the veritas cafe

2001-04-29T17:20:00.000-07:00

Why does no one post here anymore?

2001-03-07T16:18:00.000-08:00

goshness, it has been such a long time since i've checked this blog. ::sends kaits hugs and mini-marks:: I second Ellie - I would have been a shivering wimp-pile hours before you did. Your family, incidentally, seems really close-knit, and that's neat.

hugs,
Katie

2001-03-06T18:47:00.000-08:00

Awww! ::sends hugs and waves of sympathy to Kait:: That would seriously suck. I'm sure I would have broken down far before you did, especially if the subway was closed. Oy. Have a chocolate frog.

2001-02-23T21:11:00.000-08:00

I've got a long, harrowing story to tell.

Maybe I should get a journal of my own for events such as this.

Nah....too much work...

Anyway, Ingrid and I were going to see Aida yesterday. We were going to do student rush and get tickets for the two of us and my Mom and aunt. So, we get in at 8:20 after last Tuesday's fiasco and find the line is already almost filled. Whoa. So, we put our names on the list and wait in the freezing cold. Bill Evans, the PLJ/Eyewitness News forcaster said the city would be getting about an inch of snow later in the day. It was bitterly cold but we waited patiently and ended up with only two tickets. I called my mom and she said it was okay, she wasn't that intent on seeing Sherie anyway, she'd come pick us up after the show.

We had lots of time to kill, so we went to the Met and hung out. I wanted to see the GreccoRoman stuff and the Egyptians ("Maybe we'll see ShoelessAdam!" "I doubt it...we'd be able to hear his ego breaking the glass by now...") and the Arms and Armor. We killed about four hours there. We also went to a new Japanese bookstore to look for Blind Target and Angel Sanctuary stuff. Finally, we decided we should get back down to 47th. The Museum was closing anyway. When we got outside it was snowing. Lots. It was very, very pretty, and actually warmer than it had been all day. We walked through Central Park to take the subway back to Rockafeller Center and it was so incredibly beautiful. Not many people were around and it was twilight and the snow was so lovely.

When we reached the other side we took the train to 49thSt and 7th and took shelter from the snow in a McDonalds (the same one we went to after we got tickets). I called my Mom and she said to call Ingrid's mom to see how we were getting home. As it turns out, Bill Evans was devestatingly wrong and they had already gotten 4 inches of snow back home. We had close to three in the city and it didn't show signs of stopping anytime soon. Ingrid's mom couldn't get in either. We told them we could take the bus, which has a stop about a mile from my house. They said no. We'd have to stay overnight with Ingrid's Grandmother in Chinatown. We were angry, because we really wanted to go home after the show. As I look back on it, I don't think concern even start to cross my mind. The roads in the city were fine, I didn't understand why we shouldn't be able to get home. I was gonna be freaking tired and I knew it.

My mom called back on the cellphone a little while later. She was already concerned. She started rifling off random information about the firehouse my uncle worked at on 48th and the apartment of Sue's brother and his boyfriend and Ingrid's aunt's place and the office building where someone she knew was staying overnight. I thought she was really over-reacting, I just wanted to go in and see the show. When she finally hung up, that's what we did, walking over to the Palace (which was right next door) and finding our seats, which were on opposite sides of the theatre.

I had the pleasure of sitting in front of one of the rudest women I've ever met. She kept insisting this guy was sitting in her seat and when he insisted that she was supposed to be in row A and he in AA, she called him "rude" twice and then ran to get an usher, who told her that the guy was right. She made a face and muttered that he was right, but he didn't have to be rude about it, and then kept repeating, loudly enough for him to hear, that she hated rude people. I wanted to whackslap her and shout about hypocrisy, but I didn't.

The show was great, the stage door would have been better if some girl hadn't deleted the picture she took of Ingrid, Sherie, and I from my camera. Adam ran his little big ego-ed butt to his limo and sped out of there like no tomorrow. Afterwards, we called Ingrid's mom and figured out what train we should take. We paid our fair, took shelter from the STILL falling snow in the station, and then realized that we had just gotten into the uptown station, not the downtown one. We went up and in search of a downtown train, which we couldn't find. Ingrid started to panic, so I asked a guy working a parking garage. He gave us some directions to the F/D/B line we were supposed to take. The problem was, all of the stations were closed.

Shit.

I remained relatively calm. I always remain calm. That's my job. Ingrid was flipping, and I knew I had to stay sane so I could take her arm and lead her away from the fourth closed F/D/B station and towards an open N/R train running downtown. She called her mom, still a little frantic, because this train didn't stop at the place where we were supposed to get off. It was now nearing midnight. Her mother told us to wait until she called back to get on the train. Ingrid was trying to hold it together, but I could tell she was panicked. All I could think about was how I insisted to my mother that we would be fine and everything would work out the night before when she was questioning if we could get around on our own. Her mother hadn't called back after about 15 minutes, so we called instead. We played telephone tag for another ten as we figured out who would pick us up at the station.

When we finally were able to get on the train, I started to feel my composure slip. I'm always composed. It's my job to keep everyone else in line, but I was so tired I started to worry and lose it. By the time we got off I was reduced to monosyllables to keep myself from totally breaking down. Ingrid figured it was just because I was tired. And, that probably would have worked until my mom called. She too accepted the "tired" excuse until I tried to apologize and started to cry.

Shit.

I started to cry and she started to cry and luckily Ingrid and her uncle were too busy arguing over whether we should stop to eat to notice me in hysterics. I just really, really wanted to be home I suppose. I was cold and tired and I wanted my mom and I hadn't seen her in over 24 hours. I wiped my eyes and handed Ingrid's phone back to her because it was beeping. There was no one on the other line, and I could hear my mom get back on and ask Ingrid if I was okay. Ingrid didn't notice anything was particularly wrong, or at least, didn't say anything. We got to her grandmother's house adn I nearly broke down a few more times. I finally fell asleep reading my new book and listening to The Lion King (the movie) and House at Pooh Corner by Kenny Loggins on my recorder after I found the tapes at the bottom of my bag.

I came home this morning. Ingrid's mom drove us and brought us tea and soup. When I got home I learned that my whole family was up until midnight worrying about me and only went to bed after my mom called them all and told them I was at Ingrid's Grandma's house. My mom was the most worried of all I I felt even more guilty and we sat there sobbing. Then I told her about the show and took and shower and a nap. Family members called all day to "talk to my mom" but seemed much more relaxed after I answered the phone.

Anyway, I just felt the need to share the whole story with someone/something. The majority of people I know won't hear this whole thing, just that I saw Aida, got stuck in the city, and had to stay with Ingrid's relatives.

If you're still reading, I applaud your attention span ^_^

Oh, and Susan called this afternoon. She's having a great time in Baltimore. They were first in line for tonight's show!

-Kait-
Listening To: American Girl, as covered by Matchbox20
Reading: Winter Birds by Jim Grimsley, I believe. It's amazing, it really, really is. Dream Boy is supposed to be even better.
Thinking: I should send Inna those Ant pictures....
Dreading: Babysitting my cousins during my aunt's surprise party tomorrow...

2001-02-20T17:01:00.000-08:00

posting a fic that blatantly disgustingly awful - how do they do it? how? what do they do with their time - ? (and then another posts a fic that's almost perfect, except that it doesn't have your name on it. and any thoughts that you might have been half decent at this writing thing sort of melt away like butter in microwaved peas.)

jealousy - all right, i'll admit it. (but i don't have to like it, do i?)

2001-02-20T10:21:00.000-08:00

I'm in a pissy mood.

Ingrid and I went to rush for Aida today, but her mom and my mom discouraged us from taking the 7:45 train, and told us to take the 8:15 express bus instead. We got there 20 minutes later than I had suggested and didn't make the cut off for the line. Sherie is leaving in a few days and I really wanted to see her again and Ingrid wanted to see her for the first time and I wanted my mom to see her too, and now we might not get to go again at all.

I'm not happy.

2001-02-17T16:42:00.000-08:00

N'Sync....::shudder:: I feel your pain... I, on the other hand, have been watching TWW tapes all day with my mom. I got some episodes in the mail today that I didn't previously have on tape. I finally got to see the only episode I haven't, the one where Charlie is hired. I was very excited ^_^

I was going to write something specific in here, but I can't remember what. So...yeah. Instead, why don't you go watch my favorite Huck/Mark be his adorable self at rehersals. (once again he stresses the education thing. ::Grins:: He sounds like my english teacher.)

2001-02-17T13:36:00.000-08:00

trying not to play "space cowboy" by 'n sync... failing miserably. frrgh, it's so cheesy and nonsensical, too. ::hangs head in shame::

2001-02-17T13:12:00.000-08:00

i can't relate exactly, seeing as i'm an only child. but yeah, i have this one friend and it's great when she gets good grades and i'm happy for her - but i always want mine to be as good or higher. ('cause grades are the one thing i can actually beat her at... at least until this year. ::grumble::)

somehow i don't think that's quite what you're talking about. :p

katie

currently: grading papers... meph
reading: fanfic that i promised to review, oy!
word of the day: bonhomie - n. good nature; pleasant, affable manner; amiability (bonhomous, adj.)

2001-02-16T17:58:00.000-08:00

It's funny, having younger siblings. There's this constant ferocity you put around them, even if you fight a lot. This little buzz in the back of your head that wants them to do better and better. One minute, you're making fun of them for only getting a 90 on a test, the next you're bragging to your friends that your brother did much better than their's. Even though they end up thinking that all you want them to do is fail, it's not really true. You want them to do very, VERY well.

That is, as long as they don't do as good as you did.

Sure, you want them to outshine the other little brothers and sisters. You want them to be the best they can be so that you have some pride and bragging rights. "My brother? Yeah, he'd in GRO. Gets high marks in it too." But, as soon as they start to toe that line, that "Wow, you got a B+ in honors science? You might show up your sister soon!" point, you start to get insanely jealous. Suddenly, you do NOT want them to do better anymore. You secretly hope they don't get that A to prove themselves so much better than you. You don't want them to fail, but you need to keep your place in the spotlight. You can't suddenly be usurped by the younger child...it wouldn't be right.

Luckily, I haven't had to stand up to that yet. My brother and I have chosen different tracks so far. I'm in the Humanities. I take/have taken Honors Engish and History and Academy Sicence and Math. My brother is sticking to the Honors Science and Math track thus far, so there hasn't been any real competition until today, when he got his SAT scores in the mail. I get home before him, and I was so tempted to rip open that envelope or hide it until I could be sure I did better. But, I didn't touch it. He came in and I casually mentioned it. Ripped open the envelope. Read his score out loud.

970.

I was safe.

I immediately felt silly. What did it matter what we got on our 7th grade SATs? They don't really count. I told him he did well and consoled him by telling him that my supersmart friend Jyothi got the same score. And then we moved onto other things and it was dropped.

It was silly, now that I think about it. But I can't help but feel relieved, you know?

Anyway, I just thought I'd share. I read two books of Dangerous Angels today, and I'm loving it. I love Weetzie and Dirk and Duck. I realized that I read Baby Be-Bop about a year ago, so I was happy I got to see some more of Grandma Fifi before she died. And now I understand that ending part of BBB (ooo...Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered....erm...sorry. I'll always be a Buffy-fan at heart...). I got a good idea for a story about Roger's childhood. Maybe I'll work it into a story I'm trying to hammer out. I have the next week off from school, so maybe I'll get some time to work on some of this stuff. We don't have much homework over break.

I've almost got my camera installed!! Sudol 2; Computer 0.

Currently Reading: Dangerous Angels By Franchesca Lia Block. Read it if you already haven't, it's amazing.
Listening to: The TV, which I plan on turning off in favor of some MB20...
Interesting Thought: My english teacher says when I'm a little older we "totally have to hang out." Hmm...I think that's nifty ^_^ (yes, I'm a geek)

2001-02-14T20:29:00.000-08:00

mmph mmph mph. oh valentine's day - how do we hate thee - let me count the ways!

::runs out of fingers and toes::

(well, i really don't have anything against valentine's day, really. it's just - shouldn't you love and appreciate those 'special' people all the time, not just on some commercially-generated holiday? and on reflection why give candy? what, you love your friends so much you're going to try to raise their cholesterol level through the roof?)

um... yeah. and this is going to sound SO cruel, but i dislike spending money on things that no one's going to remember in a few days... like cards and stuff... ::whistles::

mm... ant! ::more waves of envy to kait:: i've got to go listen to 'goodbye' now :)

katie
currently: checking mail! ^_^;; there's a lot. silly HP lists...
reading: Driving Mr. Albert which is a really strange (true!) book about this guy driving across america with dr. harvey, who has einstein's brain. ^_^;; it's not that great, but the author has some amazing prose. and i've learned about five new words from this book, so it's not all bad...
should be: doing science homework, but i figure i've earned some "sulk time". so yeah.

2001-02-11T20:43:00.000-08:00

Hey, boys and girls! Vote for #23. Come on, you know you want to.

2001-02-11T18:15:00.000-08:00

::sends envy waves to Kait:: I'd give up a spleen to see Ant...

2001-02-10T15:58:00.000-08:00

Wow...that whole teacher thing must've really put you between a rock and a hard place, Ellie. My art teacher had a heart attack last year, but it was different because everyone loved him. Even the trouble makers who usually just make fun of teachers loved him, even tho he got them in trouble a lot. He's okay now. He's teaching again, but for about three weeks he was having surgery done and stuff. It was weird cuz my Grandfather had major heart surgery around the same time, and he also works at the high school. Mr. V and grampa were friends or something, I think.

Anyway, on a lighter note, I saw Anthony perform on Thursday night and my GOD that man is so freaking amazing it's not funny! He was telling us witty anecdotes and goofing off and all sorts of stuff. He could go from jumping around stage and dancing with his guitarist and bassist to quiet and comptenplative and almost blushing as he admits the next song he's going into is a love song. (We [we being the audience as a whole] talked to him about singing his own stuff. He said it was harder because everything you sing is really what *you* are saying. Goofy songs are one thing, but singing love ballads got very personal...etc.etc.) He was SO great and so nice, even if I was a dork. He told us about this time Tori Amos came to see RENT, and he loved her and didn't know she was coming and acted just as dorky as we were acting that night ^_^

Anyway, Bri has to come back from whereever she is to send me her address.

Also, was I the last person in the world to realize that Josh wrote "Room to Breathe"?

-Kait-
Listening To: Ant's CD, which mommy was nice enough to buy for me. It's all signed now too ^_^
Yelling: "I STILL HAVE 15 MINUTES LEFT SO BACK OFF YOU DORK!!!!"
Thought I'm considering sending to Madison (whom I'm speaking to again): "Some day we'll look back at this, laugh nervously, and change the subject."
Interesting Fact: Steven Page got his ass kicked on Jeoprody last night....

2001-02-10T14:33:00.000-08:00

My biology teacher had a stroke Wednesday night. I have no idea what to think. She was the world's worst teacher, but she was also a really nice and funny person. Although she's in a critical condition, she's stabilized. However, at the moment the right side of her body is paralyzed, and the doctors don't know if it's permanent. And our substitute is really cool and she actually TEACHES us stuff instead of making us look up things on books FOR THE ENTIRE 80 MINUTE PERIOD. Frowls and more frowls.

~Ellie~ who likes tildes
Movie: Shadow of the Vampire. Sucks. Don't see it.
Book: I finally finished Firebrand. Rocks. Read it. Now I'm starting The Amber Spyglass. Mrs. Coulter's monkey is cool, even though it's evil. I wish I had a monkey.
CD: A boot copy of RENT. With Curtis Cregan as Mark! Joy of joys!
Vacuum: The mirror for my website. I don't trust stas.net any further than I could throw Hagrid. And of course, the Draco Sinister manga. The Valentines Project is over, thank god.

2001-02-10T08:07:00.000-08:00

>_< i like digimon, damnit. ::bangs head:: and i know i'd like it better subbed, but nooo... my parents are very paranoid about ordering stuff off of the internet, and subbed videos are usually upwards of 25 dollars.

(daisuke so has a crush on ken.. or vice versa...) and ken is so bishie-ish. and takeru looks like a freaking noodle.

::trundles off to find yaoi fic::

uselessly,
katie

2001-02-06T21:25:00.000-08:00

rule. should be a rule: after feburary, every time it snows, you either have a SNOW DAY, or it just doesn't SNOW. *frowling* yeah, it was all sleety today.... i need to move to nj where you live, kait, those snow days are mucho appealing...

people are strange when they change... dear god that rhymed. ::snorts:: i had a friend in sixth grade and ... i have no idea what we talked about. but now we're mortal enemies, and i think he thinks i stalk him or whatnot. it's annoying. you want people to stay in personality-stasis, but they change anyway. because you (generic 'you', that is) mature. and everything shifts in perspective. ::sighs:: i bet that made sense.

on writing... i believe you're either born with talent [for writing] - or you're not. oh sure, you can develop skill, but skill is not the same as talent. (take audrey, for instance, who has perfect pitch and is a genius at the piano. it comes naturally for her. i want to hate her for it. ::sweatdrops::) i know i have a small amount of skill because i've worked for four years at it, but i will never be able to handle words easily. it's just the way things work. i'm not bitter.... not at allll... :D
not to say writing is for a privileged few... just, it's like, most people write stupidly from the start and want praise for it, like you said. and need to practice at these things, need to corral the words up and line them up. whereas other people can just randomly pick things out of the WordToybox and come up with good stuff. like bri-poetry. damnit.

there was a point to this post. ::rummages:: prologue to a gundam wing fic, a birthday present. but now it's like, sitting there, because i loathe it. i have this very vague feeling it's too melodramatic. and this little itchy voice that's saying bad things all around, but that's always there. >_< it was eventually supposed to be 1+2 and... ugh, just go, tell me some critique-y stuff if you all have the time.

peace out,
katie

Currently: taking down all pieces from fanfiction.net

and: feeling petty because i have an alternate account there, and the only reason i have an alias is because a friend did and won't tell me or show me any of her stuff, so i did it as retaliation... i'm so shallow and trite.

woah: heinz makes croutons?! wtf? ::stares at packet beside the printer:: that's not right. ^^

2001-02-06T11:52:00.000-08:00

Another snowday today! HAHA! That "post to the blog begging for a snowday because Sparkle has smiled upon it" plot WORKED! BWAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAHAHAHAHAAA!!

Anyway, yeah. I mean, about RML. It's usually such a nice place, but that one newbie really got on my nerves. I mean...argh. I hope she stops....I don't even wanna think about it right now. All I know is that I had 112 messages in my inbox in less than 12 hours.

It didn't help that I was further surrounded by stupidity last night. I had always assumed that, altho there are lots of Teenybopper RENTheads, that I had stayed away from them. I think that's changing. Last night I was in a chat with these girls and one of them just seemed....I don't know. So...not with it. Like, sex-obessed. She never used to be like that. (It's the same sort of change I saw in Madison over the six or so months that I knew her). We would be talking about something, and she would somehow steer the conversation towards something vaugely sex-related. She seemed very....ditzy. I dunno. I don't remember her being like that before, but I didn't really talk to her very much before. It was really getting on my nerves. (It also gets on my nerves that people that I know assume that just anyone can be a brilliant writer and start these STUPID stories that make no sense and read like something that was ripped right from Seventeen magazine and expect me to lavish them with praise. They actually think these things are amazing....::sweatdrop::)

Anyway...moving on. I'm working on that story, Katie. really. Sorta. IN a way where I'm...not really working on it that much. But I'm thinking about it a lot. I've decided that Mark's uncle is named David and his Aunt is named Lucy (It was originally going to be Sandy, but I know someone named Sandy, and Lucy and David's dog is named Noah, and this woman's husband is named Noah, which I didn't realize until just recently. I figured it would be best to change the aunt's name -.-;;;). Every summer, up until the year he died, Mark spent a week at his house. He would spend another weekend at his house with a friend as well, and for the past few years it had been Roger. When Mark was 15 years old, Noah (the dog) was hit by a car and died. He and David buried him in the backyard by a tree they used to lay under and both of them cried.

Mark's mother was 20 years old when he was born and David was 21, and possibly more excited by the birth than Mark's father. He treated Mark like his own son because he saw a lot of himself in the boy. He loved photography. He was possibly the only one in Mark's family who was truely proud of his accomplishments. At the age of four, David held Mark behind a camera for the first time. He gave him his current camera at his bar mitzvah. Mark's father hated David and was angry that he had such a good relationship with Mark. Mark told david everything, including the fact that he thought he was falling in love with his best friend. He was too embarassed to tell him that friend was Roger, but David knew and encouraged him to talk to Rog about it.

Whatelse? I spent 2 hours last night thinking about this...

Erg, my mind is failing me. I'm re-reading Sorcerer's (::coughPhilosopher's!!cough::) Stone for my bookclub meeting tomorrow. I really do worship JK. I should start making my chocolate frogs, I guess.

~the fairytale dictator (as Nikki has dubbed me ^_^)~
Should be: Vaccuming.
Instead...: Reading old reviews on FF.net to try and boost my confidence
Because...: The aforementioned teenybopper gave me a hard blow last night by admitting that she really couldn't tell if the new girl is more talented than I because she doesn't really read my stuff, even tho she says she does.
Listening To: Cracking, by Suzanne Vega
The most beautiful words in the English language: "All Parsippany Troy-Hills Township Schools will be closed today."

2001-02-05T21:33:00.000-08:00

Oooh, a snowday. You lucky, lucky, smurf... there was like, a quarter inch today, but noooo... stupid efficient snowplows :)

This was a Murphy's Law kinda day, guys. And I know I have to stop bitchin' so much - you gotta start hitting me when I do, okay? Yeah. Anyway.

Sooo, I stayed up until 2 AM trying to finish the element project... and I go to school and this senior guy died over the weekend. Splat. There goes my day. Then I find out that due to group miscommunication, I've done the wrong part of the periodic table. Hot damnit. So now I'm trying to pull up pictures of Xenon. (And Zenon was this horrible Disney movie, I think. And then they came out with a "zequal" and just... no.)

And THEN, and THEN I come to my happy inbox to find a FLAME WAR. On RML. I don't know about you guys, but RML is my support group. It's my freaking retreat, where I go to laugh at Renata ^_~ and read nifty little stories about Catholic schools and hot guys and anime and books. It's just not a place where I go to see people pissed off and at each other's throats... I'd quit, but that would defeat the purpose, I think. ::sighs::

Kait, that was an awesome excerpt. Write or I shall smite thee, and post so I can read... hotdamnit, the better you people get the more my stuff gets singed... Argh. I need to stop being so profane. Or not. It's Murphy's Law Day. Counts for something.

peace out,
Katie

Currently Reading: tomorrow it's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Link o' the Moment: masoumi's site has some long, complicated name... but god, her Harry Potter fanfics rule. I love her style - if you don't read at least some of her stuff, you're really missing out. I mean - wow.
Peeve of the Now: BAD newbies. I like newbies, just not evil ones that fck up sanctuary-lists.
Current Fic Project: Abstraction of Eden, the evil lupin-fic (formerly "souls wearing raincoats" and yes, shoot me...).

2001-02-05T20:01:00.000-08:00

Pleeeease let there be a snowday tomorrow!! PLEASE!!!!!

(hey, it worked yesterday! Sparkle must be in tune with this blog...)

2001-02-05T10:47:00.000-08:00

Yay!!! We have a real live snow day!!!

I have issues.

Anyway, it's all snowy-like outside, and, best of all, I don't have to go to school!! YES!!!

I'm listening to Maroon now...I love this album... (One would think I would be listening to my other favorite band in preparation for their March 16th concert date or my 2nd favorite blockhead in preparation for his February 9th concert date, but I can never turn down my boys ^_^) I mean, I even like "Pinch Me" which I have been hearing non-stop since this summer. (I remember the first time I heard it! Nicole was over, and we were going to the Willowbrook Mall with Ingrid and I heard those tell-tale vocals over the radio. "Hey...that sounds like...Ed...OMG!! THE NEW BNL SINGLE!!") The only qualm I have with the album is that Ed doesn't get to sing as much as he normally does. But it's so beautifully offbeat, just like all their others!

You know what I'm talking about, even if you don't realize it. That quiet, sweet melody that makes you think "love song". And then, you listen closer and... "What the fuck?! This is about a guy breaking up with his girlfriend and being HAPPY about it!" Teehee, or, my mother's favorite screw up, "You Will be Waiting". Now that is a classic case of the wool-over-the-eyes effect these boys have.

Boy, I'm really bored. And I just realized that the paragraph breaks in last night's post didn't go through. Drat.

Currently Reading: The Stand By Stephen King.
Currently Watching: The Stand By Stephen King ^_^ (He wrote the teleplay for it ^_^ And... Nick-ness!!!)
Currently Listening to: "Sell Sell Sell" by the BNL
Shave my Poodle!!

2001-02-04T19:14:00.000-08:00

Well, you're right about one thing: the weekends certianly are shorter than they used to be.

As for story ideas....well, I have serveral.

1) The FairyTale:
This is an interesting one. Nikki used to ask me to tell ehr stories when we were talking to each other. One time, I started to tell her this fairytale story of how Mark made it to the city and met and fel in love with Roger. I've started to post it to the RxM list. It's really....kinda sweet. And I like it. It's RENT written for young children, almost.
Once upon a time, there was a beatiful little prince. He lived just outside of the kingdom he would someday inherit, in a huge, sprawling castle. It was beautiful as well, but sadbeautiful. It was not a happy place, not at all, because, living with the beautiful prince in this castle was his father, the evil tyrant of a king that ruled over the people harshly. He was most harsh to those directly under him, being the passive queen, the shining princess, and, of course, our beautiful little prince.

The entire thing is written in that style. It's very...spiffy.

2) The FuneralVistyFic
Mark tells the story of his Uncle David who introduced him to photography and freethinking. It's pre-Mark/Roger-ness, so he's hopelessly in love with Roger, but is sure that nothing is going to happen. When Roger offers to drop everything and accompany him, the poor boy's heart just breaks...man, I'm freaking cruel...Anyway, he just does a lot of comptenplating. I'm thinking of having him see a shrink or us learning that David was sending him to a shrink. I have this beautiful scene stuck in my head of Roger and Collins and Mark evasdropping:
"He was drunk, Collins!" It's somewhere between a hiss and a sob. I want to sob. I wasn't drunk! I was crying and I couldn't stand and...and...I didn't have anything to drink! How could he think that? How--
"Roger...he was not drunk. He was having a panic attack." The voice of reason. Thank God... I hear Roger stand. I hear him pace. I hear a glass shatter against the far wall. The shadows cast from under my door dance as he turns and walks back to the couch I'm sure that he and Collins were sitting at. I hear his fist his the wall, and I shrink back against my dresser, feeling my anchor vibrate. I'm so close to him. He's inches away from me, I can hear his breath, panting...anrgysad, mourning the loss of his spotless image of me.
"That...that shrink...that doctor...that headdoctor..." his voice rasps at Collins. "She's supposed to help him! She's supposed to stop that! Why...why would he...?" He trails off.
"Roger...do you realize who was paying for Mark to see Dr. Santania?" There's a slight pause and I feel my eyes start to prickle. My breath quickens. It's happening again. "It was David. And he's gone now. And she might be gone as well." More smashing and crashing and hitting. A strangled scream. "Roger!" Collins yelled. Collins never yells. I stop breathing altogether. "That's NOT going to solve anything!"
"I...I know that...I just....I just..." Softer and softer...he's right next to me again, right on the otherside of this paperthin wall. I want to reach through and hold him. I want him to hold me and save me from this. "I want him to be better, Collins..." I touch the wall lightly, before turning and sinking to the ground. I clutch my knees to my chest and cry.
I'm sure on the other side of this fragile barrier, he's doing the same.

Whoa. Okay. I got a little carried away there. ::sweatdrop::

Anyway, that's what I've been kicking around recently. I'm also working on two other stories. They're on the back burner for now.

"i am a little raincloud"? Sounds like that Winne-the-Pooh song! "I'm just a little black raincloud / over the honeytree..." erm...I forgot the rest. But it's cute! Pooh is floating on a blue balloon over the honeytree so that he can steal the honey, and he's covered in mud so the bees won't get him and will think he's a raincloud ^_^

I'm going to bed now...

-Kait-

Currently Reading: On Writing By Stephen King. Again. it's a damn good book. You both should pick up a copy.
Currently Listening To: NOT Stunt, and I realize Stunt is good, but it's FAR from BNL best. They make fun of it in "Helicopters" on "Maroon".
Thought of the Now: Pleeeease let there be a snowday tomorrow!! PLEASE!

2001-02-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

ack. the weekends have gotten considerably shorter since eighth grade - i've got two pages of research in lit/comp due as well as an asinine project on families 13, 14, and 15 in the periodic table. (really, now, who needs to know this much about germanium?) lit/comp [is english or lit for the non-ohs-ers] is so... blech. i'm reading, what else, ender's game, and now must write a paper on how demosthenes and locke correspond to their historical counterparts. oooh, how fun! ^_~ honestly it's not that bad, but i am a little raincloud...

that sounds like an awful song. little rainclouds. or some spanish curse...

ahh! the jimster just e-mailed me. sorry, kait, not The Jim *g* but this freakish nerdboi who i just recently met again. he was in my elementary school but gosh, he's gotten smart. i think i have to clarify what i meant by "communism" again. woo.

the amber spyglass is good, and will and lyra are cute, but i ... dunno, i started to feel woozy the millionth time phillip pullman randomly inserted the word "kiss". it was freakish the number of times this happened.

cuteftp is so confusing. ftp is confusing. ::flails:: woah, katie, down... i think i'm going to upload to virtue.nu after all, even though i don't want two sites on one server. oh well. that's what backup disks are for. i need to force danna to make me some burned cds - do yourselves all a favor and download tsuki no ie (moon's house). very spiffy.

peace out
katie

currently reading: the periodic table of elements... MUST get thus spoke zarathustra by nietzsche though. listen to this: "one must have chaos within oneself to give birth to a dancing star." or something like that. anyway.
currently bitchin' about: aoe, acronym for evil sucky lupinfic i'm working on. quick, everyone, describe to me what stories/fic y'all are writing...maybe that'll help...

2001-02-04T09:40:00.000-08:00

mrph mrph mrph. a genius theaterboi from our school got in the paper, and i'm staring very hard at his activities list consisting of about forty things - - and half of them meet on the same days. be afraid. be very afraid. (maybe he has multiple genius!clones?)

okay, stas.net is a hell demon and that's all there is to that. i finally realized that my @home account entitles me to 10MB free webspace, and a pretty nice address, so i'm revamping *again* and just slogging the whole thing over to the new server. stas.net can eat its skankiness for breakfast!

oh, hey, i *like* stunt! light up my room is one of the best slow songs i've ever heard. and i can play it on the piano, too :) just keep repeating to yourself "the BNL can do no wrong" and go tripping on one week as much as you want.

we need to get an iced latte for katie's ankle. *hops over to the coffeemachines and pours one* thereee we go. and katers - - i personally adore The Amber Spyglass, but i do like the idea of will & lyra together. they *are* adam & eve, they definitely *should* be in love. and hey . . . you'll like the ending. :)

i'd better go, i have a site transfer and a newbie to break in. :)

catch ya on the flipside
bri
CURRENTLY READING: bridget jones's diary by helen fielding and the perks of being a wallflower by stephen chbosky, both for the millionth time or so . . . bridget is freaking hilarious (and probably *will* be me in twenty years), and chbosky is an unsung genius. 'nuff said.
LINK: subset, which is katie's fanfic archive that i'm supposed to be helping with . . . heh, but it's spiffykeen and great and tons of great HP & animorph fic. even though i only read HP.

2001-02-02T18:35:00.000-08:00

aiiiieee, i just ow damnit moved my ankle again, and i wouldn't be complaining so much except, you know, i'm stupid enough to exacerbate the problem by trying to walk and it looks like something's going to burst out of the huge swollen lump that was once part of my foot ::scowls::

stas.net has ... uh, made your page go away, bri, but i really hope it's just me. on the other hand the graphic i needed from my old site is gone so i'm pitching a fit. only with my arms and not hopping around for obvious reasons ::more scowling:: (i suggest virtue.nu btw - only 6 mb but almost never down/no pop ups. *frowl* must steal money for domain!)

i have a dirty confession to make... japanese pokemon songs are kickin' spiffy. they're so jumpy and jazzy and, um, nothing like the american dub crap. yech. more anime stuff... Outlaw Star is awesome. i mean it, even if it's dubbed and possibly cut, and even if jim's voice is kind of annoying and he's too young to slash with gene/jean and it's making me frowl and i don't like melfina... anyway. it's cool, go watch it on cartoon network.

this has possibly stopped making sense, and i need to start capitalizing words. ^_^

Katie

currently reading: The Amber Spyglass, and even though it is goldenly goodness i'm not quite as impressed with it as i was with TGCompass. the romance crap is really starting to make me sick. any thoughts/counters to this, guys?

link o' the moment: niaiserie - scary layout but beautiful, beautiful ccs/rk/gw/anime fics. just go.

2001-02-02T17:59:00.000-08:00

::sob:: None of my posts from the past two days have shown up!! Blogger hates me!! ::sobs harder::

::pause:: Temple of Doom is on tonight. Everyone should watch it.

::pause:: I have this urge to listen to Stunt. It's making me feel slightly dirty. I mean, I own every BNL album there is, why do I want to listen to Stunt?!

This has stopped making sense. I'm going to stalk Jim.

2001-01-30T18:04:00.000-08:00

Oooh! Ellie!! If you loved The Shawshank Redemption you'll love the story it was based on even more! It's by the StephenGod (Stephen King for those of you who aren't Carterists) in his book Different Seasons. The story is actually titled "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption".

-Kite-

2001-01-30T17:16:00.000-08:00

Stas.net has a personal vendetta against Nikki. At least, that's what SHE says. She also called me strange names and yelled at me for giving the end of our RENT fairytale away to Ingrid. I had fun telling her the story tho, so...I just ignored Niks.

Erm...yeah. Anyway, my school's variety show was on Friday/Saturday. Normally I don't go to these types of things, but Ms. Massa, my english teacher, was in a teacher band with a bunch of other cool teachers, so Ingrid and I went. It was lots of fun, and I got lots of pictures, which I'll have to share once I figure out how to install all this camera software. It was really funny and they were actually one of the best acts. Our Drama instructor sang, and she has this amazing voice. ::laughs:: Oh, and this one history teacher sang "Smokin' in the Boys Room", which was halarious because some kid set a fire in the upstairs boys bathroom earlier that day! (I think Ingrid and I were some of the only ones who got the joke...)

Hm...whatelse? Ingrid and I taught CCD with my mom yesterday. I remembered once again why I HATE small children. (Can anyone answer this question for me? If I hate children so much, why have I devoted the past six years of my life to the children's section of the library?) Between me telling Ingrid my fairytale, I drew a picture of "God". He/she is spiffy!! I'll scan the picture in. We've decided that he's the parent God of all the other Carteristic gods. Parts of him/her are in each of the Carteristic gods. His/Her name is Sparkle.

Well, I should probably move onto other things, like checking various comics and...working on typing up my story, I guess.

-Kait-
Currently Reading: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by the JK God, for the Bookclub meeting that was supposed to be tomorrow but got moved to next week.
Currently Listening to: Maroon by the Barenaked Ladies, more specifically, "Baby Seat"
Link I feel like sharing: The Anime WebTurnpike which I"m using to look up Heroic Legend of Arislan websites ^_^

2001-01-29T21:21:00.000-08:00

(Ellie at the keyboard)

Oh, Stas.net! How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways...
Thou art always down and never working,
And thou has nottest been working for half a fortnight.
Thou makest me walk through the valley of "This Page Cannot Be Displayed" alerts
And thou hidest my files from me so that I cannot change mine site location.
And thou createst undue stress upon my person, and drivest me to the point of mental illness.

Stas.net, stas.net; Wherefore did I choose you over other less evil web providers?
Thy false claims though spake of regarding thy policy for no banner ads were devious and evil.
Thy file manager was annoying and not as convenient as the Geocities Advanced File Manager.
Thou claimed unlimited webspace, but thou spake false.
Thou inspirest me to speak in a silly manner, forsooth this is unforgiveable.

~~ Ellie, who actually doesn't like Shakespeare ~~
Reading: Firebrand, by Marian Zimmer Bradley (excellent)
Listening: OBCR of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Most Recent Movies: Shanghai Noon (3/4 cookies), Gladiator (2.5/4 cookies, 1/2 point extra because the "Life is Beautiful" kid was in it), The Shawshank Redemption (1000000/4 cookies, I'm now obsessed with this movie).
Free Time Vacuum: The Harry Potter Valentines Project and my manga of Chapter 2 of Draco Sinister, by Cassandra Claire

2001-01-28T18:05:00.000-08:00

heyla, bri here.

i'm having one of those days where my eyes are obstinately refusing to focus on anything; where i spent the day improving and jamming on the piano with a friend to then realize later that day that i left the only textbooks i really needed at school and that my friend had them but i didn't ask. murphy's law should be tattooed on my forehead, i swear . . .

oooh, recommended read is "bridget jones's diary" by helen fielding for anyone who hasn't read it yet. hilarious. takes a bit to get used to the style, and even then small bits of the british slang are leaving me confuddled, but for the most part it's a joyride. :)

any of you veritas girls have any recommendations for webspace? stas.net is being so ridiculously skanky, and my page is drifting off in never - never land. mrph.

sorry for the crankiness! (maybe i should've put in my contacts today . . . )

catch you on the flipside
bri (a.k.a. miss twenty-fourhundred vision)

2001-01-25T18:07:00.000-08:00

hey - katie here. yep, i'm the michiganian of the veritas set, which entitles me to frequent gripings about the frequently mutating weather conditions. [and i should really, really capitalize things, shouldn't i? oh, well. left the shift key at the welcome mat.] eh, looking forward to the twinkie-sharing and misusing of red *g* - btw, guys, have we decided on a domain name yet? ::pokes::

anyway, just wanted to report in to the cafe and get the cappuccino machines running :)

phase out,
katie

2001-01-25T17:58:00.000-08:00

Dammit. I tried this the other day and it didn't work because Blogger hates me. Anywho, hi. Kait here. I'm very tired and more than a little angry at Toby Zeigler, the Communications Director of the White House who doesn't really exsist. He was mean to Sam, DAMMIT!! NO ONE IS MEAN TO SAM!!

::takes a deep breath:: Ooo...it felt good to get that out. Anyway, I probably should be doing my English homework, but I very rarely do that when I'm supposed to. Besides, this is more fun. Hehehehe, I'm preparing myself for the Variety Show at my school tomorrow. My english teacher is doing this act with a bunch of other teachers. I plan on bringing my camera and getting lots of blackmail--erm...documentation?--of the event ::evil grin::

Ooo, Will and Grace is coming on soon. I should probably go watch it....so....I'll just end this...yeah.

-Kait-
Currently Reading: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Currently Listening to: Marlene on the Wall by Suzanne Vega
Link I feel like sharing: The West Wing Fanfic Archive

2001-01-24T18:38:00.000-08:00

Howdy, y'all. I'm Ellie Rosenthal, one of our resident Texans. I'll have you know that very few of us actually use "howdy", though I frequently use "y'all". I'm also the resident Harry Potter nut (my stupid website), so you'll often be treated to my rants about the series -- until the others in this blog kick me out, that is. Let's see... what else can I say about myself? I'm fairly rabid about Star Wars and other sci-fi related stuff, I'm the founder of a dying A Capella group, I love computer art (my Elfwood page), and I'm known to randomly start speaking in haiku.

May the schwartz be with you,
Ellie

2001-01-23T19:36:00.000-08:00

heyla, bri here.

welcome to the veritas cafe, serving you up your daily doses of titanium baseball bats(tm), writer's block, twinkies, liberal views on life, rent (ala viva la vie boheme), and bohemian sensitivities. and maybe give you some spiffy sites to look at on the side. :)

and the veritas gals? there's me, katie, susan, kait, and The Unknown Soldier, aka whoever is brave enough to venture into our little shop of horrors--er, yeah. . .

i should really put a link here, shouldn't i. well, lifeaskew was the website that got me craving a blog, and ari is just so damn cool. :)

i'd better skadaddle and let the other girls know i finally got this thing up. :)

catch you on the flipside
bri