Edit: Sorry for having journals in your inbox for two days in a row, but quite a few of my watchers know this person well.

I received a text message from my friend in PSU yesterday, saying that she and other students were locked in their dorms because there was a gunman on campus.

Needless to say I was horrified--I wasn't there, of course, but she said that policemen were out checking buildings and the outside. It was on the news this morning as well. They locked down the school and the hospital nearby for four-five hours (starting around 5:30PM?), and only until 12:19 AM did I get word that the "gunman" was finally identified. So I'm a little exhausted at this point.

The gun wasn't a gun, and the gunman was a martial artist with some sort of tool--I don't know what. But for any of you that got word the same time I did, Amy's fine. Holy crap, that was a rough night.


Writing Progress

Pen Death Toll: 22

Pen Death Toll (2009): 13


Projects

NaNoWriMo 2007 - The Devil's Day
On hiatus for more world-building and development, though the idea's still pushing through. I adore this story and don't want to abandon it. It's been in my head for four years and still hasn't died. Will put passages in my CW portfolio.

NaNoWriMo 2008 - Absolute Zero
The first draft is done, but I only like the concept. I think I might adapt the idea or characters into a different story. It might be novella or short story material.

NaNoWriMo 2009 - The Autumn Wolf
Two families are tied together, but Allevera, the autumn she-wolf, seeks to break those bonds.

DecNoWriMo 2008
It's onto the small edits now! Woot!

Short Story Collection (the survivable ones, at least)
How to Play God
I really want to revise this. I'm going to polish a passage for my CW portfolio and then re-do the whole plot.
Karen MacGyver
No title for this one yet, but the protagonist has been talking to me and I want to know more. She's an eccentric young florist and epitomizes art in all its forms. I know little about this story thus far, but I'm eager to find out.
I Am The Seasons
What do we all run for? A young stag seeks to find out.


School Stuff

School Newspaper - 2nd Print Issue & Online Features
Deadline: Weekly deadlines for online articles, and a big deadline in late November-early December for the next print issue.
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I can legally drive an ice cream truck now. Screw scratch tickets and questionable entertainment (although...), I like the ice cream truck. Yes, folks, I'm no longer a minor as of today. Woohoo!

In other news, I got a new kit and will be getting a third lens in the near future. Canon 450D with the kit lens and a telephoto--the kit lens isn't spectacular, of course, but it more than suffices for now. I just wish I could actually USE the beast, but instead I'm swamped with college applications. Luckily, I (for once) have no immediate homework deadlines today. Happy birrrthday to me!

I want to accumulate a few pictures with the new kit and I'll submit them all at once, just to start off with some consistency. Bear with me as the final push for college applications nears.

Wish me luck, as I couldn't wish for anything more to be a Creative Writing major at my top college. My portfolio is the deciding factor, and it's coming together!

Again, bear with my absence. I promise I'm not dead.