Me and Aldaris (p33): The Voice of Dae'Uhl

Um, okay.  I can do this.

...I think I can, anyway.  I'm feeling a little faint just thinking about it.  ...It...it wasn't really as bad as it could have been.  It's alright, I can write it.

Okay, so it was a while since I last saw Aldaris, and to be honest, I was starting to think that maybe he'd somehow found a way to get back to the K Sector.  I hoped so, but was a little disappointed that he hadn't contacted me somehow and said goodbye.  Yeah, I know, expecting a goodbye from a dude who doesn't like humans isn't all that rational.  I don't know... it seemed like he might say something like "I'm leaving now" so that we didn't have to bother anymore.

Turns out, Aldaris hadn't left at all.  And it's a good thing he didn't, because...

Because...

...

Okay, I can't do it.  Long story short, something bad happened.  Or almost happened.  I know I said I would record everything that happens relevant to Aldaris being on Earth, but as much as recording the truth is important...I just can't.  I tend to shut down when put into extreme situations, and this...yeah.  Maybe when I've had time to process this enough I can write it down.  For right now...no. It's not going to happen.  Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bury my trouble in mochas and cryptograms until I forget the whole thing happened.

Avenger: Age of Ultron Quick Review

Hey y'all.  So I saw Avengers: Age of Ultron, and now my eyeballs need to throw up.  But since they can't physically do that, I'll just settle for doing a mini-rant here.

This movie sucked.

I've never been a fan of Joss Whedon, and this isn't convincing me.  The only thing I know for sure he's good at is banter.  Quite frankly, if this movie had been more or less nothing but banter and a quick fight with a villain-of-the-week, it would have been superb.  However, since it's a "blockbuster" that's expected to both emulate the comics and spend ungodly amounts of money on 3d crap that doesn't matter, ugh.

Note that I'm probably going to spoil something in the movie.  Not that it matters, because this kind of movie is nearly unspoilable.  Comic book movie, and all that.

Summer Hiatus

Hey y'all.  So you've noticed the slowdown in posts, more than likely.  The school year is finishing up, and I've been working a lot on that.  But that's not the only issue.  I have lots of real world things to focus on, including getting a job that isn't inconsistent and dead-end.  Granted, I love working in a bookstore, but it's really more of a job for a young person who needs an entry-level job or a housewife who wants something to do and likes books -- there's not enough hours or pay for a person of my age and position.  Not to mention I have things I want to publish, and I need to put effort into writing them, not just rants on a blog.

However, I've always liked writing here.  It gives me a chance to express things I have no other outlet for, as well as just have fun.  So for now, the solution is that I'm going on hiatus.  So from now until September, I'm officially not going to be updating.

Let me express exactly what this means.  I won't be writing posts until August, at which point I'll write to create a backlog of updates.  And because I know exactly how I'm going to end this segment of Me and Aldaris, there will be two more posts of that story before the end of this month.  I'll finish up the first "season" so to speak, before the break officially hits.

Thank you, everyone, for enjoying this blog.  I hope to see you again later in the year.

Me and Aldaris (p32): Secret

Toby shoved some cold spaghetti in his mouth.  He'd wanted to hang out with some friends and catch dinner, but the Korean knocked out cold on the couch of his flat said otherwise.  He'd been excited when Cheonha first randomly showed up in his favorite cafe, but that was before the translation mishaps and Cheonha nodding off at the table.

I forgot the time differences.  Toby shoved in more leftovers and chewed.  Cold spaghetti is my favorite food.  It is right now, anyway.

Toby went around the bar that divided the kitchen and living space, then sat at one of his bar stools and plunked the plastic bowl of spaghetti on the bar. It was easier to keep an eye on Cheonha that way.  Not that she need an eye on her.  Since getting to the flat she hadn't done more than collapse on his couch and pass out.

Actually, Toby was disappointed with more than that.  He'd met an alien, but Aldaris was boring -- nothing at all like the Doctor, or any other alien in media.  Aldaris was no adventuring explorer, sage mystic, or sinister invader.  Toby's life wasn't at all more interesting.  So far, he'd seen two minutes worth of New York, had a nice dinner with a Chinese family, and become the unexpected host of a randomly appearing Korean.  There wasn't so much as one wild space adventure romp.  Toby made a point to ask Aldaris if they could orbit and look at the moon, next time he went up.  At least that would be interesting.

Come on now, Charlie, get that teleporter working!  Why haven't you tried to find Cheonha yet? Certainly you know when your teleporter is being used. Toby stirred his noodles into a tornado around his fork.  And next time I see you, try to be a bit more exciting!

Return to Nitpickery: Mystic Warrior

Alright, so our next Starcraft official novelist is Tracy Hickman, the guy who wrote Starcraft: Speed of Darkness.  He brings us today the story Mystic Warrior, book one of the Bronze Canticles series.

Return to Nitpickery: King's Man and Thief

Hey y'all.  So this blog sees the return of Christie Golden, author of the Dark Templar trilogy.  In my new series Return to Nitpickery, we'll be going over the original fiction of authors to compare it to the work they did when creating their entry/ies in the Starcraft official novel franchise.  It feels unfair to judge a writer based on work they did for a franchise they don't have the right to properly control. It's not their characters, not their plot, and their creativity is instantly limited, particularly if Blizzard had specific things they wanted to accomplish with the book.

So the first book up will be Christie Golden's King's Man & Thief.

I had to use this picture because it's the only one bigger than a stamp.

Me and Aldaris (p31): Human After All

There were some days when Lee Cheonha just didn't like to work.  This was one of those days.  Sure, working in a shop wasn't so bad, and the pay was enough for Cheonha's few expenses, but for the moment Cheonha was happy to be walking home.  She walked quietly down the crowded streets of Seoul, dodging all the young teens and twenty-somethings going out to have fun.  Cheonha briefly considered calling Eunha to go somewhere.

No, I do not think so. Cheonha hurried past a toekkbokki stand.  I am far too tired for the karaoke bar or the PC bang.  Eunha always wants to go to those places.

To Cheonha, nothing sounded better than simply going home and lying on the couch.  Maybe break open her english workbooks and study again, if she felt like it, though she wasn't convinced she could make a decision until she had the chance to kick off her shoes.  The rest of the walk home passed by in a daze, and Cheonha soon found herself unlocking her door.  

With a yawn, Cheonha stretched and plopped down on the couch, without even bothering to remove her purse (and forgetting entirely about her shoes).  She sat down on beside it, closing her eyes for just a moment.

Wait....that smell...