Since the weather here in Texas is probably going to be hot for a while, I thought it’d be nice to have a refreshing theme to help people cool off. Ergo, the theme for July has a watermelon floating (sinking?) in the water.

But that’s probably the only ‘good’ news I have for you today. Today I just got an email from Caren Johnson. She passed my manuscript on (which means that she is rejecting). Which kind of, sort of, sucks because I’ve been waiting for her response for more than ten weeks now. But then again, the good part is that half the things she pointed out (she listed things that needed improvement), I either already fixed or am planning to fix.

I’m very happy I already started on the new version. Not that it’s any better. Um. I mean, I think the old version was lacking what the new is not, but the new one has it’s own individual problems.
Writing can sometimes be a VERY frustrating activity.

Speaking of frustrating activities, I currently have a semester project and a 10-page review that I have to complete for Foundations. But that’s not what I’m complaining about. What I’m complaining about is the fact that they JUST gave us BOTH of those things, and simply told us to finish them in two days.

It’s funny how they tell us not to procrastinate, and give us these projects all in the last minute.

Oh, and I’m currently listening to the audio book version of “An Abundance of Katherines”. It’s very interesting. John Green never fails to amaze me. More on “Katherines” later.

My novel…hm…I’m planning on finishing up the new version this weekend.

Right now, I’m drowning in Personal Fitness. “Any Body Can Be FIT!!”

So, just today I’ve started summer school. I’m taking Foundations of Personal Fitness…which is like a mixture between Health and PE. We run/walk laps in the morning, do bookwork in the afternoon and take a test,(Yup, a test everyday… ) lift weights or cross train (which is basically like an obstacle course.)

A word of advice for y’all: DO NOT take Foundations in the summer.

I was a little shocked when I saw all of the high school kids (not freshmen) on the bus this morning. I know it’s stupid, I should have expected it, but I felt really tiny. I was all like: DUDE….I’m SURROUNDED BY GIANTS!

Most of my non-Rice friends are Sophomores. LOL. Dude, when I first started writing Lightweaver, I thought being a Sophomore was a world away. Now…it’s like…practically only one grade away! I’m aging! Jk, jk.

Oh yeah, I updated the Lightweaver page…so check it out.

From now on, I’m going to post updates on Lightweaver on the Lightweaver page…so stay tuned!

Okay, I can’t resist. Here is a random picture of kid Yi-San!

SOO CUTEEE!

Well, this is the awesome battlescene
I watched yesterday. I feel sorry for Yi-San…his first official night as King and the bad guys send him a ninja/samurai/asassin/stalker after him.

WOAH, watch that ninja/samurai guy GO!! You can barely see him!

LOL towards the beginning of the clip, there’s a short appearance of my favorite character…Hong Gook-Young. (the guy shuffling through papers with the blue robe)
Well, aside from Yi-San, that is. His character is just too funny!
He’s REALLY smart, and he’s the guy who keeps Yi-San alive. Like, he is only one step behind (and sometimes ahead) on the villains’ plots.

But there is a disadvantage on being a genius, and that is the fact that he’s kind of paranoid. LOL If he wasn’t right most of the time, he’d come across as…EXTREMELY PARANOID. It’s a good thing he’s mostly right. Oh, and he talks to much…He tends to provoke the villains…which is not a good habit.

He’s sarcastic and also uses weird metaphors. OH and he’s random.
Like in one episode, everyone in the palace was looking for him…and he was no where to be found and everyone was all like: WHERE DID HE GO?!

And guess where he was. He was fishing. By a lake. Yeah. LOL

In another episode, Hong gets beat up by this weird, psychopath gangster-like nobleman (stereotype! D: : Nerds can’t fight!),
(Because of his smart mouth…I think he spun one of his metaphor things to secretly insult him or something)
And afterwards, when Dae-su (Man, Dae-su is like everywhere Hong is…it’s like what Hong says, “From the way you follow me around and fuss about me, people would think that we’re a married couple”) finds him and asks him what happened, he’s all like: “I just got bitten by a mad dog” with a weird look in his eyes.

Dae-Su: Huh?
Hong: (angry look in his eyes) And you know what’s the best way to get rid of a mad dog?
Dae-Su: What?
Hong: You shoot the dog, skin it, and eat it in a stew. (Okay, this might sound gross, but eating dogs is quite common in the Korean countryside. Deal with it.)

And what really ends up happening is that he exposes the weird gangster-dude’s plot to assasinate the king and causes the dude to be exhiled and stripped of his nobleman rank. LOL.

The dude who plays Hong got like best Actor…LOL. YAY!

I could go on and on about Hong, but let’s go back to the little clip.

I also feel sorry for the samurai-dude…death by hairpin. Man, that has got to suck. Yi-San is so smart…and so…talented. Direct hit…Wow. I can only imagine how sharp the hairpin is if it was able to kill that dude. No, actually. I can’t. o.o

I apologize in advance for not being able to post the video directly onto this post. Apparently WordPress only supports Youtube and Google videos.

I watch Yi-San with subs on MySoju
I mean, I can understand Korean, but Korean has three different forms: Casual, Formal, and Palace.

I can understand casual and formal pretty well, but PALACE is like…a whole different language. (I guess it’s kind of like Old English…or whatever version of English uses “Thee”s and “Thou”s.)

For example:
If you would say, “sorry”, you would say:
“Mi-ahn” or “Mi-ahn-heh” in casual.
“Je-song-ham-ni-da” or “Je-song-heh-yo” in formal.
And…
“Song-o-ha-om-ni-da” in Palace.

Now, only the Palace form is only used when talking to high-ranking people (officers, noblemen, royal family)…or when they themselves are speaking…which is most of the drama. LOL.

When the normal people talk, they use casual or formal. (Dae su, the dude with the purple uniform, is a perfect example…what he says tends to be really short)

(You can see the difference of how it sounds when Hong talks with Dae-Su, Hong tends to use palace speech most of the time)
Complicated, eh?

So, if you guys have been paying attention to my blog posts, you’d have noticed that I said I was watching a korean drama called Yi-san. What is, Yi-san, you ask? Well, here is the trailer for it. It’s AWESOME. (and I chose the trailer over the opening credits because the trailer was more exciting. LOL)

These are the things they say in the trailer:
Prince Yi San : I am the crown prince you should kill.
King Young-jo : You’re good-for-nothing!
Queen Jeong-soon : Are you trying to kill the crown prince, your majesty?
King Young-jo : Prove that you are a king worthy of the throne!
Prince Yi San : I dreamed of the kids I met that night.
Song-yeon : Your highness, It’s me. Song-yeon. Don’t forget us. Don’t…

And this is the summary of the drama…written by Wikipedia.

“Yi San dramatizes the life of Korea’s King Jeongjo, the 22nd ruler of the Joseon Dynasty. Jeongjo is remembered in Korean history for his sympathy with the plight of the common man, in spite of his own pampered upbringing as royalty.

The drama begins with the King’s early years, during which he befriends two children working in the Palace who are later expelled. King Yeongjo (Jeongjo’s grandfather) seals Jeongjo’s father, Crown Prince Sado, in a rice storage chest with no food or water because he fears that the crown prince is planning a coup. Jeongjo wants to save his father, and with the help of his friends Song Yeon and Dae Su, begs Yeongjo to forgive the Crown Prince. The drama then skips forward to Jeongjo’s adult years when he and his friends re-establish contact with each other. Throughout, Jeongjo’s position as Crown Prince is threatened by palace intrigues.

While still the Crown Prince, Jeongjo begins to fall in love with one of his childhood friends, Seong Song Yeon, the daughter of a palace artist who died when she was very young. The story then follows Yi San’s rise to power, his assumption of the kingship, and the labyrinthine palace intrigues that he must constantly guard against. While the show does deviate from the historical record in a number of ways, it’s representation of court life during the Joseon Dynasty appears to be based on contemporary sources.”

So it’s mostly about politics and conspiracy…but it has awesome violence/martial arts scenes… (the bad guys have assassins that I secretly call “ninjas”) and awesome romance.

It’s a very good way to learn history. LOL.

I love the costumes…but I bet they are very uncomfortable. I’ve seen a lot of bloopers where they either: A.) Trip on the Hanbok (korean equivalent of kimono) B.) Sit on the Hanbok and get their legs tangled up (It’s always fun watching them struggle to get their legs free. LOL) C.) Have trouble when they are supposed to get on the horse. (One time, the dude who plays Yi-San…was supposed to jump onto his horse, but then he ended up tripping and falling off the horse…lol that was a funny blooper)

Plus I know from personal experience that HanBok isn’t the greatest clothing to wear during warm weather. LOL

I think Yi-san-oops, that’s his informal name-I mean, King Jeongjo was kind of like Andrew Jackson…except he didn’t slaughter anyone mercilessly. Because, like Andrew Jackson, King Jeongjo was all like: THE COMMON MAN! LOL.