Aqua Regia

Gah, I haven't posted anything here since January 1st!  One of my yearly goals was to blog at least twice a month, and so far I'm doing kind of miserably at it. Heh.

January passed by in a super blur, but one highlight was going down to Southern California for my brother's birthday.  I got us tickets to see Wicked with some friends (first time for him, third time for me...XD).  The show was a Sunday evening, and I flew down the Thursday night before.  I had plans to get together with an old friend on Friday and take my brother to Disneyland on Saturday.  Well, you know what they say about the best-laid plans...after my plane landed Thursday night, I promptly got stomach flu. >_<  It was horrible, and I was up most of the night.  Thankfully, everything seemed to calm down by Friday night, so we made the decision around noon on Saturday to attempt Disneyland.  It was so crowded...and raining.  Raindrops became daggers to poke you in the eyes on outside rides.  Still, it was good to get out of the apartment and away from my illness for a few hours.  Wicked on Sunday was great; I think it was the same cast who I saw last May when they came through Sacramento.

After seeing that Netflix was possibly taking down My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, I burned through Season Four (and then ended up rewatching a bunch of other random episodes!).  S4 reminded me why I love that series.  Great character moments, more nods to bits of continuity, and the most kickass fight EVER in MLP anything.  I was worried a bit when Twilight became a princess at the end of S3, but the writers really handled how her character would deal with a life-changing event like that perfectly.  Also, I listened to the "Filli Vanilli" song for like a week straight.  Sooo good.  (Actually, the series has always had really strong music.)  I need to get my comics out and catch up with what's happening there now.

Writing-wise, I've been slowly poking away at Theodore and Tippetarius in Oz, my genderbent Wizard of Oz retelling.  While I'm enjoying it immensely, I'm still unsure of what to do with the final product.  It will need serious editing, and possible rewriting (with more of a plan and world guidelines/timeline in firm place) if I ever plan on publishing it.  I do want to eventually share it.  I may start by posting it online somewhere just to get feedback.

Speaking of writing, this is the year I want to launch my official author website and start publishing some flash fiction collections and short stories.  I've set a personal goal to put the first collection out by end of March/April.  However, I'm being hampered by not having settled on a pen name yet.  I've thought long and hard about whether or not to have a pen name, and eventually I decided that having a professional license attached to my real name was just too great a risk for using it on my books.  i've narrowed the surname field down to two or three possible finalists.  Maybe I can post a poll to see everyone's opinion?

And that's all, folks.

Yes, I am in fact done with my first full semester of pharmacy school. Only seven more to go! >_<

I'm seriously dead, having basically lived on coffee (I believe I've mentioned before how much I'd love to have the Caffeine Patch from "Meet the Robinsons"), British tea, apples, and pretzels for about the last week. I think I've averaged about five hours of sleep a night, too (which for me in insanely not enough). @_@ Dark circles have taken over the nether regions of my eye.

But to celebrate making it through the first semester, a few of us went and had a nice lunch at BJs today, and I treated myself to a little retail therapy at Borders. :D I've gotten back the grades from two of my four classes already, so I'm only holding onto reservations about one of the two classes in which I don't know the grade already. It was Monday's test, and very hard. Probably the hardest of the bunch this time around.

My throat is feeling a little scratchy (most likely from living on junk food and entirely not enough rest), so I'm using my trusty old friend Salt Water Gargle to try and stave that off, along with using trusty friend #2 Zicam. Heaven knows I need to fend it off before Sunday, because I LEAVE FOR DISNEYLAND. And it becomes the saddest place on earth if you're sick!!!11! I'm seriously excited though, because I've never seen Disneyland at Christmas before...^_^

Hmm...it always seems that after finals I want to do so many things that I can't decide and just end up sleeping and doing nothing. Which is all right too. However, there are a few things I want to accomplish this break:
1. Finish some drawings that I started during the semester - they've been languishing in my computer for awhile now, and need to be finished.
2. Do a little bit a writing. Maybe bits of a fic or two.
3. Finish W.I.T.C.H. and La Corda d'Oro. These poor series have gone unfinished for months now (along with my life!). Also maybe watch the Nodame Cantabile live-action Japanese drama.
4. Do a little reading. I've earmarked some Peter Pan reading materials for this break.
5. Catch up with my piano practicing.
6. Fiddle with the movie-editing program on my computer. I have some old personal home videos that I'd love to transfer onto DVD.

Hmm...that list is actually pretty long. Not sure if I'll be able to get it all done, but I can always try! I want to go see the University Symphony and Chorus tomorrow night as well, since it's free and all for students.