Duck Quacks (Mythbusters proved they do echo)

[duckyaisha]

Oh my gosh. Solitary 4.0!! I was watching the final episode and in the second-to-last treatment Number 6 quit! YESSS! I hate number 6 with a passion!!! Anyways, then number 3 won the test, and then she won SOLITARY!!! W00T! I am so happy because she is the first woman to win Solitary! I love Solitary! <3<3<3<3<3

[Cloud]

/has no idea what Solitary is but should reread the Temeraire series so she can squee with Ducky about it

[duckyaisha]

Yes, you should. And Ten should read it too. Because it is smart and uses big words.

[Cloud]

Well I read the first two books and part of the third. o3o I need to read all of them this time.

[duckyaisha]

Yes, because Iskierka is ADORABLE!

[Cloud]

xD -pats Ducky-

[duckyaisha]

Football books and my swim meet-


So, today I was at a swim meet and I did really well. (Actually it was today and yesterday)
I dropped a lot of time, since it was a long course meet and my times were old. I got a Far Westerns time in the 200 breast! (the champs meet we'll be going to) and 4 A times in the 200 breast, 200 IM, 200 free, and 50 free. I didn't do as well in the 100 free and 100 breast because I was swimming 200 pace in the 1st lap. I'm really happy because now I get to go to the elite meet with all my fast friends. (You need 3 A times, and I have 4 now)

Now for football books. I don't understand football beyond 'get the ball to the other side.' The positions, plays, and even how to score points besides a touchdown really confuses me. This is why I don't read very many football books, but sometimes they can be written really well, and with as much passion as any other story. The good thing about football books is that sometimes they talk about the same things that are in swimming- working hard, practically killing yourself every day, and wishing you were good enough to be a star of your sport. The two best football books I've read are Gym Candy and Pop.

Gym Candy was about a boy who's a runningback (from what I can gather, they have to get the ball to the other side while running between boys twice their size) and works his butt off every day in practice to live up to what he assumes is his father's legacy. (His father was in the NFL, but got kicked off the team for messing around, but he doesn't learn that until the end. Until then, he believes his father left because of an injury) Unfortunately, he's just not strong enough to throw off those larger guys' tackles, and this really affects his game. So he turns first to protein supplements, and when that fails, steroids. It was a very good book that I really got into despite its basis in football. I think it was very realistic in portraying the negative effects of steroids, not just physical but mental. They became almost addicting for the main character. One of the other things I liked was that it didn't have a happy ending. It was a bittersweet type of ending, which I respected. It made me determined never to use steroids, since now I know that it results in a downwards spiral.

Pop is about a teenage boy who loves football and moves to a new city. In this city, this 40-ish guy acts weird and is really good at football and can take stuff from stores without paying for it. Teen learns how to play football, and how to enjoy the pain of bashing heads from Old Man. Teen is really confused about Old Man's status and how come he can do all these strange things without getting in trouble (Old Man acts like a teenager all the time), and finds out that Old Man was a football star back in the day and has premature alzheimer's from one too many concussions. It's a very interesting book, and I liked the characters. it was pretty dark, though, and it didn't have a happy ending either. I'm sorry I forgot the characters' names, but read these books.

[Cloud]

I read the beginning of Empire of Ivory, but turned it back in because I was too distracted. ;P It's
really hard for me to read those books in one go, they're so long and complicated. I really do like them, though.

[duckyaisha]

Alright, I'm just gonna update you on what happened during this trip before I fly home.
At my mom's parents' house, we went to Yosemite and I climbed up some rocks to get to this pool at the base of Lower Yosemite Falls (which, at the end of summer, is barely more than a trickle) and the water was ungodly cold. It waterfalled on my head! We made bead trees and sent my friends postcards with Excaliburs on them from Yosemite. We got to hang out with my epic cousin Flint, who is famous for being random and awesome. Last year, we were playing in the sand and he grabbed a leaf off a plant and said it was a shark, because that was a shark tree. Then he smushed it and said it shriveled up and died.

At his house, we hung out with his chickens and ducks and goats. I would grab chickens, take them out of the coop, and sit with them on the outside table, calming them down, because I am the chicken whisperer. Any chicken whose name we didn't know became named after a Soul Eater character. Two golden chickens were named Liz and Patty, and the black and white chickens were Maka and Tsubaki. (They only have hens.)
We got to see baby ducklings, and they were so cute. I didn't know what gender they were or how to tell them apart, so I couldn't name them. In retrospect, I could've called them all Crona.

Then we went to my dad's parents' house, and we really drew a lot there. I'll be posting another link to my DA account soon, since I'll upload the drawings when I get home. We went to the Ventura County Fair and me and my 9-year-old other cousin Megan rode crazy rides that I never thought I would ride. My favorites were those swing-flying things and the hang glider ride.

The best part about the COunty Fair is indoors. There was a Youth Expo where kids showed off their skills in drawing, sewing, etc, and some of the drawings were of anime characters! There were a few vocaloids and some that I didn't know, and then there was a picture of Hughes! I freaked out, of course. There were 3 or 4 really well drawn Na'vi there too, and some other epic drawings.

We followe our grandparents into a tent containing store stalls, and find an anime store. I kid you not. There were plushies all along the back wall, wallets, action figures, dvds, random anime and video game merchandise. I got a PLUSH MAKA and a purple purse and a yellow plush yoshi keychain for said purse. Izzy got a stuffed Miku and a Maka action figure. It was so exciting!

We then went to Universal and learned a bunch of stuff. We went on cool rides like the studio tour and I went on Jurassic Park and Mummy rides alone. They were awesome, but short, and the Jurassic Park drop was not as spectacular as I thought. But I got doused, so it's all good. Izzy and I ate half a pound of gummy sharks and frogs that day. Yum.

On this trip, I really developed our OCs a lot. Every time I was in a given situation, I thought of how they would react to the same thing, and gave them a personality trait based on that reaction. We also used the 'Wouldn't it be funny if....?' line to come up with more traits for said OCs. For example, Risa's scared of heights, Daisuke hates Wapanese people (A.K.A Weaboos, look it up on Know Your Meme if you have no idea what I'm talking about) and fangirl Japanese, Mark is terrified of almost all rides, etc.

However, these OCs are only for retarded comedic purposes. I'm not gonna write an actual story with them, it'll be more like a plotless version of Azumanga Diaoh, with the comic strip type layout, so if you like moronic stuff, you should read it. I've done.......one page so far.

ANYWAYS, I can't wait to actually post when I get back home! Oh yeah, Ten, I found your long lost sister (or alter ego). Azusa from Soul Eater is JUST LIKE YOU I SWEAR. She even looks how I imagine you to look, except with shorter hair and no huge red pen.

[Nefeli]

Wow, your trip sounds awesome, Ducky! :) -is jealous- I'm grounded for this and next week, so pretty much all I do these days is listen to music and stare at nothing in particular for extended periods of time. >> Glad to hear you had fun. ^.^