Great Friday

I haven't had a really good day in a long time, so it was nice to have such a great Friday after a few funky days. Which always seems to get worse at night. Ever notice how anything not great (depression, flu, headache, etc) always seems to get worse at night?

Anyway, it started with a REALLY good dream concerning something Tessa and I had been discussing the days previous. Basically I was really troubled and down about something that she refused to allow me to give up on, and that dream seem to only illustrate what she was trying to tell me. Might sound silly but it really felt more than a dream and ever since then I've been re-motivated. Feels really nice :) That was followed by a pretty good walk with Dalila. Yeah we're still working on the walking thing, we have our good days and our bad days. Slept well all morning, got ready for my appointment at the clinic and for the first time I wasn't anxious at all. Not even jittery, which is really unheard of for me these days. Panic disorder makes life very hard, and even simple things like a short bus ride can completely set me off. Good moments like this kind of add to the hope that this isn't going to be forever. The appointment itself went really well, we came up with a lot of good ideas that are hopefully going to really help. You know something's right when you feel like you're right where you're supposed to be, and that's how I'm feeling here now. After two years of this I'm finally going to start getting better.

Despite the cold I stopped at Tim Horton's on the way home and grabbed myself an ice cap. It's usually hit or miss how well it gets made, I love it when it's really full. Which this one was, so that was nice. Nearly froze my hand off on the way home since I forgot my gloves (better than forgetting something important though!). Dalila handled the extra crate time well - no whining, no pacing and most importantly, no accidents. Huge bonus. Then I even got around to the task of gutting out my closet. I have a floor in there! And I found a whole bunch of stuff I had been looking for, including stuff I had forgotten about. Lots of crap to get rid of, and hopefully this time I won't bury my floor again. Feels nice to clean up these little corners, and it may sound weird but sometimes focusing on something else gets ideas going. I guess because you're not so focused on the writing, it's easier to see the forest for the trees as it were.

Does It Say 'Open for Business' On My Brain?

Because it should be reading 'closed to submissions'.

I've gotten not one but three new story ideas in the past week and they just won't stop buzzing around my brain. Makes it really hard to concentrate on the other stories I'm trying to work on and finish. One that I'm fleshing out right now is inspired heavily by the Norse and Celtic cultures, and a little bit on the Vrykul from World of Warcraft (who are also based on the Norse - so I guess a double Norse inspiration?). The story starts out as a single people that will eventually degrade into two seperate cultures. It'll have many fantasy elements, of course - the mythos of both the Norse and Celtic have plenty of it - and will probably be a little Romanesque in that gods sometimes manipulate key mortals for their own purposes. It's still a work-in-progress, but I have a beginning and an ending. It's all that middle fodder I'll need, but later. I think it could have potential for a series, but the book could hold its own as a standalone too. Unlike other series that I've started though I have no precise number as to a possible number. It's the first time I've been confident enough to say that if people liked this book and wanted more stories from these people, I could give it to them. And I promise not to pull a LKH/AR and butcher characters and plot. I'll quit while I'm ahead I promise ;) I still mourn the loss of the true Brat Prince.

Speaking of princes, I'm back on Beautiful Nightmare as I work on The Dragon King. Tessa and I jokingly refer to Matsu as the Aristocratic Prince, I just hope he lives up to the title. Knowing my beloved vampire I'm sure he will - I mean this is a guy who killed several important figures in a town in 1800s London and caused a panic across the countryside because it amused him. The story took a bit of change, and I decided to incorporate some magic into it to spunk it up some, and I think it's going to work well. Not predominate the story, but heck if you're going to have vampires and all sorts of 'fantastical' creatures showing up magic abilities have to make SOME kind of appearance. I can't wait to get to the first physical fight scene, it's going to be fun writing a scene that highlights Matsu's sadistic streak. It's funny how two characters who were inspired by the same person came out so entirely different.

Now, note to self: Take the Christmas music off your playlist already!!! And change the mp3 battery; Random Shuffle tends to work better with a charged battery.

Tomorrow I should have exciting news to post, so stay tuned!

Music of the Moment: Future - Gackt

Birthdays and Bouncing

Fun week! Monday was my birthday, so all this week and the days leading up to it was distracting with the excitement. It's funny how it always seems so far off, and then BOOM! All of a sudden it's there. This year though it sort of extended all week. Sunday I saw my dad for coffee, had a nice visit and ran into a couple of friends I haven't seen in a long while (and was admonished for disappearing from Facebook, haha. It's a habit, what can I say). Monday was dinner with my mom and my aunt as well as the largest cake I think I've had yet. All chocolate, very creamy and sweet with HUGE fresh strawberries inside and on top. My only complaint is that the strawberries on top would have been more enjoyable had they been dipped in chocolate instead of whatever they had been dipped in. Still, it was very good. Sweet Paradise certainly earned its name. Tuesday I had the whole afternoon and evening to myself. It's a lot easier to focus when no one's home. Wednesday I got the first of three packages from my lovely friend Tessa who lives in the US. I didn't realize the true scope of the 'few things' that she bought and sent to me until I actually saw them.

This first package contained two magazines from Japan, both with Gackt Camui on the cover and one of which she told me about when she actually ordered it. Most of the mags she orders through a guy from Japan named Koji, who buys and resells them for a reasonable price. She's one of his most frequent buyers, and a few months ago he sent some original photos he took when Gackt made a reappearance as Uesegi Kenshin at the Kenshin festival in 2008 as a thank you. So nice. I can't read kanji (yet), but the images are nice and hey, it's incentive to get on the ball to learn Japanese. It's funny in a culture-shock kind of way the difference between our mags and some of Japan's mags. The Out of Music magazine reads much like ours in that its from left to right. The second I can't read the title of, but it appears to be a weekly mag. This one you have to read from what we would consider the 'back' of the magazine, only it's the front in this case. Yes it's a little odd, but anyone who's ever read mangas from Japan would probably not find it quite so strange since they read right to left. But you read the text in this magazine from left to right just as you would in a Canadian or American mag. There's also a map of downtown Tokyo in this mag, which will be VERY useful once I can read the names LOL

Along with the mags was a book Tessa also told me she ordered, and what I got was not what I pictured. It was BETTER. It's a beautiful hardcover photobook of Gackt as Kenshin, many which look like they were shot on the set of Fuurin Kazan. The beginning has an interview with Ogata Ken, a very well-known actor in Japan who also appeared in the drama and sadly passed away last year. It was really nice to see, Gackt always speaks very highly of him and respected him a great deal. Interspered with the many wonderful photographs is a 9-part interview with Gackt, which in true Japanese fashion you must read right to left. And the text goes from top to bottom, instead of side to side. And yes, you must read the book from 'back' to 'front'. Doesn't detract from my love of the book though, so now I just have to find an appropriate place to display it where it won't get banged up. Unfortunately the top of my only bookshelf is comprised of all my Tolkien books at the moment. I need more furniture. The last part of the first package was the booklet from the Diabolos live tour DVD.

After that, it was sort of downhill so to speak, but no less appreciated. Thursday came a stack of burned cds containing a great deal of music, a bracelet made with onyx beads and a stretch bracelet made with blue tiger's eye beads, green tiger's eye beads, onyx beads and an amethyst bead with silver spacers between them all. And today came a lovely folder that I have no plans on using from the Requiem et Reminiscence II tour as well as the single Kimi no Tameni Dekiru Koto (What I Can Do For You in english). A nice way to end my 'birthday week'.

So now I think I shall head back into Liquid Story Binder and do some more story bouncing. I keep going back and forth between Darkstorm and Redemption which is kind of weird, but hey as long as productivity happens that's ultimately the goal. There's more actual writing going on with Darkstorm however, but my main characters seem to have fallen silent. Let's hope they have some more to say once I get some points out of the way for future Redemption scenes. I think, to motivate myself, I'll match my daily productivity with the wordcount of my last journal entry. 913 words should be easy enough. Until next time!

Music of the Moment: Storm - Gackt Camui