Hello Again!

Hello, beautiful people! I'm back! I know I've been gone for a very long time. I'm sorry. It was summer, then school started, and I've just been too busy. 10th grade is even worse than 9th grade was. I have so much homework, and between that, robotics club, and volunteering at my library, I haven't had very much time to write.

I've decided to change the idea of this blog a bit, now that I don't have to have specific things in it. I still want to tell people about my books thought, so now instead of posting chapters, or parts of chapters, I'm gonna post updates about how the books are coming, how the characters are, and just other random things about the books that I think you might want to know.

End of the Year Reflection

Good morning people. How ya doin'? I'm so tired right now. I had a karate tournament all weekend. It was so much fun, but also exhausting. I'll write more about it later.

So, I've been doing this blog for my English class. We started it at the beginning of the year, and now thats the year's almost over, so is the blog project. This last post is supposed to be a reflection of the year. I'm supposed to write about how I've changed this year.

How have I changed this year? I started out the year as a shy, awkward nerd with 4 friends. Now, I'm still shy and awkward (and nerdy), but not as much. I have a lot more friends and I talk a lot more than I used to. I think that could be partly because of this blog. When I can talk to people with out having to worry about what I say, I start to get more comfortable with talking.

I'm also one of those people who doesn't show their feelings. When I have somewhere like this where I can just vent, it becomes so much easier to deal with the emotion's I try to keep hidden.

How else have I changed? I honestly have no idea. I've become a better writer and violinist. I've injured myself countless times at karate. Just yesterday, I totally messed up my leg. It's fine now, but it really hurt yesterday.

Okay, well, I think that's it. Before I go, I want to thank all my wonderful readers (if I have any). You guys have been great. Although I don't understand why you would take time out of your day to read this, I'm grateful to anyone who did. My goal for this year was to get at least 500 views. I got more than 800. Readers, you really are amazing.

Image courtesy of Booklikes

Hey, if you like Dr. Who (a super amazing show), check out my friend Kimberly's blog.

Flirting

Hello peoples. How's it going? Good. I'm really excited right now. I have a karate tournament tonight and tomorrow. It's gonna be so much fun. Tournaments always are. I'm competing in three different events: Traditional Forms, Traditional Weapon Forms, and Sparring. I don't know if I'll win forms or weapons for my division, but I will most likely win sparring. I almost always do. I'm also part of my studio's advanced demo team. We have a pretty good demo this year, but probably not good enough to win. Well, it's gonna be a long, fun, exhausting weekend. On Sunday, I'm going over to my friend Jenny's house to watch the season 4 finale of Once Upon a Time. Thats also gonna be fun.

Cute, flirty Shawn Millock
Image courtesy of IMDB

In the last part of my story, Shawn took Anny to the IFPA control room, where she met his friend Abby. Abby explained the purpose and importance of the control room before Anny and Shawn had to leave.

“She likes you,” I said once we were in the hallway.

“What makes you say that?” he asked skeptically.

“She’s a girl. So am I. And how could any girl resist you?” I teased, laughing at his surprised expression. “You’re cute and flirty. Two things most girls love.”

“You’re right. I am flirty.” He draped his arm over my shoulder, grinning.

“Oh, no, Millock. I still have that flashlight. And don’t you think I’m a bit too young for you to flirt with?”

“I flirt with everyone,” he reminded me.

“Even fifteen year old girls? How old are you anyways?” I asked him.

“Nineteen.” He removed his arm from around my shoulders and took a step away from me, his grin fading. “Maybe I am too old for you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.” He smiled at me. “Let’s go.” They walked in silence the rest of the way

back to my new apartment. The silence was awkward at first, but then it settled into a

comfortable, friendly silence. Shawn broke the long silence when they arrived at my

apartment.

“Your training starts tomorrow. Will you be able to find your way back to the training room by yourself?” he asked.

“Maybe,” I answered.

“I don’t want you to get lost, so I’ll take you there. I’ll be here at 9. Be ready. See you tomorrow.” He walked off down the hall without waiting for my response. I started after him, all of a sudden feeling strangely lonely. I shook it off and opened the door to the room that would be my home for the next few weeks.

The Control Room...

Good morning, lovelies. How are you all? I am so tired (like usual). I don't want to go to school tomorrow. At least we only have 23 days left (!). I can't wait till summer. It's gonna be so fun. *Stares into space dreamily* Sleeping in, going camping, working at the library, and going to Shwayder Camp (the best summer camp ever!). It's gonna be great.

Monday was the Utah State Math Contest. It was a multiple choice test with 40 questions. It was soooo hard. I answered maybe 12 out of 40 problems. I skipped the rest. The scoring for that test is really cool. Each correct answer is 6 points, wrong answers are 0 points, and blank answers are 1.5 points. Even though I don't think I got any questions wrong, I definitely didn't win by only answering 12 questions. Oh, well. I can always try again next year.

In the last part of my story, Shawn told Anny how IFPA training works. He gave her a few archery tips and showed her around the training room before continuing the tour.

This is like the IFPA control room
Image courtesy of Ifsecglobal.

Shawn took me all over the compound. I saw other training classrooms, the infirmary, and the control room. The control room was a small room. A desk was pushed up against each of the three walls that did not contain the door. On each desk was three or four computer screens, and each screen was divided into four pictures. A young woman was sitting at one of the desks. She looked up when Shawn entered the room.

“Anny, this is Abby. She’s the supervisor here. She’s in charge of making sure the compound stays secure,” Shawn introduced me to the woman. “Abby, do you want to tell Anny what you do in here?”

“I watch the cameras. Everything they see, I see in here. There’s security cameras

set up all over the compound. They’re everywhere except apartments and bathrooms,” Abby said. Shawn wandered over to one of the screens and looked at it. It showed the training room.

“Why do you need security cameras?” I asked.

“Think about it. We live in an underground compound, trying to end a war. Don’t

you think Dalen would have tried to send his people to sabotage us? To try to stop us

from stopping him? What do you think would happen then? All our progress could be lost. We need to be able to see what’s happening everywhere in the compound in order to stop that from happening,” Abby said.

I didn’t say anything to that. I walked over to see what Shawn was looking at. He moved to block my view of the screen.

“Time to go, Anny,” he said. “Thanks for letting us drop by, Abby.”

“Anytime.” She grinned flirtatiously at him. “It was nice to meet you, Anny,” she called as we left the control room.

The Tour Continued

Hey kids. Sorry I haven't posted in a few weeks. I've been really stressed this week. I almost had a panic attack yesterday. It's a long story, one that I won't bore you with right now.
Well, my life's been quite uneventful these past weeks. My school orchestra went the the Region Orchestra Festival on Wednesday. It took an hour to get there by bus. It was a fun bus ride, though. Me and my friends played a very interesting game of Truth or Dare. Actually, it was more just a game of Truth. Anyways, it was fun. When we got to the school that was hosting the festival, my stand partner and I almost didn't have any music. We had left our music at our school, so we had to make copies of my friends music. We played really well, but we didn't qualify for State. Oh, well. There's always next year.
In my last post, Shawn took Anny on a tour. He showed her the dining hall and the training room, where he demonstrated his skill at knife throwing.

“You’re good,” I said, looking over her shoulder at him, impressed.

“I’d better be. If I wasn’t, my students wouldn’t learn anything,” he replied, grinning.

“You teach knife throwing?” I asked, more impressed.

“Yup. I’m one of the best here,” he bragged.

“Who do you teach?” I asked.

Bow Anny uses.
Image courtesy of Amazon

“New trainee’s. In order to become a member of IFPA, you have to go through a special training program. Most kids who live here take a year off school when they’re fifteen for their training. During training, they learn hand fighting, archery, knife throwing, and fairy history. Your training will only be basic physical and mental strength stuff because we’re running short on time. If you decide to stay once this is over, you’ll go through full training once school starts.”

“Ok, sounds fun,” I said sarcastically. It sounded hard and exhausting, anything but fun. I walked over to the bow rack and picked one up. I held it in one hand and slung a full quiver over my shoulder with my other hand. I pulled an arrow out of the quiver and notched it. Taking aim at a target, I pulled back the string and let the arrow fly. It thudded into the edge of the target.

“Not bad,” Shawn said. “Your stance looked good. You just need to work on your aim.”

I put the bow and quiver back where they belonged and walked to the target I had shot. Pulling the arrow out of the target, I asked, “ Doesn’t it worry you to just leave this stuff laying around? What if someone snuck in here and got hurt?”

“Over the summer and on weekends, we keep the door locked unless a teacher is in here. During training, class is from 1 to 4 and I’m usually in here until 7 every night. Nothing could ever happen without us knowing,” he reassured me.

“Why are you here so late?”

“Sometimes my students come after class to get extra help. If no one comes, I practice.” 
Shawn walked over to a door in the far wall that I had failed to notice. “The girl’s locker room is through here,” he said. “We should keep going. There’s still more to see.”

Chapter 5... The Tour

This is my brother's robot and a few of his teammates.
Image courtesy of  The Ladybots

Hello, my lovelies. I'm back! Did you miss me? It's been like two weeks since I talked to you. Has anything interesting happened over those two weeks? I haven't done anything. Wait, thats not quite true. I went the West Super-regionals robotics competition. My brother's team, the Ladybots, was competing. It started out really well, but then their robot started having problems, and it took them almost the whole competition to fix it. It was fixed just in time for their last match, which they won. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to get them into the finals. The whole competition lasted 2 days. It was really cool to be able to watch all the robots competing. Some of them were really complex. Others were pretty simple, but they were still great robots. The winning robot, witch scored a new world record of 877 points, looked like a big pile of metal. It was a really great experience, and I hope my team gets to go next year.

I think the last part I posted was when Anny saw the room that she would be sleeping in. She compared it to her room at home. Shawn offered to take Anny on a tour of the compound. Anny says she want to see everything.
By the way, I wanted to ask you something. I've been thinking of rewriting a few chapters so they're told from Shawn's perspective. The way it is now, you don't really get to know anything that Shawn feels. You only see little glimpses of feeling that he shows Anny. What do you think about that? Please tell me if you think that would be a good idea. I'm still deciding if I'm gonna do it.

Chapter 5

The first place Shawn took me was the dining hall. I thought it looked like a school cafeteria. It was a big, open room. Long rectangular tables and benches ran the length of the room. At one end of the room, there was a counter, presumably where the food was served. A door was in the wall near the counter. I guessed it led to the kitchen.

“On a normal weekday, breakfast is from 7 to 9, lunch is from 12 to 1, and dinner is from 6 to 8. On the weekends, breakfast and lunch are pushed back an hour.” Shawn told her.

“How’s the food?” I asked.  

“Not bad. It’s actually pretty good, especially the desserts. There are a few fairies who work in the kitchen, and they are excellent cooks.”

“There are fairies here? Where? Can I meet them?” I asked excitedly.

“We have a few fairies staying here. War refugee’s, trying to help end it from here. One of the most important refugee’s is Dalen own sister, Shahira. You’ll meet her soon enough. Let’s keep moving. There’s still lots to see.” We walked off, passing more groups of running children.

The next place Shawn took me was the training room. On one side of the room, there was a row of targets. Next to the targets was a rack of bows and another of quivers full of arrows. Next to the bows was a table covered in an array of knives. On the other side of the room was three square padded rings and a line of punching bags.

“This is where I work,” Shawn said proudly. “The training room.” He walked over to the knife table and picked one up. He turned it over in his hand before suddenly throwing it. The knife flew through the air, spinning end over end, until it slammed into a target. I walked over to the target the knife had hit and saw that it was in the exact middle of the target.

Finally. The end of Chapter 4...

Hi, peeps. I'm really bored right now. Does anyone else ever find life extremely boring? I think that quite a lot actually, especially when I'm at school. School is terrible. I go to Treasure Mountain, and the building is way too small for the amount of kids. It's so crowded. It's also really boring. I usually read through all my non-important classes. At least then I'm doing something I find interesting.

Image Courtesy of Stylipics
This is kinda what my baskets looked like.

So, I just got home from making Easter baskets. Don't ask why a Jewish girl was making Easter baskets. It was weird. I've never made Easter baskets before, so I had no idea what to put in them. I still have no idea. I just put random stuff in. There was a lot of candy, and I like candy, so I put a lot of that in my baskets. I also put some bubbles and stickers in, 'cause everyone loves those. Anyways, it was kinda fun. 

Where did I leave off last time? Oh, yeah. Shawn takes Anny and Maggie to the apartment they will be staying in. Maggie recognizes the room as the apartment she and Anny's dad had lived in before Anny's brother was born.

Mom wandered into one of the two side rooms. “One thing has changed,” I heard her say. I followed my mom into the room. It was a small bedroom. There was a bed pushed up against one wall, a closet and dresser along the opposite wall, and a small desk at the foot of the bed.

“We redid this room for Anny,” Shawn said. I looked from him to my mother, confused again. Mom answered her questioning look.

“This was Kyle’s room before we moved. It’s yours now.” Mom stood in the middle of the bedroom for a bit longer before walking out.

“I’ll get your stuff,” he said to me over his shoulder as he followed her. He came back a few seconds later, carrying my bag. “Right, now that you’re all settled, it’s time for your tour. Let’s go.” Shawn dropped the bag on my new bed and walked out again, not waiting for me to follow him. He must have realized that I wasn’t behind him, because he stuck his head back through the doorway. “You coming?” he asked me.

“Yeah, just give me a second,” I answered. I looked around the bedroom and

sighed. It actually wasn’t that different from my room at home. It was small, with a bed in

one corner and a dresser in another. The only important difference was that there was no balcony outside. There wasn’t even a window. What would I do when I couldn’t sleep? I would die if I couldn’t see the stars. I sighed again and followed Shawn into the main room, where he was talking to Mom.

“Ah, look who’s arrived,” he said, catching sight of me standing in the doorway to my room. “The tour. We’ll be off then. I assume you don’t need a tour of the place, Maggie?” he asked.

“No. I think I still know my around. I’ve only been gone for seventeen years, after I lived here for more than twenty.”

“Okay. See you later. Come on, Anny.” He left the room and I followed him into the hallway outside. He walked away down the hall without waiting for me, and I had to run to catch up. “So, what do you want to see first?” he asked me.

“All of it.”