"On Your Knees!"

"Your time starts now!" Shouted Prince Arthur's voice, sounding grim and deadly in the pavilion. It was now or never again. This was Lancelot's chance: The chance to become the thing he'd dreamed of. Knighthood was in his reach. 

All his life, since he was only an orphan child, had he practiced his sword craft. The tricks and turns he had mastered came flooding back to him, and his hands and fingers remembered their skill. Arthur was the best swordsman in Camelot---perhaps even in the world. The prince's skill had been carefully fostered since he could walk. Now, in his prime, Arthur was most undoubtedly the deadliest human foe he would ever face in combat.

Lancelot must prove himself worthy. Not only to the once and future king of Camelot, or even his friends who stood nervously on the sidelines, watching with anxious eyes, but to himself---that he could do what he'd always aspired to. 

From inside his helmet, Lancelot could hear every sword stroke as the two weapons of metal met in the air. The sounds reminded one of music from a warning bell, ringing "danger" and "injury" at every toll. Lancelot did his best to hold his ground and keep his head, even under the rain of Arthur's blows. In combat, the two of them were like animals, feeling for each other's weaknesses, never giving in, never holding up, and never backing down. In a brief wave overwhelming disorientation, Lancelot lost his balance, and swung wildly at Arthur's head. He thought it to be his doom, but fate laughed and Arthur held back. The two circled. 

And they continued.
Lancelot didn't know for how long. 
Have you ever noticed how impossible to tell time when pouring out everything you are or ever hope to be?

In reality, it was only a few seconds before his downfall. With a backhanded blow from his right gauntlet, Arthur had struck Lancelot directly in the face. Onto the ground he went as his helmet flew off and his mind darkened... 

...But the thing you most desire, if in your grasp, will not---should not---be given up on without a fight.

Cooper and Gatlin- "Don't Panic" (Coldplay LIVE cover)

Talented people. Besides, how can you not like Coldplay??

For any fellow AIO listeners who might be curious and recognize the name, the girl in this video is the actress Gatlin Green---A.K.A. Priscilla---singing with her brother, Cooper Green (also an actor).

Non-Themed Theme Song

Listening to this right now.

Chorus: 

You go there you're gone forever
I go there I'll lose my way
If we stay here we're not together
Anywhere Is 

For some reason, the chorus of this song was kind of the original "Theme Song" of this year's NaNoWriMo novel. Just the chorus though. I like Enya, but to be honest, the tempo of this song's verses get a little irritating (though the lyrics are pretty awesome on their own).
Now, after actually sitting down and writing the Novel this month, this song reflect approximately zero of the feeling or mood shone in any scene or character. Nevertheless, I'm stuck with it being linked forever as a picture of the basic outline of The Upper Class.

---Not sure if I like this or not.

In more NaNo news (I know, you're sick of it, right?)...LOOKIT WHAT I MADE!

Okay, if this isn't creepy, I don't know what is. It's literally a collaboration of people who are, star in, related to, or otherwise associated with

-Merlin
-Benedict Cumberbatch (that how you spell his last name?)
-Dr. Who (in an extremely roundabout way)
-Zombie Land
-That show that used to play on The Discovery Channel

Plus, I have no idea where the redhead girl is from.

But the explanation for this odd assortment of faces is that they are my visuals of my (known) characters. It always helps for me to have a concrete picture for me to base imaginary people off of, so this is what I've come up with. All of these people have places in my novel world, which is strange in and of itself.

I hope they don't mind.
And as far as I know, only one of shown characters ends up dying, which is a positive thing.

I'm not giving away any names for now, because (1) that would be strange and (2) the names aren't set in stone and are up for swapping/obliteration of existence. But there they are.

I hope I don't bore you too much,
K-Minty

PS: I'm stuck. That's why I can't stop telling you about this silly endeavor to write this novel in thirty days. I'm fed up with writing this. Anyone else feel this way? Anyone??

SOS,
K-Minty

Halfway Ain't What It Crackethed Up To Be

Seeing as I got at least one remark that questioned whether the afore mentioned math problems had murdered me, I figured that I should drop by and say hi today.

First I give the mandatory NaNo update:

___

I'm lurking somewhere between despair and self-congratulations. To be on track, I need to plug at least 1100 words into my word pad doc before midnight tonight. In this way, I'm *cough*surprisingly*cough* on track. Which is kinda weird on its own.

That's where my self-congratulations is coming from. The despair part is a whole 'nother slice of pie (Thanksgiving pun not intended).

Long, complicated, and stringy summery cut short: My novel is pretty much trash. Not that I would ever---EVER---decide to just throw a whole 16,000 words in the garbage (think of all the time and sweat and bleeding fingers that it took to get that many syllables on one page!), but it's bad. I've reached the point of rambling on and intentionally inserting run-on sentences to increase word count. My own work is putting me to sleep. And when that happens, it's a sad day.
Something else that's rather confusing: November is halfway over and my main character is still meeting his future protags.

...Wha?

I mean, you'd think that he be in the middle of saving the world by now, but NO, AT 30 PAGES, HE'S STILL STUCK IN A STUPID BOOKSTORE EATING DONUTS AND COFFEE.

*enter me throwing something across the room*

Okay, I have to rant, you understand that right? After I click the orange publish button and launch this post, I'm doomed to go and sit down and cook up another stingy batch of 1000 words on my intensely unsatisfying story. It's just...wrong. All wrong.

But I no give up. But I'm not giving up.

Instead, I'm just going to resurrect it from the grave sometime when I'm board and living in a retirement home.

Such are my NaNo feelings.

___

*sigh of relief* Ohhhh, that felt good. Nothing like a depressing gulp of pessimistic attitude to cheer your day!

So tell me, tell me, how are you? Are you about to celebrate the coming Thursday with grandeur and cranberry sauce alike? Or maybe you're hoping for a white Christmas already, and crossing your fingers that there are considerably less broken bulbs for the tree lights then there were last year.

Holidays are fun. But more than that, they help us remember the important things. I always have a spot in my heart for summertime, but when the days grow dark and cold, there's some sweetness in that as well.

The End,
Kisminty

In This Moment

Learning about imaginary numbers in algebra today. Something is wrong.

Countdowningness

Hello.

Today I told someone that the Hobbit would come out in theaters in 31 days.

I did not lie.

Oatmeal, Chocolate Chips, and Merlin

You should all know that I hate cooking. So on Friday, I decided to cook.

That is, bake cookies because it's November and everyone thinks that November means cookies. To be precises, they were oatmeal chocolate chip, but does preciseness really matter? Yes. Preciseness does, in fact matter when it comes to baking. Because of this tiny factor, I only just about botched the entire batch half a dozen times. In the end, they came out under cooked and I was happy enough with my cookies. However, let it be known to all that the best part about cooking is making the messes.

I do not mind cleaning up messes. That duty has been more or less my life. Therefore: I am a mess cleaner-upper. So when I end up spilling all the oatmeal on the floor and flinging the batter across the counter because the blender went kaput, ye be warned, instead of sighing angrily at the generally terrible state of things, I will probably just crack up, clap my hands, and shout "LET'S DO IT AGAIN!!"

Messes are the only reason why cooking can be fun.

Somehow I feel as if later in life it would be a good idea to make sure that my future husband realizes that I often have the urge to blow things up in the microwave. Or that I seriously do want to pop popcorn in a pot without the lid.

Anyway, I present the evidence.

 (before the fiery furnace oven)

(after the vacation to the Sahara oven)

To be perfectly candid, these things ended up looking a little better than they tasted (or so I thought), but in the end, we all must remember the blessed proverb:

"Cookies are good. Eat them and be happy."

Finally, I'd like to take this moment and share with you, one of the most phenomenal clips of one of the most phenomenal TV shows that I happen to absolutely adore.

I empathize.
(not with the flea mention at the end, mind you, but with the whole cooking thing)

'Till another time

At another place

Kismint