Bethjoy.com

And it is not pleasant being sick. I have a cold and yesterday, I had a bad sore throat as well as the cold. But I think I’m getting better, or at least I hope so… My creative forces have been down though, I haven’t felt like writing anything on my story so it isn’t in too good of a condition. I think I was up to chapter four though. I got a new DVD last night, Alice in Wonderland. The bonus features were very interesting, I recommend them. I don’t feel like writing anything more as I am still sick so I will say that this post is now finished.

And I have begun a story! It is about Dragons, and especially one called “Dearth” which I thought was a very cheerful sort of name for a dragon. It takes place in Ireland in a non historical time that never happened and I hope to actually get to the end of the book. It should be very interesting. I have found that ideas flow more rapidly when I shut my eyes but that causes very interesting typing… Example, “Arnold turned around and saw him standing there and laughed,
“”YOu never do leave me to myself for long do you Schelshie,” Then turning to the others he said “This is Schelsh McHarth,” Both girls ackwowladge the itro duchtion and then Nancealia siad.” Fortunately I have spell checker and after I finish writing the rough draft I am going to go back over the story at least three times and fix things. So the spelling errors and mistypes and etc. will all be fixed. I have found I have a bad habit of hitting the Z button when I hit the Shift button. The amount of ZI and Zi are amazing… I’ll also have to check my grammar quite a bit too!

(Note The above was written around 11:00 P.M. last night, I just forgot to hit the post button.)

To repeat myself, I have discovered that I don’t like snow. The main reason for this is as follows: Fact one: There is snow and ice on the ground. Fact Two: I was planning on going to the Thrift Store on Wednesday. Probability One: We probably won’t go if there is snow on the ground. Result if Probability One proves to be true: I will be very, very, disappointed and sad. So I am hoping it will clear up but it probably won’t. Oh well, at least we haven’t had an earth quake and it could be much worse.

I already had a very low opinion of my writing and now it is much lower than it was. Daniel’s laughing so much when he was reading my story was quite reassuring and I was actually hoping to be a rather decent writer when I learned how to proofread correctly. But now I am really doubting it. Some friends of the family where over and of course I convinced Mrs. D to read the story. She did, and I only heard two noises of amusement. But she did say that she liked it but… I also Emailed it to a friend of mine(Sarah) and her response was not very reassuring. She thought that Lovelinia thought only about clothes and that one story of that type is just fine but… I don’t think she thought too much of it and Lovelinia did not just think about clothes. Oh well… I guess I should have increased my success by lowering my expectations but I have not noticed that most fifteen year-olds lower there expectations often and I know that I usually expect and hope for more than what happens. On paychecks a lone do I increase my success by lowering expectations because I never add my hours up unless I round them down exceedingly. So I am usually pleasantly surprised when I receive them.

But I think for the pleasure of Daniel who really did enjoy that story(even if nobody else did, and I think that Mom, Dad, and Andrew enjoyed, but I’m not sure.) I shall write some more. All though I think I’ll write the same story from other persons point of view(like the dragon’s, the prince’s, and so forth). That might be interesting. Some time I’ll have to try and write a very serious story, and that might please Sarah more. Right now I could probably do it because I don’t feel particularly cheerful(Probably Not going to the Thrift Store on Wednesday has a great deal to do with this) and I am writing very seriously. Maybe I should quote from Eyore and that might be a bit of humor thrown into this post. I am very glad I have this website, sometimes just writing something out is very, very relieving. Plus my Mom says that this counts as my composition so I don’t have to do any of the accursed stuff in my school:) Please pardon the word “accursed” it was the only word I could think of at the moment that was what I think of it. I don’t like writing serious reports and compositions and I never wrote the book report on “The Lord of the Rings” that I was supposed to have done last year. It is surprising how the word “School Work” can make something fun and nice into something unpleasant. But then it is also nice when you are doing something fun and can say that you are doing “School”. And how many things(my keyboard for example) can be counted as school expenses.

Since I feel like writing a very long post tonight I shall continue writing. Today I did a Google search for “Medieval Gowns” and found some very interesting gowns. I like getting sewing Ideas which is why I did the search. So I got LOTS of ideas. And I even did some sewing today, a very basic item but it was still some sewing. I hadn’t done any in a while so it was high time to do some. I had a fun time looking over the costume websites and book marked several to go back and look at when I want more sewing ideas.

Wow, something that hasn’t happened in a LONG time has happened, I can’t really think of anything to type other than the fact that I can’t really think of anything to type, and since anybody who has read this far is probably bored and most may have all ready stopped I feel quite easy about going on being boring. Especially since I just remembered that I was listening to “Around the World in Eighty days” and that very interesting book was made more interesting by know more about the places that they were passing through. Especially when they were traveling through India I noticed this. A lot of G.A. Henty books take place in India and most of the Kipling I have read also took place there. Which meant that when they mentioned the town of “Madras” I knew something about it and I also knew when they mentioned a “Fakir” I knew what they where. That all made the book more interesting and gave it more depth. Not that I know a lot about the towns and places, or how to spell most of them, but I do have a general idea. Which is more than I used to. And since I have typed long enough and I am tired I think I shall stop. And thank you for reading my website.

I have been editing the story quite a bit. First I wrote the story and posted it, second I proofread it and fix some grammatical and typographical errors, now I just added paragraphs. I almost added them in unusual and confusing places, like mid sentence, to see if any body would notice but I decided to do what I did instead. And I hope every likes my story! I plan to write more stories like it but knowing myself as I do… It will be interesting to see what happens…

Well, I printed the story and showed it Daniel, he laughed at least five times so that was good. Mom found all of the mistakes I made(I just spent a while proofreading and fixing so you shouldn’t find too many now). Dad read it and I think he enjoyed it too. Andrew hasn’t read it yet and neither has John but I think it got enough positive reactions for me to think of writing something longer and with chapters. And paragraphs, Daniel said that I was lacking in that respect in the previous story. But for something that I did I think it was rather funny. I think the “Worst Case Survival Guide For Dragons” would be fascinating reading, but I doubt somebody has ever written one. Maybe I should but I don’t think that Dragons ramble. All though it would be an interesting title for a book, “The Rambling Dragon”. I suppose I should have made a title for the previous book, but since I didn’t, I won’t.

I have very frequently tried to write stories, and, about as frequently, never finished them. But my writing style isn’t very good because I attempt the style of any book I have been reading but with little success. For one thing, in the past I have usually changed styles several times before the book was over and I think that a book should be written in the same style throughout. And what is about the only writing style I can claim much experience at? RAMBLING!!! So now, here is my question. How would a story sound in rambling style? Let me try an experiment.

Once Upon a Time(Fairy tales usually begin that way, and did you know that there are two spellings of Fairy? Fairy(of course) and Faerie. I prefer Fairy because it is shorter to type.) There was a beautiful princess(in stories they usually are), with hair as lovely as bright gold shining in the sun and eyes as blue as the sky(amazing how many people get away with just “Beautiful Princess” without your knowing what color their hair and eyes are.)

Now on the princess’s sixteenth birthday(she doesn’t prick her finger on a spinning wheel in this story but something else unpleasant will happen…) she received many beautiful presents; however, she received some less lovely ones. For instance the one she received from her Uncle, who was very serious and grouchy and always telling her that life is very serious, gave her a huge book titled “The Seriousness of Life”(he was very creative with his titles…) that he had written himself and told her to read all of it. She smiled but didn’t say that she would and looked at her next present in rapture. It was a beautiful sapphire and diamond jewelry set from her parents(Sapphire was her birthstone(it’s mine too)). There was a tiara, a necklace, a bracelet, but no ring. However she didn’t care about the lack of the ring and the fact that it might have been stolen never occurred to her because she thought that there wasn’t one, which was a very logical thought since one hadn’t been given to her and there really wasn’t one. Of course she put the jewelry on right away, and very lovely she looked in it, too. Fortunately she was wearing a blue dress that was just the shade of the jewels.

She opened the rest of her presents, none where worse than “The Seriousness of Life” and none were better than jewels her parents had given her(Though she did get some lovely presents, among them an adorable white kitten that she liked almost as much as the jewels, if not more, until it scratched her. Then it was taken away to be de-clawed and the Countess who gave it to her apologized for not having it done all ready.)

But it is time for the unpleasant event to happen, and fortunately the kitten wasn’t there when it happened, as it might have been mistaken for a giant marshmallow and roasted, then consumed by the dragon that showed up. Since I gave a description to the princess, I shall give a description of the dragon(I’ll also give a description of the hero, if and when he shows up…) She(a female dragon, since in my house the males outnumber the females, in this story the females mentioned shall outnumber the males mentioned.) was at least twelve feet tall at the shoulders and nine feet higher if her head was raised(long necks are fashionable for dragons.., And this was a very fashionable dragon.) Her coloring was pink and purple polka-dots(Daniel and John(two of my brothers) used to think that pink and purple polka-dots where the most awful color in the world so since this dragon must be the most awful color in the world, I have chosen that one.). Now this dragon was very found of jewels, gold, and etc(as dragons are, you can refer to the Hobbit if you need confirmation of this.) And since I have told you that the lovely princess’s hair(I just realized I hadn’t given her name, With great creativity I shall name her Lovelinia, changing the “y” to “i” and adding “nia” as the old spelling rule goes.) was the color of gold, and since the dragon was rather nearsighted, she mistook the princess for a sapphire, diamond, and gold statue that had been sculpted with a look of extreme horror on its face.

The dragon was so pleased at finding this bit of statuary that she immediately picked it up and flew back to her home, which was far away in the Mountains of Dragonac(Dragonac is sufficiently like Dragon to explain the reason why those mountains were named that.) and there the unfortunate princess was set on a pillar in the treasure room to look nice(If one does look nice with an expression of extreme terror on your face). But she did her best, and fortunately she wasn’t to stay there long because since I have been writing for over an hour I think I am going to end this story very soon.

Any way Princess Lovelinia was reflecting on the seriousness of life(her uncle would have been very proud of her) when outside the dank cavern there was a shout!!! And of course the Hero walks in. It was obvious at first glance that he was a knight in shinning armor(Though at the moment it wasn’t shinning because it is very dusty and dirty in the Mountains of Dragonac) He looked at the ugliness of the pink and purple polka-doted dragon and the beauty of the princess(the expression of extreme terror had left her face when he walked in)(Of course if he had been a dragon he would have thought the princess ugly and the Dragon lovely and very fashionable since she had a very long neck and pink and purple polka-dots were fashionable just then.) The dragon did not like visitors of this sort so she greeted him with burst of flame(Which is usually the case in the mountains of Dragonac) and the knight, who considered that enough of a challenge, rode to battle!

Of course he defeated the dragon and the pink and purple polka-dotted menace fell to the ground dead. The knight helped the princess off the pillar, then took off his helmet and introduced himself. His name was Prince Julius and he had black hair that looked like the sky at midnight, and eyes that looked like green emeralds. Despite his green eyes Lovelinia thought him very handsome(she probably would have thought anybody handsome who rescued her from that dragon.) And of course, since she was a very beautiful princess, he fell in love with her right there on the spot. So he proposed and she said “yes”(it was the least she thought that she could after he saved her from being a statue of extreme horror all of her life.) and they rode back to Lovelinia’s parents and were married. So Princess Lovelinia got to eat two cakes that day, her birthday cake and her wedding cake and everybody had to go and get her wedding presents and although they weren’t as nice as her birthday presents, they were well meant.

From her Uncle she received a very practical book entitled “Worst Case Survival Guide for Dragons”. Unfortunately he had forgotten to look inside it and instead of a book about what to do if you are caught by dragons, it was a book written for dragons and included the best way to take down a knight, how to keep your hoard from rusting, how to get rid of unwanted neighbors(have them for dinner) etc. After looking through it she made her husband promise to not go hunting dragons, and he did promise that he wouldn’t after reading the chapter on how to properly barbecue knights. So they lived happily ever after(which is the usual end to fairy tales. However, I am going to include a moral which is not as common.)

MORAL: Don’t judge a book by its cover.

There that was about an hour and a half to write but I think it will be worth it. and I also think that the rambling style may be very interesting for fairy tales. Because if it wasn’t for the rambling style the story would have been like this “Once upon a time there was a princess. She was kidnapped by a dragon. The dragon was killed by a prince who married the princess and they all lived happily ever after, except the dragon.” Now that is a little bit boring if you ask me.

I posted a post into the air

It fell to earth, I know not where,

For who has a sight that can, at most

Follow the strange writing of a post.

I am good at neither poetry nor trading at neopets all though I idiotically keep trying on both. You would have thought that after the adventures of two days ago I would have learned to stay out of the trading place at neopets. But no, I went back and calmly lost 90,000 neopoints. Oh well, at any rate I still may be able to get to a million neopoints before the end of February, I hope…

Last night I went to Comp USA, a very interesting store. There I saw the Ibook G4 that I plan to buy, and learned that the warranty is 250 dollars:( Which means that it will probably be a little while longer before I get it. Also there were some beautiful little video cameras there. My video camera is rather large and heavy compared to the smaller new models. But buying a new video camera isn’t too high on my list right now and buying a new laptop is VERY high on the list. In fact buying a new laptop and making a million neopoints are both about equal on my list of goals right now. It will be very interesting to see which happens first…

I case the poem at the begining makes no sense whatsoever it is because I was trying to copy “The Arrow and The Song”, a very famous poem that I memorized a long time ago. “I shot an arrow in the air, it fell to earth I know not where. For who has a sight so keen and narrow, that can follow the flight of an arrow.”

And it is very, very aggravating. Oh well, soon I’ll have the new Eowyn. Probably if I restarted the current Eowyn she would run faster.

After that depressing title in which I thought I would use some and make a title that looks like it belongs on the neopets message boards(all though if it were there nearly everything would be spelled wrong) But I am mainly sad because I just lost 160,000 neopoints in a bad trade. I am very, very sad because I was ALMOST to a million neopoints and was moving along toward that goal very quickly.

It’s kind of surprising that I should feel unhappy right now because of losing neopoints instead of feeling unhappy about starting Language today. That dreaded but long foreseen and long ignored event finally arrived. It was supposed to have arrived several weeks ago but for some strange reason it didn’t. Any way, typing a post is making me feel a lot better about losing all of those neopoints. I’ll probably reach a million neopoints before the end of February any way(if I can stay out of the trading post where things are not as they seem). Anyway I have a lot to look forward to tommorow. It is in the plan to go to the Thrift store where things such as Evening gowns, Wedding Dresses, and fur coats can be found for very affordable prices. Not to mention regular clothes and things. Of course if we don’t go I’ll probably write a “I am NOT happy right now 2″ post but I probably won’t. Any way tonight is Tuesday but it is going to feel like Thursday because Mom and Dad are going out to eat. Which means I’ll have a nice long evening to play neopets and see how fast I can get my neopoints back up to 800k. Currently I have about 247k but since I have about 350k in items that will soon sell things aren’t quite as bad as the look. At least there wasn’t a flood, fire, earthquake, or any other type of natural or unnatural disaster.

The first shall be last and the last shall be first and since I am going to mention Nancy Drew first I thought I would say that(Sometime I’ll have to see how long I write without using a period.). I read “Quest for the missing map” a Nancy Drew adventure last Saturday night and I enjoyed it. On Sunday I read Trixie Beldon and I didn’t enjoy her as much but… I’ll probably check out more Nancy Drew stories next time I go to the library.

Speaking of libraries, I saw “The Barber of Seville” while looking through the library video section and I thought that since I had never seen a opera I might as well see one. It was a live recorded performance from the New York State Opera house and I throughly enjoyed it. I had allways thought that Operas were merely a bunch of people walking about singing songs that had no purpose or intent, and was I wrong, or in the case of the Barber of Seville I was wrong. The story was rather amusing and the characters where very interesting. The plot goes like this, The hero, Count something or other, is madly in love with “Rosina” a beautiful girl who is ward to an ugly old doctor who wants to marry her. The Barber of Seville’s name is Figaro and he assists the Count in trying to elope with Rosina. There are also a few other characters but they aren’t going to mentioned now. The attempts that the two lovers make to see each other and the way that they all most succeed in eloping but don’t are very funny. Even though the Opera was written in a foreign language and everything was sung or spoken in that language, I could understand everything because of the subtitles at the bottom of the screen which made everything much more interesting. I do recommend “The Barber of Seville” all though if I had been in Rosina’s place I would just have jumped off the balcony since it was only on the second story instead of fussing with ladders that get stolen and etc.

While watching the Mikado, I finally figured out why(in opera) they sing the same words over and over again, its so if you can’t understand it the first time you probably can understand it the second time. The Mikado is very funny, of course it was meant to be funny and if it wasn’t some body would have made a mistake, and I also highly recommend it too.

Oh, I also made over 18,000 neopoints today, and that is no small sum or feat I can tell you.