/pokes the blog

It looks like recently we've been getting more active again, which is lovely. c:

Anyway, today was a nice day; we had a day off of school and Momo and Virgil came over to do the source of all great unhappiness in the world, i.e. the 40 Questions of APUSH Class. We got through ten, ate dumplings and pineapple, and then went on a walk with Lynda and her siblings to the elementary-school playground. The seesaw there is pretty good, though not a legit seesaw (it has springs :|a) and thus not perfect.

Later, Virgil and I wrote some more of our pottergatsbyfic, which now has a witty and metaphorically resonant title: Borne Back Ceaselessly Into the Past. I also made us an ff.net account tentatively titled shupicorns. We've finished the first two chapters and might post it soon. Harry & Co. travel back in time to fight deatheater!Tom Buchanan and destroy Voldemort's eighth Horcrux, which is actually Gatsby's fabled green light. The metaphors all fit so perfectly; what's not to love?

(Oh and speaking of writing, Lynda and I started a writing journal as well, though as of yet there's not very much on it. I might post pottergatsbyfic up there too; who knows.)

I like Alex Day's music. Not so sure about "Lady Godiva," though. :|

Well, that's about it for today. I will go back to procrastinating on the Internet.

happy national dress-up-like-Bio-Teacher day!

I think that Momo has already mentioned in a previous post what Bio Teacher (as opposed to Other Bio Teacher, who is the biology teacher of House and Lynda and therefore far less cool) dresses like; for those who missed the memo and and don't feel like clicking the link, he basically wears a lumberjack shirt and carries around a gold (but probably not real gold) coffee mug every single day. Today, by popular agreement of our bio class, was dress-up-like-Bio-Teacher day, in which over half the class showed up wearing plaid. It was funny.

here is my interpretation.

Bio Teacher also bought us bagels, because we organized Bagel Fridays and nobody else wanted to bring them today, so he was forced into it. So it's like he's earning negative money for teaching us. ^.^ I had a raisin bagel and it was very delicious.


School was pretty dumb today and nothing very important was accomplished; after school, Lynda and I hung out with a fellow freshman nerd who, unlike his largely far-dimmer compatriots that populate my math class, has decided to take proper traumatizing ninth-grade geometry/algebra instead of being dumb and jumping up a grade. It was nice and we talked about how the high school library is terrible and also about grades, because no nerdy conversation can be complete without a conversation about grades.


(It almost made me feel popular. ^.^)


And then I went home and ate a lot and now I don't feel so well and I really don't want to do some dumb French homework assignment. And the IB programme is stupid. They need to work out their nouns and adjectives, because that's just stupid. (Speaking of the IB programme, there used to be a poster for it hanging on the wall of the school, but then the wind blew it off the wall and it broke a window, so now it is no longer there; that amused me to no end.)


In NaNo related news, my wordcount is at 7,115 (I haven't written anything yet today) and I guess putting up excerpts is, like, a thing, so here you go:


They ended up, oddly enough, with a minimum of fuss and explodey noise on some sort of damp greyish rock with enough terminal force to bruise a rhinoceros; gods not being rhinos, they got away with one slightly bashed shoulder (Rediculus), a copiously bleeding nose (Sors), various smaller injuries, and lots of pained not-wailing-because-gods-are-better-than-that. Rediculus ended up having most of the minor bashery and landing in a puddle as well, as Sors was the god of luck and it was probably about time that particular facet of his personality kicked in. It was only fair.

So, yeah, NaNo this year is about Roman gods. On vacation, only not really. Sort of. I don't even know. But anyway, I need to ask you Latin people quite a few questions once December kicks in and I actually start to care about realism.

xiy 

it's-a-tuesday-and-i-almost-forgot-to-post-again-BUT-I-DIDN'T-FORGET

Hello, folks!

School is going quite swimmingly so far. Hooray! The best parts of my day today were mostly sightings. 

1. The Ms. PoPo sighting, which occurred before lunch. (In her natural habitat - the classroom!)

2. The House/EZ sighting, which occurred before ninth period.  (awwww)

3. I sighted a Carrie after school today!! She was kind of far away and I'm not sure if she sighted me too, but the moment definitely brightened my day. Hooray!! 

Since I have no time, today's entertainment will be a dive into the past. I'm going to go through the oldest documents in my "Virgil" folder and show them to you here. (It's actually titled as my real name, since I've been using it since I was like eight. I wasn't called Virgil back then...)

Okay. Ready? *clicks "sort by date modified," scrolls all the way down*


Oldest Document: Titled "Feelings" - Date last modified: June 8, 2005 (I was eight years old.)
This document is comprised of not words, but pictures, more specifically the crappy shapes which can be found on Word 2003, filled with all those lovely "present fill effects." It's got a heart, two stars, a sun, and a moon. 


Number 2: Titled "Rainbow" - Date last modified: June 9, 2005
This one is similar to "Feelings," above. My feelings are a rainbow. This must mean something. 

Number 3: Titled "Beauty" - Date last modified: August 29, 2005 (I'm nine now!!!)
This one is basically the same as the other two. Again, mostly hearts, stars, and suns, filled with wonderful fill effects.

Number 4: Titled "[Virgil's] Favorites" - Date last modified: January 4, 2006
Quoth:

color-purple

place-Bahamas

food-strawberry

animal-dolphin

movie-Pirates of the Caribbean

holiday-Christmas

Those were the colors and everything. Don't I have such an artistic eye? 

Number 5: Title: "stone soup almost final copy" - Date last modified: February 6, 2006
This is going to be the last one, since it's quite long. IT'S BASICALLY NOVEL LENGTH.
I haven't looked at this in years.... I submitted this to the kids' writing magazine, Stone Soup, and it got rejected because I suck at writing. Hehe.
The actual title is "A Crystal in the Darkness" - I hope you enjoy!! 

Oh god I can't believe I'm putting this on the internet. 

Here it goes....
(Since it's absolutely NOVEL LENGTH, I put in a page break.)
(Just think about this for a moment. You're about to enter the mind of nine-year-old-Virgil. I haven't changed anything in the writing since 2006. O.o ) 
(Consider yourselves lucky)
(This'll be like a collectors' item someday)

One Day More!

One day more! Another day, another destiny. This never-ending road to Calvary; 

These men who seem to know my crime,Will surely come a second time.
One day more!
~Jean Valjean, "Les Miserables" (the musical)

This quote is quite fitting for today's post, because:

1. The Six Little Curly Fries have a grand total of 1 more day of school (excluding finals) and

2. I have a recent obsession with Les Miserables. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself - theme song time!!!

La la la la, la la la la, Virgil's world! La la la la, la la la la, Virgil's world! Virgil loves the summer, and Les Mis too! That's Virgil's woooooorrrrrrrllllldddd!!!! 

So yeah, ONE DAY MORE!! I'm not one of those people who really despises school, but it's time for it to end, and for summer vacation frivolity to begin! It's too hot to be in school now. We should have ended like a week ago, but I'll survive. 

The Memorial Day parade was yesterday, and the 4BandCF were all bustin' our butts out there in the sun. God, it was like ninety degrees. I died. >.< The clarinets were always on the wrong foot.... MOMO!!!

Lol jk. I didn't see if Momo was on the right (that would be LEFT!) foot.

I finished reading Les Miserables yesterday, and IT WAS LIFE-ALTERING. Like seriously, this is the best book I've ever read since Looking for Alaska (that excludes all the Harry Potter rereads, mind you). I saw the musical a couple months ago, and I thought it was amazing, but the book has so much more of an intricate plot that isn't even touched on in the show! Marius especially has a lot more depth & backstory than what is conveyed in the musical. Marius & Cosette 4 ever - officially my new favorite pairing of all time! 

Also, there was all that forgiveness/redemption/Jesus-y message, but I won't talk about it.

Silver candlesticks! Best symbolism ever? Yessssssssssss. <3 the bishop

Speaking of books, THE WARLOCK CAME OUT LAST WEEK!!! I still haven't read it, though - I'd like to finish rereading the series before I read the next installment, because I want to completely understand what is going on. Needless to say, I am SO PUMPED to read Scott's new book. Freaking DANU TALIS. The end of The Necromancer was such a killer. The two that are one, the one that is all. And there's only going to be one more book after this one, and then the series will be over! :( I'll need to find another fantasy series to cling to... *sigh* (little voice: maybe Virgil will stop reading YA fantasy novels? Virgil: NEVERR!!!)

Speaking of books, I recently reached like 16k on my current writing project. That might not sound like a lot to NaNoWriMo-ing people, but I value this 16k over both 50k novels of November '09 and '10 combined, because they are (in my humble opinion) good quality words. I kind of hope that I finish it before June 30th because that's the deadline for my Createspace coupon (from Nano '10 winner goodies) but I might not be done by then, so we'll see. 

That's about it. XD lots of happiness in Virgil's life right now! Yippee!! 

 Best wishes :)

Virgil

ALL THE THINGS

This is one of those weekends when it seems like I have do ALL THE THINGS. 

There was a flute festival thing today, which was fun. House, Carrie, and I were all there. House's parents very kindly gave me a ride home, and my sister came back from college for spring break! Yay! 

Tomorrow is going to be so hectic. I don't want to think about it....  

Here's a cover that I made for the book I'm working on:

I got the original photo from the internet, but all the effects are a la moi. (That's why it's not that good.) Speaking of writing, I just decided that I want to make the entire book in present tense, because writing in first person past tense is weird and I end up using the word "had" way to much, so having everything in present would be easier. Also, if your life is flashing before your eyes, then you might experience in the present tense, I think. Uh oh, now I've given away too much. 

Um, I'm reading the Hunger Games trilogy right now and it's SO AMAZING OMG. I just finished Catching Fire yesterday (after spending like a day reading it...) and the ending was just SO INTENSE so I don't care what people say about Mockingjay, I'm going to read it anyway because Suzanne Collins has turned me into a READING ZOMBIE. 


I'm about to go out to dinner, so that's all the time I have, folks. Come again soon!


Love,
Virgil

CONVENTION IS IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS ZOMG

I'm so excited! Latin Convention is quickly approaching, and I can't wait. It's so great that we have something to look forward to in February, which is, overall, a terrible month.

A list of reasons why I don't like February:

10. So much homework. Teachers feel obligated to make second semester harder than first semester, because that way it seems like we're making progress.

9. It' so cold. The temperature this time of year makes me want to curl up in my bed and refuse to get up until April.

8. The cold makes me fat because I eat chocolate when I'm cold.

7. Ice. It's not fun. It's cold (see #9 and #8) and it's slippery and therefore is the source of many bruises on Virgil's poor posterior. Ice = bad.

6. Snow. It's nice in December when it's all white and fluffy, but now that it's been sitting there for a couple months it's all brown and gross and gets all over everything. 

5. There's so much pink everywhere because of Valentine's Day. I don't mind Valentine's Day, but I HATE PINK.

4. The sun hardly ever comes out in February. The sun came out today, and it was probably the first time all month. That is sad. Which leads to #3:

3. The lack of sunshine and blue sky makes people depressed, like legit - clinical depression gets worse, which leads to #2:

2. More people commit suicide. Suicide = not good. It is very sad.

1. Did I already mention the COLD?

So yeah, now I'm done complaining.

Here are some things that I like about February:

4. Valentine's Day = <3

3. Sledding! (I haven't been sledding in ages, but it makes chilluns happy, and happy chilluns = good)

2. People who keep their Christmas lights up make me happy.

1. LATIN CONVENTION YAYY!!!!

So that's a 5:2 ratio of things that I don't like about February : things that I do like.

For most months, that ratio is more like 1:3, which is a much happier ratio.

Therefore, I have mathematically proved that February = bad. Even the Romans thought so! They named it after the word for fever, and fever is bad.

Now I'm going to talk about parody week, which shall be next week. 6LCF - you have all received the email which assigned you your Curly Fry whom you shall parody. Here is your assignment:

1. On your assigned person's day, you shall post. (The person who has Momo will post on Monday, etc.)

2. Post in that person's color.

3. Write it like a stereotypical post of said person - make fun of her, but DON'T BE MEAN. >:(

4. People can guess who wrote said post, but we will NOT be revealing who is who until the end of the week, or else it'll be no fun for the people at the end of the week.

Um, that's about it. Anyone else have rules they feel should be added? Leave them in the comments and I'll edit them in.

I think tomorrow (Sunday) we're doing a joint group-post for Valentine's Day, even though the holiday is actually Monday - unless the person who is Momo has an idea for a Valentine's Day post. If you are that person, please comment anonymously and let us know that you want to do the Valentine's Day post.

In other news - I'm starting a new novel called The Second Star to the Right, and xiy and/or House and/or anyone else who wants to (besides my immediate family, who are not allowed to read anything I write) are invited to be my Official Editors.

This is a long post. I hope it didn't take too much effort for you to read it. Kudos if you stuck with me 'til* the end!

Happy Valentine's Day in advance!

Virgil

*I hate it when people say "till" when they mean "until" because it sounds like they're saying, "Xanthias, till the soil, for the field is small but the work is large" so I always say 'til.

Today Is Sunday But We're Going to Pretend That It's Saturday

Hey, ya'll

I didn't post yesterday because I was with my family and it was Saturday and they don't do things on Saturdays and that would have been disrespectful. 

I had a nice Thanksgiving :) there was a lot of food. We did this jigsaw puzzle all in one night:

 Needless to say, it was pretty intense. There were a lot of yellow and white pieces. 

To make up for the fact that I forgot to tell you that I wouldn't be able to post on Saturday (note that I didn't forget to post; I merely forgot to tell ya'll that I would not be able to) I'll copy and paste a wee bit of my NaNoWriMo novel. It's at about 35k right now, and yes, today is November 28th. I'm in trouble. 


(This isn't the last bit that I wrote... the last bit that I wrote was some romantic word fluff. I'll spare you.)

“Can you hear it, too?” Gibraltar asked over the roaring wind.

            “Yes!” Ajax listened. He looked to the sky, and he saw a pair of eyes staring back at him. Then the words, “pair of eyes staring back at him appeared in the clouds” appeared in the clouds. Before long, the words faded away and were replaced by, “Before long, the words faded away and were replaced by another sentence,” –another sentence.

            Everything that happened was recorded in the sky: “Everything that happened was recorded in the sky.” It even knew about Ajax’s heart beating faster and faster, and the eyes which were blinking curiously beyond the words. “It even knew about Ajax’s heart beating faster and faster, and the eyes with were blinking curiously beyond the words.” He looked up at the words, “He looked up at the words,” and studied the pair of eyes carefully. They were not the color of the ocean, like Estra’s angelic eyes – but they were chocolate brown, the color of the mud no which he stood. All of this, “…and studied the pair of eyes carefully. They were not the color of the ocean, like Estra’s angelic eyes – but they were chocolate brown, the color of the mud no which he stood. All of this was recorded in the Times New Roman words up in the sky,” was recorded in the Times New Roman words up in the sky. Ajax closed his eyes, and the sky’s words repeated thus: “Ajax closed his eyes, and the sky’s words repeated thus: Ajax closed his eyes, and the sky’s worlds repeated thus: Ajax closed his eyes, and the sky’s words repeated thus: Ajax closed his eyes, and the sky’s worlds repeated thus: Ajax closed his eyes, and the sky’s words repeated thus: Ajax closed his eyes, and the sky’s worlds repeated thus: Ajax closed his eyes, and the sky’s words repeated thus: Ajax closed his eyes, and the sky’s words repeated thus:  Ajax closed his eyes, and the sky’s words repeated thus:  …. Ad infinitum, until it covered in whole entire sky.” ….Ad infinitum, until it covered the whole entire sky.

Ta-da!!! ^_^


kbye.

This post doesn't have a title, but my NaNo 2010 does!!!

Today marks the 9th anniversary of what went down on September 11, 2001. While that was really terrible and all, I wish people would stop using that as an excuse to be prejudiced against Muslims. There are extremists in every religion, folks. I'm not going to comment any further on the subject, but I just think that people in this country dang Amuricans need to learn respect.

With all due respect, which is due to EVERY HUMAN BEING,

Virgil

Okay. Actual post starts... NOW!

***

"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality.

Open your eyes, look up to the skies

and See..."

-Queen, "Bohemian Rhapsody"

The opening quote for Virgil's NaNoWriMo Novel 2010, titled "Transparent Pages"

Salvete, readers! It's Saturday, which means you get to enter the wonderful world of Virgil!!

La la la la, la la la la, Virgil's world! La la la la, la la la la, Virgil's world! Virgil loves November, and writing too! That's Virgil's worrrrrrrllllldddd!!!! </theme music>

So yeah, that quote up there is how I plan on starting this year's NaNo novel. I don't have a legitimate first sentence yet, but I have plenty of time. Before xiy and House attack me, I'd like to point out that the word "See" is capitalized for a very important reason that is basically the premise of the plot. So there. 

I'm really excited about the fact that my plot is actually existent, which is to say that it has a BEGINNING, a MIDDLE, and a (somewhat ambiguous) END. This is a whole lot more than can be said about my 2009 NaNo novel, which had a cool beginning, a really lame middle, and basically no end.  

I won't tell you too much, but it's going to be totally awesome!

Um... I wrote another song parody! You know the popular Ke$ha song, "Your Love is My Drug"? 

This is about the graveyard scene in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Your Blood is My Drug 

Horcruxes are not enough, no
To obtain immortality
I'm seeking eternal life
I'm starting to invade your dreams

I'm gathering my Death Eaters
I'm casting Imperio
I'm trying to make a comeback
Bring me back to full power

What you've got boy, is hard to find
I think about it all the time
Your mum's protection, in my veins
Enough to make me go insane

Chorus:
Because your blood, your blood, your blood is my drug
Your blood, your blood, your blood
I said your blood, your blood, your blood is my drug
Your blood, your blood, your blood


You're going to pay the hard price
Your blood will fuel my heart of ice
You thought you were my demise
Now no one will heed your cries

You're a fool for trying to defeat me
You think your bravery will haze me
The Boy Who Lived, you'll live no more
I am going to return, ever stronger than before

What you've got boy, is hard to find
I think about it all the time
I've got a body, I have found
That I can cause you great pain now

[Chorus]

Wormtail's hand and my dad's bones
Plus your screams in soprano tones
I'm coming back, it is foretold
I need the power your blood holds

(Hey!)
So I've got a question,
Do you wanna have a wizard duel in the graveyard?
Do you think your parents will be happy to see you
When I cast the spell?
The spell
(huh) the spell
(huh) the spell
I will cast the spell

[Chorus x2]

Hey... hey... so... (evil, high-pitched giggle)
Your blood, your blood, your blood, your blood
...is my drug.

I like your scar.

So, yeah. I hope you enjoyed that.

Um... there was another marching band game today. The football team lost, but the band won, and that was partially due to the fact that the school we were playing against does not have a marching band.

Actually, our marching band has more students in it than their entire high school. Now that's saying something.

Do I have anything else to say? Oh yeah - what time would be best for most of the Curly Fries to have a Build-a-Bear Workshop field trip next weekend?

DFTBA,
PDBAQBI, (Please Don't Be A Qu'ran Burning Idiot)
Peace, Love, and RELIGIOUS FRICKIN TOLERANCE,

Virgil

My Basement Stinks

My basement stinks. Quite literally, in fact. (Oh, by the way, right now, as I'm typing this, it's 12:34 pm. Awesome.) Shall I tell you the story of the most terrible odors exuding from the bowels of my house?
I think I will.

The stink started on Saturday; I noticed it first. My parents, being rather oblivious, assured me that it was nothing. The next day, my mom went into the basement for an early shower (we have a shower down there), and apparently the stink had gotten worse. After her shower, she came upstairs and told my dad. 
My dad was completely and utterly sure that the smell was from the peaches we had picked on Saturday. Even when my mom told him that they smelled perfectly fine and nicely peachy, he still stubbornly insisted that "if you smell them from far away, they stink!"
Eventually, after a few minutes of intense searching, my mother found the source. It was from a carton of ancient eggs that were apparently forgotten and never opened. The smell was disgusting. The yolk had dripped all over the basement shelves and onto the floor, and it must've also made its way somehow onto my bike helmet, because now my helmet also stinks and I cannot wear it.
My parents totally owe me another helmet.
Right now, the smell's gotten a lot better, but one can still smell traces of rotten egg if one goes down into the basement.
Anyway, that's the story of the stinky basement. I hope you enjoyed it.

I've been planning my NaNoWriMo novel lately. I must be doing something right, because after giving my outline to Lynda to read over/critique, she fell in love with one of my characters. I really don't see how, since he--Caelan--is a bit of an angsty, antisocial hermit. Apparently, his name is wonderful.
I don't get it, and neither does Cael-in-my-head. See, the problem is that he. in fact, loves this other girl, who kind of eventually dies, and Cael is rather sensitive. Anyway.
Yay. I have fangirls.


School starts in two weeks. Fourteen days. GAAH.


My birthday is in four days. YAAY!


It's rather hot today. But it looks like it's going to rain, so that's quite good.


There's really not much else to say.
See you guys later, then.


~xiy

*Le Gasp*! It's the 6LCF Two/Bi-Monthiversary!

Happy two/bi-monthiversary, guys! Howzit goin' (I do hope you're all doing well and haven't been, oh, trampled by enraged hippogriffs or anything in the past day)?
I have the pleasure of announcing that today, June 29, 2010, officially marks the end of the second month that the Six Little Curly Fries blog has been in existence (and it's spelled with an "e," not an "a." Another one of my fanfiction pet peeves... But you don't need to hear about that)! It's been a great two months; I hope the blog'll keep going strong.
I've got a little pic for you that doesn't really have anything to do with two-monthiversaries, but it does pertain to blogs and I think it refers to a problem that, unfortunately, the 6LCF do seem to have. I'll just let the picture do the talking, 'kay?

Sorry about the usage of bad language; however, I think we're all mature enough to take it, aren't we?
Oh, and I think it's interesting to mention that I found this picture on another Blgospot blog that's been going on for years now, and apparently they celebrated their two-monthiversary as well. Woot, kindred spirit (of course, their blog had readers from practically the beginning, and ours totally doesn't; oh, well)!
Anyway.
What else is there to talk about?

Have any of you ever read The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, by Diana Wynne Jones? It basically parodies "regular" fantasy by listing a whole bunch of tropes (go visit TVTropes.com to learn what a trope is; but don't blame me if you end up on that website the entire day--the place is quite addicting)--or cliches, but "tropes" is a cooler term--in alphabetical order, then treating them as if the book was a guidebook for a tour through "Fantasyland" (aka your generic fantasy, well, land).
Everything from "apostrophes" (how do you pronounce things like "Ga'orad"?) to the "reek of wrongness" is there, and the book is hilarious. Especially the reek of wrongness. So go read it if you haven't. 


So... I've been writing ("been writing" in this case meaning spending forever thinking of a good plot idea and then writing one chapter in a frenzy of inspiration) this one, erm, story (it's not a novel yet), and I was wondering if you nice people could read what I've written (heh, all less-than-one-thousand-words of it)? Pwetty pwease? 
Yeah, Virgil's the legit writer, but I do like to exercise my writing muscle once in a while. Not that anything good really comes out of it... -.-
I'm a better editor anyway (you should hear me when I'm reading fanfiction! There's only been a few where the grammar's really good; the story can be wonderful, but the authors always forget commas and semicolons and they don't know that if you're writing "[dialogue]," [person] said, you must put a COMMA after whatever the dialogue is and not a period!! ARGH.
For example:
"I don't like this." Bob said.
Even though it's supposed to be:
"I don't like this," Bob said.
See? A COMMA, not a period! 
But anyway, moving on...).
So, yeah. After my questions, I shall show you my great opus (ha!).


1) Have you read The Tough Guide to Fantasyland?
2) (After you read my excerpt) Do you think it's okay? Any suggestions?
3) (After you read my excerpt) Do you think I should continue this?
4) Does fanfiction grammar make you cry? Do you read fanfiction?
5) Are you happy that 6LCF has reached two months old?
6) Do you think we'll make it to a year? Two years?


All right, here's the excerpt (*hides*)