Weather: I’m guessing hot since it was so hot at this time yesterday…
Working on: Updating my website and making to-do list for today.
Currently Listening to: Disney After Ever After 2 by Paint on Youtube. Again, like the first one, 16+!!! It’ll ruin your childhood, but I can’t help laughing! It’s really been pumping my writing juices all weekend too.
Currently Watching: We still have 3 episodes left of High School DxD, but I’ve mostly been rewatching Will and Grace while I work.
Currently Playing: Still Pokémon Trozei, although I’ve only touched it once since my last update nearly 4 weeks ago! Still hard! >.<
Currently Reading: Fiery Heart (Book 4 in the Bloodlines series) by Richelle Mead. Finished A Thousand Years of Snow volume 3 too last night! SO DARLING!
Thoughts and feelings: I’m so drowsy…-_-;;
Holiday(s): “National Sleepy Head Day” in Finland! HA! So fitting with how I feel today, plus he’s one of my favorite Hetalia characters!
Wallpaper: A lovely watery sunrise picture that on the right has a beautiful maiden in a simple long white dress, her hair straight as a broad and to her hips. One of her hands is clutching her chest and the other is transforming back into a hand from a clear wing. The wing is swirling to the left side, where a silver spirit of a swan is. It’s so pretty and a retelling of The Swan Lake, one of my favorite stories. The girl reminded me of Maren with her looks, but Stary’s hair length and type. ^_^
Icon: For Sailor Moon Crystal. which started a few weeks ago. Still haven’t watch Legend of Korra due to Nick being goofy…*growls*
Hello Sailor Soldiers and guys who look dashing in tuxedos and mask, but only show up once for a cameo and leave to make us finish the fight! 😉 Morgan in the house! For two weeks now, I’ve been obsessed with the moon, either with watching Sailor Moon Crystal or being the daughter for my College for Kids Mythology classes of Selene or Artemis, the rulers of the moon in Ancient Greece. But, down on Earth, I welcome you to my update, most likely my last one before school starts back up, but I will let you guys know if I survived my first week of the 2014-2015 school year then! *shakes*
Well, I have super massive, black hole (HA! Twilight reference!) worthy news, so get your happy dances in full swing: Spirit Vision 2‘s manuscript is OFFICALLY FINISHED!!! =D Praise the angels of literacy, the goddesses of libraries, the fairies of words! I thank you and my friends, my family, and my fans for the support! I owe my characters so much for being so patient with me and allowing me to change the ending in a way I didn’t see coming until last night! o.0 Life has unexpected turns though; you have to be willing to grab the wheel. I know my characters are either laughing at me, sighing with a scowl, or wanting to bonk me on the head. Wonder who is what I mentally note sarcastically…-_-;; Sheenah, my publisher, is on chapter four or so the last time we talked, so here’s a toast to a victory on a long journey for all involved. I should have taken insurance on this… I <3 you all!
On another amazing note for the press, Paper Crane Books, this Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014, our first ever press anthology was published on Amazon! 😀 You followers of Paper Crane Press have been awesome though this whole process. It took the five of us forever to come up with a title, then we couldn’t all agree on a cover (but, we liked them all at least), so we have over 600 votes cast for what should be our cover and you guys picked my second favorite one! Woot! =D And now, for the past few days, our anthology has been in the top 50 of genre anthologies at Amazon’s Kindle Stores! This is so incredible! Thank you all so much for the support! The title is “Recollection of Shared Days: Stories of Celebration.” Five authors. Seven stories. Seven different holidays. Four seasons. One world. I really loved this experience of being in a collective work with the other press authors and reading their tales, getting a sense of what they are about. My two stories are “The Bewitching Day” and “The Poppy.” ^_^ You can get it for free until the end of today. After that, it will be only $2. It is on Amazon, Kindle edition, only for three months then we will have it available for e-book version through our other distributors. I have my own page dedicated to it on my site now too.
ALSO! I am giving away one signed copy of my newest work, my first collection, “A Sweet, Little Dream” on goodreads.com. You have to have an account, but it’s all free. The giveaway is until August 3rd and I will reveal the winner on my social medias once we know! Good luck to all who enter; so far we almost have 200! You guys are the bee’s knees! ^_^ *fist bump*
For another treat, I shared with you a work in progress, or a WIP, for the Spirit Vision 2 cover last update. Well, Suzy has given me a second sneak peek that I’m going to share with you below! She also is releasing an original art book that you can pre-order now. Just follow her on facebook or Twitter! ^_^
Please send out a warm, or…in his case, an icy, shout out to my friend Danny Rodriguez AKA Shiny Glaceon, my July Aspiring Author Spotlight. His interview and sample of work is below this update, but the link is in the July title in the sentence above also. He’s such a cool guy, pun meant! 😉 Let’s support him in his art of writing!
For College for Kids, I have added two Top Tens: one over my favorite anime younger sibling type characters (for my babysitting girls) and one over my favorite fictional weapons for my Percy Jackson Mythology demi-warriors (since last year, for Percy, I did my favorite Greek mythology figures).
I have a guest post on Mrs. Casey’s Blumenstock’s blog, doing a guest post about two things dear to my heart. She was such a gem writing a guest post for you guys last week so now it’s my turn to invade her domain! Hehehe! ^_- Check my facebook or Twitter for when the guest post is up on her site if it isn’t all ready.
I updated my Pinterest as well, especially my Spirit Vision board and my Other Literacy Works board. On the Spirit Vision one, if you look, there is a picture with a quote from Spirit Vision 2! Oh the shock! 😉 Go look!
Although I sadly haven’t got to update as much as I wanted to this summer, I still have had some fairly large things happening on the site. If you missed these summer’s hits or want to re-play the magic, check out the links below:
- Mrs. Casey Blumenstock’s July guest post on Music and Writing.
- Spirit Vision 2 fan art gallery winners. Recollect they will be published in Spirit Vision 2!
- Cosplacon 2014 at Jefferson City Review with pictures and video links
- My June aspiring author spotlight, Mr. Brady Payne’s, interview and work sample
- And the release of my second book and first collection, A Sweet, Little Dream
Well, considering I did all this, taught College for Kids, observed my students, threw a few Pokémon events, did some interviews locally, had my first library book signing, and wrote on Spirit Vision 2 and for the Paper Crane anthology, maybe I did okay. Maybe…What do you guys think? 🙂
It’s been a few months since I have done this, so here is my current list of books, by genre, that I owe that I still need to read:
- Vampire: 2 for sure (and 3 more maybes): 2-5 total
- Fantasy: 7
- Fairy Tale: 4
- Realistic Fiction: 3
- History: 9
- Resource: 1
- Children: 2
- Manga: 9
I believe that is all for my writer persona. Now, on to my ‘normal’ life! Psst…That’s hard to say with a straight face! ;)-
Have done two Pokémon events, our first ever Elite Four challenges. I have four members of my Poke Crew be members and I am the champion. We all have characters and I have to admit, we all have giggle fits when we act like them. Here is our cast:
- Evan Chu (played my best pal Evan) is our water trainer. He was a tough as nails guy, training on mountains with his psyduck. One fateful day, his psyduck used a too strong confusion attack and sent Evan flying over the cliff and into the ocean. He almost drowned, but was saved by a hoard of poliwags. They took care of him and he, as he said, became one with the poliwags, turning mellow, and is a loyal water trainer. He also raises Magikarp eggs. One day, when we battled for fun, my Mewtwo’s confusion was too strong and he thought for a while he was a grass trainer named Tanya Lovegood. 0.o That was fun, seeing him frolic around! -_-;;
- Nathan Christian (played by Nathan B) is our ghost trainer and a snappy, sharp dresser. He is the grandson of Agatha, the first ghost Elite trainer. She had recently passed, leaving him her beloved Gengar and crystal cane, both of which he uses. He was in such a slump, trying to teach his grandma’s spirit by any means, not able to control his ghost Pokémon. My newly hired at the time assistant, Miss Eevee, was the first one to smack him with his fedora and tell him to snap out of it. She got through to him and it was love at first sight for them both. His ghosts are still mischievous and only I and Nathan can see them. They like to prank people and follow us around. Nathan still tries to talk to his grandmother from time to time so if he is talking to a wall, do not be alarmed. Like her, he also has a deep hatred for Professor Oak for unknown to us reasons.
- Fabio Thearailo (played by Nathan C, my brother-in-law). This guy is…something else. He is a well-known, flamboyant samurai movie star, a fashion trendsetter, and our dark Pokémon member. He is always ‘fashionably’ late, adores signing autographs for his fans, and rides around in his golden sparkly limo that matches his favorite fedora (he also has neon light up num-chucks he carries around for fun too). Although he’s a ham, he is still an excellent trainer, his dear Umbreon, Fluffykins, always being stroked by him when she’s not battling. Fabio, however, has to goals in life: to be more famous and better at battling than his older sister Diantha (model, actress, and X and Y Champion) and to dethrone me as the Missouri Champion. Yeah…right…
- Derrick AKA Zubat Man (played by my love, Derrick) is our steel member. He is the younger brother of Lance, the champion of Kanto and Johto and dragon expert. Derrick didn’t want to follow in the dragon training footsteps of his family, although he liked them. One day when he was six, he ran away from his school lessons, stumbling upon a cave on their properity. When he stepped in, he saw a zubat being picked on by other zubats. Derrick chased them off and noticed this friendly zubat had a crocked wing, making him fly oddly. He named him Flippy and Derrick and him became best friends. Derrick and Flippy decided he would eat an Everstone so he wouldn’t elove and Derrick trains in that cave still with his steel Pokémon. Flippy is his pride and joy though, Derrick not allowing him to battle; Flippy’s room is bigger than his! Derrick is a fierece battler, no mercy, but his heart melts when he sees Flippy or he hears his favorite song, The Zubat Rap by Natewantstobattle! He does NOT like Flippy being taken. One time, Derrick tried to teach Flippy how to drive…He crashed into Fabio’s limo, golden sparkles littering the street! 0.0
- Miss Eevee (played by Tabby) is my assistant, a famous cosplay model, Eevee trainer, and our alternate (which she has had to do twice now). After I found my members, I knew these boys would drive me nuts! >.< I adore anime conventions and I saw Miss Eevee modeling her newest design. I was so amazed that I introduced myself. We talked forever, laughing about boys, talking about cosplay and anime, sharing tips on training Eevees (I just got my Espeon and she had an Umbreon). I invited her to join me when she didn’t have a tour; she accepted. She met Nathan at her first tour and after they fell instantly in love, she agreed to move in. She is my sanity and firm arm against the boys when I need it and helps me out so much! When stressed, we get massages at our favorite place. 🙂 She is currently training with Blaine on Cinnabar Island to beef up her new Flaron and his fire pals.
- Oh! There’s me! Not much to say on my story: I’m Morgan, from Saffron City. I am the younger sister of Sabrina, the psychic gym leader. When I was young, I was told my powers could surpass my older sister’s. Furious, she took my parents and banished me, only allowing my Abra I have had since I was three to stay at my side. I was only eight. I traveled around Kanto until I passed out in front of Professor Oak’s lab. He cared for me and allowed me to start a journey early, giving me money, a pokedex, pokeballs, and food. I set off on an amazing journey, traveling the world, increasing my psychic abilities in secret; I rarely use them unless in emergencies, although I can move things, read emotions through eye contact, and see ghosts with ease. Thanks to my Pokémon, I was able to become a champion. I wrote a book about my travels and it was a bestseller. I also started a school for trainers, where I teach children ages four to sixteen. It’s incredible. On writing ideas for my travels in my second book, I encountered all of my Elite Four members and we all live together in a large mansion under my school. ^_^ Psychic Pokémon are still my specially, me even bonding with a few legendries…
I think we have TOO much time on our hands! HA! ^.^ I have pictures of both events on my facebook. The kids had a great time. We had ten at one and six in another, my Poke Crew and my friends Logan and Julie taking pictures, making crowns, and Julie baking yummy pies for the event. It’s a great outreach and I’m happy to spread the love of Pokémon. Only one person has challenged me so far and…I beat him with my first Pokemon. -_- I felt a little bad, but I AM the champ; can’t go easy on them. I spent WAY too much money on new Pokémon cards for my deck and personal collection last month, but it was fun learning how to be an avid E-bay shopper. HA! ^o^ We always go eat afterwards (normally Applebees) and stay in character. At the June one, we met a waiter who saw my Pokeball hat I wore and was gushing over us and how cool we were. Him and his roommates wanted to start a Pokémon league for the handheld games. I told him what we do and we discussed combing our ideas into one massive event. Who knows?! The power of Pokémon is amazing! 😀
Our next Pokémon event will be on Saturday, August 9th, at Gamers Bazaar, 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm. It’ll be casual play this time due to scheduling, but it’ll still be a lot of fun. More details on my facebook later.
On Fourth of July, we went out to my in-laws: Derrick and I, Nathan and Tabby, Evan and his friend Drew and had a tasty BBQ and shot fireworks for over 2 hours! Here we thought we would have hardly any, but Tabby and Derrick got $15 each, Evan about $50, and Drew $80! 0.o We shot almost all of them. Tabby got these lovely, GIANT lanterns that reminded me of the lovely ones from Tangled. Her and Nathan got one and Derrick and I and it was so pretty. I hope we can get those next year. It was such a fun time! ^___^
My life the past three weeks have been College for Kids. Sadly, this year was our smallest enrollment ever and it hurt everyone. I had the most classes with 5 (although I normally teach 9-10). But, regardless of this, I had such wonderful students this year, the view problems we had minor at worst, which was a blessing! ^_^
My first week I taught “Babysitting Basics,” my largest class, with 12 eager to learn, fun-loving young ladies. They were so quiet the first day, so mature and polite although I had grades 5th to 8th mixed! It wasn’t until the end of Monday, where I made them laugh with my bubbly sarcastic remarks and let them pair up and fight like little kids over toys so show them how siblings fuss that they really bonded with me. We made business cards, which was the smoothest this time it has ever been. Still hiccups with Internet, saving things on parental accounts, computer, prints, skill level, and such, but I know a few tricks now I didn’t before. My college friend Heather brought in her almost two-year-old son Cade. It was so grand to see her again and he was so adorable! >.< He was helping my clean up, digging stuff out of my bag and way at the bottom, he found my can of almonds, my snack. He ran to the trashcan, threw them away with a thud, and just stared at me while Mrs. Heather, who was SUCH A GREAT GUEST SPEAKER FOR THE GIRLS, was talking. We all stared and when I said that was my snack, he made a face and we all lost it. He found out he loves to move trashcans around the room, something Heather said he has never done before! The girls gushed over him and did a great job with him. My friend from high school, Jessica, brought her boy Connor, now three. He came last year at two and was so shy! This year, he did so well, only getting bashful three times considering two women and 12 girls were crowding him. He LOVED trashketball, racing cars, making animal sounds, coloring for mommy, and picking papers up. Both boys were obsessed with balls. He talked a lot and has the SWEETEST. LITTLE. VOICE. OF. ALL. TIME!!! *melts* He inhaled the star shaped cheese sandwiches I made for him too and drank half the pineapple juice in a big boy cup. Jessica was grand again with answering questions. She told me that evening that Connor kept talking how much fun he had with the girls all night. Hehehe! ^_^ So darling! On Friday, we had five nursing students and the mentor for the program at the collage make a packet for my girls on all the basic first aide situations they needed to know with pictures and brought in dummies to practice CPR and choking on. They were amazed at how much strength, but they all dove in, ready to do their best. I was proud! ^_^ They were so happy to present their tote bags and get their certificate of completion. When they left, I said they had to hug me or high five me; 10 of them hugged me, most grinning and jumping into my arms. I wish these find young ladies the best of luck in their business.
I had a two hour break to clean up and prep, then I had to go across campus to teach my Pokémon class to the little guys, 3rd to 4th grade. I only had four of them, but I must say, these kids were SUPER knowledgeable about the classic 250 Pokémon from the first two generations! 0.o Tears were in my eyes. :’) They caught on to our activities very fast although we still didn’t get all I had planned done. They spent over 2 hours coloring their Pokémon and picking out their attacks in such detail! >.< I thought the 40 minutes my class did 2 years ago was was insane! But, since I had these kids for 4 hours a day instead of 2, we did okay. New things I added included: Decorating an egg and building up friendship so Friday, it would hatch into a baby Pokémon (They had to keep their eggs in their pockets, count their steps (128= 1 level of friendship), or talk nicely and cuddle it! HA!), make a new Mega Evolution form for one of their Pokémon and make Mega Rings, we disguised ourselves as Rocket Grunts, I an executive, and had to sneak outside to rescue the legendries they captured (the adults were Rocket members and my boss walked in the lobby in the middle of the game and they hid so fast. She looked so shunned and asked me if I did something wrong…It took me a moment to explain for I was cracking up so hard!), made adorable psyduck hats, made mini Pokeball pizzas, captured legendries on Friday, quiz show, and I made a tracking for behavior chart system that worked super well: 5 different Pikachu faces: In love (the best), Happy, Sad, Mad, Fainted. If they got to mad, no snack. If they got to Fainted, no fun final activity. Happy was the worst they got. ^_^ When I brought my Pokémon toys and stuffed animals from my childhood, they had so much fun playing with them. One student even had tears in his little eyes, hugged me tight, and thanked me for allowing him to play with, quote ‘these amazing Pokémon treasures…’ Cue the…*AWWWWWWW!!!* See?! This is why I saved my Pokémon toys! Well, a big part of it. 😉 This was a fun class and I am confident these bright, determined kids will be excellent trainers one day. ^.^
This was my longest week, 7:00 to 5:15 for five days.
The next week I only had one class: Percy Jackson’s Mythology 101. It started at 12:30, ended at 2:30, but I would be there at 10:oo to do prep and normally stay until 3:30 to 4:00 for clean-up and prep (although Monday, I came in at 8:15 to get it situated). It was nice to sleep in, I must admit. 🙂 We discussed the Big 12 gods and goddesses of Mt. Olympus along with Hades, Pan, Persephone, and Iris. For the first time, I also did the main monsters of Ancient Greece on Thursday (this scared me for the rest of my class I basically had done to a science time wise, only Friday getting away from us due to my kids being slower than I thought at writing their quests scripts). But, they loved the games for the monsters and our few crafts. ^^ I had 6 girls and 2 boys, 3 of my girls being daughter of Athena! Go figure! Team Annabeth! I also had 3 kids be children of Apollo, a daughter of Ares, and a daughter of Hera. I am always the daughter of Artemis since she’s my favorite, ruling the moon and all. This was a chatty bunch, but a super good group who knew their stuff and was ready to learn more. I feel bad we had to rush weapon making and I had to make their beaded necklaces for them after they went to art in the afternoon and then send them to them. Still, every single one of them, but one gave me a hug when we left and told me how much fun they had. I made folders for them to keep their work in and made packets for all three of my Percy classes so one, I didn’t have to explain who they could pick to be their parent and #2, for review and in case they forgot who we discussed (we reviewed each day). It’s always a joy for me to teach this class and see their creativity with myths from the past.
*For all three Percy classes, by the way, I had a behavior chart in there too: 🙂 meant they were listening, being kind, cleaning up, and so forth. >.< This meant one warning of not doing the items needed. Swirly eyes and an opened o mouth meant 2 and x(- meant they ‘died’ and didn’t get snack and the special activity of the day since they were older. To stay quiet in the halls of the busy college, we also pretended every adult other than my boss was a monster hidden in mist, trying to trick us to eat us later. We were kind to them, but when we got back to ‘camp,’ we shut our monster proof gate and discussed what type of monsters we just past and why. Whatever works right?! My boss did it too when she would take them to the restroom for me or during recess! HA! ;o
Last week, my final week, I had Percy Jackson: The Sequel (Percy 2) and for the first time, Percy Jackson in 3-D (Percy 3). Oddly, I was the only class, PERIOD, that made that whole week, having 7 kids, so my boss got to help me a lot and because of this and since I had the same kids, I tweaked my lesson plans. Friday for both classes were the exact same thing, so I moved some things around taught Percy 2 material Monday, Tuesday, and the first hour of Wednesday. Wednesday and Thursday and a little bit of Friday, was Percy 3. Friday we had s’mores, prepped for our quests, made weapons, beaded necklaces, and acted out our quests. I added a labyrinth building project from recyclable, which they loved, a fun, fast-paced review game, more details they had to have for their quests they had to have before I approved it, and designing their own airship. We only had to skip discussion on three figures and considering, I think total, we talked about over 50, that’s fairly good. ^_^ They kept thanking me about how much fun they were having and I decided I like having these classes together. Percy/Mythology fans would want to take both, so it makes sense and if an activity went overtime or under, it was easier to move things around (it was 8:00 to 12:00, by the way, two hours each, yet most of my kids were late every day…). I was BLOWN AWAY with what they retained on Friday, only able to stump them twice out of 32 questions! They were so active in their weapon and accessory making too and their shrouds. I got HUGE hugs from all, but one, and their little hands were so full with all their projects, even with a folder and a bag each, that is made my chuckle. I usually got out of there between 1:oo or 2:00 depending on prep for the next day and cleaning, Friday getting out at 2:30 considering I had to put all my supplies away with my boss in the supply room, clean up TONS of recyclables and such. Clean up at home that night only took an hour, another amazement. I am proud of my two classes of Greek Warriors! Battle on and don’t get eaten before next year! 😉
It was a fun three weeks, but I’m not going to lie; I’m grateful I get one week to myself. Starting tomorrow until the 5th, I am basically free other than little errands I need to get done (organizing some papers, shopping, vacuuming, get oil in my car, small writing edits, send some documents to the board office…). After that, I have a College for Kids review meeting/lunch, a two day training on the 6th and 7th for my school district, six month dentist check-up, and then on the 13th, 14th, and 19th of August, all day meetings for starting up the 2014-2015 school year. I am a special education paraprofessional once more, but with new students since my four left me to be freshmen in high school…*pouts* Traitors! >.< We haven’t been able to step foot in our building since June 5th due to construction, so I hope it’ll be done next week so we can get our rooms set up, whatever THOSE are! I’m ready to have some fun too before school starts up again, seeing family and friends. My mom and I will be watching Project Runway together every Saturday since it started Thursday (FYI: SO not happy with the winning look…-_-;;).
Speaking of T.V…Looking forward to Fall premiers! “Once Upon a Time” looks promising. “Glee” is sadly on its last season, but I hope it’s a good one. More “Whose Line is it Anyway” I hope. OH! I REALLY hope CBS can make a deal with the cast of “Big Bang Theory” over their salaries or it’ll be delayed! GAH! Derrick and I <3 this show so much! NERD POWER! OH! Maybe a new “King of the Nerds” soon too? I’m mad that Nick is postponing Korra season 3 too…I was so ready for it. 🙁 Okay, so Sailor Moon Crystal. The stories are almost identical, so no complaints there. I adore the new theme song. Like how it’s following the manga in some ways, but, I’m not 100% sold on the 3D style. Some shots are just fine and I like the colors, how they pop, but…Not really liking the 3-D transformation. I like the colors, the backgrounds, the ideas, but the movements are too noodle-like, too Vocaliod for me and the background music, although pretty, is just classical! NO! They need the original transformation music! >.< I also cannot stand how Tuexdo Mask wears tuxs in his normal form and he is gosh darn TOO skinny! Even Derrick laughed when he saw him. Lastly, the thing that gets under my skin the MOST is how they have lip stick on ALL THE TIME! They are 13/14 for cripes sake! And when they give those youthful, innocent looks like they are supposed to for middle school girls, it looks SO UNNATURAL and makes me cringe. Derrick didn’t get when I pointed out in the first episode, but when it was on Ami too in episode two and he looked, he got it too. Don’t get me wrong, I like this and am eager to see where this is going; I’ll always be a loyal Moonie, but I can’t give it a 5 star review. Maybe a 4.
Well kids, I need to sign off; got work to do, people to see, food to eat. Remember that harpies love chicken nuggets, llamas are fun to brush, and sea monkeys are evil! Huzzah!