main Updates Previous and sporadic entries are located here. 12.01.01 Currently redoing the layout. Will finish doing all pages after I get some sleep. 11.29.01 Sorry guys, but any serious updating on this page is probably going to fade out until next year on November. In the mean time, you can still read my daily posts here. I'm also giving serious thought about redesigning this page and putting some password on the majority of the writing so only desperate friends, serious critiquers, or other Nanowrimo masochists can access it. To other people, e-mail me, and I'll think about it. 11.26.01 I put my little graphic that I got from here on my main page. Totally certified from an independent source that I have indeed done over 50,000. A lot of work, certainly, but it didn't take up as much time as I thought it would. Maybe next year I'll use the time to actually refine my prose as I write... 11.25.01 Whoa, much craziness today, and head-aching too. So I finally broke the 50,000 mark and completed the novel although the ending seems too abrupt to me, much like those chopped off endings where you just kill the character off by running him over with a truck. But in this one, I used a fire hydrant instead. Too many loose ends and unexplained parts, but I'll get to it when I edit it--sometime. After procrastinating the whole Thanksgiving break, I have a ton of work to do. I really hope I can squeeze in some sleep. 11.24.01 I can't say I've been totally working on the "novel" for the past two days considering it is a holiday, but I have been working on bits of it each day--I haven't totally forgotten about it. Unfortunately I've been writing it in long hand so it's taking some time to transcribe it onto word processor. And I've had another idea intrude that's been demanding me to write it down. Too bad there's no way I could fit it into the novel in its current form. 11.21.01 Actually didn't have much time to write despite being the last day of classes before Thanksgiving. Too much other stuff to do, I guess. But I did get the new LOTR soundtrack today. However, I can't say that it was the sole motivator in today's installment. Most of the credit I'll have to give to the wordy divination device, the I Ching. 11.20.01 Also feeling lucky today since I ended up not having lab today. So I passed the 40,000 mark. Whoohoo! Feel very crazy. Been up since 4AM this morning doing work and also managed to squeeze some words in. 11.19.01 Chapter 8 Section 3 is even worse crap. But hey, I'm not going to let word count slip even if I have to stick in a pretentious history lecture that I made up from the top of my head. I wanted desperatly to sleep in, but that was not going to happen considering my schedule. I've actually had Chapter 8, Section 2 planned out in my head way in advance and it turned out okay, maybe a little more funnier than I had hoped. And the students in Wheeler House? They're based on people I know although I'm not quite sure if any of them read it they would recognize themselves. But as it is, this is here online for curious onlookers who have a lot more interest in my progress than my real life friends. 11.18.01 If I keep up at the rate I'm going, I'm going to fall behind. But then again, my brain just feels so numb lately. Maybe I'm working too much. At any rate, I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving break when I'll have all the time in the world to churn out words. 11.17.01 Er...yes, even after having my brain fried today by lab and Harry Potter, I still had some words to put down for the novel. Does it help to say that I put in some exciting parts that I initially haven't planned out before? 11.16.01 Finally, a title to this ongoing work has come to me. It's "A Snake Among the Roses" which isn't all that surprising since this is a recurring motif throughout. Now if only I can find a way to work in the dream I had last night somewhere in this "novel". It was a "scary" dream where a bunch of people and I were trying to get inside a creepy underground castle from the bottom. 11.15.01 Today's going to be a busy day. Most of the time I will be in lab, I think, unless everything finishes up earlier than usual. Wouldn't it be great if I could incorporate my lab "expertise" into the novel? Maybe not. It'll probably make it even more boring than it already is. 11.14.01 I actually felt like not writing today. I don't know, must be the cooler weather that's slowing my brain down or something. It wasn't that I didn't know what to write, just that I didn't feel like writing. But if you've got discipline, you're going to do it anyway. So I finished Chapter 6 and I noticed that it's getting pretty weird. But the weirdness won't stop here. Oh no, it's only just begun. 11.13.01 Whoohoo! Crossed the halfway mark this afternoon. But must go to work now. 11.12.01 So the beginning of Chapter Six is a bore because I had to dump a bunch of background information somewhere so I could use it later effectively. That is, I'm dropping a lot of clues here, as well as the main characters' purpose for the rest of the "novel". But this does end in a cliffhanger. I wonder if I'll write some more later today. 11.11.01 Probably not going to post anything today. Because I feel like it and I've wasted too much time playing with my new toy. 11.10.01 Ohhh...my head hurts from reading a map in a moving car. Bad case of motion sickness. Anyways, sort of stalled for about a day and got up at an ungodly hour this morning to take a subject GRE at UCLA. Nice campus, but I'm directionally challenged so I wandered quite a bit before I found the testing site. At least I got there early. Dad also came to visit yesterday, and I swear, it was pure coincidence that this weekend is also Parents Weekend at Caltech. It's nice to get a little emotional support now and then *grin* and Dad's always a great sounding board for my numerous rants. So I got a little writing done...now I have to concentrate on that pesky thing called homework. 11.09.01 All right! Fueled by a plateful of fresh curly fries and a can of coke at midnight, I've crossed the 20,000 mark today! I think I might make it... 11.08.01 So having a roommate who talks in her sleep does have advantages. It's another source of inspiration. Like last night, she kept mumbling something about conspiracy theories. Also I've realized that this update thingee is a lot like blogging. Although when I first heard of "blog" a few months ago I thought it was something icky that haughty teenage girls did in the bathroom. But anyway, I wasted valuable amounts of time researching the blog today and it's all very interesting. And I'm wondering, has anyone yet turned a blog into a big fiction device? I might try as soon as I get this novel thing finished. Almost overslept today. So I rushed into class about one minute before it began and found a seat. Right when I put my bookbag down, toupee prof asked, "So have you found any DDM?" It took a couple seconds for my mind to register what he was asking so in the end I just grinned idiotically and said, "No." DDM is a carcinogenic substance that when ingested in significant amounts will cause liver damage. It is also found on circuit boards in your computers. Ha ha. Perhaps I should sprinkle some DDM in his morning coffee. 11.07.01 *mambo music* ~We've got the digest running and the ligase trickling down the lab beeeeench wah wah wah and my lab partner almost forgot to run his samples down the gel wah wah wah~ Okay, so I guess I'm in lab way too much, so much so that my brain has already turned to mush. People also kept asking me how my novel was coming along. "So how many people are doing this?" They were definitely hoping I was only one doing Nanowrimo so they could all throw me into a nearby sanitorium. A whole herd of people were surrounding one of the buildings that held several lecture halls. What were they doing? Did something blow up? No, it turned out to be a gathering of scientists for some symposium or other. So this morning, listened to a prof rant about rap music in his French accent, sat behind a girl who did her ponytail up on the wrong side of her head, and reminisced about my bleach stained jeans. 11.06.01 Boy, I must be really on a streak today. Some sugar, caffeine, some pounding music from some people living next door that made the floor vibrate, and a little inspiration from a prof who got a new toupee today and a teaching assistant who looks uncanningly like an elf (although none of these things made it into my story) were enough to keep me going. I believe I've found the music to write to. Lisa Gerrard and Dead Can Dance. Some of the techno remixes are really cool too, very gothic feeling. And it's no surprise that more clues have turned up for Simone and Adrian, particularly occult clues. Before I was listening to Sarah Brightman, and frankly, that wasn't cutting it. 11.05.01 Ooo...Chapter 3 Section 3 is a cliffhanger. Haven't written one of those so far. This particular plot device is cliche, but hey, I made up for it with the clue that Simone found, right? Right?! Broke the 10,000 mark today although somehow it doesn't seem as satisfying as it should. Probably because I made the mistake at looking at other people's word counts and they're way ahead. Well, at least I'm on schedule. Did not do much of anything today although feeling very tired. Probably because of the weekend. Took a nap this afternoon and had a weird dream that it was my birthday and my roommate gave me a phone receiver saying someone was calling for me. Said hello, no one answered, but realized that the extension cord extended out into the hallway and rounded off into a corner to God knows where. Dropped the phone feeling that someone was going to play a trick on me. Then I woke up, walked around, and found that a particular guy in the house who usually plays sucky music (a la Spice Girls, etc.) was playing Vivaldi instead. I felt like I was in another dimension. 11.04.01 Seven straight hours of lab. Evilness to the extreme. There were no breaks, bathroom or otherwise. I did not sit around and doodle. Just plain awful work. Anyways, got back to writing when I got back, and now have my first dream sequence! Today will be boring. Will be stuck in lab this afternoon doing "productive stuff". Will try to write more if I don't come back home to more distractions. 11.03.01 Okay, so that exam wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it still sucked because of the time. I managed to write some more too, approximately 1,500 in 90 minutes with the aid of even more sugar and caffeine. Feeling a little tired today and apprehensive since I've got a 6 hour exam to do. So this morning I loaded up on sugar and caffeine and attempted to write some gibberish before I have to do the serious stuff. I don't think it makes much sense...and cats are an extremely insidious influence. 11.02.01 Managed to get about half a thousand after class this afternoon. Inspired by a toad waiting at the bottom of the stairs and a spectacularly boring lecture in which I zonked out approximately 1/3 of the way through. Wrote approximately a paragraph and a half during lab (almost nobody noticed). Had actually wanted to put it up but was sidetracked into going to watch "Monsters, Inc.", opening night. Ended up sitting next to a pair of fake lovers and a kazillion kiddies who squirmed in their seats and sang out loud. Everyone clapped at the LOTR trailer (the kiddies didn't get it) and groaned at the new Star Wars Episode II trailer. Too cheesy. Anyway, "Monsters, Inc." was a very cute movie. Now I want my own hugable monster to call "kitty". And one guy was so right when he called it "Matrix for kids without the flying Keanue Reeves"--the guy looked cool but he can't act worth s**t. Woke up at the ungodly hour of 5AM not to continue writing, but to go to our house's annual Senior-Frosh breakfast (I'm a senior *grin*) where everyone dresses up and say we're going to a classy place to get breakfast. Little do the frosh know that we actually take them to the Original Tommy's Hamburger and Chili place down in LA. He he, I took some pictures. Might put them up once I get them developed. So got back around 8 and began writing. 11.01.01 Arg! Did not make my personal goal of a thousand more words. Only got there halfway. I think working at the lab today sapped all my energy (besides staying up late yesterday). Tomorrow might possibly be worse. Actually, every preceeding day will go downhill. On the other hand, I may need to ignore my pessimistic side. Also have underlined the dates so it's more easier to see and added a link to the Rebel Nanos. You know what they say, early bird gets the worm. On a funnier note: some people are celebrating Halloween a day late. They shaved their heads and painted it orange and wore black clothes. Talk about extreme. Pounded out an additional thousand words later this morning. Will try for another thousand tonight after I get back from lab. I've realized that Saturday will be very bad. Will have to take a stupid 6 hour exam then. So today was marked by pumpkins that were frozen in liquid nitrogen and dropped from a nine story building. The sound they made when hitting the ground sounded suspiciously like gun shots, but anyway...yeah, I have started. But I'm going to get some sleep now. I have a class tomorrow. I'll write some more when I feel awake. 10.31.01 Dang it, one more hour to go. I'm going into withdrawal mode now until the first. Less than two hours to go. Yep, social life at Tech is raring to go around these hours. Beer bottles are out, cross-dressers in sexy maid outfits, a whole bunch of people with dyed hair, some people with no hair, costumes that are so shiny they hurt the eyes, crazed hampsters. Wait a minute...it's Halloween. I shouldn't be surprised. Arg, less than three hours to go. Must...get...frozen...pumpkin...fix...before...the...insanity... Altered the links page. I'll probably get a nanowrimo ring up there sometime today when I sign up for one. Grr...I hate it when web hosts close down. I will be moving my Grendel and RII pages back to geocities through today. Anyway, less than 24 hours to go! 10.27.01 Changed the menu so that they don't open new windows. 10.26.01 Created this webpage.