For the last two days, I was only able to sleep for 5 hours each night because was busy proofreading at PGDP. I was so tired and went to a dead man's sleep around 11:30 last night... and I just woke up now.
So I missed the changing of the year! :D
I missed the revelry, the noise... I mean, I was in a very deep sleep that not even the loud (jubilant? I doubt it) noise all round me woke me.
So, I just woke up... and guess what? All's quiet. :D This is the New Year as I like it. I got to miss my sister's hypocricy and quasi-pagan ritual last night... and woke to a better, quieter prospects instead. :D Happy New Year! :D
Around a month ago, I made a website about The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke titled The Carousel Thieves. I submitted the site the regular way: through search engines like google and yahoo, but after a week, I still couldn't find it in their roster. Then I read an article about the "miserable failure" trick and how they made it using weblogs.
So shame aside :oops:, i ask the reader to visit the site:
and if you liked the website, please make a link in your weblog. :D
The site is still in progress, as i just got hold of the book Inkheart and I haven't finished reading it yet. However, the free downloads page is already running, and in my opinion :oops: the wallpapers and screensavers are cool. :D I'm pretty much fond of the The Thief Lord screensavers that I made. (Have I no shame left? :oops: :D)
I made an effort to make the site look "professionally" done, although it was done by a beginner -- me. The layout and design is simple, i know, but I thought it was just apt and hopefully will reflect the beauty of Cornelia Funke's books and her wonderful drawings.
So who is Cornelia Funke? Cornelia Funke is a German illustrator and author of children's books, and she wrote the international bestsellers The Thief Lord and Inkheart. She is considered as the next JK Rowling (famous author of the Harry Potter series, as if you do not know :D). In fact, Hollywood is planning to make Cornelia Funke's books into movies.
Although her books have less magic spells and adventure than JK Rowling's, Cornelia Funke's books are more heart-based and realistic, though the element of magic is still there. In the front of her works are her characters: the mysterious Scipio, the brothers Prosper and Bo, the lovable detective Victor and the villainous Barbarossa for the book The Thief Lord. And we shouldn't also forget to mention the roundabout gang of street urchins: Hornet, Mosca and Riccio. For Inkheart, we have the book doctor Mo (also known as Silvertongue)and his bookworm daughter Meggie, then we have the book lover aunt Elinor, plus the fire eater Dustfinger, and the evil Capricorn and his sidekick Basta who wanted all the riches in the world.
So hopefully you visit the website, and link it to your weblog. Comments and suggestions are very much welcome. Sorry for making this blog entry a shameless plug for my website. :oops: Thanks. :D
1. I believe that if anything is worth doing, it would have been done already.
2. I shall never move quickly, except to avoid more work or find excuses.
3. I will never rush into a job without a lifetime of consideration.
4. I shall meet all of my dead lines directly in proportion to the amount of bodily injury I could expect to receive from missing them.
5. I firmly believe that tomorrow holds the possibility for new technologies, astounding discoveries, and a reprieve from my obligations.
6. I truly believe that all deadlines are unreasonable regardless of the amount of time givin.
7. I shall never forget that the probability of a miracle, though infinitesmally small, is not exactly zero.
8 If at first I don't succeed, there is always next year.
9. I shall always decide not to decide, unless of course I decide to change my mind.
10. I shall always begin, start, initiate, take the first step, and /or write the first word, when I get around to it.
11. I obey the law of inverse excuses which demands that the greater the task to be done, the more significant the work that must be done prior to beginning the greater task.
12. I know that the work cycle is not plan/start/finish, but is wait/wait/plan.
13. I will never put off until tomorrow, what i can forget about forever.
14. I will become a member of the Ancient Order of Two-Headed Turtles(the Procrastinators Society) if they ever get it organized.
If I can't write something about myself for fear it will bite me in the heel someday, then what can I write?
Hmmm... a story perhaps... a story... in no way similar to mine... I'll call my main character... (thinking)... Athreau d'Gwynfer.
* * *
Chapter 1
Joseph kept silent as he waited in the dentist's office. He hated coming here. There was nothing wrong with his teeth, it was just that he was scheduled for his biannual visit.
"Such perfect littlest teeth." Dr. Watson commented year after year since he was three, but Joseph is eleven now. And the last baby tooth fell off two summers ago. For some reason, the dentist treated him as if he were still that peculiar young boy... when other children were plagued with tartar and cavities, here was Joseph with his pearly whites, unblemished and sparkling. In fact, Joseph still keeps one of his baby incisors as keepsake.
"'Tis for good luck." Dr. Watson said when he handed the perfectly formed tooth specimen to him-- complete with its crown and root. You see, they have to take the tooth out when Joseph was nine, because his permanent tooth was budding out. "It will spoil those perfect little set of teeth of yours." explained the dentist.
Not that he hated the dentist or anything, but to Joseph, the trip to the dentist was least of his favorite yearly activities. Drills and lasers aside, there was foreboding anxiety just being in the waiting room. But, then again, aren't all waiting rooms like that, may it be for a doctor or a lawyer?
The waiting room was sparsely decorated, and has the smell of antiseptic. A painting, which looked liked splattered watercolor on canvas, made by Dr. Watson himself, hang beneath Joseph as he sits alone in the big yellow sofa. Across him was a big aquarium of tropical fishes. Joseph was looking at the sole angel fish, when the nurse walked in.
