Google Earth is dead useful. / Carissa loses her mind

And probably dangerous in the wrong hands.

I've been trying to find a good hometown for these kids. It's just in my head that they're from a kind of big town in the mountains. I've got it narrowed down to somewhere in Idaho. But now I feel bad because I feel like I'm creeping on all these towns and I just want to get everything right.

It's late and I should sleep.

/Cut scene/


Wow this town is like the Bible Belt, except with Mormons.

And it's PERFECT.

wait if I use this town then I can make a bunch of Pokemon shout-outs


/Cut scene/

Holy tomato it's perfecter


Ernest Hemingway and his grandkid are buried here, you guys


I found a street called Lane Avenue. ...No further comment.

/One more search/

Hey guys

Guys

I found my neighborhood and


It is ridiculous how many people have ridiculously large swimming pools, like ten people. :( Why aren't we friends, swimming pool people?


Why do I keep typing in italics?


Right. So tired.


Yeah OK I'm going to sleep now.

/LIES/

5t's

wa5t what 5s... s60eth5ng 5s screw5ng w5th the 2eyb6ard. TH5S W6N'T EVEN 0A2E SENSE T606RR6W.

oh. Finally found out what num lock does. BUT GUYS IT'S THE ANDROMEDA GALAXY!

sleep

Getting ready for camp

Camp NaNoWriMo, that is.

Most of my plotting has been music-based, and by that I mean I've been going through every single song in Windows Media Player to try to establish the general mood of the story, what the characters are like, what they're like with each other, and, y'know, all the plot points. It helps, I think.

I'm not going to share the entire playlist with you guys (28 items/ 108 minutes), but right now I'll show you the first part of songs that establish the story and the characters.

Story's Theme: Best of Me (acoustic) by The Starting Line
Tell me what you thought about when you were gone and so alone
The worst is over and you can have the best of me
We got older, but we're still young
We never grew out of this feeling that we won't give up

Ace Flynn: Everything You Ever Wanted by Hawk Nelson
I tried to be perfect, tried to be honest
Tried to be everything that you ever wanted
Tried to be stronger, tried to be smarter
Tried to be everything but you

Shea Henley: Ordinary Day by Zoegirl
Every minute feels like an hour slowly creeping by
All of this stress but I do my best to take it all in stride
I need to decide, need to unwind
All these things are on my mind
It's an ordinary day...

Tasia Henley: It's On by Superchick
It all comes down to this
You take your best shot, might miss
You take it anyway
You're gonna make your move today

Mitchell Schubert: Procrastinating by Stellar Kart
So here I am, it's 3 AM, I don't know where to begin
Time's running out and there's no doubt that I feel like throwing in
The towel with no way I can get this start finished

Ace and Mitchell: Last Train Home by FM Static
We've fallen apart somewhere back at the start
When we thought that we could fix each other by ourselves
Let's get back to the part when things weren't like they are
And we were laughing on the last train home

Shea and Tasia: Vole by Celine Dion
Vole, vole petite aile (fly, fly little wing)
Ma douce, mon hirondelle (my dear, my dove)
Va t'en loin, va t'en sereine (go far away, go serene)
Qu'ici rien ne te retienne (let nothing here hold you back)

Mitchell and Tasia: Finding Something to Do by hellogoodbye
As long as there's something to see, I'll see it with you
As long as the days can seem, we'll find something to do
If ever your love should leave, just swear you'll follow it through
And I swear I'll always follow you

Shea and Ace: Some Story by Raven Zoe
But your eyes are the saddest that I've ever seen
And whatever you're hiding shines right through the screen
And those other girls might not agree
But some story isn't worth it to me

Tasia and Ace: Hot Air Balloon by Owl City
I'll be out of my mind, and you'll be out of ideas pretty soon
So let's spend an afternoon in a cold hot air balloon
Leave your jacket behind, lean out and touch the treetops over town
I can't wait to kiss the ground wherever we touch back down

Shea and Mitchell: Fine by Lemon Demon
Light is on the way, we'll be having a fun time
It's such a lovely day, we should pocket the sunshine
And never give it back, even if there's a heatwave
We're stalling on the track, it'll just be a close shave

Normally I don't pick out songs for every single relationship, but that's kind of a big focus in this story, so that's what happened.

High school writing. Oh joy.

So in eleventh grade, my teacher advised us that we should keep everything we've written, whether it's good or bad, because when we look back on it, we'll see how far we've come as writers.

And I did keep everything. Well, a lot of it. The Harry Potter fan fiction is all gone. :P So is a lot of my emo poetry, but that's more because I didn't back it up. (Seriously, sixteen-year-old me, what was wrong with you?)

So the other day I was looking through some old notebooks from high school, and I found this.

"Have at thee, knave," growled the monstrous knight right behind Bobert. Bobert paled at the unbelievable size of his challenger, and then remembered his squirrel army and smirked.

"SQUEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAK!" shouted Bobert, pointing at his foe, which translated as "FOOOOOOOOOOOOD!" The ravenous squirrels let out their battle cry and enveloped the poor, unsuspecting enemy.

Bobert blinked in surprise. "I thought I said "charge". Oh well, that works too."

Self. What was wrong with you. Don't you know how to structure a sentence.

...

Don't you know what question marks are, either?