Prologue part C

[Someone have the decency to check my French, please; it is not a language that I speak. I may be missing something horribly even if I'm using less than five words in that language.]

“Oui, mama, I’ll be careful.” Nicolas smiled and waved a goodbye to his family. "Au Revoir!"

He was miserable. He was happy. He was excited. He was hopeful. He was apprehensive. He felt a knot of dread in the pit of his stomach. He couldn’t keep track of what he was feeling anymore because of the sheer variety and speed the emotions flashed by and decided, finally, that it would be useless for him to try to decide what he should be feeling.

Well, he was never that great at being decisive anyway and there was no reason for a sudden change now. Unless the physical change in his global location could somehow miraculously make him more decisive. It didn't seem likely. He was sure everyone could see how petrified he'd been when he'd said goodbye. At least the terrified feeling, like all his other current feelings, lasted no more than a split second.

He checked the contents of his backpack again, just because it gave him something to do while waiting in line besides thinking himself into a paranoid frenzy. Passport? Check. Wallet? Check. Papers about student visa? Check. A book for the long-and-tedious-over-the-Atlantic-flight? Che—

He stopped. Then flipped through his backpack again. He waited another five seconds before doing it again just in case he had somehow overlooked something the time before. The five-second delay was to give the book a chance to show up. The book didn't.

He forgot to bring a book to read.

Oops.

It was going to be a very long plane ride.

Misery took a detour and led the next procession of feelings through his head.

Nicolas tried to think about something else. He thought about his little sister, Adeline, and discovered with a pang that he was starting to feel homesick already. That wouldn't do. He tried to strum up some optimism, some excitement, something—anything—positive.

He was going to the USA! Les États-Unis d'Amérique!

"Mon Dieu," he muttered as the plane lift off.

Prologue part B

Ordered by age. Cheerios:

Getting ready to live somewhere else involved a rather lot of boxes.

It involved a lot of dragging and hauling and cleaning too, none of which Gabriel, known to friends as Zach, liked.

The idea was that all of his possessions were to be dragged out onto his floor and divided into three groups: the get-rid-ofs, the storages, and the bring-alongs. So far no three neat piles have materialized in the middle of his room. Instead there was what could be described as a wobbly, cardboard and plastic version of Manhattan—without the glitter and the lights.

Zach wandered around among his miniature Manhattan, dispiritedly straightening a few of the buildings, waving around the vacuum cleaner, talking on the cell phone and at the same time keeping an wary eye on his computer, which he’d left on doing a self-diagnostic scan.

“Uh-huh,” he answered to the phone loudly (due to the vacuum cleaner), crossing carefully into what should be the equivalent of Times Square and attempting a smile at his mother, who was just passing by his door. His mother shook her head in mock despair and went into the living room. “Yes, I think so.”

The computer started beeping. Zach stifled a groan, leaned the vacuum cleaner against what might be called the World Trades Center, stepped over the East Side, and went to start the scanning for his storage disk D. “Yeah, I’ve seen it,” his voice slipped back into its native accent as it always did when he was distracted. “I guess so. It was blood—”

His mother cleared her throat loudly from the living room. Zach sighed. “I mean, it was pretty awesome.” All of his accents have departed with that reminder from his mother. “No, can’t make it, sorry. Hm? Oh, this weekend. Yeah. Right. Later!” He looked around and then tossed the phone into the only empty spot that could be found in his room.

“Gabriel! Don’t throw your phone!”

“Yes mother!” He turned around just in time to see the phone slipped from its spot on top of his computer and hit the table with a resounding ‘thwack.’

“GAB--!”

“That wasn’t me!” He shouted back, then added under his breath. “Directly, anyway.”

Just then the vacuum cleaner had proved itself too much for the cardboards and the World Trades Center was sent toppling. The box second from the top bounced off of his foot and spilt its contents all over the floor.

Zach hated packing.

Yes Anna, let us know when you're back. =p

to ANNA!

Hi, Anna! When (if) you see this, post or email or im or call or something to let me (us) know you're back! =) Hope you had fun in Italy!! See you on Saturday.

p.s. Yay Susan for starting the story!

Prologue part A

Since no one is using this blog right now...
Stop me if this bothers you.

Unusual for the time of the year, the day was a picture of gloomy misery--which was fine, just fine--it matched his mood anyway. The footrest was broken, his seat was right before the restroom, and the man on the seat in front of him was snoring.

This is such a pleasant trip, thought Michael sarcastically, it's a wonder why people don't travel by bus more often.

His CD player whirled as it reached the end of the CD, he simply hit "play" again. He'd been listening to the same CD over the plane ride and for the past two hours of the bus trip. The music throbbing through the earphones helped him relax. That was, if one could be said to relax at all under the conditions that one was currently under.

The old lady two seats to the left of him squirmed. Michael smirked. He knew that his music, or at least its tempo, could be heard from that distance. He also knew exactly how he came across with his oversized black sweater, beaten backpack, and earphones blasting loud music stuffed into his ears. He had a feeling that if he leaned over, widened his eyes, and said 'boo' the grandma-looking old lady might die from a heart attack. But he wasn't that sadistic. Instead he contented himself by slouching even more in his seat and pulling his hood over his head

Such a nice beginning to such a nice load of crap, though Michael, as the bus made a left turn and he was pressed against the window by the centrifuged inertia of a heavy bus going at eighty-something miles per hour. He liked how that felt and left his head leaning against the glass.

If he was very lucky his stuff would've arrived before he did, and if he was very, very, lucky all of his stuff would have arrived but, as that luck had never been a prime factor in his life, Michael could not very well see it taking a part now. In other words, his things were still being shipped from Minnesota, he wouldn't see them for another week at least, and some of the things that he'd packed he probably would never see again.

Great, thought Michael, just great.

Not.

An snippet of what you might be seeing. Consider it fair warning.

relationship problems

It makes me think of this story that I've heard my pre-calc year about this math professor who married a goat.

Lunatics and Goats

There's symbolism here, I just know it.

*sigh*

Let's see the result of role-call now:

Anna- occasional reads this
Malvina- at work
Ashley- forgot link/never made a post
Kateryna- forgot??
Soniya- ??
Lusine- checks, posts, but is getting bored with regular updating online journals now, correct?
Kate- checks, rants in her journal, too lazy to sign in here?
Christine- ??
Victoria- forgot?

Then there's me who's going to randomly stick things here and wait to see what happens.

hem

Ah, how nice

The blog has spoken.

Anyone else? *cough*

I read therefore I Blog.

Cheers.

And here we are, one step along further than where we were.
Upwards and onwards, right?

Should we try to make a list of our summer plans here so it can be easier to keep track of? (Especially if we try to organize any more events). On the second thought, perhaps we should check how many people still reads this.

If you still read this, either make a post or contact Lucy/me somehow and let us know. =p

Attendance!

'05

*glee*

Term Paper Term Paper Final Draft 147.9/148 99.9% A+

Ms. Janson and her decimal point grading ways =P

...Notice how I refrained from posting my final exam grades >.>

ha

i wonder what the comment "you're a true gentleman" would fall under.

*cough*

lol

This goes under the oddest compliments I've received:
(from a Yearbook signature):

.. I Hope to see you as the next CEO...


Haha, because I'm a nice person, I guess. Still funny.

roger

Advanced Global Personality Test Results Extraversion || 10% Stability |||||||||||||| 56% Orderliness |||||||||||||||| 63% Empathy |||||||||||||||| 70% Interdependence |||||||||||||| 56% Intellectual |||||||||||||||| 70% Mystical |||||||||||| 50% Artistic |||||||||||||||| 63% Religious || 10% Hedonism || 10% Materialism || 10% Narcissism |||||||||| 36% Adventurousness |||||| 23% Work ethic |||||||||||||||| 70% Self absorbed |||||| 23% Conflict seeking |||||| 23% Need to dominate |||||||||||| 43% Romantic |||||||||| 36% Avoidant |||||||||||||||||||| 83% Anti-authority |||||| 30% Wealth |||||| 30% Dependency || 10% Change averse |||||||||||||| 56% Cautiousness |||||||||||||||||||| 83% Individuality |||||| 30% Sexuality || 10% Peter pan complex |||||||||||||||| 63% Physical security |||||||||||||||||||| 83% Food indulgent || 10% Histrionic || 10% Paranoia |||||||||||||||||| 76% Vanity |||||||||| 36% Hypersensitivity |||||||||||||||| 70% Female cliche || 10%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

trait snapshot:
clean, secretive, does not make friends easily, observer, hates large parties, risk averse, perfectionist, reclusive, solitude loving, more practical than abstract, does not like to stand out, high self control, intellectual, mind over heart, very cautious, takes precautions, respects authority, irritable, emotionally sensitive

the thing from kate's journal

Advanced Global Personality Test Results Extraversion 30% Stability 43% Orderliness 30% Empathy 56% Interdependence 63% Intellectual 43% Mystical 63% Artistic 76% Religious 76% Hedonism 23% Materialism 63% Narcissism 50% Adventurousness 23% Work ethic 36% Self absorbed 56% Conflict seeking 16% Need to dominate 43% Romantic 56% Avoidant 50% Anti-authority 50% Wealth 50% Dependency 70% Change averse 76% Cautiousness 63% Individuality 56% Sexuality 16% Peter pan complex 76% Physical security 90% Food indulgent 83% Histrionic 50% Paranoia 43% Vanity 63% Hypersensitivity 83% Female cliche 50%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

trait snapshot:
introverted, secretive, messy, depressed, does not like leadership, somewhat nihilistic, observer, does not make friends easily, unassertive, feels invisible, feels undesirable, hates large parties, does not like to stand out, leisurely, suspicious, submissive, abstract, unpredictable, intellectual, likes rain, likes the unknown, negative, weird, not a risk taker, unadventurous, avoidant, strange

Did I ever mention how much I hate formaldahyde?

At least it's going to be over soon...YAY!

LIEKOMG IT'S JUNE 1ST

Happy Summer =)

From Physio site

Friday 6/03 Last Day to Dissect!

...

YESYESYESyesyesyesyesYESYESYES!!!YES!!!111!!!11!!!!1

:DD


(and yes i am aware that means having to go after school to catch up but still :DDDD )

ah well

I'm not complaining. In cases like this, the lack of time on the teacher's part works to our advantage, if that's what it is. *grins*

Grad night party email sent today, check your inbox, everyone.