorrow (no idea how that makes sense, but we shall pretend it does).
5. Thinking of how to bottle a single neuron. (And I'm not talking about those giant 1mm squid axons either!)
6. Writing, drawing, reading manga, watching anime. 

Which leads me to my next point: 

SKIP BEAT IS AMAZING.
And my amazing I mean like Cardcaptor Sakura, Sword Art Online amazing. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, you need to consult these links immediately:
[link] [and this] [the epitome of awesome] [this is epic as well] [this is pretty good] [epitome of epic]

Anime and Manga: 
So the reason I didn't really get anything written over spring break was because I was catching up with my TV shows and manga XD. I have a few comments on the awesomeness of each one. The links to each are above. If you can't figure out which is which, that's ok; they're all definitely worth watching/ reading.
My ships are also listed.

Skip Beat: I had started this a while back, but couldn't get past the first few chapters. This time, at the fervent recommendation and assurance of the literary quality of a fellow writer who should feel very pleased with herself, I pushed past the part I got stuck at before... and fell in love. Engaging action and story, topped with beautiful character development.
>Kyoko x Ren. Shou can go....away.

Sword Art Online (SAO): This was a while back, but I found it fascinating. I saw a random post on my friend's facebook and read the manga. Liked it enough to discover that there was an anime, watched it, loved it, and am now plodding ridiculously slowly through the light novel. A lot of insights on virtual reality, reality vs dream worlds, identity, morality and consciousness in general.
>Kirito x Asuna.

CardCaptor Sakura (CSS): By now I think anyone who knows me knows that CCS is the cutest thing since Hello Kitty. There were actually two people that recommended this to me, both of whom are very correct that I would enjoy it. Kudos.
>Sakura x Syaoran= OTP.

Persona 4 (P4): After almost a year of hearing my friends fangirl over this, I watched Persona 4. It was pretty incredible, and brought up a lot of insightful thoughts like SAO. Apparently the Animation couldn't go as much into the character development as the game, which was a little disappointing, but overall, definitely worth checking out.
>Chie x Yosuke,  Naoto x Kanji, and I want to say Yu x Yukiko. If it makes sense, Kuma and Nanako, but not romantically.

Once Upon a Time: This is a live action show on ABC about fairy tail character and their counterparts in Storybrooke, Maine. I love the connections between all the characters and how everything always ties together. It really exemplifies Lillian Hellman's quote "Nothing, of course, begins when you think it did."
>Rumplestilskin/ Gold x Belle, Snow White/ Mary Margaret x Prince/David, Emma x Baelfire, Regina x Daniel....basically all the canon. :X

Fairy Tail (FT): Another manga that I'm keeping up with. Very action-packed, with a lot of characters and vivacious personalities. I find it very motivational, and action-packed. Definitely worth reading, even if it's hella long.
> Gray x Juvia, Gajeel x Levy are my absolute favorite, but I also like Natsu x Lisanna, Erza x Gerard, Lucy x Loki and Elfman x Evergreen

As an aside: Did you really think I would make you search through the links?
[Skip Beat] [Sword Art Online]  [Cardcaptor Sakura] [Persona 4] [Once Upon a Time] [Fairy Tail]
But still read/ watch all of them.


And while you read/ watch those, I have my own list to plod through. =_="

Site redesign
So in the middle of writing this post (which was itself in the middle of doing a chemistry lab report, which was in the middle of writing for Camp NaNo, which was in the middle of reviewing neurobiology notes, which was in the middle of doing that lab report) I redesigned the look of the blog, which is long overdue. Hope you like it!

~Minerva Wu