More than anything, I've been reentering some shows and the sort that I've kinda ignored for a while in favor of just reading fanfics this week.
Very first thing (unrelated to prior paragraph) is that I finished doing the SAGE tests for this year... the very ones I'd dreaded in 9th grade. I managed to evade doing state testing for two years, but no more.
I'll admit I had a harder time with them than I feel like I had all the way back when they were still CRTs. For one, I had a harder time gauging how much time I had left, which was stressing me out since I always felt like I was taking too long when I really wasn't. Second, I forgot that this was one of the changes resulting from switching to SAGE: you can't advance to the next question until you give an answer. I mean, it's true that you could just give a quick guess, flag it, and then return to think on the question more once you're done with the rest of the test, which I actually did on a few questions I was desperate on. But it was more nerve-wracking this time cuz I had to give some sort of answer, and whatever I said would kinda determine what the next question would be. And some of the questions were quite difficult! I can blame some of that on forgetting how to do some problems, and some more on having a different curriculum my first semester, but it was like "How am I supposed to know how to do this?" sometimes. I felt more like I was gonna fail than with CRTs, even though in the end it turned out I got a really good score. Just... ugh.
I also kinda wish it was easier to change the color combo on the screen and such like with CRTs. I know some kids fiddled with the colors for fun, but I actually had usually changed it to black on blue rather than black on white since it was easier on the eyes, and I didn't know if we were allowed or able to make such changes this time...
Other stuff happening at school this week was basically... nothing. Zip. Nada. Zilch. The thing is that I had to wait a few days for my official score on my PE pretests before I could start working on assignments to bump the grade up, and I am still waiting for those things to be graded to see if I need to do anything else. (The PE teacher's only here for 2 or 3 hours a day, so you can imagine I'm a bit frustrated.) I finished with my LA class the previous week and just needed my grade submitted. And besides that is just Chemistry, and the classes/meetings for Chem didn't start back up till Thursday. So, most of my time at school was spent on derping about on Gmail, my stories and those I'm beta-ing for (not that I got much done for either), and reading, mainly from Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. It was suggested to me by one of the tutors, and with nothing else to do I started on it. It is honestly very interesting and kinda educational about videogames and 80's culture (hehe). He'd warned me that it had quite the amount of obscene language, but I think I've honestly read worse in that category. Pretty much my one critique in how it is written (and I'm quite close to the end, so I think it's safe to say this) is that it feels like it over-explains in the beginning... if that makes any sense.
Once I'm done with it, I don't need to fret about not having anything to read! Yesterday, my mom and I went to the library after quite a while. (See? Now the first paragraph is starting to tie back in.) I kinda missed not reading manga and actual books, and I've wanted to see what else the nearby library has anyway. Turns out a few books I'd heard about aren't in the system (one probably because it is too new?), but some others still are, so I'll have to request them.
One book I got was the very first of some manga titled Spiral: The Book of Reasoning... or something like that. Another is the first few books of Ultraman, which I'm pretty sure was actually referenced in Ready Player One, which is pretty much the main reason why I thought of trying it out. There's a few others, but I guess I'll talk about those next week once I've dived into their pages. Like a swimming pool. Make of wood pulp.
Pretty much my first favorite manga/anime character- like, one I was no doubt a fan of and practically looked up to- was Kosuke Ueki from The Law of Ueki. I think I'd read and watched a bit before I started this blog, but his story had honestly made a big impact on me. I mean, if I literally wanted to name my future child "Ueki", then I was serious. (And, in fact, I still want to! But it's definitely more likely to be a middle name. And the second or third kid's middle name will be Alphonse, because he defs deserves the same sort of honor too.) And, as has been shown before, I have a character named after him, too. So yes, Ueki is a big deal.
A few days ago, I'd been trying to find the specific "Spongebob Sings Eminem" video I loved when I was little, and thought to look if it was way back in my liked videos. Turns out it wasn't, but as I went through the list I started to reminisce a bit about middle-school me, since that's when I started going on YouTube with my Gmail account. And it was a total surprise for me to find that among some of those first dozens of likes was the opening song to The Law of Ueki. I played it and gushed at how familiar the song was and the nostalgia of seeing Ueki again. I'd already been thinking of watching or reading (the latter depending on if my dad was planning on visiting the City Library like we used to years ago) the series sometime during the summer, but now I really wanted to watch it sooner.
After a bit of internal conflict, I decided to start watching it as soon as possible on KissAnime.
It's been so great to watch and feel the excitement of it, possibly to a bit of a higher degree than when I originally watched. Everything's coming back to me. It's reaffirmed in me that my love of Ueki (not really a crush, but more like appreciating just how unique and awesome he is and admiring how he's such a great person) has not dimmed. He is the kind of guy who I'd want people to look up to, which is part of why I'd thought to name my kid after him in the first place.
I'm already spotting again the few things that were a bit frustrating about him and I'm mentally groaning a bit at knowing it takes a while for some of those things to be fixed, but I know eventually someone points them out to him and he works on them.
Anyway... I hope I can still read the books, since I'm pretty sure I'd liked them a bit more than the anime, like I usually do, but for now I'm so happy just to get to watch it again. I know you're not gonna let me down, Kosuke!
OOOOOOOH and mind explosion time! As I was looking up the title to show my friend what he looked like and such, we found out there was a sequel called The Law of Ueki Plus. It's only manga, no anime, but it's Ueki when he's in high school instead of middle school, and I saw a few reviews that said it was definitely worth checking out. (Those are what officially convinced me that I wouldn't regret reading it.) I sure hope I can find that series somewhere cuz I'm so excited by it!!!
What I'm mildly less excited about and more like questioning why I thought it was a good idea... was me asking a friend for suggestions of good Creepypastas. The thing is that, she's a friend on FFN who writes crazy good stories, but the two I've been following involve Creepypasta, most of which I'm not exactly all that familiar with. I'd sufficed with just looking up their appearances and stuff, but at this point I really should have already looked up their origin stories or something if I'm gonna be reading a fanfic that includes these characters. Thus, I asked for her recommendations.
Luckily, it wasn't really a long list, only about... 7? And, well, Creepypastas don't have to be long to be crazy good. Her very first was "BEN Drowned" (who happens to be in both of her fics), but it turns out that one's mainly based on YouTube videos, and I barely got myself through the first of 4 and started the second (just as Carter sent me a text, making my phone vibrate and jumpscare me) before deciding my heart couldn't take it. *sweatdrop, but laughing nonetheless* I then read "Mr. Widemouth", which wasn't that bad, but not as creepy as some of the few Creepypastas I'd already read in the past. I then went though the list of "Candle Cove" stories, starting with the original. As usual, the original was the best, but some of the other stories inspired by it had good, creepy details.
The last I've done so far is seeing a bit about Ticcy Toby, which was good since he's in one of her fics, but the story itself wasn't really scary... That could be cuz some of the original material I couldn't see without being a member of DeviantArt, and I'm kinda not, so...
I still have some more, but hopefully I won't regret this. I just did a bit the first day cuz I really have a hard time watching actual scary things and I had finished reading rather close to when I was gonna get ready for bed. What a terrible idea! *laughing at myself cuz I seriously should've known better*
Just a little bit more to go!
I'm inching ever closer to finishing the last chapter of "Visiting Homeland". This is just a bit nerve-wracking cuz this time I don't have planned out specifically what the final lines for the entire story are, unlike "Family History", and I really wanna make it a good, dramatic ending that is worthy to all writer-kind. Ah!
At least, once that's done, I'll be able to say, once again, that I completed a chapter story, and it was a sequel at that, which I hadn't really expected I'd ever do. (And it was longer this time! Unsure how much, though, but I'll find out.) And that also means I can devote more time to all my other stories and even unfinished ideas without feeling guilty about it.
After about 2 years, I had a doctor appointment... Though I felt a little bit weird around him, which may just be because he's a doctor and I'm an unhealthy sack of teenaged flesh who knows she's got a lot to improve on, my mom pointed out that he and the nurse were more willing to get to the bottom of where my issues came from. That meant he wanted to see if I really had iron deficiency still and what the true cause of my heart thing was. I mean, I'd always been kinda skeptical about whether it was caused by iron deficiency, but since you're supposed to trust doctors, I just went with it. But this one's like "Uh-uh, that don't sound right. *sassy snap*" Since they took blood from my arm yet again, and gave me a shot yet again- though it wasn't as bad as it could've been, cuz I almost got two!- we'll just have to see how the results come out. And he also told us to check out a cardiologist. Oh joy.
Last note- the Ueki opening is surprisingly difficult to learn. It's not really that fast, but my brain is just having a hard time remembering the words for some reason. I better learn it by the last episode or I'll rage!
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