Perpetual Smile

I started reading Twilight again Saturday night. It’s just as addictive as the first time.

When I first read it, one of the things that really pulled me in was how easy it was to relate to Bella. She is sarcastic, new to Forks and the town’s high school, hates cold, rain and snow, sucks at sports, blushes easily and is shy. Despite the world Bella lives in (filled with vampires, shapeshifters, werewolves and danger), everything about her was as real to me as myself, because I saw a lot of myself in her character.

Stephenie Meyer is very good at creating believable characters. In her adult debut, The Host, the characters are just as vivid as they are in the Twilight Saga. Melanie and Wanderer, the novel’s main characters, were real to me despite the post-alien-invasion world the story was set in. Melanie was a normal human woman fighting for her life and the lives of her kid brother Jamie and true love Jared. Wanderer, the alien who had taken Melanie’s body, took on these emotions in a very believable way — so believable that the story itself showed me how wide our range of emotions are and how little sense they can make sometimes.

Characters are very important to me. If a novel or movie is plot-driven, I don’t usually like it. If it’s character-driven, however, I get sucked in and can’t put the book down. I try my hardest to create interesting characters with layers and layers of personality — characters with depth. I try to make my characters easy to relate to for the reader.

What are some things that appeal to you about characters in comics, movies, books and songs?

Quickie post in bullets, ’cause I want to get to work on a couple writing projects ASAP!

• I’m not too happy with a certain person named after one of my favorite TV characters right now. “Jude” seems to be blowing me off left and right for “Tommy”.
• My back is killing me and has been since yesterday.
• I received my financial aid refund from this semester yesterday. It was for over $500 and is all going to the get-me-a-better-car-NOW fund.
• I plan on submitting to several writing contests in the next couple of weeks.
• I just realized that I have some Aleve in the house and it just might help my back.
• I picked up a copy of Stephenie Meyer’s The Host and plan on starting it as soon as I finish Stephen King’s Gerald’s Game — which is very good, by the way. I want to pick up copies of Cut (Patricia McCormick — all three of her books look good), Go Ask Alice (Anonymous, everyone should read this), The Giver (Lois Lowry, amazing YA novel) and a few other YA novels to get a feel for what the genre is looking for. (My NaNo novel this month is YA.)
• Mike turned 24 — and old in my opinion — as of the 10th. Happy birthday, oldtimer.
• I have three new poems I will post probably tomorrow. Thursday night put me in a poetry-writing mood. I think I like poetry now.
• There’s something wrong with this theme, so I’m pretty sure that these bullets are going to be FUBAR when I post this. I think it’s time for me to develop my own damn theme. Heh.

I promise a real post soon!

I’m not sure if I’m going to go see the Twilight movie. None of the actors look like the characters in the books; the vampires’ actors are not pale enough, Jacob’s actor doesn’t look remotely Native American, and so on. I’m also terrified that they are going to ruin the book.

What do you think?

Well damn, it’s here. The big 2-0. I can’t bask in the glory of being 19 anymore. (The number 19 is a really big part of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. Yeah, I’m a nerd. Whatever.)

Today has been relatively uneventful. It kind of sucked at first. Dunkin Donuts screwed up my breakfast sandwich. I couldn’t get some code to do what I wanted it to do at work. It got better once I got home. I finished Breaking Dawn. I’m sad that it’s over, but I loved every minute of it. I won’t say anymore, because I don’t want to give anything away, but I’m so glad I caved and read Twilight. So, so, so glad.

Later tonight I’m going to Mike’s to watch Burn Notice. Tomorrow night I’m having cake with the family. Other than that, I’m just trying to get used to not being a teenager anymore. As grown up as I’ve always felt, I’ve still just been a teenager. This morning, still half asleep, I thought to myself, “well, I’m 19 today.” Yeah.

Okay, so I know I promised to do an I am.. post soon — and I do want to do one, specifically about how impulsive I am — but there are about a zillion things zipping through my head right now. So.

Breaking Dawn is freaking awesome so far. The more I read, the more Stephenie Meyer is becoming one of my favorite authors — possibly an all-time favorite. (I should probably read Host before I say that, but whatever.) Wherever she ends up on my list of favs, I hope she never stops writing. She truly is gifted. That being said, I really want to start concentrating on some writing. I have a zillion projects I want to start and a zillion projects I need to finish. I wish there was some way I could discipline myself a little more. It’s just hard to ignore the new ideas until I finish the old. (See? Toldja I was impulsive.) I’m hoping that taking that creative writing course this semester may help me balance a little better. Obviously I (probably) can’t use old work for the assignments, so I can (probably) humor my new ideas in class and work on finishing the older stuff in my free time. Hopefully. I really need to rethink my time management skills. Makes me wonder how teachers could have ever put that “uses time well” comment on any of my report cards.

Speaking of time management, I need to finish the websites I’ve been working on. I need to get ekbdesigns.com looking a little more professional, and lettersoflove.net needs to be finished like, yesterday, so that I can add it to lists. I’ll probably feel less guilty about pursuing side projects, and with ekbdesigns.com finished I can probably get some actual work. (My trip to Indianapolis is so not gonna pay for itself.)

Back to Breaking Dawn. I’ve been having really vivid dreams lately. I dreamed last night that I was Bella and Mike was Edward. Heh. I was even dressed in clothes I wouldn’t normally wear. It was cool being a vampire. The dream was just getting good and then I woke up — for the zillionth time. I slept really poorly last night. I’m not sure why. At about 4, 4:30 this morning the garbage truck came by. When the hell did those things get so loud? It sounded like the most annoying ringtone ever going off. I see no reason for them to be so loud, especially when they’re collecting garbage at the ass-crack of dawn. I would love to shoot the moron who designed the newer garbage trucks, for his total ignorance.

Where the hell was I going with this post? Yikes. I don’t know if it’s the lack of sleep, but I totally can’t function today.

Oh. Yeah. I accidentally dropped my phone into a cup of water last night. Heh. My eyes bugged out and I said, “oh, oh” over and over. My aunt Rikki ran over and dropped the phone into a brown paper bag, sent me upstairs to blowdry it out, and the phone works fine now. She’s a genius. I swear.

Sorry this post is so all over the damn place. When I composed today’s post in my head last night — hoping that it might help me fall back asleep — it sounded a lot more together than this. I promise something rational later!

Blegh. I feel tired and lazy. I keep thinking about having a cigarette, even though a) I know that I don’t have any, b) I know that I don’t have money to buy any and c) I know I’ve quit. I think it’s more out of habit. Like, earlier as I finished eating lunch, I thought to myself, “okay, I’m done, time for a cigarette”. I caught myself and laughed at the habit.

I’ve been doing pretty well, though. I’m not cranky. No headaches. I’ve been drinking lots and lots of water. Yesterday I dragged Mike to Target. I bought Breaking Dawn, a couple of composition notebooks, a ginormous case of water, a new air freshener for my car and a pack of gum. I only have enough money now for coffee in the morning, and maybe a meal at Arby’s or Burger King. (I woke up dying for BK. I don’t know why.)

Aside from blogging I’ve only told Mike, Lauren and Sandy. Mike doesn’t think I’ll stick with it. He wanted to lay down a bet but said I could cheat. I made Lauren promise not to tell our parents, because I don’t want anyone making a big deal out of it. Heh. Sandy is quitting tomorrow, because her kids come home tomorrow and it gives her a solid thing to hold onto. I only did it this morning because, knowing myself, I know I’d just procrastinate. Every once in a while I have second thoughts, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.

It’s really not as bad as I’d thought it would be. Not yet, anyway.

If you haven’t read the Twilight series yet, don’t read this. Spoilers ahead!

I just finished Eclipse. I’m a huge Blue October fan, so I instantly saw the connection between “Congratulations” and one of the major plots. In the song, someone is getting married. Her never — did I mention I’m a Blue October fan? — is happy for her but sad because he could never give her his heart. The song basically shows the point of view of the guy at the wedding, watching his best friend get married.

This song makes me want to cry as it is. As soon as I realized what was going on and what inspired it — Stephenie Meyer even mentions how Blue October inspired a lot of this particular book — I really wanted to cry.

I’m not sure how long I’m going to last before I break down and buy the book. I’m trying to save money so Mike and I can go to Indianapolis in October, but Breaking Dawn is screaming my name. Then again, so is three days completely alone with my love.

Dammit. I’m gonna have to wait.