In the midst of an awful...awful...AWFUL recession here in Amercia I have found I've come about on hard times. Since I have been unemployed for almost a year I have found that the bills are getting harder and harder to keep up with. This being my last year at Mt. SAC I have found that I am going to have to figure out a way to transfer to UCR. But one thing has kept that desire at bay....money.

That's what I have been experiencing. I find it comes on very very quickly and by the time I can actually recognize it, it's already grabbed ahold of my characters. The only thing is I am experiencing a weird sort of Writers block...in which I can write a chapter for one story, but none for others. I just finished the 14th chapter of Speciman Alpha, which is on its way towards the end, and I think now that I've just finished it I can write and write and write more for that story.

Well life around my neck of the woods has certainly been incredibly busy. I've been burying myself in stuff to do so that I have had no opportunity to sit and sulk over the fact that I still remain unemployed....for reasons I am still completely unaware of. Big changes have happened since I last wrote. I've lost touch with quite a few friends which I had at my old private university.

When I started back in 2004, I had quite a few friends but once I left that number quickly dwindled down to a mere five. From those five three left me in the cold...and then there were two. And the last of the two have finally parted ways with me. It makes me feel a little sad sometimes, but I think that it is probably just that we have nothing in common in their minds. I actually spent a whole afternoon speaking with the last friend I had about literature and music...and it seemed like a lovely conversation. But she has since decided to not speak to me again. Naturally I feel like it must have been something I said, but my mom has gone ahead and assured me that it probably was not...and was just her realizing that she had nothing in common with me.

When I was little summer was always devoted to Vacation Bible School and a Summer play. My cousins and I would all be in these musicals with the other children at my church and it was a lot of time and a lot of fun....but for whatever reason they decided to not to continue the tradition once I became a Jr. Higher (Age 12 [for you British folk]).

Now they have decided to restart the tradition, but the problem is that there are no kids anymore. Most the "kids" from the church had all grown up to teenagers. There is a total of 6 kids who originally go to our church and all of them are in it. They selected the Seussical musical for a performance in a few weeks...and all I can say is I never realized how much work goes into it.

When I was little summer was always devoted to Vacation Bible School and a Summer play. My cousins and I would all be in these musicals with the other children at my church and it was a lot of time and a lot of fun....but for whatever reason they decided to not to continue the tradition once I became a Jr. Higher (Age 12 [for you British folk]).

Now they have decided to restart the tradition, but the problem is that there are no kids anymore. Most the "kids" from the church had all grown up to teenagers. There is a total of 6 kids who originally go to our church and all of them are in it. They selected the Seussical musical for a performance in a few weeks...and all I can say is I never realized how much work goes into it.

In moments when I feel particularly strange for some reason writing sonnets is cathartic. Yes, I do write stories, but if I am experiencing a strange episode of emotions I usually am to the point where I can't write anything productive...story-wise. So here I am. Today was a good day apart from one thing that makes me feel sad. My dogs discovered a baby bird today and being beagles lunged for it. I managed to get ahold of it and it was still alive. I placed it up on a wall where its parents sat and hoped for the best.

It's a weird day today. My birthday. A day I usually engage in some sort of fun party with people who I call friends. Yet, today is the first birthday that I spent 90% of it here by myself....although I suppose you can't entirely say "by myself". I always have my "pack" of dogs...my two beagles Maddie and Tifa. We played in a kiddie pool and ran around the yard, but it didn't hold a candle to the dancing and jumping and playing videogames that I engaged in last year with my best friend and boyfriend. It's so strange.

Yes, I am shedding a tear for my duckies. They had such a good start to Game 2 tonight and then the Stars just slaughtered them. It's funny. Two years ago I would have been rooting for the Stars, but the Ducks have done well relatively all season to the point where I thought they might have a shot at keeping their feathers on the cup.

My boyfriend and I watched in shock as the Ducks played against the Stars. There were intense moments. We laughed, we cried and we sighed. They could have done so well if they hadn't messed themselves up with 3 penalties right in a row. =_=

Melinda S has come to town!!

Remember back a few months ago when I posted that play which I asked you all to decide which of the seven deadly sins was demonstrated in that piece?

I received an email from my professor (who is a fairly established playwright worldwide) today and he told me he would like to include the play "Harley's Moment in Heaven" in the Winter 2009 production of short plays. It was one of 10 that was selected out of 65 plays submitted.

I should be in Abilene Texas right now, but I'm not. I had been told I would be forced to go, but then I spoke to my mom privately about it and told her I really did not want to go and she allowed me to stay home. I had a final for my playwriting class yesterday so that was enough to convince my dad that I had to stay. I mean, he would have made me go, but to have spent 75 dollars for this class and then have me miss the final. That he was not very comfortable with. So here I am to bug you all another day.:)

I don't usually follow dog shows. I like to watch them yes, but usually end up incredibly disappointed when I see who wins Best in Show. It's always a Poodle, an Airedale or some dogs that's incredibly fluffy and although they may have great personality, their looks don't end up with the same consistency.

I watched the Westminster Dog Show last night and was dancing up and down the hallway when I saw Uno, the Beagle, got pronounced the Best in Show. For some reason I always pulled for the beagles and when I heard them announce Uno had won I was sooo happy. It made me proud to be a beagle owner.

It's really scary sometimes when you have to go to the doctor. Especially after not going for a few years and now being required to see him. As much as I saw the doctor when I was little, I can't get over how scared I was to see him yesterday. I guess I figured he'd give me some sort of antibiotics that would help, but he didn't. Instead he offered me some sheet that was basically an information packet as to what he believes I have.

So today was the day in which my play was read. Yes, the play that I posted on here for all of you to read awhile ago..It was read today. The people whom I nominated read the parts were very good. Some lines were not read quite how I had intended, but all in all it was a good reading. I was genuinely amazed with the fact that everyone who heard the play liked it. This is the one play that I loathed as I was writing it and apparently all my blood sweat and tears that I put into it made it appear as though it were art.

So this whole month has been relatively busy. Not necessarily busy as in I can't get stuff done, but I have definitely been having lots of occurances in which I am on the run. I don't know what it is, but it certainly adds to the already stressful persona I carry around.

Have I bitten off more than I can chew? I don't think so. It's certainly nothing compared to the last semester of school where I had no opportunity to rest because I had X Y and Z due the next day. It's just a different sort of stress I suppose.

For those of you who wish you could read my stuff, I've gone ahead and added one of the first plays I could be allowed to present on here.

This is my play for playwriting class. The basic premise is we have to write a play within a theme of one of the seven deadly sins. If you have a few minutes will you read it and reply back with what you believe the sin is based on this snippit I have here? It will help me in figuring out how to fix this play or not fix it. And for those of you who don't know all seven deadly sins, here's a summary of them.

PROFILE PICTURE!!

I finally figured out my bug of a camera and fixed it up so that it could upload pictures. I uploaded a picture of me with my new cut. Granted, it's not styled or anything, but that's basically how it looks anyway.:D

I'll post a real blog tomorrow night.

Well after much crying and pouting and sobbing my mom took me back to the hair salon and demanded that they even out my hair. I told the owner of the shop about how depressing it for me because I was unable to style it because of how poorly it was cut. The owner has know my family for awhile I guess and turns out she was happy to ablige. She rushed me back and took out a pair of scissors (like a good hair stylist) and began cutting like a good stylist. My hair looks better now, but I'm still not particularly fond of it.

I don't think she listened to me when I distinctly said SHOULDER LENGTH.

She chopped it, like REALLY chopped it. What I was intending on having in videogame terms would be a hairstyle similar to Yuna for FFX...what I ended up with was a haircut similar to Yuffie from FFVII. :(

It's cute for sure. It's layered and whatnot, but it is NOT what I had in mind and I can't believe what I paid to get this ugly hairstyle.:( I could cry because this stupid lady had me in the chair for FOUR HOURS. She had more than enough time to know what I wanted and do so.

So as many of you other gamers know, I have been very excited about the holiday season and receiving my gifts and such. Well, I received Guitar Hero III, which I have now beaten and am very proud of myself for doing so. I received Katamari Damasy, which my friend and I beat together a few days ago. Then I bought the next game I'm going to try to beat. It's called The Sims 2 Castaway. I've already spent probably a grand total of 10 hours playing it over the past few days but it was well worth the money I spent.

So Christmas morning Santa was so gracious to give my mother a Nintendo DS with the Brain Age game. Since my mom hasn't touched her brain age game I decided yesterday that I would give it a try. At first test my brain was told to be about 60...which, considering how I'm totally not there yet I was a little shocked. So I engaged in various games and found out my brain is now in it's 40s. He actually told me it was 41 but it was all in good fun.