Ramblings and Musings of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

So a couple of weeks ago I finally solved my dilemma about the Amazon books. I really wanted to get a manga in the order, but I couldn't figure out how to make everything come out to exactly the cost of the gift card. I really felt I couldn't pay any cash with that order, so finally I had to set the manga idea aside and I got the two Pony-related books and two Nancy Drews.

The package was delayed because of weather problems and other such things. I was worried it might show up waterlogged. Thankfully it didn't, but whoever packed things couldn't do a good job. The one paperback in the order, the Pony U.N.C.L.E. parody, showed up completely dog-eared on one corner. Half the pages in the book were also bent at that corner! WTH? I don't know whether it was packed stupidly and happened then or if the book was damaged to begin with. I was absolutely furious. I'm still not sure what to do about it. Returning and replacing things online is such a pain, and that was probably the book I was looking forward to the most, so I hated to think of waiting even longer to get to read it. But I don't like always having to settle for damaged merchandise when I order paperback stuff from Amazon, either. I really chewed them out when I bought comics from them and they were packaged really stupidly and all showed up bent. I wonder if Barnes and Noble packs things better. They also have the free shipping with $25 of books deal. The problem there is that I don't have B&N gift cards, so I'd have to pay cash.

(Oh, I miss Borders so much. I was actually in the area where it used to be a couple of days ago and I spent some time just staring out the window at its location across the street. They were so much better than B&N. They actually had discounts in general and coupons for more than 15% off. And they generally had a bigger selection of stuff, except Nancy Drews, but now B&N's selection of those is lame too.)

I ended up reading the book last night. Of course it was a quick read and meant for kids, so it didn't get too deep, but I was intrigued that it touched, albeit briefly, on Bon Bon being weary and wanting to leave the secret agent stuff behind and have a peaceful life now. I would kind of like to expand on that in a fic sometime. And it ended happy, with her and Lyra still in the organization but being able to stay in Ponyville when not on missions. Also, the secret agent place was in New York (well, their New York) and it was accessed through a fridge in a pizza parlor. LOL.

The Equestria Girls book was really interesting. It takes place after the third movie and a large part of the plot is the human Twilight trying to befriend the girls from her old school. At first I was puzzled that it only focused on Sunny Flare, Sour Sweet, and Sugarcoat. But then I realized that the other girls, Lemon Zest and Indigo Zap, were already pretty nice people and probably didn't need any serious help turning their lives around. Lemon Zest is seriously adorable, definitely among the most normal of the girls at Crystal Prep, and so is Indigo Zap, basically. The other three are all kind of dysfunctional in various ways.

I don't think the author really captured the girls' personalities well, though. Sunny Flare was depicted as the nastiest of the bunch and the one most unkind to Twilight and worried about her turning into a monster again. That just doesn't fit to me, because while she was definitely nasty early in the movie, she was the one who called out Principal Cinch for trying to run away, and she looked really horrified and upset when Cinch said she was trying to get away from "that monster" and Sunny Flare should do the same. Sour Sweet was really the nastiest to Twilight in the movie.

Not once did the author do Sour Sweet's trademark of first saying something fake and nice and then following it up immediately with her true feelings, always a burn. She did occasionally do Sugarcoat's trademark of being very blunt, but it seemed more like she gave that trait to Sour Sweet.

I also didn't agree with the author writing that either Sunny Flare or Sour Sweet said they were Twilight's friends (and they were also apparently on her Friends list on Facebook). Not once in the movie did they ever act like they were interested in being her friends; they only interacted with her when circumstances forced them together. Sugarcoat was really the only one of those three who acted like she might be what Twilight considered a friend. And then Lemon Zest was really nice and didn't seem to have anything against Twilight at all. Indigo Zap kind of thought Twilight was an idiot, but she "defended" Twilight when the Canterlot High students started wondering what she was up to, which was kind of cute. (Although she probably only did it because Twilight was a Crystal Prep student, not because she really cared about Twilight personally.)

The author also set it up that Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare, and Sugarcoat were supposedly friends, but weren't happy together. The first two hung out together in the movie and really seemed pretty chummy to me. Sugarcoat, on the other hand, really gave the impression of being a loner.

I did love that Twilight eventually did make friends with them in the book and things ended happy for all of them, instead of them just being portrayed as one-dimensional characters that wouldn't change. But to be honest, I kind of think I could write a better story with that basic plotline that would stick closer to canon regarding personalities. I'll admit that Sunny Flare's personality is the most underdeveloped in the movie, but I don't think it was fleshed out in the book in a manner that fits with what we did see in the movie. Maybe I can try to start writing a story like that and see what happens.

Then last night I started randomly singing Unleash the Magic to myself. It's sung in the movie by Cinch and the Crystal Preppers as they try to tempt Twilight to, well, unleash the magic she's collected in her mystical pendant. I was considering maybe trying to record it and do all the voices. Cinch would be a blast to voice, although I probably wouldn't be able to sound as nasally as she does. But so I got to the line "I understand you have your reservations/it's hard to have a brain as large as yours" and suddenly I wondered if it wasn't just a line of manipulation, but something Cinch personally understood. I finally listened to the commentary track for that movie and they were wondering what her backstory is. Now I'm wondering if she was a smart outcast like Twilight growing up and if in some way, she is a dark version of what Twilight could have become had she remained an outcast. She certainly is smart and calculating and loves knowledge. And even though she seems to be very arrogant and egotistical and is worried above all about her reputation, I'm not entirely sure she was worried for completely selfish reasons. As she told Twilight, it was her reputation, and the school's, that was responsible for everything they had to work with. If the reputation dropped, they might not have all the funding and other things they needed to function properly. So honestly, I could understand her worrying about keeping up appearances to some extent, although of course she took it way too far and her manipulation of Twilight throughout the movie was horrid.

Another thing the commentary track mentioned was that an early draft of the script had Cinch fall through the gaping portal hole created by Twilight when she flipped out and became Midnight Sparkle and Cinch ended up a horrible monster in Equestria. They changed that because it seemed too mean. I agree, honestly. Maybe it would have been poetic justice, especially after how she ostracized Twilight's transformation considering she encouraged her to use the magic, but I wouldn't have wanted her to stay like that permanently or be stuck in Equestria. That's more like what a show like TMNT might do, or maybe even the U.K. Pony comics of the '80's and '90's, but it doesn't fit for something sweet like the current My Little Pony series and movies.

Speaking of TMNT, though, the new movie came out today! Eeeee! And hopefully I'll get to see it next week! I actually really loved the movie two years ago; I thought it was great overall and I loved that there was scarcely anything crude and it was largely absent of swearing. I was very surprised and impressed by that. And to be honest, I really think I liked that movie better than the one called TMNT that came out about nine years ago. (Oh gosh, that long ago? Seriously?) While that movie was cute too, it had some things I didn't like, such as April and Casey living together while not married, and how they made it look like only Raph did something bad during the fight between him and Leo. Honestly, it was kind of interesting how they had Leo finally snap and say something really awful to Raph ("I'm better than you"), but it was spoiled by neither Leo nor the script acknowledging that Leo did something wrong as well as Raph. That was just seriously WTH?

Well, at least that film contributed to my loving Raph more. He scared me as a kid because of his bad temper. That still scares me a bit, but I'm mostly seriously intrigued by him and he's replaced Donny as my second-favorite Turtle.

I still need a Mikey figure. Even though he's my least favorite, I want to have a complete set of Turtles. I just wish the figures weren't so expensive these days. It costs almost $9 for one from any current Turtles line! And that's the cheapest price, since it's Wal-Mart's. I've checked other places before and they've been worse.

(Amusing note: just about each Turtles figure I have is from a different line. My Raph, and my Fugitoid, are from the 1987 TV series. My Leo is from the second movie. My Donny is from a line that looks more like the comics. And my Casey Jones is from the 2003 series. I need an April too. Not having her is sacrilege. And Splinter. Actually, I'd kind of like another Raph too, since my Raph is a space suit Raph and even though I love him dearly, I'd like one that's just normal Raph. But then I'll probably feel guilty to have two Raphs and not two of everyone else. Heh.)

I also want Mikey and Donny plushies. I had thought of getting Build-a-Bear's Mikey, but their new Mikey has a different face than the old one, I think. The old one was just cute, but this one's expression is seriously obnoxious. And then with Donny, I always planned to get him from the same line as my Leo, since I'm not crazy about Nickelodeon's redesign of Donny and it's less obvious with those big pillow plushies. But I didn't want Mikey from that line too, since they all have the same expression and that's kind of WTH. That was why I got Build-a-Bear Raph instead of pillow Raph.

And then I was thinking that while the 1960s and 1970s fascinate me, it seems to be the 1980s that I have some serious nostaglia for. Which is funny because I don't even remember the 1980s. By the time I was old enough to remember much, it was 1990. But so many things I loved from my childhood are from the 1980s to begin with: Ponies, Mario, TMNT, DuckTales, Gummi Bears, Pound Puppies, Care Bears, Garfield (well, he started in the late 1970s, but he sure got popular in the 1980s), Baby-Sitters Club, Alf, the latter two Star Wars original trilogy movies.... Most of my paper dolls had 1980s fashions. We had a couple of huge catalogs, a Sears Wish Book and a J.C. Penney's equivalent, both from the 1980s, that I just adored looking at again and again. And when I go to antique malls, it's the 1980s toys that send me into serious nostalgia trips. Sometimes I remember happy times of playing with 1980s toys with friends in the 1990s. When I see shows from the 1980s, especially family or kids' shows like Punky Brewster or the Pony or Care Bear cartoons, the nostalgia continues even though I never saw those when they originally aired. There's just something innocent and sweet and fun and cheesy about that decade. Then there's things that started in the 1990s: TaleSpin, Darkwing Duck, Sonic.... I love those too. And I'm trying to remember when Trolls got a resurgence of popularity, the 1980s or the 1990s. I think the 1990s, but they've existed since the 1960s. Gomer even had a pink-haired one in his foot locker, which Sergeant Carter threw a fit about. ROTFLOL. ("A Troll doll is a non-regulation item!") But I just don't seem to be nostalgic about the 1990s like I am about the 1980s. Weird. I almost wonder if that's because I actually don't remember the 1980s and so it carries a sense of mystery and the ability to place it on a pedestal, whereas I remember the 1990s very well and it just doesn't hold the nostalgia/pedestal factor. I don't think there's one decade I remember that I feel nostalgic about, really. I get nostalgic over experiences and shows, but not decades as a whole.

So CBS has a website where they sell shirts of a lot of their shows. A lot of it's just logos, but there are some with characters. http://www.shoptvcity.com

I was there today, just looking around as I like to do now and then, and I requested them to make a Twilight Zone shirt with David Ellington from The Howling Man on it. An officially made shirt with H.M. Wynant would be so, so awesome. I'm trying to design a shirt with some of his characters to have custom-made for me, but I haven't quite figured out which characters to have represented on it yet (except that I know Coley Rodman will be there). If the place still exists (it's called The Big Tees, LOL), I can get a shirt made up there for $14.95. Last year, I had them make up one of my Hamilton Burger shirt designs. (Squee!)

Anyway, so I was browsing this CBS website and looked at their Andy Griffith shirts. And man, a little wave of nostalgia definitely swept over me. I remembered the summer of about 1998, when I discovered Andy reruns on our Fox affiliate. That was in July, so the whole rest of the summer was very Andy-filled.

Actually, that whole year starting with March was Andy filled. I remember special day-trips all over the valley with Dad, and stopping at various libraries in the City and County systems to pick up books on hold. I remember checking out the Andy Griffith cookbooks and writing down some of the recipes I particularly wanted to save and try.

That was the era when you could go to a bookstore and there would be tons of classic TV books on the shelves. PARADISE. I remember in March, going to Borders and seeing Barney Fife's Guide to Life, Love, and Self-Defense (a hilarious piece), as well as a couple of straight books about the series. I determined then and there that I was going to purchase one, and had it put on hold while I sold short stories around the neighborhood that I'd written with original characters of mine and earned the $10.61 needed to get the book. (I seem to remember dumping a lot of change on the counter at Borders, LOL.) It took all the money I had at that time, with the exception of a few cents (I think), but I found it entirely worth it. I read and re-read that book so much that it got dog-eared and started falling apart. I still have it.

It's funny how my interest in classic TV started. I listened to Mom telling about all those old shows for years, and I was interested and liked the sound of a lot of them, but then for some reason, when I had her tell me for the umpteenth time about Andy Griffith in March of 1998, I suddenly got smacked in the head with a strong desire to finally see the series and a determination to learn more and more. And unlike some whims of mine that came and went in a few days, that interest stayed. And stayed. And blossomed into my explorations into many other classic TV series.

The same thing kind of happened when I decided I wanted oldies music on the radio. I'd loved playing Mom's old records and I wanted to see if any stations were playing similar music. I stumbled across one and was hooked. That led to my interest in The 4 Seasons, The Monkees, The Beatles, and others.

Anyway, Andy Griffith. Even though I really don't care for the episodes where Andy kept disbelieving in Opie (why, why did it keep happening? You'd think Andy would have realized he could trust his son better than that, after what happened in the coat episode and some other early ones), there's still so much good in the show and I love it for those times. Barney. Aunt Bee. Gomer. Floyd....

I think the third and fourth seasons have the highest concentration of my favorite episodes, although 1 and 2 had some great ones as well, and even 5. The very controversial color episodes are generally not among my favorites. I don't like Barney's departure. However, I do like Howard Sprague, and there's some fun episodes with him, Floyd, and Otis in the color years. I also don't tend to mind Warren.

But classic Andy is the B&W seasons, and I could do with some great third and fourth season episodes right now.

I miss that time of innocence and discovery, my excitement over the series, summer nights of watching episodes, and summer days of getting and reading books and trying recipes.

I think specifically, I miss the days of the original blue cookbook, and maybe I'll look for that and try to buy it at long last, if it's still in print. Thinking about that cookbook is bringing back such lovely memories for me, from a time in my life that's long gone now. (And having it would lead to such lovely food!)

First and foremost: Does anyone have links to the very old Phoenix Wrong parodies? They were so hilarious. I'm not too interested in the newer ones that have been coming out; they're largely dirty all the way through, compared to the old ones being mostly clean, if not completely. I used to laugh at almost every clip, but in the recent ones I'm lucky to find one thing to laugh at.

My order arrived yesterday! At last I was able to read two more Kolchak Moonstone graphic novel stories I've been interested in for some time: Lambs to the Slaughter and Eve of Terror. I may review them on Amazon later. For now, I just want to say that according to the Moonstone canon, it looks like Tony is (or was) married. There was a kid killed in a drug-related shooting and Kolchak did an article on it. Tony praises his work but then becomes emotionally pained. Kolchak realizes why and says he's sorry for bringing it up. Tony says "Not your fault ... my boy ... went the same way." It was heart-breaking; he looked so down-trodden. He and Kolchak have a quiet moment and then Kolchak says they should go out for a drink like the old days. Tony says in the old days, Kolchak insisted Tony pay. Kolchak says he still does. It was a wonderful friendship scene. And it's begging to have something done with it. It's the first thing from Moonstone that I've really wanted to bring into my TV show canon, or at least tentatively experiment with. There's a ficlet I'm thinking of writing. I'm thinking along the lines Crystal suggested, that the son's death dissolved the marriage, because it really does seem like Tony is a bachelor by the time of the movies/TV series. Maybe I'll try it as a disconnected piece and then decide if I want to incorporate it into my full canon.

I also got a West Side Story book and the first Phoenix Wright manga (a real manga, with cases!). The West Side Story book I've been eagerly devouring as I skip around in it (I rarely read books like that straight through). It gives character summaries and it was very fair, and I think kind, to Schrank, which I was thrilled by. But it seems to mostly focus on the Broadway production, with little being said about the movie version by comparison. And a lot of what is said about the movie version leans more towards the negative, at least from what I've read. I also want to get another book, one that does focus more on the movie version, and even tells how Simon Oakland ended up part of the cast. (One of the co-directors was Robert Wise, and he specifically wanted Simon after directing him in I Want to Live!)

The Phoenix Wright manga is very interesting. It plays out like a combination of Detective Conan and Perry Mason. When characters are introduced, they seem to use the same format as Detective Conan, with a blurb showing their name, age, and occupation. And the trials are filled with intensity (and kooky witnesses, as per the games). They even have Winston Payne as the first prosecutor encountered! And everyone looks IC. Phoenix is wonderful as the straight man with sardonic comments, Maya is her typical ditzy self, and Larry is nuts over his latest girl. LOL. Miles has not appeared, but he is thought about, and Phoenix comments that he hasn't seen Miles in a while. That's usually a signal that something exciting is planned, and I know for certain that Miles will be in volume 2. And I learned of the manga's existence shortly before that volume will release in America! If it comes out on time, it will be out in less a week. I hope I can get it right away! Even if B&N has it in stock on time, I cringe to think of buying it there. It's $10.99, and I'm sure they won't offer a discount (unless by some miracle I get a rare 10% coupon). On Amazon, it's only $8.79, but I'd have to wait to buy other things with it and get free shipping. Oh, Borders, why wouldn't anyone help you stay afloat?!

And I watched an amazing Wild Wild West episode. I've been devouring episodes lately, and it was a show Mom liked and watched back when it was on, so I'm having a ball sharing my new love of it with her. It's just what I love: friendship and adventure and mystery and crook-fighting and hurt/comfort! And the romance level isn't high enough to get on my nerves. It's just perfect, as far as I'm concerned. The steampunk angle is just the icing on the cake, too. I just love Western stuff and steampunk adds a whole new level of awesome to it.

The episode I saw was The Night of the Death Masks. The whole ghost town angle, and the wax dummies that keep popping up with the masks, were so creepy! And it was heart-breaking when the crooks manipulated things so Jim thought Arte was the crook due to Arte being forced into a disguise while unconscious. They have a gunfight and Arte ends up thinking he shot and killed Jim when he comes over closer.

Well, the whole episode was extremely plunnie-inducing. It would make such an intense role-play or fic. I think I might write a blurb of Schrank and Krupke having gotten into a gunfight like that, with the end result being Krupke thinking he's shot Schrank. I don't know yet whether he really would have or not.

I could do a whole rant on the difficulties of using the website the past week, but I let off my steam in Wordpad while I couldn't post, so I won't bother.

Since regaining use of the site, I have been playing musical icons. I'm more into my live-action fandoms right now, so I wanted the icons to reflect that. I added this one here, of Perry Mason and Hamilton Burger, and a couple more of Lieutenant Schrank. I also added a beautiful icon of Sailor Mercury that I snagged a while back, in anticipation of the revival of Sailor Moon in North America at last! Merchandise is coming in (Hot Topic has shirts!) and the manga starts arriving in September. And this time, we're getting Sailor V! I hope we get figures, dolls, and the anime too!

I've never been fully sure why I always gravitate to Mercury. I feel like I should feel I relate the most to Hotaru, after that quiz result I got that said "You are weak physically but mature mentally. An outcast, slightly morbid." Also, she has very pale skin and likes to wear black. But instead I seem to feel that I relate the best to Mercury. I'm certainly like her in a lot of ways, but one huge difference is that she loves math. It's always been my least favorite subject.

(Maybe I relate more to Mercury because her life is so ... relatively normal compared to poor Hotaru's? And I just can't begin to grasp all the pain and suffering Hotaru went through?)

All the Borders and Waldenbooks are folding. No one was willing to help them continue to stay afloat. I need to get hold of some things at their liquidation sale. And I also need to procure a couple of things on Amazon.

I knew there was still danger it would happen, so I can't say I'm terribly surprised, but I also don't think it's fully sunk in yet. I am seriously cringing, however, to imagine a world where the only big physical retail bookstore is Barnes and Noble, where you have to pay full-price, or nearly so, for almost everything. With little exception, the books I have bought for years have been from Borders. I only bought from other places when Borders just didn't have something. I may have to buy mostly from Amazon in the future. But that would be a pain, as I buy from them in bundles so I don't have to pay S&H costs. And I don't often have $25 lying around that I can use for books.

Poor Borders.

I worked a bit on my Perry Mason fic yesterday. I think it will probably be multi-chapter. And I thought of a great twist, as right now the plot looks pretty cut and dried. It won't be in the finished version! Also, I am very pleased that so far the characters' voices have been coming to me. I guess after watching off and on for thirteen years, it shouldn't be so much of a surprise. But out of everything I like there's only a small percentage that I actually have ideas to write for, and sometimes I start writing for something and realize that it's just not working out, so it always feels like a triumph when it comes together.

I've been working on a cute, short West Side Story fic. I'm hoping to have it up on Monday.

Also on Monday, I think Crystal and I will be ready to unveil one part of the project we've been working on. We've been putting a great deal of thought and effort into this, and I'm excited.

I watched The Night Strangler again, snapped a bunch of random pictures throughout, and made a few icons. Kolchak and Tony have so many awesome scenes in that film!

One thing I noticed more strongly this time around was that Tony really did try to help Carl, repeatedly, and I don't think Carl always really recognized it or appreciated it. At one point during an argument Carl is yelling at Tony for not printing the latest story about the murders and Tony calls him ungrateful/unappreciative, which isn't entirely unjustified.

Tony was not pleased to discover Kolchak in the bar at the beginning, but he could have just ignored him. Only he wouldn't do that, because he's such a softie. So he resignedly smiled and went over and ended up offering Kolchak a job.

Tony was not pleased for Kolchak to stumble over another weird mystery, but after Las Vegas who can blame him? In spite of that, he did a lot for Carl. He brought in a sketch artist to sketch the murderer as described by a witness. He published some of Kolchak's early stories on the murders, even ones that got into the creepy stuff. He even tried to print the big story, exposing the full truth. It was pulled after 20 copies, but that wasn't Tony's fault. He tried. Carl should not have blown up at him the way he did, accusing him of selling out. It was their boss who refused to let the story go through. Tony even said he was stupid enough to think that things would be different in Seattle and that they would be allowed to print the crazy-sounding story.

Seriously, after the events of the two movies (and being fired himself at the end of the second one), it's no wonder that Tony outright refuses to publish most of Carl's stories on the TV show. Once he did try to get out a story of Carl's, but their superiors pulled it again.

According to Robert Palmer, the devil's advocate, Kolchak blames Tony for most of his problems even though he knows deep down that he himself is at fault. The blaming comes into play full-force in the second movie. It isn't seen as strongly in the TV series. I wonder if Kolchak was forced to take a long look at himself after the events of The Devil's Platform and didn't blame Tony so much after that.

In any case, Tony definitely deserves more understanding and appreciation. Long-suffering is a good term for him. I love Kolchak dearly, but I love Tony too, and he doesn't deserve all of the blame thrown at him in The Night Strangler. And in the TV show, too, he tries to help Carl out where he can. Even in the middle of the night, he'll come to bail Carl out of jail. One episode had him turn up in a robe and slippers to get him out.

And eeee, I learned that there's an awesome Moonstone story where Kolchak and Tony are trapped in a haunted house! And it will be included among the stories of the graphic novel The Rise and Fall of Carl Kolchak that I've ordered! I can hardly wait to see that one.

I suppose it was largely that story that was responsible for me listening to the Partridge Family song Only a Moment Ago and coming up with a far different interpretation than one is meant to get. The song is fairly innocuous and innocent, and a bit introspective: http://www.songlyrics.com/the-partridge-family/only-a-moment-ago-lyrics/

But I ended up picturing it taken literally, as in: there really were people and music, and suddenly they all vanished. The plunnie started developing of Carl and Tony lost in a mysterious ghost town where people appear and disappear at random and the town itself doesn't linger for long. I've done a couple of stories involving towns like that (Cooperstown and Lily Valley) for other fandoms, but I'd be game for another. This town would be different from both of those.

But seriously, a Partridge Family song inspiring a Kolchak fic? It's hard to imagine two more different fandoms.

I hate it when I have weird, creepy, disturbing, and exhausting dreams concerning characters in my fandoms. Right now I can't even remember exactly what I was dreaming earlier, and I'm in no great hurry to do so, either. This on top of listening to clips from all of the Monkees albums missing one or more members and, indeed, feeling sad thinking of them being absent. Although I still want those albums, I think. There are some songs I like on them.

... Oh, I spoke too soon, I'm starting to remember what I was dreaming. I need some brain bleach.

And LOL! That reminds me of Peter actually joking about brain bleach (or was it brain detergent?) in The Card-Carrying Red Shoes. It was priceless.

Actually, maybe remembering what it was will actually help to push it out of my mind. I hope so, anyway.

I finally started to catch up with all the posts in the Tutu comm that I've been neglecting while I worked on the fics for 31_days. And I'm thinking maybe I'll watch some Charles in Charge along with The Monkees later. Yesterday I bought a YGO manga at Borders, so there's that to read too. Yes, back to fully juggling fandoms. I think.

... The fact that Christmas is eleven days away is both frightening and exciting.

I've been working with various gift ficlets and pics, trying to get them ready and to determine what else I need to come up with. I'm surprising some people, whom I have a good idea of what they would like, but for some others I'm still trying to work out the details. I have a good idea of what some of them would probably like as well, but I'm not entirely certain I can deliver, which definitely prompts a dilemma.

Last night we had a look at what's available in the stores. I saw that some things have finally come into my area, including the Vector and Espio figure set. That caused much silent squeeing. It looks really amazing in person! I looked over each box until I found the one that looked the best, since I know best what errors to look for on the Jazwares figures, and asked for that for Christmas.

I got hold of a Randy Travis Christmas album I'd wanted last year. I was thrilled to find that Wal-Mart had them again. Our local one didn't have any last week, so we went to a different one and I found one there.

I also was able to use the $10 in Borders Bucks I was given by Borders (basically like a gift card/certificate) to get a couple of Hardy Boys books. Combined with a lovely 40% coupon, I only paid $1.25 out of my bank account.

I love Borders so much. Their Rewards program is free, unlike all the other ones I've seen (except the one for Smith's grocery stores). And I get so many discounts. Then every now and then they send me Border Bucks because I'm a preferred customer.

It really is sad, how few Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books Borders has these days. There were only a scant few Hardy Boys hardbacks. There were a few more Nancy Drews and two of the recent paperbacks. For once, Barnes and Noble has actually been having a wider selection than Borders. I've seen many more of those books there.

In reading a recent Hardy Boys book (one of the new kind told in first person), I thought the characters' personalities had been a bit exaggerated and that at times they were OOC. But after reading an old Casefile book, I realized that maybe they weren't. Their personalities in the Casefile book were extremely similar to what I read in the recent book. So now I want some more of the recent ones. I've seen some really interesting looking ones when browsing at Amazon and Borders.com.

We passed one of those private neighborhoods and it had an intriguing name: The Whispering Willows. It sounds like a Nancy Drew book. Now I want to write a mystery fic called that and feature a mysterious old house surrounded by old willow trees. I've seen a house surrounded by poplar trees, which looks rather ominous in its seclusion. I'll probably use it for partial inspiration.

I'm wondering if this mystery will be the American Tutu mystery I've been thinking of. I've been trying to think of more of a plot for it other than "Ahiru, Autor, and Fakir are in America because the ballet class is performing and Ahiru convinced Autor to play their music so he could come with them! And Ahiru has trouble with English and loves touring! And then a mystery comes along for them to solve!" Or maybe there will be more than one American Tutu mystery (i.e., maybe there will be an entire series of mysteries). As much as I love writing paranormal mysteries, I think my true love is mysteries with criminals. And even though the setting for this mystery will be creepy and there will be ghost rumors, I think there will only be mortals haunting this house.

I cut my hair twice over the past two weeks. XD; First I cut it to my shoulder blades. Then I wanted to cut it more, but my hands were too tired. Last Friday I cut it the rest of the way I wanted, to just touching my shoulders. It had been going all the way down my back and it had started to drive me crazy, so I decided it was time for an extensive trim. Mom and Dad don't like it short, but I'm pleased. XD

I had a good weekend. Borders was, indeed, doing the 3 mangas for the price of 2 thing that Waldenbooks was doing, so I got to buy volumes 5, 6, and 7 of Tokyo Mew Mew on Saturday. Now I'm only missing 3 and 4. Afterward, I went with Dad to a wedding reception for one of his friend's sons. It was really crowded and noisy and I could barely hear myself think. XD; It's a really cool reception hall, though, and it even has a balcony. I went out on it several times, but other people were coming out as well, so I couldn't be by myself as I wanted to. XD; I had wanted to ponder over the plot bunny I had gotten earlier while watching YGO. And I just like balconies. When Grandma was in the hospital for a long time, I used to go out on the balcony and entertain myself by practicing my singing.

Anyway, when we got home and I got online for a bit, I wrote some of the opening scene of this new fic. Then just now I wrote a lot more. ^^ The following is all of the opening sequence. Immediately following will be an extensive flashback.


( Falling Forever )

Yes! I have voted! **dances.** I've checked out info on the candidates over the months and decided to vote straight Republican. I am very conservative and Republicans usually have the views I agree with more. For one example, most Democrats seem to be pro-choice and I am pro-life. What about the baby's rights? And I think President Bush has been doing a good job. Yes, it's true we haven't been attacked again since 9/11, and how do we know it isn't because we're fighting back? These are rhetorical questions, by the way. XD Feel free to reply, but I refuse to debate. You have your views and I have mine.

The reason I am slightly ticked is because someone thought that since I said I voted straight Republican, that I didn't care about the candidates' views. HELLO! That's why I did vote the way I did. Jeepers.

Anyway, after voting we went to take some film to Wal-Mart. I smashed my finger against something in the entertainment department 'cause the DVD's were jammed so tight and I couldn't get the one back that I'd taken out. So now I have a partially torn nail. Ugh. And a torn nail on my other hand just got through healing up! It's hard to type, too. It's my left hand's ring finger.

Then we went to Borders so I could use one of the 20% off coupons. I bought the second volume of the Megaman manga (#4 isn't out yet) and a Battlestar Galactica novel that's an adaption of one of my favorite episodes of the television show. ^^ So I was pleased. And am pleased still, except for being irritated about the torn nail. XD;