Agavaahi

I really suck at updating this, don’t I? Haha. Sorry, busy with working full time, and now I have school starting in less than a week and a wedding and pre-wedding stuff to attend to this week. Plus I mostly do my updates over at LiveJournal (which is blocked!) . Only really new things going on here is the new layout, constant updates to the Books of Want page, and the first chapters of O Fortuna and Flight of the Nightingale have been added to the site. Still working out the Novel page with the newest addition, A Melody of the Most Unkind.

Um…that’s it? Haha.

Filed under: Personal, Site on August 17th, 2010 | No Comments »

Normal people ask for new shoes. Or maybe a new phone because the latest one is shiny and has bluetooth, ipod streaming, and can show you a livestream of life on Mars. Perhaps they ask for a giftcard to their favorite clothing store. Perhaps a new stereo? Even  a brand new hoodie would be nice or that movie that came out a few years ago you adored.

But no, people who write, such as myself and friends, go ga-ga over bookstores and office supplies. Like notebooks. I am a horribly picky person with your standard and run of the mill school notebooks. As proven earlier today after dragging my mother from OfficeMax to King Soopers before finally finding what I wanted at Walgreens. I want my notebooks to be 5-subject, only because those tend to be the thickest. It must be spiral and college rule. It cannot be yellow. Cheaper the better. Another way to our hearts are really nice rolling-point pens. I kid you not.

All-purpose gift cards, book store giftcards, pens, and notebooks brighten our days.

That all aside, Reaver is still in the planning stages and Nightingale is still being worked on. I might have figured out one tricky scene in particular (woo!).

Filed under: Personal, Writing on July 11th, 2010 | No Comments »

Reaver will officially become 3 books…as well as Kinslayer. The latter has already dubbed itself The Kinslayer Chronicles (catchy, no?) and Reaver remains unknown in its series title. Even first book title. The entire assembly I will continue to refer to as Reaver, and Kinslayer Chronicles as simply Kinslayer. But Kinslayer won’t be touched until Reaver is done, and Reaver won’t be touched until Flight of the Nightingale is done. Luckily Nightingale is meant to be a short story, maybe ten chapters tops. I know the first four are fully planned, at least.

So now I have six books wanting to see the light of day. Holy hell.

Nightingale, Nightingale, Nightingale….

Filed under: Flight of the Nightingale, Kinslayer, Reaver, Writing on June 30th, 2010 | No Comments »

In regards to the title, my muses have just been hella-awesome with some layout making and lacking considerably in the much-needed writing department. Several stories that want to rise are utter crap and I hate them so they’ll probably get scrapped.

I will be working overtime this week, and probably even 4th of July weekend. I don’t mind, the extra money is always good (especially when you need it for a new phone, a car, and school!). I think after the next paycheck, I’ll spoil myself and buy that Belmont hoodie. Rest will go towards a phone. Now, before I get a few looks, please understand that in my near-two decades of life I have owned two cell phones. My current one is a Razr which, for those not in the know, are no longer in production. The back does not stay on after an unfortunate bouncing run-in with the top of the toilet, followed by a near-splattering across the linoleum floor. Still works, but the thing will sporadically die then turn back on with full or half battery. Oh, and the bouncing was done last November. It is time.

Dad finished reading Tasting Stardust and he said he really liked it Heck, he flew through it within two days (and it’s some 300 pages, so it’s not some short thing). His only comments was the oddness of a technology-savvy sci-fi/fantasy story having characters eat things like oatmeal, pancakes, ect, and use blades/spears when taking on big beasties. I do mention near the end that a lot of fancy weaponry is outlawed in that part of the galaxy (especially that particular planet), but I blame it on being stuck in the fantasy genre. Sorry! It’s in my invisible contract as a fantasy writer to use stew, stew, stew.  Beyond that bit, which another friend pointed out anyways, sounds like all else was good Still need to ask him about the villain though!

Still working on Flight of the Nightingale, but that’s pretty much plotted out per chapter throughout most of the story. Chapter one: introduce/meet future love interest, chapter two: introduce villain/make MC suffer through humorous chores, three: revisit villain/introduce plot catalyst, four: MC sick/add some fuel to the fires of loooove, five: …some stuff. Gets blurry with plot points here, haha.

In the news of the unexpected, my writing muses DO want to revamp Reaver AGAIN, but they also want to make it two books long! But since even numbers are weird for me with series, I’d want three books. What the heck?! @.@

Filed under: Personal, Writing on June 27th, 2010 | No Comments »

FINALLY an update, right? I’ve been busy with other things like trying to find a job (got one! start tomorrow), figuring out school stuff (3 transfer applications are out there live. Hoping beyond hope for Alaska to want me), and just general, “Oh hey, I have a website.” New layout, as you can see, so I’ve slowly been getting all that in order. I’ve split novels and short stories into their own pages, and will slowly be updating the short stories page with O Fortuna (80%ish done), and Flight of the Nightingale, which I only just began a few days ago. I find it ironic how my main character and his horse get names easy while the female love interest/major supporting character took DAYS to figure out. Villain was also really easy. But seriously, the horse gets a name before the love interest? Sad.

With this new job, I want to buy a hoodie I’ve been eying for a few days now. Me and horse racing merchandise catalogs are a dangerous thing, so I knew something would happen after my mom handed me a Belmont Stakes and Preakness Stakes merchandise catalog. I’ve been looking for a new hoodie anyways. The sleeves on my current one are shredded from years of abuse. I also need a new phone (and carrier) desperately, but hoodie first.

Isn’t it pretty?!

Okay, back to working on Nightingale before I need to go to bed here soon. 5:30 is going to be a rude wake up call after sleeping in until almost 9 for weeks on end.

Filed under: Personal, Site on June 15th, 2010 | No Comments »

My summer hasn’t been the best and today another bomb was dropped (nothing big…just might not go back to school due to being unable to afford it, and if I do get into a community college or something and need to stay at home, one parent is moving to another city almost 2 hours away and the other I just don’t want to live with so my housing situation is in the air for the first time in my life). But I shall try and keep this cheery with a note on one of my loves: books!

You never know what you’re going to find for a good deal. I wandered into Barnes N’ Nobles with a friend last week since there’s this weird magnetic pull that ends up with my friends and I going to a bookstore whether we want to or not. There was a table set up with a 50% Off sign. I found an intriguing looking hardback called Secret of the Dragon (and I’m a fantasy/dragon sucker) with an actually detailed and drawn illustration cover. The bottom of the jacket along the spine was ripped, but beyond that, it was in perfect condition. Under the New Releases sign in the Fantasy section, the same book (unripped) was sitting there all pretty and shiny at $25. Knowing a deal when I see one (and especially over a nice-sounding book) I quickly snatched up the 50% off copy. And as I write this, I just now realize that this book is actually the second book in a still-in-the-works series! *slaps self* There’s no number, so how am I supposed to know?! Plus the summary made it sound like a stand-alone novel, haha.

A second deal came at the ultimate price: FREE! On the last day of school, I was taking out the trash and noticed a pile of books and used notebooks/binders someone had stacked next to the dumpster. On top was a pristine and [seemingly] untouched book called Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. Obviously someone had been unable to get their money back (might not have been able to even sell it back, period). Luckily the price on the back was only $5, so not a huge loss. I’ve had books not sell after paying $30+. Anyways, for me, this was worth the grab. I love biology (well, macro) and had even gone through regular Bio, AP Bio, AP Environmental Science, and Anatomy in High School. If it weren’t for the ridiculous math I don’t think you need unless you’re doing something chemistry-related, I’d definitely major or minor in Biology. So now I have a good-as-new book waiting to be read, and it came as cheap as possible! (short of being paid to buy a book, lol).

The third: friends. Always love the friends who clear out books (I know I kick out several books once or twice a year to make room for newer and better books). My friend was getting rid of her extra copy of The Portrait of Dorian Gray, a novel I had always wanted to read. Book is still in great condition, hardly touched, so yay friends who respect books

Originally I was going to use my gift card for a new pair of headphones, since my new ones are being held together by neon-green duct tape (very flashy on black headphones, lemme tell you) but I might spend it on books. Especially travel books. Travel books to me are a god-send, since I can get away and lie on some beach or get chased up a tree by a rabid peacock. I would first, however, like a job.

Filed under: Uncategorized on June 5th, 2010 | No Comments »

Things have been a little slow as I reorganize the site a bit, take out stuff I don’t like, add in new, ect. I want to make it more…authoresque? I dunno. Also, job hunting and general stress has had me tied up.

Congrats to Lookin’ at Lucky on your Preakness score! Knew you had it in you! My picks for the Preakness finished 1st, 3rd, 4th so not regrets there. I always suck at the Derby (have yet to pick a winner) but tend to do well in the Preakness/Belmont. After the race though, Lucky looked dead tired, and I so called him not going for the Belmont. However, he’s had a tough campaign over the last 2 months, so even if he had come out looking new and shiny, it wouldn’t have surprised me if they had given him a break.

On to the Belmont! (I really hope Ice Box goes).

Filed under: Uncategorized on May 17th, 2010 | No Comments »

When I get one, a few things will happen: 1) I will organize and find a place for all my stuff that I’m bringing home, 2) I will begin reading some new books I left on my shelf, and 3) I will begin a list/organization of all the things I need to sell. On one hand, I could do Ebay or some other online selling thing, but I just imagine shipping will be more of a hassle than I really want. I know I need to purge some books (typically I hate getting rid of books, but I have this weird thing about having books I hate taking up precious shelf space for future lovable novels), especially the school-assigned books they offer you $0.25 for when you had paid $10, so I figure at a garage sale I can probably at least get $2-3 for it, right?

I’m amazingly mad, frustrated, and maybe a bit shamed that I got a 55% on my bio final. I knew the material. In High School I had taken AP Biology, AP Environmental Science, regular Biology, regular Chemistry, Anatomy/Physiology, and bonehead Earth-Physical Science. I love science, and would personally do it as a major/minor if it didn’t require the math that it does. However, I can pass all the above with a B or better, yet I cannot even get a C- in a bonehead bio class for the non-major? I will admit that after about the third week of class, I stopped going. However, he reads directly from his slideshows (which are readily available online) and his quizzes are all online and can be taken multiple times over the course of 1 week (so if you score a 6/10 the first time, you can turn right around and retake the quiz). The class average, in all four exams including the final, is a 55%. Does this not say that maybe there’s something wrong with the teacher? In some online quizzes I’ve looked at my notes, the teacher’s notes, even Google when it drove me nuts and still got questions wrong despite everything pointing to answer A. In all, I have passed basic bio for the non-major with a 69% and I’m not happy about it.

On my American History final, I also did worse than I thought I would, haha. At least my overall grade for that class is a solid 85% though. I’ll take that. Just did Cultural Studies and the final there was an essay (I think it was crappy and I confused myself in my own paper, but I think my overall grade is fine and he tends to grade a bit easy anyways) and a presentation for the essay. Amazingly, I think I did really well (I need to stop saying that. Seems to jinx me more than anything) with the presentation, but that might have been because I could jot down notes for what I wanted to say and go over what I wanted to say, word for word, inside my head for over an hour because I ended up being one of the very last people to go. He kept nodding his head and making positive/agreeable sounds while I talked, so I will interpret that as good

Three down, two to go, and both of them are at 1:30 in the afternoon tomorrow and Friday.

Filed under: Personal on May 5th, 2010 | No Comments »

Only Sickle will know what I’m talking about here, but oh well. Can still contribute to the Worlds section of the site later. I randomly and spontaneously began writing a Garden of Enervate 2. After rereading the original, it may be whacked out beyond belief, but I still really really liked it, so we will sporadically return. It could be the story we’ve been waiting for of it, just make it…different. Odd. He’s still out of his mind if not angry beyond all compare. The opening line is:

And so, dear reader, I return.

This should be fun

I think I did well on the biology and American History finals. My goal is to score a 70% or better on the Bio, since my current grade is a 68% but if I can score a 70%, my overall will go to 73% (he drops our lowest test score, making this possible).  Technically I can score a 60% and be safe, but being macro, I really want a 70 or better. The multiple choice in History I felt comfortable over, even though I feel as if I skimped on the essay responses. Oh well, still think I can manage a B overall. Actually, I just now went back and edited my spreadsheet (since History and Bi0 are the 2 classes where it doesn’t tally a percentage, I made my own spreadsheets. Yay experience in horse SIMs to make this possible!) and I could score a 50% on the final and still pass with a B-, haha. So no worries there. Wrote a crappy essay for cultural studies that I actually confused myself over about halfway through. Hopefully that means it’s good.

Back to Enervate oddness! (the weather is so gorgeous, ah!). Wonder if there’s a way to add a weather thing to the site…Probably. Maybe on the about page.

Filed under: Personal, Writing on May 4th, 2010 | No Comments »

I am upset and disgusted and crying in a corner, leave me alone!

This was my ninth Derby and I have never been this upset or angry with a Derby result. I’ve never won a Derby, so that wasn’t it (though this probably yielded my worst results: 8th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 15th, 17th). But I mean…Super Saver? Like a walking billboard for Cosco or something. His name sucks, everyone knew Borel would go for the rail, he was just a “meh” horse, not a favorite or longshot, and a multi-millionaire just made another 800k because he bet 100k on Super Saver. Half the field just stopped halfway through the final turn, the final time was slow, and it was completely visually lackluster. Last year we could laugh hysterically over Mine that Bird winning at 50-1 and he had been visually impressive flying from dead last to first. This year it was just…MEH.

Revenge in the Preakness! And Borel saying Saver is a Triple Crown horse? Not going to happen, sorry. In the words of a TBC poster: “Ice Box and Super Saver…if that isn’t an ad for Costco I don’t know what is.”

Filed under: Horse Racing on May 1st, 2010 | 3 Comments »