Late-night ponderings..
Argh! I hate when authors forbid fanfiction to be written of their stories.. I mean, if I ever get published, and if my books get popular enough that people want to write fanfiction, I would consider it an honor. It means the reader wants to spend more time in your world, with your characters. It means your writing connected to them that much.
In other words, I can't find any Fitz/Fool fanfics. It's seriously pissing me off. I really wanted to try and start committing to my own original fiction again, while keeping up with my Harry Potter fanfic as well.. But if the lack of Fitz/Fool fanfics keeps up, I might just have to freaking write one of my own.
I rented "Luna" by Julie Anne Peters from the library yesterday. I finished it today. The author also wrote "Define 'Normal'", which I found profoundly boring and predictable. "Luna", on the other hand.. "Luna" was much better. It was about a transsexual guy-who's-actually-a-girl-on-the-inside, and his life from his sister's point of view. I loved it, and though I've never known any transsexuals myself [to my knowledge, that is], it seemed to me to be very authentic. I might just have to read another of the Julie Anne Peters's books, "Keeping You a Secret". Faith loved the book. I'm not into femmeslash myself, but if the plot is good enough.. We shall see. I'll keep it in the back of my mind as an emergency book, if I get through my current to-read list and find I'm bookless.
Meanwhile, "Luna" was really just an in-between read for me, picked up because I wasn't sure when my next trip to Barnes & Noble would be. I'm planning on acting weak, feeble, and vocabulary-less from lack of reading tomorrow until one of my parents drives me there, hee. The next book on my to-read list is "Sex and the City" by Candace Bushnell [notice how close that is to 'Carrie Bradshaw'?] - the book that started it all! I love that tv show..
Tomorrow I'm doing a presentation for English class. It's on the AIDS crisis, and what the government should be doing about it. [The US government has spent $161 billion on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we're expected to be impressed by Bush pledging in 2003 to provide $15 billion to organizations fighting AIDS? You'd think that saving the lives of people dying here in our own country would be more important than killing people in other countries. Also, the convenient little condition that Bush tacked onto that promise of funding? PEPFAR - the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief - will only give money to an organization of they agree to use at least one third of the money to support abstinence-only prevention programs. This is fucking ridiculous. Do you really expect the youth of America to make use of such programs? It's a waste of money that could be better spent finding a vaccination/cure and providing more antiretroviral treatment.] I was nervous at first about having to do public speaking, but quite a few people did their presentations today, and, well.. They all rather sucked. Only one or two people did pretty well. So I'm feeling much more confident now, because I know I can at least do better than that. How do people not notice when they're doing nervous public-speaking tics? Shoving hands in their pockets, shifting from foot to foot, etc. Is it just that I look for these subconcious movements because I'm a psychology geek? Or even because I'm somewhat predatory-minded, with my cat side and my wolf side and all? [This isn't to say I actually look for prey, persay. Just that some of the instincts are there - like noticing the weak animal in the herd, the pitfalls that make that animal vulnerable. Or maybe it's just a defense mechanism of sorts, seeing things like that in them before they see it in me. I've also noticed that it's people who have poor personalities and self-destructive behaviors that tend to blip on my radar as prey-animals. They're flat, they're not contributing positively to the gene pool.. It fits with the animal mindset theory. Gods, I have to stop ranting now.] Whatever it is, I'm glad I notice it so that I can prevent myself from doing these same things that distracts from the presentation and betrays one's nervousness.
I was just searching for a few more images to maybe add into my powerpoint presentation at the last minute, some in-your-face, here's what AIDS does to the human body photos. I came across a lot of really powerful posters on deviantART promoting AIDS awareness. I think it would be awesome if I could design something like this and hang them all around the school.. Because December is AIDS Awareness Month, you know. Perfect time to be doing my presentation, eh?
I just had an even better idea. Anyone and everyone who reads this - suggest this to as many people as you think would be open to the idea, and tell them to tell their friends as well. I think it would be really cool if we could spark a widespread thing. Everyone should get a tube of cheap bright red lipstick - note: this is not going to be for personal use, and once you start using it for The Plan.. Do not ever, ever, ever use it as actual lipstick. Anyway, here's the plan: Carry the lipstick with you whenever you go out, and whenever you have to use a public bathroom, or even if you just see a public bathroom and feel like doing it, take out the lipstick and draw a small support ribbon somewhere on the mirror - preferably in the center, small, but large enough so that people know what it is. The red color of the lipstick will indicate that it's an AIDS support ribbon. Just a little visual reminder, to keep it popping to the surface of people's minds, y'know? Hmm... I'll have to see if I can work up some support for this among the students at my school..
In other words, I can't find any Fitz/Fool fanfics. It's seriously pissing me off. I really wanted to try and start committing to my own original fiction again, while keeping up with my Harry Potter fanfic as well.. But if the lack of Fitz/Fool fanfics keeps up, I might just have to freaking write one of my own.
I rented "Luna" by Julie Anne Peters from the library yesterday. I finished it today. The author also wrote "Define 'Normal'", which I found profoundly boring and predictable. "Luna", on the other hand.. "Luna" was much better. It was about a transsexual guy-who's-actually-a-girl-on-the-inside, and his life from his sister's point of view. I loved it, and though I've never known any transsexuals myself [to my knowledge, that is], it seemed to me to be very authentic. I might just have to read another of the Julie Anne Peters's books, "Keeping You a Secret". Faith loved the book. I'm not into femmeslash myself, but if the plot is good enough.. We shall see. I'll keep it in the back of my mind as an emergency book, if I get through my current to-read list and find I'm bookless.
Meanwhile, "Luna" was really just an in-between read for me, picked up because I wasn't sure when my next trip to Barnes & Noble would be. I'm planning on acting weak, feeble, and vocabulary-less from lack of reading tomorrow until one of my parents drives me there, hee. The next book on my to-read list is "Sex and the City" by Candace Bushnell [notice how close that is to 'Carrie Bradshaw'?] - the book that started it all! I love that tv show..
Tomorrow I'm doing a presentation for English class. It's on the AIDS crisis, and what the government should be doing about it. [The US government has spent $161 billion on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we're expected to be impressed by Bush pledging in 2003 to provide $15 billion to organizations fighting AIDS? You'd think that saving the lives of people dying here in our own country would be more important than killing people in other countries. Also, the convenient little condition that Bush tacked onto that promise of funding? PEPFAR - the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief - will only give money to an organization of they agree to use at least one third of the money to support abstinence-only prevention programs. This is fucking ridiculous. Do you really expect the youth of America to make use of such programs? It's a waste of money that could be better spent finding a vaccination/cure and providing more antiretroviral treatment.] I was nervous at first about having to do public speaking, but quite a few people did their presentations today, and, well.. They all rather sucked. Only one or two people did pretty well. So I'm feeling much more confident now, because I know I can at least do better than that. How do people not notice when they're doing nervous public-speaking tics? Shoving hands in their pockets, shifting from foot to foot, etc. Is it just that I look for these subconcious movements because I'm a psychology geek? Or even because I'm somewhat predatory-minded, with my cat side and my wolf side and all? [This isn't to say I actually look for prey, persay. Just that some of the instincts are there - like noticing the weak animal in the herd, the pitfalls that make that animal vulnerable. Or maybe it's just a defense mechanism of sorts, seeing things like that in them before they see it in me. I've also noticed that it's people who have poor personalities and self-destructive behaviors that tend to blip on my radar as prey-animals. They're flat, they're not contributing positively to the gene pool.. It fits with the animal mindset theory. Gods, I have to stop ranting now.] Whatever it is, I'm glad I notice it so that I can prevent myself from doing these same things that distracts from the presentation and betrays one's nervousness.
I was just searching for a few more images to maybe add into my powerpoint presentation at the last minute, some in-your-face, here's what AIDS does to the human body photos. I came across a lot of really powerful posters on deviantART promoting AIDS awareness. I think it would be awesome if I could design something like this and hang them all around the school.. Because December is AIDS Awareness Month, you know. Perfect time to be doing my presentation, eh?
I just had an even better idea. Anyone and everyone who reads this - suggest this to as many people as you think would be open to the idea, and tell them to tell their friends as well. I think it would be really cool if we could spark a widespread thing. Everyone should get a tube of cheap bright red lipstick - note: this is not going to be for personal use, and once you start using it for The Plan.. Do not ever, ever, ever use it as actual lipstick. Anyway, here's the plan: Carry the lipstick with you whenever you go out, and whenever you have to use a public bathroom, or even if you just see a public bathroom and feel like doing it, take out the lipstick and draw a small support ribbon somewhere on the mirror - preferably in the center, small, but large enough so that people know what it is. The red color of the lipstick will indicate that it's an AIDS support ribbon. Just a little visual reminder, to keep it popping to the surface of people's minds, y'know? Hmm... I'll have to see if I can work up some support for this among the students at my school..