Oh it's 3 in the morning.

Well I had planned on writing an entry but FFXIV decided to be a total bitch and I ended up spending four hours soloing a quest instead of asking for help.
I did it though, by God. I swore that zombie would stay dead and stay dead he did.
Totally worth the velveteen cowl I got.
Definitely couldn't make that myself.
Hey wait--
Oh well another quest down.

If you were given the opportunity to spend two weeks in any country in the world free of charge, which country would you choose, and why?

I actually spent a lot of time debating about what the most common answer would be for this one.
Japan is the most obvious choice but after careful consideration I actually chose England for its hipster factor and I'm proud to say careful scrutiny paid off because England is by far the most common answer.
Maybe it's just the time I checked but I didn't see Japan once. But bint has this to say:

I'm not sure this is even a question.

What, is it confusing?
I'd visit either Japan or Greece myself. I am a huge weeaboo faggot but Greece does contain the Home of the Gods.

I had typed up a lovely and angst-ridden couple of paragraphs about London and the United Kingdom and how I miss them (inspired by a re-watch of Series Four of Doctor Who, which just culminated with "Journey's End," which will ALWAYS make me sob like a frightened child separated from her mum), but then LJ ate those, so I'll take it as a sign to stop my whinging, be pleased -- in fact, delighted -- with the world that spreads itself out before me, and shove all the "far away can bite me" angst back into that little tiny corner of my brain (or is it heart?) that it has colonized and will not return.

(But seriously. I should never watch "Journey's End." Ever.)

So--
what?

Getting into the writing mood sometimes requires strange things from me. Partly it requires stormy, chilly, or otherwise overcast days (I am rubbish at writing when it is sunny, or warm); generally it also requires a particular beverage (usually a mug of tea, although iced coffee can be substituted if it is one of those strange days which is warm and/or sunny and on which I have still found myself capable of writing).

I already told you my secret.
It's a commonly documented fact that all successful writers considered themselves visited by spirits or muses or whatever and that's what powered their writing.
Even the typically deeply Christian John Milton claimed this shit.
Naturally they're all batshit, but I think there's something to this frame of thinking. You have to write when you are closest to death, and you are no closer to death than right before you sleep.
Because sleep is the brother of death, see?
Ancient Greeks had this shit figured out.

If it weren't for my pocketbook (and the fact that I have yet to find a cafe in America that can brew me a decent cup of tea), I would write solely in cafes; as it is, I resort to them and their iced coffees more frequently in the summer months. Winter writing can, if necessary, be done at home (though of course it can also be done in the company of crazed Wrimos at the local cafe, preferably with Viking helmets and too much caffeine).

What the fuck is even happening at this point?

And then there are days like today, where writing somehow demands that I get dressed up for it. I'm not even leaving the house, but I've got mostly new clothes on, I've done up my hair (more or less), I know which shoes go with the outfit should I decide to wear them.

I'm fighting the effects of sleeping pills at this point.

Partly this is because I cannot think in pajamas.

Aren't you from England? Don't they spell that word "Pyjamas"?
Whatever.

Partly it is because creating some kind of routine spectacle around the writing process somehow makes me more likely to knuckle down and write.

Did you know Tendai Mountain monks become one with the cosmos after several years of virtually nonstop running and then they starve themselves for a week?
A ton of monks die before this right is completed but supposedly if you can finish it the effect will be so immense you'll immediately become enlightened.

This is probably very silly, and I should try to wean myself off of it -- and yet, for what it is, it works remarkably well.

Oh yeah I'm sure what you produce is just grand.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go put on some lace-up brown leather boots and start writing.

I'm pretty sure most successful authors don't even get dressed most days.

Currently quite frustrated that conclusion will not just up and write itself. Finding conclusion very inconsiderate in this way. Am contemplating pretending that conclusion does not matter, but do not think this would be terribly effective. Am also

Am also denying the use of first person pronouns.

contemplating a conclusion that involves the assertion of every Austen reader's desire to hang out with Austen and be awesome. Professor has encouraged this conclusion strategy, though in more scholarly terms. Have possibly consumed too much caffeine to think straight because oh that's right English Breakfast tea has caffeine and so does coffee and maybe lunch would be a good idea around now.

(Do not pet the thesis-writer. May bite.)

I hate everyone.

God, on days like these, Wheeler is my safe place. When I'm on the fourth floor, flitting from office to office and having deep and meaningful conversations with professors and fellow students about the nature of life as seen through literature,

I'd like to think our conversation would last all of five seconds.
Actually I have perfected the art of not giving a fuck to such a degree I actually project a palpable aura that keeps people like this away.
Yes but it's not for the temporal rewards I seek enlightenment.

all of the rest of it just seems to go away, and I just stop worrying and start belonging. I'm tense and nervous and worried a lot more than I should be right now, what with so many things proverbially up in the air, but when I'm talking to people about English (or when I'm in Professor Puckett's lectures) I feel like the world makes sense for once.

So meanwhile Black Library (the publisher of fine Warhammer books) is looking for new authors. I expect to be accepted into this order as soon as my entry is finished.

I feel like this, at least, is something I understand, and perhaps more importantly, something of which I am a (possibly even integral) part.

It's a great story I'm cooking up, too. Truly it will fit alongside Legion or Draco.

Well, I'm back for my final semester at Berkeley (and still freaking out a little about that fact). Within a little more than three months, I'll have written my 40-60 pg. honors thesis, completed my last classes as an undergraduate, and possibly put an end to my career as a student at Berkeley (there's a small chance I could come back for grad school, but that's rather doubtful).

Oh no, 40-60 pages?
Oh but it's double spaced so it's really like 20-30.
And after you fuck around with the margins it's really like 25.
And after you dick around with the character spacing it's more like 23.

Because they're almost over. And I hate them. And I want to die, and I'm never reading Jane Eyre again. (At least not for two years, and maybe not until I decide to use it as the set text for the coda to my PhD dissertation, which, yes, is taking shape in my mind at the moment and does need to end with a half-chapter on Jane Eyre in its current nebulous form. Yes, this means I am already thinking about the topic of my PhD dissertation/first published academic work. I'm a dork like that.)

I'm currently perfecting a new technique of not giving a fuck. The harder they douche the less I give a fuck. It's the perfect guard.

ANYWAY, my actual point in this entry is to tell you about a really nifty online writing tool that someone else recommended to me and that I like thoroughly. It's called 750words.com and it pretty much is what it sounds like: a site where you can go to write 750 words each day, every day. What they're about is totally up to you, but you're encouraged to write them on a daily basis.

This is a bad idea for a reason I can't even guess currently.

What you write is itself entirely private, although the site does have some cool features that analyze what you write in an attempt to determine your mood, your prevailing concerns, etc. and you can decide to share that information with the public if you like. I really rarely recommend techy stuff, or writerly stuff, but I really like this.

There it is.
It's like I'm being enlightened through douchey blogs. I knew it was a bad idea before I knew why.

Mostly, I like it because I can write 750 words of more-or-less stream-of-consciousness venting in 10 minutes, and doing this every day for the past 10 days has been something to look forward to.

Know who cares about stream of consciousness?
No one in their right goddamn mind.

Also, I just really like the site design. Very simple writing interface, which I am currently in love with (instead of your words working down the page, the page scrolls up as you write...like a typewriter!),

That sounds really annoying, actually.

sleek design overall, and -- because no way would we be doing this without rewards of some kind -- there are BADGES! You get new badges depending upon how many days in a row you've managed to write,

Surely your honors do not extend as far or shine as brightly as this.
I'm not sure that link will work, actually. You might have to be logged in to my FFXIV account to see it.
Oh well, can't be assed to figure it out.
This entire paragraph might not make much sense to anyone but me.

Let's review my schedule for the next few days:

12AM tonight: Jane Eyre paper due. I've written maybe 2/3 of it, and have yet to complete an entire first draft.

>drafts
O ye plebeians.

What is the best book you've read this year, and why?

The Odyssey because not a year goes by I don't read it.

As usual, this is a question that demands multiple answers, because it's me we're talking about, and I rarely read one good book per year.

And Dante's Inferno.
Again, not a year passes.

Which fictional world would you choose to visit, and why?

The grim dark far future of the year 40,000, naturally.

It depends if by "world" you mean a particular planet, or a particular universe. If I'm choosing between different planets/planet-like spaces/planar domains and dimensions, the first one that comes to mind is Narnia --

Oh God shut up.

My life is crazy, but even people like me who deliberately seek out insanity deserve some peace and serenity, even if it only happens after 10pm. As such, I'm going to go make myself tea, get a few cookies, then shut myself in.

You don't know the beginning of insanity, graduate student.
Try teaching in a ghetto high school for 4 months and maintain any vestige of sanity.
TRULY I HAVE A WILL AS UNBENDING AS IRON.

my room in my comfy sweatpants and my big bulky thermal and socks my grandma knit me so that I can watch the new episodes of Bones and Big Bang Theory in blissful solitude.

OF IRON FOR IN THAT FOUR MONTHS THERE WAS NO ESCAPING THE DEMONS IN MY OWN MIND.
This blog seems really douchey I wish I could stay awake longer to contend with it further or if I could focus on her words at all.
Instead I'm just rambling about totally irrelevant shit.
So like I normally do I guess but I feel like this deserves a deeper analysis.
MONDAY, THEN.