[Life] Been a while =o

It's been a while since I had a minute to post here.

Not a lot is going on.

I visited Ami up in MA last weekend. This week was all about studying and finishing up projects. I also worked for 10 hours.

Next week, I think I have 10 hours of work again. On Tues night I'm going to AC. NJ Bar Exam is Wed and Thurs from 830 to 430. I'll be home Thursday night.

I will try to get internet tho.

Thurs night through March 1 I will be sewing like a demon so I can open my etsy store on March 1 with at least a few things in it.

Crafting~ - The Petite Empire Bag and Project ToGo Bag

Need for a new camera aside, and 6 hours later, I am very pleased with how this little beauty came out. =3

Also, an hour playing with ideas and fabric produced this crochet project bag. It holds up to three skeins of yarn, 4 crochet hooks, and a pair of scissors. Perfect for bringing a project on the road with you.

Frosh - The all-important first paragraph!

A reader can make their decision about a story in the first paragraph of reading. You have a small collection of sentences to set your tone, mood, and create a connection to the main character that will keep them reading.

Here is mine:

The drive from Alliance, Nebraska to Manhattan, Kansas was eight and a half hours. Eight and half hours of hearing how proud my parents were of me. Kansas State University wasn’t my first choice school. That honor went to Chadron State. An hour away, it would have been closer to home; closer to Kyle. My family was poor, though, and K-State had the better financial aid package in the end. At first, I had refused. My friends, the same ones I’d been in school with since pre-school, were all going to Chadron. My mother had also gone there, when she got her degree in journalism, so it made sense to me that I should do the same. It was my fiancé, Kyle, who finally convinced me to go. 

Is it amazing to believe that 5 hours of research went into this? I got a lot of notes that may be used in the future though.

Alliance, NE
As of 2000, population 8,959

Claim to fame: Carhenge. Stonehenge, with cars. Now called the Car Art Museum because additional pieces have been added. Can you believe 80,000 tourists from around the world come to see it every year?

Recreation:   

Central Park - Museums, Arboretum, Conservatory, Central Park Fountain, Sunken Garden, shelters, playground, open spaces, and Snake Creek Trail 

Laing Lake Park -  shelters, skateboard park, kid's fishing lake, and frisbee golf 

Ball fields and tennis courts - four ball field areas, eight fields, and eight tennis courts 

Snake Creek Trail - two miles paved trail from Central Park to Laing Park
Major religions: Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist

Manhattan, KS "Little Apple"

Population: 52, 836 - 8th largest city in Kansas

Located near Fort Riley (Army base)

College town

Entertainment district is called "Aggieville"

Most private schools in Nebraska carry religious affiliations.

Not much done today, but just enough.

Did my taxes today. Always nice to get out of the way. Found out I am below the poverty line and thus qualified for EIC. No surprises there, really. (Damn. And this thing was supposed to make me feel good about myself.)

The FSOT is tomorrow. About  15,000 a year take it. About 500 of them pass it. We'll see how I do, I guess. I just have to remember to remain calm and take my time. I'll consider it practice for the Bar Exam.

Tomorrow's goals will be: take exam, work on making purses. I should get at least 3 done, I think. If I do that, then I can work on my outline for Frosh.

Frosh - Meet the Main Cast!

Lisette Thomas – 17 years old, Lisette is your typical small town girl from Alliance, Nebraska. She’s engaged to her high school sweetheart. She’s going to school for education, and plans to settle in the same town she’s always lived in, married to her love and raising a family. However, as the semester rolls on, she finds herself meeting new people, visiting new places, and yearning for something more.

Cassandra Lynch – 18 years old, Cassandra has it all. Born and raised for the big city life, she knows what she wants and no one is going to get in her way. From what she wears to how she reacts to any situation, Lisette couldn’t have gotten a more complete opposite. But there’s something to be said for the adage “opposites attract.” Will Cassandra prove to be an ally for Lisette or is she determined to make the year as miserable as possible?

Kyle Laugherty - 17 years old, Lisette's fiance and high school sweetheart. He stayed at home to get his mechanic's certificate, with plans of taking over his father’s business. He’s been true to Lisette, but things have changed between them since she went to college. When a new girl from the city moves into town, he finds himself wondering if what everyone expects is necessarily what he wants.

Adam Marshall - 20 years old and a one-semester exchange student from the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. Wanting a taste of the United States off the beaten trail, he’s come to Kansas State University for a bit of Midwestern living. Too bad no one told him how boring it’d be. Thankfully, he manages to find some fun in the form of a shy freshman. What starts off as a game turns to something more serious, however, and he finds himself wondering if he’s gotten in over his head.

Allison Mitchells - 17 years old, she’s got her sights set on being the future teacher of the year in Kansas. She suddenly questions her sexuality when she meets a fellow freshman classmate. Despite struggling to come to terms with obviously unrequited feelings, she is one of Lisette’s closest friends. She has brown hair and eyes, and is a little short and stocky. She has esteem issues, but keeps them to herself. She acts stronger than she feels, and spends most of her time in her mind.

Maggie Streuden - 18 years old, she’s a happy-go-lucky shore girl, dislocated from home and the beach.  Totally boy crazy, with bleached blond hair, always styled in loose curls, it’s a wonder she became friends with Lisette so easily. She's average height, and average build, but dresses to flaunt what she does have. She's outwardly dense, but can be surprisingly insightful when you get her to stop talking about that cute guy she saw.

Michael Choi - 18 years old and the last of Lisette's core group of friends. A proud metrosexual, Michael’s a self-proclaimed ladies man with charm, class, and charisma to lend. Suprisingly, he’s more often than not the voice of reason for his friends. When he’s not the one causing the trouble anyway.

Getting there

Made a few calls today, trying to expand my network. Hopefully something will ping back to me.

In the meantime, I finished 2 alterations. I'm working on the third now. I'm sending them with my dad to his co-worker tomorrow, so I'm hoping that he'll come back with some money for me. $30 will pay a bill.

Continuing with my MBE questions review. It's the best way to figure out what law I need to be reading. (Hint: Contracts, Criminal Law, and the Rule Against Perpetuities that I wish would just die.)

Still no answer when I try to call my former boss for my money. I'm counting the days. I kept all of my records. She doesn't want to pay me? I'll press criminal charges. I'm tired of this bs.

Gonna spend the rest of the day writing. I can't say anything I'm writing is particularly good, but I haven't seen much on the topic of college students that ISN'T frat parties and sororities, so...There might be a market for it.

I am working on fleshing out the main characters now. Look for character blurbs in a few hours.

Frosh - A Prologue of Sorts

“I love you, Lisette.”

My heart stopped beating. I felt it as it just stopped cold in my chest. It dropped like lead into my stomach, and I could already feel the acid churning and sloshing; eating away and destroying it. I had never truly been in love before; never known heartache. I had always walked away from relationships feeling nothing, just as I had walked into them. The ring burned on my finger, an angry reminder of all the promises I had broken to someone I thought I had loved.He didn't deserve this.

I never should have gone to that party. I wouldn’t be standing here now, feeling cold and alone despite the hot breath searing against my neck. I wouldn’t be saying goodbye to someone I never should have fallen in love with.