His arm had withered in the last war. The statues showed him with both, one with sword and one with shield -- or sword and spear, where defensive fighting was out of fashion.

The statues didn't look much like him, Richard thought critically as he passed under one of them on his way to work. Not just because they were ten feet tall and he was well under six, but he had never been that handsome, and didn't wear his hair long like that anymore.

His son Joseph had been growing his own hair out. Richard thought he looked stupid. The statues, too, looked stupid -- a college kid on a heroic crusade.

Richard liked his job. He had a comfortable desk chair and a beautiful computer and plenty of coffee. He needed a lot, now, to stay awake. He remembered being alert all day and night when he was young. He preferred it this way -- a long day and then a long and peaceful rest.

Reaching his office, he settled in for the morning, putting statues and even Joey's terrible hair out of his mind. He called up Excel and started working the data. It was slower, typing with only one hand, but Richard was used to it by now. The company-wide survey showed slightly higher employee satisfaction than last year. His boss would be pleased. Richard drank some more coffee, filling his World's Greatest Dad mug in the break room.

At 11:00 precisely Richard packed up his briefcase and left for lunch. Only three blocks to the café where he always ate. He passed a yellow flyer for the opening of a brand new museum. The Helsinger Museum, he read in passing, not thinking much about it. Good old Bobby. Richard missed him.

They had kept his usual corner table open for him. He liked having his back to the wall, even now, to be near an exit through the kitchen but at an angle to the door where no one coming through it with a rifle would be able to hit him. He ordered his usual egg on rye toast and salad, lemonade, coffee, thank you Rhonda, your hair looks lovely today, and pulled out his laptop. He usually worked through lunch.

(So the subject is just "I write, but I don't write my psych paper," in Indonesian. Or it is if I got the words right.)

I have a paper due on Friday, and it's so hard to motivate myself to write an essay when I have hours and hours of time tomorrow to do it... So I'm procrastinating using the wonderful time-waster that is Livejournal! Hooray!

Also, one of my friends has been teaching me Indonesian. So far I'm not even slightly proficient. My favorite sentence is "Saya mau satu es krem waffle," which just means, "I want an ice cream waffle." That's because ice cream waffles are delicious (lately we've been adding fun toppings, like cinnamon and brown sugar, and it makes them even more epic). I dream of someday being good at the language (not a completely impossible dream, considering that Indonesian has just about none of things that make languages hard, but still an improbable one, because it is very low on cognates, es krem waffle notwithstanding).

Just over two weeks until NaNoWriMo! I am in a group on campus, I am in the group for OctoPrepMo, I have no idea what I'm writing about, and I'm pysched.

On a totally unrelated note, here's a very short bit of a nonexistent scene. I wrote it a long time ago and liked the rhythm and concept of it.

   “How much for a soul?”
   “Are you buying or selling?”
   “How pure? How defiled?”
   “Is it old?”
   “Is it whole?”
   “How much for a soul?”
   The caverns were full of fog and the wild bargaining, gossip and laughter of an eerie multitude. The tourists ducked by, hoping to avoid eye contact with the soul traders gabbling, arguing, hawking their wares.
   “I’ve a nice one right here! Hardly any wear on it!”
   “I’ll trade you this kid for the murderers there.”
   “No need, I’ve got stingy old men by the dozen.”
   “That’s got a nice shimmer, which raises the price.”
   “How much for a soul?”
   “Was it naughty or nice?"

I got my first credit card (not the first I've used, but the first that is mine and mine alone) yesterday. This means that, unlike with my sparkly debit card, I have been given the ability to instantaneously and invisibly borrow money at any moment without anyone reminding me that I owe them money (because, of course, credit card companies like you to owe them money so they can charge exorbitant interest rates, charge you more money, and eventually plunge you into infinite debt, leaving you bankrupt and with bad credit that will forever haunt you and keep anyone from loaning you money, so you will never again be able to pay for anything and you're facing the end of life as you know it).

OK, so I'm a little scared of credit cards. I blame the Great Depression-caused-by-invention-of-buying-on-credit day of US History.

Mostly I consider this event significant not because of it's life-ruining potential (well, for that too), but because it is yet another Sign that I am becoming a Grown-Up Adult Person (ha!). When people ask my age and I tell them, I always have to suppress the urge to add, "No, wait, that can't be right... I think I meant fifteen. No, wait, twelve."

No one should be entrusting me with a credit card. It's ridiculous.


On a younger note, I bought some gummy worms yesterday and have been slowly and happily making my way through the bag. They're delicious. They're mostly half-red, half-some-other-color, and I like red the least, so I've been eating the red parts first, which means a whole lot of biting-heads-off, which should not be as much fun as it is... Everyone should have gummy worms. They may be my favorite non-chocolate candy.

Mmm, gummy worms.
 

And on a pretty unrelated note, in Abnormal Psychology I was just learning about some new OCD classifications. There are two different familial variations, one related to tic disorders and one not so much. They have different symptoms and treatments.

And then there's the third one, which is caused by getting strep as a kid and which comes and goes through your life as you get sick, and it's called (really!) Sporadic PANDAS. Hee-hee, best kind of OCD ever [Required Disclaimer: OCD is a mental disorder that can cause very real distress and that should be taken seriously and not ever made fun of ever. Even this form of OCD, while the mildest, can cause full-blown symptoms on occasion that can interfere with a person's everyday life, and as such it should be treated with respect. End Disclaimer]. If I thought I actually had this (rather than just having mild compulsive behaviors that look a bit like OCD) I would put this on a T-shirt with pictures of pandas fading in and out, and I would wear it all the time.

I have submitted stuff to places! I await my rejection letters with anticipation approaching glee.
 

One week until school starts. If you can feel my enthusiasm from here, you're probably sensing someone else. Too much homework still to do, among other considerations.

I am happy to have my schedule, though. It's always nice to know what you're in for... For what you're in? In for what you are? Oh, well, the people who created the preposition rule were just trying to recreate Latin anyway. What you're in for.

Out of a total inability to think of anything to write here in my first-ever LiveJournal entry, I will now add my schedule to this post.


1. Intro to Psychology
2. AP Biology
3. Español V
4. LUNCH
5. English Literature
6. AP Literature/Composition
7. GYM
8. Deutsch IV


Please note the wonderful beauty of two English classes, two foreign languages classes, and (most importantly, of of course) NO MATH. : D Sometimes life is exquisitely beautiful.

I have only one week left until school starts -- a week that will be spent visiting colleges and traveling around the East Coast area -- in which I must read and summarize 12 more chapters of a barely entertaining Spanish radio play in writing, fill out roughly 2.5 pages of Biology questions (many in actuality relating to Chemistry), find three passages in Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison which illustrate major themes of the novel, and finish a brief essay on the manner in which I read said novel. Plus sometime in that span I must finish collecting and preparing school supplies. And I'm supposed to be starting on college essays and whatnot -- ha! As if I'm remotely that responsible.

Anyway, I have now added enough text to justify the existence of this post, and I am therefore content for the moment. I hope anyone and everyone happening to read this is also happening to have a magnificent day.