Inauguration Day

Inauguration Day! Cheers for the 44th US president, Barack Obama, and his lovely family! May he reach far, far beyond our dreams and expectations.

In lab, our professor, with a scalpel in hand, asked one of my group members today, "Did you watch the inauguration?"

"Yup!" she replied.

"Oh?" he nodded with a gleam in his eyes. "So you didn't go to lecture then?"

Uh oh! Manipulative man. The rest of us found it a bit funny though as the girl stammered and giggled in that awkward kinda way. But we're all relatively honest people and the girl lives on campus so she really was able to catch the speech right before she headed off to class. Problem solved!

We got up to the forearm today and was able to pull on the flexor pollicis longus to check out good old Charles' thumb movements.

But second group member/frenemy kept playfully shoving me with his shoulder while I was trying to dig for the radial nerve. So I kicked him in the shin.

Accidental reflex.

HOW IS IT 11 ALREADY? Off to study before friend kicks my ass for wasting time!

Upside/Downside?: I brainstormed more story ideas (contorted cliches, yea?) while I breathed in formaldehyde today! Except, uh, I never manage to actually write out a complete story in a feasible time span (i.e. within a year?!). Awful. Awful me. I'll jot notes down and pick and choose for private writings or possible future FP stories. Just ... later. Much later.

Status Report

I have 11 pages for Through Me Chapter 26, but I'm not quite finished yet. Unfortunately, I'm also nowhere near done with my readings for Anatomy either. I have 125 pages to go through. Haha (the laughter of the screwed).

Mission to catch up and go beyond for this 3 day weekend: FAIL.

I will try to complete the chapter soon - weekend? If only I didn't have six hours class+lab every day ... How indeed can I feel so dead second week into the new semester? Le sigh.

Through Me Pics - Lindy

My cousin has been infatuated with Tristan Harland ever since False Facades days - never mind the other characters. I used to think I was louder and crazier than she was, but as we grew up, our roles seemed to have reversed and I can now (proudly?) say she just might be more eccentric than I am. Whoa. But she's also the person who has never failed to demand a new chapter every time I see her and she's the one who has consistently encouraged me to continue writing throughout these past few years.

With that said, it's no wonder why she forwarded me an email, demanding to join in the character pic fun. Ah, how I love her.

Tristan Harland - Chad Michael Murray (She misses Gilmore Girls.)





Adeline Bradbury - Kim Isak (She believes Adel would look more Caucasian, like Kim Isak. She also thinks Kim Isak seems taller and tougher than other girls, which is how she imagined Adel.)





Status: 6 pages in for TM Chapter 26.

False Facades Character Pics

Here are some random new and old character pics I've gotten from readers for False Facades:

Samantha Westlane - Alice Burdeu (Australia's Next Top Model) - suggested by Anonymous.





Samantha Westlane - ? - suggested by nysweetangel247



Danielle Grenford - Rose McGowan - suggested by nysweetangel247



Carrie Harland - Sarah Paxton and Brittany Snow - suggested by nysweetangel247





Vincent Grenford - ? - suggested by IcyPrincess14



William Carter - Felipe Dylon - suggested by Orient Fox



Tristan Harland - Jesse McCartney - suggested by Anonymous



Whew! I do love all those ??s. I have no idea what their real names are and if anyone recognizes a face, please let me know. Thanks for the pictures, everyone!

I am working on the next chapter for Through Me right now and I hope to have it out soon. Fingers crossed!

White Coat & Gross Anatomy

We got our white coats and recited our Hippocratic Oath, modernized version today. Never have we been so blinded by flashing cameras! Yay!

We also started dissection today and I thought - oh, the smell wasn't so bad. I don't know why they say we'll stink. I get home, took a sniff of my shirt, and WOW! A wave of formaldehyde!

Those who donated their bodies for dissection are the most noble people in the world! Just ... why, Charles the 80 year old mathematics professor, why! Why must your back have so much discolored fat? We worry about you. Boy at the next table asks were you burned? Everyone is amazed by the state of your back - they walk by and speechless, they walk away.

But don't worry, we shall clean your fat away and your muscles will be beautiful. Thank you, Charles!

New Semester

Sorry, folks, I'm steadily working on the next chapter for Through Me, but I'm in a state of panic now and writing's been put on the back burner for now - at least until the weekend rolls along.

Gross Anatomy starts tomorrow! Our White Coat Ceremony follows directly after lab which means we have to hit the ground running, change from our scrubs to something more formal and less eau de formaldehyde, and track down any family members who will be showing up.

Plus, it's cold and icy.

And I need to go drop by the lab to see the mentor about time sheets and label makers.

And find my sneakers.

And remember my change of clothes for the ceremony. Including nice heels.

Pick up my syllabus and the rest of my scrubs from a friend.

Pay friend without tearing up as I relinquish a wad of cash.

Read The Dissector by morning to know at least what I'm supposed to be doing.

It's sad when a blog post turns into a To Do list! :(



I wish I had a genie.

Twittering

Went over to friend's place today to hang out despite the rainy, cold weather. We baked chocolate chip cookies and gorged on snacks and Chinese take-out, all the usual, you know, good nutritious goodies.

I don't know what we did, but somehow, we killed several hours.

I came home, read a bit, and got pressured into picking up Twitter by a friend. I'm still puzzled by its purpose, but what's the harm? Microblogging at its best? Worst? We'll see. (Follow me if you wish to stalk see what I do at all these odd lil moments throughout the day! - updates to the bottom right of the blog.)

Although all these social networking sites are starting to take its toll on me - I absolutely hate logging into Facebook these days. It's like this addictive gossip feeder that sucks in your soul and at the end, you find yourself short two hours. So now I hardly log on and whenever I get to a reunion with friends, I'm all surprised by all these new random tidbits (Our high school computer sci teacher is living where?! He's engaged to a girl in our class, what?! Our middle school friends are hooked up, how?!)

So now I can slip Twitter under my belt as well. Whoo, go mundane tasks updates!

By the way, I really am completing time sheets now for my mentor. I got called into lab for tomorrow after getting lectured for an hour over the phone. :( Bright and early, fun fun fun.

Edit: BTW, I keep forgetting this, but I'd like to apologize to certain readers who have sent me private messages. I'm slowly but surely getting around to all of them! I am so sorry! Please be assured that I'm not ignoring you - I just never seem to get around to answering them all in a timely manner. But I wanted to especially thank those of you who have pointed out parts in the stories with grammatical or other mechanical issues! Thank you so, so, so much!

I'm horrible with proofing, especially when it comes to grammar - my eyes just gloss right over them and your help is very highly appreciated! Not many people choose to review in the first place these days for some odd reason (I do see you, lurkers. Don't think I don't. Especially now that they've spiffied up alerts. I literally stalk you stalking me. :), but you guys go a step beyond by taking the time out to send along useful constructive pointers! Enough said, I love you.

Violent Tendencies

My brother had jury duty today so he took my laptop with him to help him pass time.

Except the background of my laptop is of three fearsome girls brandishing weapons ... like so:



He came home and complained that the lady next to him took one look and started laughing. He got so embarrassed, he went and changed my background to a dark cityscape.

What's wrong with it? I think it's epic.

Twelfth Day

On the twelfth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Twelve drummers drumming,
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree!

False Facades Chapter 29 and Chapter 30 have been posted! Whew, the story is now reposted in its completion and I hope it has not been a disappointment.

Thank you for reading and reviewing and I hope your winter break was - or is still - enjoyable!

Please, again, respect all writers and try to refrain from plagiarism! It really kills all of your karma points, truly.

I'm working on the next chapter for Through Me and it should be coming out shortly. Hopefully sooner than later.

Happy New Year!

Brunch

I went out for brunch with a group of friends this morning - the earliest I've woken in days since vacation started! All of us were bleary-eyed.

I had a cup of cappuccino first - big mistake. Getting caffeine on an empty stomach made me absolutely nauseous.

Then I brilliantly downed a glass of mimosa. Me = Lightweight = Weaksauce. (Who'd ever heard of getting tipsy at brunch over one mimosa?! I swear my tolerance doesn't build up; it wilts with each alcohol venue I go out to.)

But I didn't even get buzzed. Nope, I skipped the high and went straight to queasy, kill me now, ugh.

By the time our food came, I didn't even want to look at my eggs benedict. I got them with salmon gravlax and they made me even more nauseous.

I was so afraid I was going to hurl, I stopped drinking and sat there, taking breathers between bites because I, like all good Asian children, have been taught not to waste food.

Friends kept chatting until one of them noticed my face. "Are you okay?"

They had heard about my party debacle the other night so they leapt into action, quickly moving away my mimosa while ushering in water and more coffee (ugh).

Then friend tried to pull out a tissue, knocked over her glass of mimosa, which karate-chopped MY glass. I reached out to rescue it and tried to set my glass back upright only to find that it had somehow ... shrunk. Uh, where'd the stem go?

Second friend picked up the broken off stem of the champagne glass and I stared at it, bewildered. I moved my glass, hovering over the stem base and for a half second, I wondered if I should set my glass on top of the stem and it could somehow magically stand, melded back together like puzzle pieces. (It was the alcohol speaking.)

Fortunately, the waitress was really nice about it and all she said during clean-up duty was, "Would you like another drink?"

"I think we're good."

I think it sobered me up and I felt much better afterward. The coconut pie there was really good.

Eleventh Day

On the eleventh day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

False Facades Chapter 23, Chapter 24, Chapter 25, Chapter 26, and Chapter 27 have been reposted! Updates bonanza! Sorry about flooding your inboxes if you have me on alerts.

Tomorrow's the last night. Please stay tuned.

Tenth Day

On the tenth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

False Facades Chapter 20, Chapter 21, and Chapter 22 have been posted.

My mother's not feeling so well today. She spent the majority of last night throwing up so she took it easy for today while we (the bums she has to call her children) tried to handle housework without her. We are useless bodies.

I stepped outside to retrieve our trash cans since it was collection day yesterday. Evil wind blew one of our cans into our next door neighbor's driveway. I staggered around blearily in the cold in my high heels (I have no shoes except for heels and tall boots anymore every since I left my sneakers in the school locker so that I could be proactive and go to the gym - pfft, yah right) for several minutes, bewildered. I was wondering if some cursed people stole our trash can again and I bumbled around until I spotted it, reclining on my neighbor's property, half hidden behind the front tree.

Ninth Day

On the ninth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

False Facades Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18 and Chapter 19 have been posted!

I hate putting new sheets on my bed. It takes a team effort to get it over my mattress, smooth it down and tuck it around the four corners. My brother tend to help me, but it generally leaves me exhausted because we have to physically lift up my mattress and prop it away from the wall while I get on my tiptoes and reach and stretch and -

Yes, so today, I had no team so I did a halfass job by myself where I just crawled around my bed, tucking the elastic into the four corners, which means I'm probably going to wake up in the morning with my sheets curled around my legs. Excellent.



(I think that sometimes too. I'm onto you, secret spies!)

I just received an email from a friend and she sent me more e-book goodies - I swear, that's all I've been doing these days, demolishing novels from the library and their e-book collection. It's quite sad how excited I got over her email - oh plus, she passed German! Yay! Between my friends, we now have Cantonese, Mandarin, French, Spanish, German conquered - we are the United Nations of rudimentary basics. 

Eighth Day

On the eighth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.

False Facades Chapter 14 and Chapter 15 have been posted! Sorry about the lateness, but I got home pretty late.

My cousin is a New Year's baby so my parents bought some food and we invaded their house for hotpot as an impulsive celebration for her birthday. Except we had no cake. And all we did was just eat and watch TV and tried to steer clear from her two toddlers.

Her kids are super adorable, but I have to say, the eldest's favorite game is seeing how many times he can bowl me over. He has this perfectly round, HARD head and he'll go back a couple steps, get a running start, and then propel himself onto me while I'm sitting on the couch. My other cousin (their uncle) tried to save me a couple of times, but that kid - he's a force to be reckoned with.

Still. They're so cute! I'm such a sucker.

My brother always makes me sit far, far away from him so he doesn't get in the way of the baby's attacks. My fav cousin lives in perpetual fear of getting hurt from him (the baby, that is) - or hurting him whenever she sees him.

So I'm kinda bruised and tired now, but shoot, I'm already behind on chapters so I have to repost chapters for today (well, yesterday) even if I have to stay up late. Remember, I count days by sleep cycles and I'm not asleep! Yet.

The only reason it takes me longer than it should to repost is because I go through the document changing the stupid thoughts to italics (back then, for some odd reason, Fictionpress didn't accept italics so I put all the thoughts in brackets and such. What a mess.) so of course, while I'm going through them, I notice grammar mistakes. Or awkward phrasing. So then I go change some of that. (Oh, if you ever notice any grammar mistakes or other mechanical mistakes, please, if you could, point them out in your review. There are always some readers who tend to go "Oh, I noticed some mistakes", but they never specify so it just might be helpful if you could point the way.)

Believe me, I'm already resisting my urges to rewrite the chapter and add more descriptions while I'm at it - otherwise, I'd never get around to reposting the chapter.

Like I said before, this rough draft can get so rough, my fingers positively cringes from the upload button. Be forgiving with my younger self who wrote it. She didn't know better.

Oh, and for those who say I leave a lot of cliffhangers ... I do. Haha, I'm sorry. But keep in mind, you guys now have it way easier than my first batch of readers. They sometimes had to wait months for the next update while you guys just need to wait for the next day or so. My early readers are hardened veterans and they should be given medals or something.

See you in a couple of hours or so for the Ninth Day.