Done! BUAHAHAHAH!

I finished a short story called "Sister, Sister," which is about demonic possession. I'm editing it now, getting critiques, and exploring possible places to sell it.

The final incarnation of this story is about 6000 words long.

I'm so glad to have it finally finished. I started writing it shortly after my best friend, Shweta, shared a song with me called "The Bonny Swans." This is the last thing of mine that my father ever got to help me with, and I wish he was here to finally read the ending.

Curious parties can read it via email, if they ask me really nicely.

I just read an awesome first chapter in SYW over at AW.

The password is not hard to figure out, if you simply go the main forum directory and look at the SYW forum description. However, we could say that it is the name of a certain, unpopular windows OS that has been recently released. And starts with a V.

The story moves wonderfully and has a fresh, exciting style. I want to see more writing like this--minus a few things I pointed out in my critique. I love it when I stumble onto something awesome.

Also, I'm writing a review for Kim Harrison's "For a Few Demons More." If the review doesn't make it to AW, look for it here.

Back to what I actually, you know, do.

With the semester over, I can finally start worrying about fiction again.

I've shipped An Exploration of Obsession (820 words, romance/humor) out to Saint Ann's Review.

Likewise, I'm trying a more literary piece, Eavesdropper, (600 words) out at ChiZine, though I have a feeling it isn't quite dark enough to be their cuppa.

If either of my two readers would like to read these, shoot me a line.

I AM still working on the Spider Slayer novel. It's sitting at about 11,000 words, but it's on a tiny hiatus until I finish a short story with the working title, "The Giant," which currently occupies 1200 words of my computer.

Music

Emily and Fiona (I believe those are the names of the two girls in the video below) inspired me to pick my flute up again.

Star of the County Down, Key of D Major

It's nice to actually have time to play my flute. My final final (O, the wit) is in a few hours. I will be trying to forget everything I know about algebra until then, and the flute is going to help.

I found the most adorable video on youtube.



They're so talented! I know they've got a few kinks, vocally, but putting together a duet like that, retaining the flavor of a song that so many people butcher amazes me. I've tried to coordinate duets. It's hard. Nice job, girls. Hats off.

School shooting forewarned, JCCC

Some odd weeks ago, one of the ASL professors discovered a piece of bathroom graffiti that read, "I will shoot the school in May."

School security has more or less been going nuts--I always see them running somewhere, lately. And who can blame them? If you throw a stone at a hornet nest, it inevitably results in angry hornets. And that ruins everything for anyone in the area.

Today, I found "MAY 15" scrawled into a bathroom stall in the JCCC library. The school gestapo came after I reported it and collected all of my personal info. I have nothing to hide and no real reluctance about answering questions such as, "Where do you live?" and "what is your phone number?" -- but I can't help feel like they had no real reason to ask me about that and not bother to ask me questions relevant to the issue. Unless of course my reporting the graffiti automatically makes me a suspect. And if this is the case, why would I ever call something like this to their attention again?

The librarian theorized that some highschooler was trying to get out of a Thursday final. It makes sense, but I can't help but be wary, given the recent number of school shootings.

If someone pulls a gun at my school, they'd better kill me on the first shot.

And believe you me, if I find the little prick writing this crap in the bathrooms, he'd better hope I don't catch up to him in a cold, dark alley. I'll break his little fingers.

The school is installing cameras over all of the bathroom doors. No word yet as to whether these are fake or not (a number of fake cameras sit in the parking garage as an attempt to deter pranksters and thieves) -- but it creates another problem altogether, in my opinion. Do we really want to attend a school where there is a solid record of our every biological function?

I wonder if some over-shy girl won't explode her bladder trying to wait for the nice, private bathroom in her home.