It's Not Technically Its Own Country, But...

Macau is one of the two 'special administrative regions' of China, the other one being Hong Kong. It was the first and last European colony in China, and until 1999 was administered by the Portugese. It's also one of the richest cities in the world. Once again, I'm not really sure how I made it through the last twenty two years without knowing this place existed.

I have a reader there, and from the looks of things, they read almost all of Aigaion Girl in less than a day.

I Forget.

I completely forget what I was going to post about. I applied for a bunch of jobs today. The insane rainstorm kept me from applying at the two jobs that required an in-person application, 'cause I thought it might reduce my chances slightly if I showed up looking like a drowned rat.

Also, when I worked out today, all of the equipment was soaking wet, so I had to dry it with my sweater, which was lovely. I really need new shoes. It's bad when they leak normally, but today it was just ridiculous. Despite all that, my workout was fun, and a lot easier than it used to be... I think I need to step up my game a little.

Devereaux Court is doing well, with six members and climbing.

Now I just have the rest of my cousin's identity guide to design, because, for reasons I am now a little confused about, I told her it wouldn't be a problem for me to have it done for tomorrow. Yep, I am insane.

I think that really is it for me.

Devereaux Court & Stuff

So, Devereaux Court is doing pretty well. I spent a good chunk of yesterday learning how to split the sidebar into two columns, which I did manage to do. Then I stayed up late writing posting guidelines and stuff.

This evening, I messaged some writers I know and asked them if they would be interested in joining. So far, I've had two takers, which brings our number to four, with several invites still open. I have to say, I'm reasonably excited about this.

I worked out today, obviously. Yesterday I really pushed myself, and I'm sorry to say that I didn't do the same today. It was unbelievably hot and muggy, but that's sort of a lame excuse. Maybe I'll do better tomorrow.

Tonight, I plan to watch House, work on Aigaion Girl and probably teach my dad how to do some basic photo manipulation.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

I know, I know.

You're probably wondering what I know. Well, I started another blog.

See, I know, I know.

It's not just for me, though, because I don't really need another blog. It's actually something I've been thinking about doing for a while, and just got around to doing because - well, I guess because I was sick today and didn't have the energy to do a whole lot else. It's called Devereaux Court, after the famous coffee house locale, and it's going (supposed) to be a forum for writers to get together and chat about whatever they feel like chatting/posting about - probably it will include story bits, random articles and maybe discussions, as well as questions anyone feels like asking other writers, whathaveyou.

Also, it'll be better written than this. I think I'm running a fever at the moment, so that's my excuse.

Le Yawn

I'm off to bed in a minute, but a couple of quick things first.

I've just put up the second/third last chapter of Aigaion Girl, which is über exciting. I cannot wait to get editing so I can self-publish and have people reading my book. I'm a little worried about how my extended family is going to react, but what can you do?

Also, I'm listening to Absolute Beginners, which is the sweetest song ever. Also, in the video I'm watching, David bowie has the exact same hair as me. That's a little creepy.

My workouts are starting to pay off a bit; I'm finding most of my exercises way easier, and I can tie my shoes without bending my knees, so yay for me.

I'm sure there was something else I was going to blog about, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. I want to go to the beach, but somehow I don't think that's it. Anyway, I'm off to bed.

Revamp

So, as you can see, I've redone my blog... again.

I'm pretty pleased with myself, actually, since I magaed to get both a stationary background and translucent floating text boxes. As much as I liked my blog the way it was, it felt like it needed some updating.

I've also updated my travel blog, So, Journey, with the help of The Cutest Blog on the Block, and their lovely free backgrounds(this one with the birdies is all me).

Also, I'm thinking of starting a community writing blog, just a bunch of writers hanging around, talking about writing, and bouncing ideas off each other. Might be kinda cool.

The Short Long Weekend

I have no idea what I did for the first two days of the long weekend... other than work out, but I do that every day.

Today, I did lots of fun things.

I went out for breakfast with my parents, which was yummy.

I read and answered reviews for Aigaion Girl, which I had a lot of. This is because I put in my last set of author's notes that I plan on self-publishing, so as well as my regular number of reviews, I had bonus ones, with people assuring me they will buy it when it comes out. Also, I gave A/G to Jammy to read.

I entered another photography contest (the first one I entered was a few days ago). Over all, I think the pictures are pretty good. I don't know what I'm up against, though, so it's hard to say whether or not I have a shot.

James and I headed to Starbucks and he bought me a frozen drink, which was tasty, despite the fact that the girl behind the counter didn't know what skim milk was, and ended up giving us splenda syrup.

After Starbucks, we walked to Natalie's house, where she wasn't, and called her, and found out she wasn't there.

Then I showed James my work out route, and the bat-cave bridge (it's a little bridge that looks like the bat cave, if that wasn't clear). Somewhere during our wandering, we saw a group of people in period clothes playing minigolf. They're my heroes.

We went to Timmie's, then to the casino, 'cause we were supposed to go to the casino last time James was in town, but we forgot. The casino rocks, by the way. I'd never been in there before, so it was quite the experience. They IDed us at the door, which was to be expected, then the guy caught me completely off guard when he asked me what my middle name was. My middle name is actually Athena, but I haven't gone by my first name since I was eight weeks old, so it took me a minute to realize that Athena is actually my middle name. Once I said 'Athena', he looked at me some more, then asked me to spell it. When that was over with, we went inside, and James got ten dollars to split between the two of us. While we were playing the slots, I took a picture of James, and this female security guard came out of nowhere within about two seconds, and told us we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. She was very appologetic, but we had to delete the picture we'd taken, which kinda sucks. Hence the less-than-flattering picture that was taken by the sign out front. We were probably at the casino for an hour or more, and in that time, managed to not only not lose, but also, to get ahead by $9ish, so that covered Starbucks, which is pretty cool.

We walked back to my house, then to my Mummy's office, to print Aigaion Girl and print out some wallet-sized copies of the above picture, then came back to my house, ate pizza and played Pick Two (best game ever).

Loki and I walked James most of the way home, then turned around and walked back. Then I uploaded some pictures to Facebook, and now I'm writing this. Basically, I packed my whole long weekend into today.

Also, as a totally random aside, I was writing Aigaion Girl yesterday or the day before and trying to find music that had to do with the apocalypse or end-of-the-world type stuff, and I came across Eve of Destruction by Barry McGuire. I've always liked the song, but I'd never actually listened to the words. I left a comment to that effect on the YouTube video (also mentioning that I thought the song was oddly suited to our current global climate), and someone gave my comment thumbs down, because they thought I was talking about global warming. God, people make me sad... but go listen to the song, 'cause it's good, and it is appropriate today, possibly even moreso than it was when it was written.

I think that's it for today.

And Another One

I've discovered yet another new country. I realize this kind of makes me sound like some kind of explorer, running around and poking my flag into things, but actually, I haven't left my own country in over a year (with the exception of a brief trip to the US to pick up postage stamps). So, when I say I discovered a country, what I really mean is that I found out about it.

The Republic of Mauritius was entirely foreign to me (see what I did there?) until today. Everyone has heard about Dodos and how they were hunted into extinction within 80 years of the Europeans discovering them, which kind of makes me wonder why I never knew that the island of Mauritius (one of the many islands in the Republic) was the only place they ever lived.

It kind of makes me want to become a geography teacher, so I can force students to learn things about the world they live in - instead of allowing them to dick around colouring in maps with pencil crayons for a credit.

Anywho, this has been another country brought to you by my lovely readers at FictionPress, who never seem to stop supplying me with things to learn and share.