Bet you'd forgotten all about ( ZOMBIE GIRL! )

In her first full-length (kinda) adventure.

( Dressing yourself in the mornings is such an accomplishment when you're a woman... )

In other news, Starbucks has released a new (limited time, I suspect) bottled coffee drink, Peppermint Dark Chocolate Frappuccino, which tastes as delicious as it sounds. With the first sip, you hold it in your mouth and wait, gradually sifting the chilly bite of peppermint, then the wash of decadent warmth that is dark chocolate, with just the slightest bitterness of coffee following. It's like drinking Christmas. With the first sip, I was fairly certain I had discovered the key to world peace, goodwill to man, and possibly the answer to where socks eaten by the dryer disappear to.

My brother Mike has recently become addicted to these drinks, though the vanilla flavor, so yesterday I brought two of this new flavor and put one in the fridge and gave him the other one. He fell in love, saying it was like drinking candy.

Anyway, he was having a miserable day yesterday, so instead of drinking the other one I bought for me, I put a note on his desk saying, "Mike, there's a drink for you in the fridge. Happy Thursday, Kitty" at the end of the day and left.

So this morning I get an email from him:

Hey Kittycat:

Thanks for the note and drink – it really made my day –I’ve been feeling ill all morning (I got up at five with a headache and queasiness)and a kind gesture has helped. If I don’t end up coming down withsomething we still will be on for tomorrow for X-files.

Thanks,
Mike

I'd forgotten how wonderful it feels to do a nice thing for someone.

In regards to the music I'm listening to currently, Mike had to make a rule a long time ago that I wasn't allowed to sing Christmas songs until after Thanksgiving, as I showed a penchant for humming them starting as early as July. The other day, he stopped and said, "What are you humming?"

"Winter Wonderland," I admitted guiltily.

"Kitty, you know the rule," he said.

Stef asked what rule and we explained. She looked at me askance and said, "It's sad that he had to make this rule up."

"What's even sadder," I replied cheerfully, "is how many times he's had to invoke it."

( Short Story, Original Fiction: Third Rate Romance )

So two things I'm especially looking for, one of which do you think the diner needs to be described more, and two, which ending do you like best.

Any other feedback, of course, is very appreciated. :))

Hello, darlings.

I'm trying to send in this application by tomorrow, so quick analysis and comments would be extremely helpful.

Two required essays:

The statement of purpose will provide an opportunity to explain any extenuating circumstances that you feel could add value to your application. You may also want to explain unique aspects of your academic background or valued experiences you may have had that relate to your academic discipline. The statement of purpose is not meant to be a listing of accomplishments in high school or a record of your participation in school-related activities. Rather, this is your opportunity to address the admissions committee directly and to let us know more about you as an individual, in a manner that your transcripts and other application information cannot convey.


( Reply )

Many students expand their view of the world during their time in college. Such growth often results from encounters between students who have lived different cultural, economic, or academic experiences. With your future growth in mind, describe a potential classmate that you believe you could learn from either within or outside a formal classroom environment.

( Reply )

So please, ANYBODY, critiques?

“So, what do we do with her?” he said, staring at the huddled woman in the corner. She let out another tiny scream and pushed herself back, pointing at the carcass lying in the middle of the floor.

“You know that blue bag in my duffle?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s filled with Forget Me Not. It’ll erase her memory,” she said. She looked at the woman and twitched. Previously, she had made several aborted attempts to comfort the lady, but quickly gave up entirely and now was trying not to look at her at all.

She sprinkled the woman with the powder and they both made their way to the car.

“Forget Me Not makes you forget, right?”

“Right,” she confirmed. “Everlasting makes things temporary, Honesty is a spell that makes people perpetually lie, and Touch Me Not is a popular aphrodisiac.”

“Spells are ironic, huh?”

She shook her head. “Oh, magicians are fine. Weird, but fine. It’s the botanists don’t get out much.”

“So are there any flowers that are straightforward?”

“Nightshade has always been a favorite of mine,” she grinned. “Rather permanent.”

“Anything else?”

“Pansies.”

He looked at her from across the car, quietly debating whether she was being serious or not. “Do I want to know the spell that does?”

“No.”

( College Essay; A Bit About My Life )

Comments, thoughts, editing, rallying war cries for the patrician ruling class to step down and create a communist utopia?

I wish to be as witty as Dorothy Parker,
As sensational as Zsa Zsa Gabor,
As darling as Audrey Hepburn—
But mostly I wish,
Never, ever to be poor.


*bows*

He picked up a silver cross and put his hands together in a saint-like manner.

"What do you think?" he asked. She turned and arched one eyebrow, then went back to cleaning out the backseat without saying a word. He tossed the crucifix to the other side of the car, then dropped himself sideways into the front seat.

"So what exactly do I need to know about vampires? Are they really scared of crosses, saying the Lord's prayer, all that jazz?"

She let out an indelicate snort. "No. Most of what you know about vampires is made up, years of Bram Stoker's influence corrupting people's minds with untrue legends."

"What is true?"

"Well, for one, that thing about inviting."

"Oh!" He nodded with sudden wisdom. "Sure, you have to invite a vampire into your home, or they can't come in."

"No."

"No?"

She shook her head. "It's the other way around. In order for them to bite you, they have to invite you into their home."

"Why wouldn't they?"

"That's another thing. Vampires? Are very, very dumb. Think what you would get if a pack of werewolves inbred with each other for thousands of years, minus the fur and full moon junk."

"Wow," he said, letting out a low whistle. "What else?"

"Well, the running water is true, but only because they're hydrophobic. If you drop water, any water not even holy stuff, they get queasy."

"You're serious?"

"Dead serious."

He winced at the pun. "What about how they're supposed to be charming and stuff? They can mesmerize humans and put a kind of hypnosis over them, right?"

She rolled her eyes heavenward. "Oh, damn you, Bela Lugosi. I know you're laughing up there."

"I'm guessing that's not true?"

"The opposite. But worse, that one's affected the vampires themselves, so they actually believe it. I cannot tell you how annoying it is to have one of these things trying out his latest pick-up lines while you're trying to drive a stake through its heart."

"What usually works?"

"Well, normally I say, 'There's a very slim chance of me dating you, less than 1%. I give you this much because sometime in the future, I may be struck by a rock and have temporary amnesia wherein I would lose all semblance of character, memory, personality and any claims to good taste that I currently have. If this should happen, you might be able to chloroform me into submission, club me over the head, then drag me by my unconscious limbs to the outside of a restaurant before I recover enough to send you to hell. In other words, I wouldn't bet on it.' "

"Soo... I was actually referring to the staking bit. How you kill them, you know."

She blinked in surprise. "Oh. Yeah, staking works. Pretty effective. Beheading, too. Actually beheading is a pretty good guess for everything but a hydra."

"Do those things really exist?" he stared in horrified fascination.

"God, you're gullible, aren't you?"