[Malia's Scrapbook] The Final Curtain

[Malia]

I'm glad you like it!

Yes, I only lighted it up - so that you can actually see the lines and shadows. Unfortunately the left side got a bit too pale, but I couldn't avoid that.

[Malia]

Only Cheese Today … Just a quick heads-up, so you know what I’m up to … Today has been crazy in many ways, although I didn’t really feel it until now. Yesterday evening I was up until half past 11 pm, because I was writing my NaNo story – and finished it. I finally finished it at 163 pages in word, 91,219 words. I know that it took quite some time to finish the story up after the crazy month of November, but I’m fine with that. Everything that counts is that it’s finished. It’s in dire need of some polishing and there is one problem I left unsolved, but I want to forget this project for a while and concentrate on something else. In fact, there really are lots of things I want to concentrate on apart from writing. I’ve started jogging about a week ago and want to do it regularly in order to improve my condition and lose a bit of weight. Don’t be worried, I absolutely know when it’s enough … I just want to look a bit better. Honestly, who doesn’t? Anyway, my goal is to go outside and do my round every two days. I heard that doing sports every two days is the best solution for the body. I’m excited, because after the initial shock of “omg, I haven’t done this forever and it shows” I really enjoy running. I have a pair of cool shoes, nice clothing, good music and live at the countryside, so I really enjoy it. My second project is some kind of leap … I was inspired by ScriptFrenzy which is similar to NaNoWriMo, but features one difference: It’s about writing scripts. Screenplays, stage plays, graphic novels, doesn’t matter what kind of script. I, however, have set my mind on writing a screenplay. Just for fun. Of course, I’ve told my family and they’re probably expecting the second Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, but that’s my family … I have a couple of ideas. Although it’d be interesting to go with fantasy and imagine everything in shiny new 3D, I think my story will turn out to be (at least partly) realistic in the end. I’m really looking forward to the challenge. I just need to flesh out the characters, figure out how the formatting works and get started. And then I have to keep going. So, you see, I’m busy at the moment (add school in big letters to the list). There are quite a few plans for Mizahar in my head too, but with the limited amount of time I have at hand it’s difficult to transform all of those plans into actions … I might be slow in the future … I don’t know, maybe everything turns out well. I don’t know. I only know that I don’t want to leave Mizahar – with any of my current accounts! Oh, and ... I didn't mention the origin of this entry's title. My eyes feel like soft cheese because I stared at the screen for such a long time yesterday and because I'm tired. I'm going to bed now. XD

[Alice]

I'll start with a phrase that I make use of regularly and extensively. There's no better way of saying sorry than: I'm sorry. So: I'm really sorry!

This week will be a very stressful one for me. I have barely passed a test in Chemistry today, so I'll learn super much for the test on Wednesday. Additionally, my English exam is on Wednesday too. Thursday is the day of Ancient Greek exam. So my week is very full and I'll have to stick to my schedule in order to successfully get out of that. I know that I can do that. (In fact I think that I can practice for our version of "A levels" this way.)

This means that posts will be either rare or none until Thursday (meaning PC and DS posts), perhaps including Friday as well - depending on how exhausted and tired I'll be after that week. However, good news for the following week: I have Monday and Tuesday off from school, so I can hopefully do an extra round of creative work for Miza then!

[Malia]

I'm more or less alive and back ... Don't really feel about posting though. Maybe I'll start playing catch up tomorrow. We'll see if I feel motivated then.

I'll appear in chat if I can avoid my bad conscience though.

[Malia]

Into The Forest Yesterday started with me lacking any motivation to concern myself with Mizahar, but then someone said something very nice to me in chat which was the main reason why I managed to do some posts on that day. I realized that not being able to post was my fault and not the game’s … It is true that I sometimes feel intimidated by so many creative and original writers here, but that doesn’t mean that I have to produce something equally stunning each time I post. Rather, I should be grateful that I have such skilled writing partners and enjoy myself and my characters. Everything else isn’t important. Yet I didn’t start to post immediately, but instead went for a walk. I can’t remember when I went into the small forest that lies almost in front of our house for the last time. It must have been last summer … or even before. As always I put on sneakers and went straight over the field to get to the small stream that flows through the northern part of the forest. To be exact, I’m not sure if it can be called a real forest, because it’s so small. I believe that it was bigger a long time ago and farmers cut the surrounding trees down to have more space for their fields … But that forest has something very cool in it which you won’t find anywhere else (at least I haven’t heard of it before): it’s called “sand cellar”. There are three bigger caves and several smaller ones built into soft sandstone. Farmers now use some of them to store their bigger tools in them, but I think they were used as shelters in war times. Not that there were many people living around, so the caves aren’t really big, just several feet to go each. Anyway, this is my personal paradise. I’ve been there several times as a kid, with friends, alone, but as I became older I more often returned on my own than not. I’ve literally seen every inch of the forest and I’ve seen several of its inhabitants. When I went there yesterday I’m pretty sure that I broke the current record of animals seen during a single trip. Several partridges, a rabbit and two deer. I’ve also clearly heard a stag. So I really enjoy being there. At a particular place it’s very easy to jump over the tiny stream, so I did that and visited my favorite place. It’s some sort of cliff at the top of the biggest cave which is about thirty feet high. The view is amazing – it makes you realize that you are indeed in the middle of nature with high trees that protect you from the outside world, the streets and houses and loud noises and let just enough sunlight shine through the treetops. Every time I come there I am stunned by the height of that place and imagine how it would be to fall so deep … without the painful crash on the ground, of course. Yet I often think it would be a good place to commit suicide. Very peaceful. The trip into fresh air and with the amazing view almost felt like a rebirth. When strolling through the rest of the forest, I almost felt like an animal, turning my head at noises and making as little noise as possible as I walk. That feeling is very beautiful … Perhaps nature is the only goddess I (and mankind in general) can honestly believe in. After that, I went to the computer and produced some first posts after the long absence. They almost rolled off my fingers without any effort. That must be the magic of fresh air … and it so helped. I want to remember that, because these days I haven’t gone to the forest as often as I should.

[Malia]

Taking A breath This weekend has been busy … for my tastes. Going to an event and walking through town afterwards on Friday which wouldn’t been that bad if I hadn’t been there with an absolutely crazy person. She’s really the craziest and most original Gemini I’ve ever met … although of course I don’t find her so intriguing just because she’s Gemini. The best thing that has happened was that I decided to use her as a model for a main character in my new story. This shall be interesting. In other news, I cooked lunch today because it’s Mother’s Day and because I felt like it. I did meat balls with sauce consisting of curry, peanut butter and coconut milk and rice with even more coconut milk as a side dish. My cool book of Asian cuisine provides the recipes for almost everything I cook, because I really like Asian cuisine and the fact that every dish is new for us. Today’s meal didn’t really take long, but tasted very interesting nevertheless. Here are some photos of the cooking session. I’ve made another decision today, although I’m not sure whether it’s because of the fact that I’ve had little to no time for myself this weekend or because I really need a break. My posting pace will most likely slow down, primarily due to exams at school. But I also want to focus more on my own writing. I’ve been neglecting that little story I started some weeks ago far too much! I want to return to it and just write what comes to my mind instead of focusing on one character and a limited range of actions that character can perform. Sometimes the pbp method of writing is really annoying me. When I have free time at hand it’s too slow – when I’m busy it’s too quick. I tend to avoid power posters because I can’t satisfy their needs and post away during the week. I really admire people who are capable of multi tasking. Really. I myself like organization and categorizing everything I do. Obviously I’m being too harsh to myself, but I can’t help it … So when I want to focus on my own story, I have to neglect Mizahar. Everything is related to one another, naturally. Some people can do everything at once, they just rush through their various threads and word count goals and go on with the next project after that in a few hours. I don’t know how to do that … I need breaks and relaxation and times of reading and watching in between. I wish I would be quicker. I know that I’ve already improved a great deal since I started with RPGs. My first character at an English RPG that lasted about as long as I play Malia had 170 posts – half of Malia’s post count! That truly is some improvement. But I want to be better … There are times when I have enough time and a strong will to improve, but at other times I’m really just tired and not willing to pour my precious energy into something I don’t want to do at that moment. It’s like that with Mizahar now … I need a break. I won’t disappear completely though, no worries! Like I said, my posting pace will slow down, but I’m still here and accessible through PMs and in chat and trying to post as often as possible. Whenever I feel like it, really. And that’s how it should be here. Everyone respects the other one. I strongly suspect that I’m creating my own pressure, but I also hope that some people learn something from that. Some of us aren’t that persistent. Some have to step back once and a while. Some have to do that more often than others. Anyway, just want to announce that so nobody wonders what has happened to me. I do hope that my scrapbook still has regular readers …

[Malia]

It's time for another list of posts that need to be written this weekend. It's kind of sad that my PCs don't have much to do, so I want to change that. I've decided that I don't really care about the possibility of not having enough time in the next few weeks, because I can always use the breaks between studying sessions to post. That's relaxing sometimes!

Malia
Apparently Cancelled - Meet Mashaen (asked Tarot) & adventure?
Adventure with Skylar
Animation training

Aselia
Cancelled - Training thread (next season with Jaeden)
Adventure with one of the new ASs (asked Harlequill)
Nearly Done - Social Thread(s)

Alice
Done - Healer of Ages Past to Healer of Ages Present
Done - The Healing Hands of the Island
Done - Medical Library - Kail

[Malia]

I have to make an announcement: From Wednesday to Friday of the upcoming week I won't have internet access (at least I think so). I'm making a trip to Vienna with a friend for a course about journalism. All in all it'll take two days and it's free! I'm really looking forward to it, but I assume that I don't have internet access at the hotel.

[Malia]

Today Man ... for some unknown reason this day apparently isn't ending good. I just finished a thread with an awesome guy who will be busy with rl from now on. Like so many other awesome writers here. That makes me sad. It makes me wonder if they'll come back after those busy times. Anyway, here's the thread: Dry eyes. I really recommend it. Eshatoh is very creative! Additionally, if you've read Gossamer's latest scrapbook entry, you know the other reason to be sad. I can't even imagine how she's feeling. It makes me want to cry ... for all those people who have to abandon something or someone that's near and dear to them.

[Malia]

To Do List (Summer Season) Malia Pavi Lake thread Lost Perspective thread Come out and play thread Testing Grounds thread Animation training Eris’ thread Trista’s thread Syliras, then Karjin Lyra Rebirth thread Kellan thread Storms Unknown thread Rosalie’s thread Trapping & leatherworking training Astrology writeup I’m getting into her really fast – amazing. Alice Is there a Storyteller’s Block? If there is, I have it. Taith's gnosis thread Kail’s calligraphy thread Harbor location (inactive) Jaeden’s thread Write more regularly? Aselia Finish Bath Buddies thread I will miss you, my messed up Konti girl!