Happy February!

Because I lack an original title today :D

January wasn't too bad, goal-wise. I improved my eating habits, lost a bit of weight (not sure how much, I can't find the damn scale!), got back into a writing habit somewhat, and even managed to improve my sleep habits some. Definitely room for improvement of course, but I got a start on some of my goals, so that's a good thing.

Two more story ideas to add to the long list of story ideas. Thankfully though I have a lot of fleshing out to do in order to just get a plot out of them, so I won't really be troubled by them for awhile. One was spurred by an episode of Mantracker (I think) and one of the guys reminded me of the prince from The Last Unicorn and it got me to thinking...you don't see much of what I dub as 'classic Fantasy' anymore. Mythical creatures, enchanted forests, wizards, medievalish culture, people who accept fantasy creatures as easily as they accept the presence of squirrels and deer, princes slaying dragons to prove their mettle and impress a princess. I watched that movie almost religiously as a kid, I miss those classic stories. So I'm going to try and bring back that nostalgia. I'm sure it's probably not a new attempt (in fact I'm certain it isn't) but then again what is, really. Sometimes nostalgia can be fun so long as it's done right. I wish Hollywood would keep that in mind when they remake things. I saw the television series remake of He-Man as well as the new movie, and both made me cry. The show RUINED the original He-Man! Adam went from a noble nice-guy prince to a spoiled teenager, I wanted to stab him. I hope the movie ends up a little better, the trailer didn't reveal much of anything to tell, but given Hollywood's track record I'm not optimistic. If they touch She-Ra I'm REALLY going to cry. Stop destroying my childhood!

I should really update all my wordbars to reflect what I've written so far. I've gotten to the battle in Path of the Hunter, but it's coming out really crappy. Granted it's my first battle scene but I think I've achieved the worst battle scene in history. Too many characters running around I think (or else I'm more out of practice than I thought!). Just have to keep telling myself Fix It Later. Like a mantra. I'm not THAT far from the end anyway, and I can worldbuild to my heart's content while Mirage is running around my room. I have the perfect wall to tape up my index cards and papers and pictures :D Of course if anything lands on the floor while she's out, that could get messy really fast. That would make a funny excuse though, wouldn't it?

"I'm sorry Mr/Ms/Mrs. Agent/Editor, my chinchilla ate my story."

Yeah I don't think anyone would buy it either, but it is pretty funny!

A Cluttered Home is a Sign of a Cluttered Mind

I know I've heard that somewhere. It's a feng shui quote, isn't it? I tried Googling it, but I'm still tired and I think my Google-fu is off still. But it's very true.

One of my goals this year is to basically purge my apartment so to speak. There's a lot of crap sitting all over the place, stuff I don't need and stuff that needs to go somewhere. One of my goals for this year is to eliminate the packed junk once and for all. Much of it is stuff I don't need, so in comes a package of garbage backs and out will go the junk. Except for paper stuff, that will go into recycling. I'm big on recycling, what can I say. I did make a bit of a start on it, getting one area nicely cleaned up in my room. It's funny how fast Mirage will go from fast asleep to wide awake when I step into my room. And always gets the same look.

Let. Me. Out.

I've had this chinchilla for two years now, and it's funny how things changed. Mirage used to guilt me into letting her out by jumping up on the top level of her cage, stuffing herself into a corner as much as she could and look at me with the most pitiful look. And of course I gave in ^_^ She was deceptively cute. What I didn't realize was that if something she did to get what she wanted worked once, she'd keep doing it. Now that I'm immune to it she does her best to annoy me into letting her out. Bar chewing, lots of bouncing around, kicking out her woodchips (and everything that's in them), even teeth grinding. I HATE the teeth grinding. Most times that doesn't work, but she's got a lot of patience that one and every once in awhile I get fed up and let her out. There's other things too, like the word No and my use of barriers. I don't care what anyone says, chinchillas are smart little buggers. If I put something that will block what I don't want her to chew on she WILL find a way around it. She doesn't see it, figure 'okay it's out of my reach' and go find something else. It's more like 'if I can't get to it that way, I'll just find another way'. Many are accidental and so funny I can't help but laugh at her. No used to work once upon a time, but not anymore. She doesn't even move, and if I continue to tell her no she gets angry at me for telling her no! Heaven forbid I prevent her from chewing on a wire or my baseboards! Haha I do love her though and she can be affectionate. You just have to have patience - and catch her at the right time ;)

Fourty-two days until Dalila comes home. Man I've got a lot of shopping to do. Tomorrow I think I'll attack all my craft stuff and clean house there. If I haven't used it by now, I probably never will. Plus it'll give me an excuse to buy some better jewellry supplies.